“Would you like me to drive?”
No. I’d like to make love to you on some deserted beach. I’d like to hear you scream with the need and the heat and the pleasure of it. He shot a sideways glance at her, glad she couldn’t know what he was thinking. “No. I’m fine.” He even managed a smile. “Just restless, I guess. But we’re almost there.”
The girls overheard him and squealed with delight. He was glad in a way that Maribel had won her fight with Dell and stayed behind. Although it meant Rosa had stayed, too, he imagined the girl would have been her usual sullen self. The other three deserved a break, and so did Dell. Becky certainly didn’t need Maribel, either, although, in all fairness, the girl was usually careful of her language around the toddler.
Thinking of Maribel creased Jovi’s face into tight, grim lines. The girl was bad news. He didn’t think Dell understood the extent of the girl’s problems, even now. He had surprised her in the barn office trying to make a phone call when she should have been mucking out stalls. He didn’t know if she’d had time to get through to whomever she was calling. And he didn’t tell Dell, because he wasn’t sure what good it would do after the fact. And it would make her wonder all over again about whether or not they’d been alone before — would she believe he’d caught her lurking around in the barn alone?
It worried him. It worried him even more that she’d offered herself to him if he didn’t say anything and let her make another call. Even the fact Danny had come into the office to ask something hadn’t deterred Maribel at all. How did a girl that young become that hardened, that desperate? The girl needed more help than anyone at the ranch was able to provide. He was sure of that.
And of course … His frown deepened. Leaving Maribel meant one more person on the ranch. Actually, it meant three more, since Dell had invited Karla and little Allison to stay. One more chance for something to go wrong tonight when Hampton made his quick, secretive visit to see what information could be gleaned from the ranch books. Jovi had made copies of them, and they were in a folder in the office. Brock Hampton was good, and it was unlikely anyone on the ranch would know he’d come and gone. Still, the fewer people around, the better.
Guilt twisted through him. He glanced again at Dell, who had turned around to smile at Becky. She didn’t have a clue he wasn’t who he said he was. To Dell, he was the ranch foreman, but he’d taken that job only to help old friends at DEA. His objective was to incriminate her if she was involved in the drug trade. That was harder for him to accept by the day. But the evidence against her was strong, if circumstantial. He didn’t even realize he’d shaken his head until Selina leaned over the seat.
“No, what?” she asked.
He forced himself to laugh. “Nothing. I was just thinking of how hot the sand is this time of year.”
Selina nodded. “I bet it is. But I made all the girls bring their sandals. And we have gallons of sunscreen, too.”
“Good job,” he assured her, and the teenager settled back in the seat, beaming at his praise.
Dell grinned across at him, blissfully unaware of his unsettled, uneasy frame of mind. “I love it,” she chided. “Big, macho men, so afraid of the little things. Like blistered feet.” She shook her head at him. “You’re nothing but a big baby, Jovi Treviño.”
He managed a smile. “That’s me,” he agreed affably. “A big baby when it comes to hot sand.” Or heartbreak, he thought, and then cursed himself silently. He was her employee, not her lover. She was attractive, yes, but the world was full of attractive women. She had no hold on him. Where had the idea of broken hearts come from? He turned the volume up on the radio and made a show of singing along with the song as if he were really wrapped up in the music, taking himself out of any further conversation.
Dell’s teasing smile faded, and she turned to look out the window again, making him wonder just how badly he sang. But the pretense served its purpose — no one was paying any attention to him, and his dark thoughts were safely stashed away. At least for the moment. When the towering bridge that would take them to Padre Island suddenly rose in the distance, and the girls gasped in excited surprise, he was as relieved as they were.
• • •
The sand was excruciatingly hot. Dell winced when she stepped out of her flowered flip-flops and scooped Becky up off the towel again, holding her close as she dashed for the damp, cool sand at water’s edge.
Becky smelled like a baby coconut thanks to all the lotions smeared on her little body. She also glowed bright pink, thanks to some new lotion all the girls loved. What would they think of next? Dell smiled as she set the toddler back in the gentle lap of the waves and turned to glance at their belongings, stashed under two of the bright orange shades they’d rented from a beach-side concession.
Jovi was leaning nonchalantly against an ice chest, mirrored sunglasses glinting in the sun. She’d felt strange when they’d first arrived, discarding the beach robe that covered her swimsuit. Jovi hadn’t commented, but she’d seen the open admiration in his gaze. The heat had burned almost as intensely as the sand under her bare feet. But it had been years since she’d indulged herself like this, and she had pushed away her uneasiness. He, too, had stripped down to his form fitting trunks and headed straight for the water, although he apparently had tired of swimming in the rocking surf faster than she and the girls. At least she felt comfortable now, immersed in water up to her waist, holding Becky as she pounded the water with her tiny feet and hands.
Nearby, Selina bobbed over the top of an incoming swell, followed by Amy and Michelle. The girls had been hesitant at first, unsure of the swimming skills they had acquired back at the ranch. That had been hours ago, though. Now she wasn’t sure she’d be able to drag them out if she needed to. They were as relaxed and as happy as she had ever seen them, and although she knew Jovi hadn’t meant to include them in this trip, she was glad he’d suggested it. She’d have to tell him.
“Let me take Becky,” Amy offered, coming over and holding out her hands to the little girl, who laughed and changed arms willingly enough.
“She’ll be fine,” Michelle assured, seeing Dell’s slight hesitation. The water’s only up to Amy’s waist, and she’s the shorty.” She ignored the tongue Amy stuck out in her direction. “Besides, we’ll all help. You should have fun.” She nudged Dell with her elbow. “Swim, or go keep poor Jovi company.”
Dell flicked another glance toward the beach. There were briefly clad female bodies all over the sand; she doubted Jovi was suffering. Many of the beauties were unattached, although there were some couples dotting the beach. Children ran everywhere, dodging the prostrate bodies of sun worshippers as they chased the seagulls or each other. Smiling, she decided to let the girls watch Becky for a few minutes. The tide was going out gently, protected by the jetty that extended out into the bay, and swimmers were everywhere. A quick glance showed that most of the nearby swimmers were families, grownups paying careful attention to their kids and the surroundings. The girls would be safe, and she could use something to drink.
She sloshed out of the water, realizing when she hit the sand that her legs were starting to ache from the vigorous exercise. The first two trips into the water with Becky had been a piece of cake, she realized. Third time in was the challenge.
She bent to pick up her flip-flops, able to bear the sand against her wet feet long enough to pad over to the sunshade. She ignored the dubious, mumbled compliment of a beer-bellied man sitting alone burning in the sand, and was glad she couldn’t read Jovi’s expression as she made it to her towel and sank down beside him. So much for being comfortable, she thought wryly as he smiled lazily at her and repositioned himself, his oiled muscles rippling and tautening.
“Had enough?” he asked, and she shrugged. He took off his glasses then, focusing on her, and the tiny flames dancing in his eyes seared her. Determinedly she fought back a blush, aware the scanty
top of her bikini wasn’t designed for shrugs — not with any modesty, anyway.
“No. You’re the one up here all alone,” she retorted. Then she remembered she’d come up to thank him. Out of the water, the heat was blistering. She touched her dry tongue to salty lips, and he watched her with unwavering interest.
“Would you give me a water?” she asked, and he smiled and turned to open the ice chest and rummage in it. He pulled out two dripping bottles and handed one to her, watching as she pressed the bottle to her face.
“Hot,” he said, and she opened the eyes pressed tightly shut against the sun, wondering exactly what he meant. He had turned his attention back to the water, though, so she let the comment hang in the air between them, as sultry and provocative as the day itself.
“So if you’re not exhausted, what brought you here?” he asked after opening his bottle and draining most of the contents in a long swallow.
She took a more moderate sip, letting the cool liquid re-moisturize her mouth, then caught herself just before another shrug. “The girls thought you looked lonely.”
He cast a glance around the beach, his gaze lingering pointedly on a couple of unaware sunbathers, and then grinned devilishly when her lips thinned. “That was kind of the girls,” he told her. “But I’m actually doing okay.”
She didn’t reply at once, trying to position herself comfortably while still keeping the girls with their bright pink skin where she could spot them easily. She couldn’t find the right angle and wiggled futilely against the bundles of towels and clothing behind her to no avail.
“Let me help,” Jovi said, and scooted off the ice chest to sit beside her on another towel. Fixing himself comfortably against the ice chest, he reached out a warm, bronzed arm and propped her against his shoulder.
She would have protested, but the fit was perfect. And there was really nothing overtly sexual about his move, just a comfortable heat that seeped slowly into her neck, shoulders, and back. Sighing a little, she relaxed against him, still gazing out toward where the girls were sitting at the water’s edge, laughing when the idle waves washed up over their legs.
“Perfect,” she said, and turned her head up to cast him a quick glance. “Don’t get a swelled head, though, Mr. Treviño. You’re a perfect recliner, and the day is perfect. I’m not talking about perfection of any other kind.”
“Shucks.” He smiled down at her and moved a hand to rearrange a wisp of hair that blew across her eyes, blurring her vision. “I thought you meant my body was perfect. You know? That Greek god kind of stuff? Movie star stuff?”
Off hand, Dell couldn’t think of a body, from the heavens or Hollywood, quite as attractive as the hard, sculpted one insinuated against hers. But there was no way she could admit that and still keep any distance between them, she knew. Emotional distance. The physical distance had completely disappeared, and the initial innocence of their skin touching was quickly turning into burning awareness. She knew she should simply stand up and walk back to the girls. She didn’t want to, though. She wanted to sit here, with the scorching sea breezes whipping their bodies, and the gulls crying overhead as they circled, and feel Jovi’s body pressing more closely against hers.
As if he knew her unspoken thoughts, Jovi’s arm tightened around her, and his lips brushed her windblown hair in a kiss. Startled, she looked up at him again. This time he bent down, and his mustache pricked her skin as he feathered a kiss against her cheeks. Then, unexpectedly, he eased her away and pushed the ice chest behind her to support her.
She said nothing, just stared at him in surprise.
“This is a really good time for me to go take care of the girls,” he muttered, and waved a hand toward a couple necking nearby on the sand, oblivious to the world. “I’m assuming that was not on your list of things to do at South Padre,” he added, and she blushed. It hadn’t been, but she wasn’t entirely sure she should have left it off. Inalcanzable, she reminded herself. She couldn’t lose herself in Jovi’s sensual embrace with the four girls just yards away, turning occasional glances their way.
She bit back a sigh and stood up, too. She even managed a slight smile.
“No. Definitely not on the list,” she agreed. He turned to go, and she touched his arm. He turned back, something both startled and hopeful in his expression. “Jovi?”
“Yes?”
“Thanks for suggesting this. I don’t think the girls will ever forget today.” She smiled, but from a distance again, and turned toward the water. “Come on. We’ll go try to pull the girls out before they become permanently wrinkled.”
She didn’t look back at him again. For a long moment, he just stood there watching her beat him down to the water’s edge. He should have said something, pushed a little harder to get closer to her. Instead he followed after her, not sure he would forget, either.
• • •
Getting the girls out wasn’t just difficult — it seemed impossible. Dell argued for a futile minute or two before giving in to the clamor to stay in, wrinkles and all. When Becky giggled and kicked up a waterspout, Dell laughed and splashed water back at all the girls. The splashing quickly became a battle, and the girls had the upper hand in number and effort.
“Let me help,” Jovi said behind her, and pushed Amy under an oncoming swell. She surfaced sputtering and laughing, and Selina and Michelle grabbed Dell, determined to dunk her. Becky giggled as Jovi snatched her out of Dell’s arms and waded into deeper water, a little removed from the battle.
“Smart girl,” Jovi said approvingly, as Becky clapped when Dell disappeared under the water. Becky turned her attention from Dell and the girls to a careful inspection of his ear, then crowed in excitement when she spotted a tour boat sliding off in the distance.
“Boat,” he explained, and then, with a smile, “and dolphins — look! By the boat.”
He stopped, feeling a little silly, but Becky was looking where he pointed almost as if she understood him.
“Dolphins,” the older girls chorused, swarming around him.
“Porpoises, actually, but — ”
“I never saw — ”
“They seem so tame — ”
The touch of a warm hand on his shoulder called his attention away from the boat, the dolphins — even the other girls.
Dell’s eyes sparkled. “Thank you.”
“For?”
“Realizing three-year-olds are people, too,” she explained. “Talking to Becky. She isn’t talking much yet, but she needs to hear the words.”
He shrugged it off and ran a hand over Becky’s water-flattened hair. “It’s nothing.”
The girls were entranced, staring after the boat and its escorts. Dell eased Becky back into her arms and thought of Maribel, alone at the ranch with Rosa. How could anyone not be touched by the beauty of the blue water, the dolphins surfacing unexpectedly and then disappearing, and the contentment so apparent on everyone’s faces? She shook her head and noticed Jovi watching her instead of the water.
“Problems?” he asked perceptively, and she shook her head again.
“No,” she assured him, “not really. I wish Maribel had come. Something like this might have helped her.”
“Maybe,” he said, without conviction.
“Dell, Jovi, look — over there — ” Michelle pointed at the jetty. “Look at all those people over there watching the boats. Can we go?”
Grasping at the girls’ sudden willingness to climb out of the water, Dell nodded in agreement. “Sure. We’ll walk over. I think our stuff will be safe.”
“I could stay,” Selina offered, glancing in the direction of the lifeguard’s tower. The bronzed, bleached kid in the chair shot her a brief smile before refocusing on the swimmers, and Dell managed not to laugh.
“Nope, not necessary,” she insisted. “Let’s stick together.”
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Selina’s mouth twitched, but she shrugged and obediently struck off across the sand, leaving the others trudging behind.
“She seems level-headed,” Jovi commented as the girls fanned out and left them to walk together.
“She’ll be eighteen in a few months.” Dell shifted Becky and glanced up at Jovi. “Patricia —
“Patricia?”
“The judge, but I went to school with her.”
“Oh.”
“Anyway, Selina will be free to go when she’s eighteen. She’s at the ranch sort of like she might be at a halfway house.” She smiled. “I think she’ll be okay, in the end.”
“Yeah.” He glanced out over the water, squinting a little at the freighter outlined against the horizon. “Might grow up to be a good mother, if the way she shepherds those other girls means anything.”
Dell didn’t answer, her attention caught by Amy’s precarious footing on the rocky edge of the jetty. She hadn’t thought to warn them how slippery —
Even as the thought occurred, a wave broke over the rocks. Amy shrieked in horror as the water hit her. She floundered, trying to regain her balance, but her shoes slipped and she fell into the surf, flailing and grabbing at the rocks.
Instinctively, Dell sprinted toward the scene, but Jovi spurted past. “Careful with Becky,” he admonished, and clambered down the rocks into the water, grabbing Amy and hoisting her out.
Another wave slammed into the jetty, and onlookers drew back, still murmuring and apprehensive. Selina and Michelle grabbed Amy and pulled her back toward Dell as Jovi scrambled back up over the rocks.
“Are you all right?” Dell demanded, hugging the girl as well as she could with a baby in her arms.
Amy nodded, but shivered. “Just scared,” she said shakily. Then she managed a small smile. “No waves at your pool.”
Unattainable Page 9
