Molly (Perfect Match Book 3)

by Julie Jarnagin

  When he relaxed, tiny smile lines formed at the corners of his eyes, and she knew her heart was in huge trouble.

  Chapter Seven

  Sean met Molly in the lobby of the fanciest hotel on the island. The hotel where he worked was nice, but this place was on another level. Marble floors, a huge chandelier, and a grand staircase. What could they be doing here? The schedule had only told them where to go.

  “Any ideas what this is about? Molly asked.

  He shook his head. “No clue.” But this place was too fancy for his blood. He preferred a little open-aired beach bar or a burger place, but if Molly liked it, he wouldn’t complain.

  A woman in a crisp, white shirt and pants handed them each a terry cloth robe. “If you’ll follow me…” She pointed at the glass door with Spa painted in swirly letters.

  He froze. No way. Maybe Molly would be against this too, and they could spend the day surfing.

  He glanced at her.

  She was smiling ear to ear. “Yes! Spa Day!” She followed the woman toward the door.

  Spa day? As in manicures and pedicures and facials and massages? So much for surfing all day.

  Molly looked over her shoulder. “You coming?”

  The woman held the door for them and waited.

  “So, this wasn’t your idea?”

  She laughed. “The dating site set it up, but I think it’s great.” She came over and looped her arm around his. “We both need to relax, don’t you think?”

  A spa was not his idea of relaxing. Time in the water would be relaxing, but what could he do? Back out of spending the day with Molly? No way. “I’m in,” he said with some resignation in his voice.

  “Yay!” The clapping gave away her excitement, and her smile made it worth it.

  The woman led him to a small changing area. After he changed, he walked out, and Molly giggled. His arms were about a foot longer than the sleeves, and his feet hung out of the front of the slippers with the white Velcro strap across the top.

  “This is awesome,” Molly said. “Now, I really wish I could take your picture.”

  He closed his eyes and held his arms out. “I feel ridiculous.”

  “You look adorable,” she said, still laughing.

  The woman handed them each a glass of water with—were those cucumbers floating in there? What in the world? She led them into a dim room with two big leather chairs. “Please”—she presented the tubs at the foot of each chair—”soak your feet.”

  Once they were settled, the woman left them alone with weird new age music playing in the background.

  Molly closed her eyes and leaned her head back. “Isn’t this relaxing?”

  He studied her. He didn’t know about the funky smells and strange music, but being here with Molly was perfect. “I feel better than I’ve felt in a long time.” And he meant it.

  Molly pulled her phone from the pocket in her robe. She lifted it in the air and took a photo of herself with his robe and soaking feet in the background. “Sorry,” she said sheepishly. “I know the constant photos are probably getting annoying.”

  “It’s fine. How are you doing with the social media posts?” He barely knew how to talk to her about this stuff because he didn’t do any of it. No Facebook or Twitter or whatever those apps were called with the photos. He valued his privacy too much, and when you lived in a place like this, who wanted to be looking down at a phone when you could be surfing or kicking back and watching the tide or the sunset.

  “It’s going better than I ever expected. The Gloss and Glitter profiles are exploding.” She wiggled her eyebrows. “The women really like you.”

  He shook his head at her teasing. “You mean they like the back of my head.”

  She gave him a devious look. “The back of everything.”

  “That’s terrible,” he said, enjoying every second of it.

  “I think the mystery has made it even more intriguing for people,” she said. “They’re all speculating about who you are and why we’re not posting photos of your face.”

  He stiffened. “They’re trying to figure out who I am?”

  She waved a hand. “It’s all just talk in the comments of the photos. It’s harmless.”

  Molly didn’t understand the affect it would have on his life and the life of his brother if his identity were discovered. His great aunt, who he still kept in contact with, had told him about at least three different documentaries about his father’s death.

  Even though the investigation ultimately determined the crash was a mechanical failure, the entertainment industry couldn’t let it go. Jonas didn’t need to deal with that. “I hope you’re right, but I’d like to see the photos before you share them.” He was glad he could help Molly, but he couldn’t let anything get in the way of their privacy.

  Her eyes wide, she nodded. “Okay. Whatever you think.”

  He reached over and squeezed her hand to ease her mind. “It’s okay. I’m not going to back out. I know this is important to you, but it’s important to me to stay out of the public eye.”

  He couldn’t let anything get in the way of his number one priority—protecting his brother.

  ****

  The moonlight reflected off the water as Molly and Sean walked down the beach toward her hotel. After the day at the spa, Molly felt more relaxed than she’d felt in months. No…years.

  She hadn’t realized what a toll her career and her life in the Big Apple had taken on her. Was the pace really worth it? How much longer could she sustain it? The demands on her time would only get more intense with the promotion.

  She stretched her neck to one side and then the other. She hadn’t realized how tight her shoulders had been until she’d had a massage. “Admit it,” she said to Sean. “You enjoyed that. For all your groaning, you loved it.”

  He sucked in a breath. “It wasn’t terrible.”

  Not terrible? Please. She’d peeked over at him during the seaweed wrap. He’d had his eyes closed and looked as if he were in heaven. “What was your favorite part? It was the pedicure, wasn’t it? Your toes do look nice.” He’d drawn the line at the clear nail polish, even though the nail tech had tried to convince him. Molly held back a giggle at the thought of him arguing with the tiny woman who wouldn’t let it go.

  He glanced around at the empty beach. “Let’s keep that between us. I don’t need the other surf instructors hearing about this. Or my brother.” He groaned. “Jonas would never let me live it down.”

  “Oh, please,” she said, teasing him. “You’re probably going to start booking spa appointments every weekend.”

  He shook his head, but he was smiling. “I wouldn’t go that far.”

  After the spa treatments, they’d had dinner at one of the restaurants at the hotel. The servers had brought them a plate piled high with crab and shrimp. After he and Molly had eaten their fill, they’d finished off the night with pineapple sorbet. When she’d heard about this matchmaking travel agency, she’d thought the idea was ridiculous, but now she got it. Despite having to post some pictures for the magazine, most of her daily distractions were gone.

  “Look at this,” he said, crouching down. He stood and handed her what looked like a misshapen green marble. “It’s a piece of sea glass.”

  She rubbed her thumb across the smooth surface. “It’s beautiful. Thank you.” It was the perfect way to remember this perfect day.

  They walked in front of another large hotel. A party was happening on one of the verandas. Tall torches that were stuck in the sand lined the area. People danced to the music that drifted out to Sean and Molly.

  Sean stopped. “Looks like a wedding reception.”

  “A wedding on a Wednesday?” she asked.

  “When you’re on vacation on the island, every day is a vacation.”She spotted the bride, who wore a dress with a lace bodice and a flowing skirt. Her hair was pulled back in a loose chignon, and she had a large, white lily tucked into it. The newlywed gazed at her groom with such adoration
and love. A tinge of sadness hit Molly. Not because she wasn’t marrying Cody. She hated the way things had ended and the betrayal was still painful, but they weren’t meant to be. At the time, she’d thought what she had with Cody had been enough, but she’d never looked at Cody like this bride looked at her groom. Molly was relieved he’d ended things because she was beginning to see that she could ask for more from a relationship—to settle for nothing less than true love.

  She heard a shutter sound, and she moved her gaze over to Sean, who was holding her phone. “Thought I’d grab another photo.” He motioned toward the party. “You look beautiful with the light on your face.”

  Her face warmed. “How did you get my phone?”

  “I almost forgot that I stuck it in my pocket when we left the spa. You’d almost left it behind.”

  She didn’t know where her mind had been lately.

  “What were you thinking about?” he asked.

  She glanced down at the sand and her newly painted toes. “Love.”

  He was silent for a moment, and they both watched as a man in a tuxedo raised his glass in a toast. He took a microphone someone handed to him and lifted a glass. “Here’s to the bride and groom and unconditional love.”

  “Unconditional love,” she repeated in a whisper. “Do you think that’s a real thing?” She’d been dragged through her parents’ divorce when she was a kid, and she could never quite live up to what Cody had wanted her to be.

  “I love my brother unconditionally.”

  His words squeezed at her heart. His brother was lucky to have someone like Sean in his life.

  He turned to her. “For me, the harder part is trusting that someone would love me like that in return. That they would never betray me. That’s a tough one for me.” He took her hand. “What about you? Do you believe in unconditional love that will last forever?”

  She’d been striving and performing for so long, she’d never even dreamed about that kind of love. She looked up into Sean’s eyes. “I don’t know, but for the first time in a long time, I have hope. I’m willing to find out.”

  He pushed her hair off her face, and the touch sent tingles all the way to her toes. “Me too.”

  With that, he leaned in and pressed his lips to hers and took her breath away.

  Chapter Eight

  The next afternoon, Sean pushed the wax back and forth on his surfboard, waiting for Molly to join him after going to change. She’d agreed to another surf lesson, and he couldn’t wait to get her back in the waves.

  “Hey,” he heard behind him. He turned around to find his teenage brother carrying his surfboard toward him. Two kids his age followed behind him.

  “What are you doing here?” Sean asked. These days, Jonas spent most of his free time riding his skateboard or playing video games.

  Jonas looked at his board and back at Sean. “Playing Monopoly. What do you think?”

  “Hilarious,” Sean said, not cracking a smile. “Shouldn’t you be doing homework or something?”

  He leaned his surfboard on the deck. “Don’t have any.”

  Sean didn’t really want his little brother hanging around during his date with Molly. “Why don’t you grab some cash from my wallet inside and go catch a movie or something?”

  His friends carried their boards down toward the water. Jonas’s brow wrinkled. “You trying to get rid of me or something?”

  Molly walked up wearing a bikini top and shorts.

  Yes. I’m definitely trying to get rid of you, little brother.

  Jonas’s eyes widened. “Who’s that?”

  “Behave,” Sean said under his breath.

  “I’m determined to stay up this time,” Molly said. “I’ve been getting myself pumped.” She looked at Jonas and held her hand out. “Hey, I’m Molly.”

  Staring at her, Jonas shook her hand. “You’re Molly?” His hand fell limply at his side.

  Sean cleared his throat trying to diffuse the awkwardness of his brother’s inability to talk to a beautiful woman. “Molly, this is my brother, Jonas. He’s fifteen,” he said, hoping the last line would explain everything.

  “Great to meet you, Jonas. Are you going to surf with us?”

  His brother didn’t speak.

  “Jonas is surfing with his friends over there.” He nodded over to the other two boys.

  “Don’t laugh at me,” Molly said. “I’m pretty terrible.”

  “You’re doing great,” Sean said.

  She tipped her head to the side and pointed a thumb at him. “Does he tell all the girls that?”

  For the first time, Jonas cracked a smile. “Yeah, right. My brother has no social life. He’d rather wait at home and ask me a thousand questions about mine.”

  Sean held up his hands. “Oh, so now he speaks.”

  Molly laughed.

  If Jonas felt that way, Sean had good news for him. “You’ll be on your own for dinner tonight. There’s stuff for sandwiches. I’ll be home later.”

  “The guys and I wanted to get Barney’s Burgers.”

  Barney’s was on the other side of the island. “How were you planning to get there?”

  “Frankie has a truck.”

  He didn’t think he’d have to worry about this stuff until Jonas turned sixteen. “Have I met Frankie?”

  Jonas rolled his eyes. “He’s on my basketball team.”

  “Wear your seatbelt and be home by nine. You have school tomorrow. Text me when you get home.”

  “You mean, you’re not going to be home by nine watching Netflix like you are every night? Shocker.” Jonas rolled his eyes. “I’m kidding. I’ll text you like I always do.” He wandered off.

  Molly nudged her shoulder against Sean’s arm. “He really respects you. I can tell. I can’t imagine me listening to either of my older step-siblings when I was that age.”

  “So far, so good. We still have a few of the teenage years to go, so we’ll see. We’ve been through a lot of heavy stuff together. I think that helps.”

  She nodded. “You’re a good guy.”

  Her words meant a lot to him because he doubted himself every day. “I can’t ever replace our parents, but I’m just doing my best for him.” It wasn’t always easy, and he couldn’t let Jonas down now.

  ****

  Behind the bar, Sean poured a glass of wine and set it on the side for one of the waiters to pick up. The restaurant was quiet today with only a few diners eating an early lunch. The last time he’d worked had been the night that Molly had found out that he’d lied to her. He was just grateful she’d forgiven him and that he’d let his stubborn pride get out of the way when she asked him to help her.

  Cameron slapped him on the back. “Where have you been, bud? I haven’t seen you in days.”

  “I took the week off, but we were short staffed.” He didn’t want to miss any time with Molly, but she had some work to do today, so he’d come in. They had plans to meet up later.

  “You’ve been hanging out with the woman the dating site sent you?” Cameron entered an order into the computer beside the bar.

  Sean rubbed his hand across his jaw, debating how much to reveal to Cameron who wasn’t known for keeping things quiet. “I’ve seen her a few times.”

  He laughed. “I wondered when you were finally going to have your first island fling.”

  Cameron had had plenty of them, or at least that’s what he liked to tell everyone around the bar. Stories of his escapades had gotten old. “This isn’t a fling.” He respected Molly too much to let Cameron start that rumor. He wouldn’t be dating her if he didn’t really care about her.

  “Dude, don’t fall for someone who’ll be going home in a week. That’s the first rule of the island fling.”

  Sean glared at him. “Stop calling it that.” The guy was getting under his skin.

  Cameron snapped his order pad closed. “Here’s the thing. Even if you don’t think it’s a fling, how do you know she doesn’t think it’s a fling?”

  He shr
ugged. “It’s not.”

  He scoffed. “Have you asked her? Where is she from?”

  “She’s living in New York City. She works for a magazine there.”

  He rolled his eyes. “So, are you and your brother moving to New York, or is she giving up her fancy job to move here? Or are you going to try a long-distance relationship, because we all know how well those work out.”

  Sean started drying glasses, not wanting Cameron to think his mocking was getting to him, but he could feel is pulse in his neck.

  “Has she talked about the next time you’ll see each other?” Cameron asked. “Has she given you any indication she’s thinking about anything more than this week?”

  His mind rushed for answers. Surely, they’d talked about it. Hadn’t they? His gut formed into a tight knot.

  Cameron laughed. “It’s an island fling.” He headed toward a table where the hostess had just seated a large group. “Relax and enjoy it,” he said over his shoulder.

  The truth was he’d fallen for Molly, and as much as he hated to admit it, Cameron had a point. After this week was over, Molly would have her story and her promotion and go back to New York. Just like everyone else in his life, she’d get what she needed from him and then disappear. Why would he have expected anything else? She would have no reason to ever see him again.

  This line of thinking was crazy. Wasn’t it?

  He didn’t know for sure. The only thing he did know for certain, he needed to talk to Molly, but what would he say? They’d only known each other a short time, and he figured if he told her how he really felt, she’d run away as fast as those pretty tanned legs could take her. But if he didn’t say anything to her…

  He spent the next four hours doing his best to concentrate on making drinks and talking to customers, but he couldn’t get thoughts of Molly and her leaving in two days out of his mind.

  He was sure he’d go mad with anticipation and dread when he looked up to find Molly walking through the restaurant with a huge smile on her face. He met her at the edge of the bar.