by Susan Hayes
She wasn’t the heroine in anyone’s story. Lexa had figured out a long time ago that the best she could hope for in life would be the role of sidekick. Spunky, funny, and fun to flirt with, but never the one the heroes took home at the end of the day. Especially not in a place like this, where it seemed like every women she saw was all long legs and golden tans. And speaking of tans, I need to remember to buy more sunscreen today or by the end of the week I’ll be nothing but red, peeling skin.
Lexa managed to get herself back on her feet and reached for the shampoo. She needed to pull her shit together, do some shopping, and find herself a dress and shoes for the auction. It was going to be a busy day.
It was well after noon by the time she headed outside, keeping her eyes carefully shielded from the glaring midday sun. More aspirin, coffee, and some dry toast had helped her past the worst of the hangover, but she still didn’t enjoy being out in the light of day.
She hopped into the driver’s seat of the Jeep she’d learned was part of her inheritance. It wasn’t new, but it was in far better condition than the junker she’d had back in Reno. As she pulled into the light traffic and headed into town, she let the beautiful scenery and the warm wind on her face lift her spirits and erase a little more of the hangover’s lingering effects. By the time she was done shopping, she was hoping she’d be feeling up to dealing with Simon’s calls and maybe even making an actual home cooked meal.
It was late afternoon by the time she got home again, and she was so laden down with shopping bags that she almost missed the bouquet of roses resting on the front stairs. Who the hell is leaving me roses? Hardly anyone knows I’m here. She set down the bags and picked up the flowers, admiring the coral and orange shaded petals. She was careful not to bruise them as she dug through the blooms looking for a card. Instead, she found a note, and as she read it her pleasure and curiosity at the surprise gift faded away, replaced by a sense of unease.
Lovely Lexa,
I understand that your activities last night might leave you feeling under the weather. I hope these flowers ease your headache and brighten your day, just as your presence yesterday brightened mine. I trust I will see you tomorrow at the marina so you can learn more about the business you have entrusted to my care.
Simon
“How the hell would he know where I was and what I was doing last night?” she muttered as she read through the note a second time before stuffing it her pocket. She brought the flowers with her, tossing them gently onto a table before going back out to retrieve the results of a day’s intense shopping.
As she stepped back out onto the porch, she found herself staring down at the marina, and her stomach twisted slightly as she spotted Simon leaning out on the deck that wrapped around the office, staring back up at her.
Now that’s just creepy.
Lexa headed back inside, bags in tow, and took an extra moment to make sure the door was securely locked behind her. She was probably being paranoid, but something about the wording of the note was bothering her. Not just the fact he seemed to know where she was last night, but the reference to her entrusting the marina to him. She hadn’t made up her mind about anything yet, and she didn’t like the idea of Simon making those sorts of presumptions.
She set her parcels down on the couch and fished the note out of her pocket again. After reading it a few more times she wasn’t any closer to an answer, so she tossed it onto the table beside the roses and decided to worry about it later. She had bigger issues to deal with for the next few days, like finalizing the estate paperwork, learning more about the marina business, and figuring out which of the two dresses she’d bought she was going to wear to next week’s charity auction.
Until a few weeks ago, she’d only ever been on the receiving end of charity, never a donor. Her life had definitely taken a turn into the Twilight Zone.
Chapter 6
They weren’t even at the hotel yet and Diego was already tugging at his tie in irritation. “You’d think that was a noose the way you’re fighting with it. It’s just a tie, man. It’s not going to suddenly come to life and strangle you,” Beau teased.
Diego glowered back at him. “Says you. I hate these things.” He flicked at the bit of red silk with disgust.
“All men hate them, but they go with the rest of the monkey suit, and women love the suit-and-tie look, so leave it alone. If you walk in there looking all rumpled, your mom is going to skin me alive for letting you out in public looking like you can’t dress yourself, and then she’s going to start in on how we need a woman to take care of us.”
At that bit of logic, Diego seemed to settle and he managed to get the tie passably straight by the time they had parked and were walking into the hotel lobby. They’d been here often enough that they didn’t need the discreet signs pointing the way to the ornate ballroom that had been taken over for this affair.
Heavy velvet curtains hung in elegant lines from ceiling to floor, helping to muffle the noise of the gathering crowd, and large crystal chandeliers bathed the entire room in subtle golden light. Discretely lit white columns framed the space and drew the eye along the length of the room to where a small dais had been set up for the auction portion of the evening.
As they joined the throngs of people already seated at their designated tables, Beau felt a sense of inevitability come over him. This was what adulthood looked like. Going to functions at the same place, seeing the same people, and hearing the same stories they’d heard a hundred times before. There was a lot to be said for living in a smaller town. The sense of community, the friendships and ties that went back generations, but right now all Beau was feeling was a sense of vast déjà vu.
I need a change. He glanced over at his partner and amended that thought. We both need a change.
Maybe when this drug problem was finally dealt with he’d talk to Diego about going away for a vacation. Somewhere different, somewhere with new faces. Maybe that’s where they’d finally escape the memory of the girl who had gotten away and find someone to complete their family.
Beau grabbed a drink off a passing waiter’s tray and took a deep gulp. He’d just voluntarily started thinking about a wife and family. Something was definitely wrong with him. He took another drink and realized Diego had pulled ahead of him and was making a beeline for a table at the far side of the room. Clearly he’d spotted their families. It was an unbreakable rule that at events like this, their two families sat close to each other. All four fathers were close friends, and their mothers had long since declared themselves sisters in spirit and had no reservations about parenting each other’s children or managing the men whether they were married to them or not.
After the hugs and greetings were done, he found himself seated between Diego and Diego’s younger sister Maria. She grinned at him dark eyes alight with mischief and Beau immediately knew that this evening wasn’t going to be as predictable as he’d expected. Maria only looked that pleased with herself when chaos was about to erupt.
“What’s got you looking like the cat that swallowed an entire pet shop’s worth of canaries?” he asked, but she just gave him a knowing smile and shrugged.
“Oh, nothing much. I happened to be serving drinks to an old friend of yours the other night is all. If you two had stuck around the Kraken you’d know all about it. Since you wandered off without talking to me, I’ve decided you and my big brother can just find out for yourselves.”
Beau reached out and tweaked one of Maria’s curls, eliciting the same childish squeal she had reacted with the first time he’d done it to her back when she still wore her hair in pigtails. He knew that both mothers had hoped for a romance to blossom between him and Maria at one point, but when it had become clear that Beau and Diego intended to enter a ménage marriage together, the mothers had focused their matchmaking talents elsewhere. A good thing, too, because Beau felt about Maria the way he felt about his own sister, Patricia.
“If you think pulling my hair is going to get me to tell
you anything, you haven’t learned anything about me despite us being friends all these years,” she sassed him, grinning wider now.
“I don’t think you’re going to tell me anything, I just like making you squeal, piglet.” Beau grinned right back at her, entirely unconcerned by the storm clouds that gathered in her eyes as he used her most despised nickname.
“You did not just call her that!” Diego groaned and dramatically moved his chair further away from Beau. “Mom, this wasn’t my fault. Whatever happens, it’s all on him this time.”
Both mothers glanced up from their conversation and fixed Beau with a steely-eyed stare that made him feel about five years old.
“Beauregard Christopher Rivers, I raised you better than that.” Colleen Rivers’s gentle Cajun accent did nothing to take the edge off her words. “You will apologize this minute, or I will pull your ear right off your head, do you hear me?”
“Oh, man, she used your middle name. You’re toast.” Diego snickered and then stopped as his mother turned her attention on him.
“Don’t you laugh, Diego Montgomery Mendez.” His mother scolded him firmly. “I know you came to the Kraken the other night and then left again without so much as a kiss for your mother. You should have stayed, my boy, now you have to wait to find out what your sister and I already know.”
“You told Mom but not us? C’mon, sis, that’s not fair.” Diego flashed Maria his most charming smile but got nothing but laughter in return.
“I told Colleen, too, but you’re not getting another word out of me, big brother. You’ll just have to wait and see.” Maria rubbed her hands together and chortled. “This is going to be good.”
“Really, do try to have some decorum, my girl.” Jennifer Mendez frowned at her daughter. “You’d think you were all raised by wolves the way you’re behaving.”
“Speaking of wild animals…” Beau inclined his head toward two late arrivals. “It looks like the twins are joining us at last.”
“Late, as usual,” both mothers said at the same time with identical expressions of disapproval on their faces as the youngest members of the Mendez family arrived. Beau took advantage of the distraction to take another sip of his drink. Whatever was going to happen tonight, he suddenly had the distinct impression that an immunizing cocktail might be a very good idea.
Diego snagged a drink of his own, and gave Beau a look that said they were thinking along the same lines. Whatever was coming their way, it couldn’t be too bad or their families wouldn’t be looking forward to it with such glee, but that didn’t mean that they were going to like it much.
The waiters were just bringing out the appetizers when the bombshell hit, and Beau suddenly knew what it meant when people said their jaws dropped to the floor in shock. For the first time in his life, his mouth fell open and the ability to form words left him. Standing at the doorway, looking more than a little lost, was the one person he wanted to see more than anyone else in the world. Lexa Fox had come back to Sunset Point.
Still unable to make his mouth work, Beau jabbed Diego in the arm and then pointed to the door in mute shock as Maria started to giggle. His best friend’s mouth seemed to be working fine because he caught a string of Spanish curses flowing from Diego’s lips as he stared in disbelief at the apparition at the doorway.
Her hair was the same jet black as he remembered, and her wide gray eyes still dominated her sweet face, but the gawky girl of his memories had been transformed into a curvaceous goddess that made Beau’s dick stand up and take notice.
She was wearing something dark blue and flowing, low cut enough that Beau could see that puberty had been more than kind to Lexa. It had been downright generous. The dress flattered her figure and he was tempted to stand up and see if her legs were as gorgeous as the rest of her, but before he could Maria put a hand on his arm.
“Down, boy. You look like about ready to charge across the room and jump her. You want to dial it back a bit before you scare her away? Geez, and I thought you were the calm one.” Maria nodded to Diego, who was currently being held in place by both of his younger brothers, their hands on his shoulders the only thing keeping him in his chair. “If you had stuck around the other night, she was there at the Kraken. I take it neither of you had a clue she was back in town?”
“Nuh uh. We had no idea.” Beau’s mouth was working again, after a fashion. “Damn, she looks good.”
“Better than good,” Diego agreed, still drinking in the sight of her. She’d worn her hair down loose and Beau was pleased to see she wore it long. He liked long hair on his women. It gave him something to wrap his fingers in when he was kissing them.
The thought of kissing the beauty standing across the room had all the blood in his body surging to his cock and Beau knew he was in serious trouble. No woman had ever made him this hot, not even as a horny teenager. Then again, none of them had been Lexa Fox, the girl he’d be dreaming of since the day she’d disappeared out of life.
“Who the fuck is that with her?” Diego snarled and Beau spotted a man slipping an arm around Lexa’s waist and escorting her into the room.
“It looks like she came with Simon. You know, the manager of the marina. We met him last week when we were checking the marinas for people living aboard their boats. Fuck! How long has she been back? We were right there and we had no idea.”
“You both have really impressive detection skills,” Maria snickered and nodded toward Simon. “He must have been getting to know her, since I guess he works for her now.”
“He better not be getting to know her too well,” Beau grumbled and drained the rest of his drink. He watched Lexa walk to a table near the front and seat herself with Sam Woods and his family, noting the stiff way she held herself until Simon released her to draw out her chair.
Whatever was going on between them, it didn’t look like it was anything serious, at least not on her part. Which was a damned good thing, because now that she was back, Beau knew without a doubt who should be at her side, and it sure as hell wasn’t Simon Johnson.
He looked over at Diego who was watching Lexa with the same intensity Beau was feeling. That was their girl, and before the night was out they were finally going to find out where she’d vanished to all those years ago. They were finally going to get the chance to spend some time with her and see if the girl they’d loved had grown into a woman they could truly fall in love with.
Beau’s brain slammed on the brakes and hit reverse, playing back the last thought he’d had. Had he really just thought about falling in love with a woman he’d not even spoken to yet? Beau sighed inwardly. He needed to get his head together before they went over there, otherwise he’d likely babble something completely insane.
Before he could talk to Diego and form a plan, a host of waiters appeared through the doors on either side of the ballroom and made their way to the tables with the first course, grilled tiger prawns resting on a bed of leafy greens with a light dressing drizzled over it. By the exclamations of the women at the table, it was something impressive but Beau couldn’t focus on anything other than Lexa.
“Score!” Maria chortled and speared one of Beau’s prawns. “If you and my brother are just going to stare moon-eyed at Lexa all night, I’m totally eating your food, too.”
“Huh? Oh, sure, be my guest.” Beau pushed his plate toward Maria. “Diego, do you think we have time to slip over there before the first round of the auction?”
Diego shook his head and pointed to the figure of Gladys Humphries bustling over from her table to step onto the small dais that had been set up. She waited a few minutes and then politely cleared her throat to gain everyone’s attention. “Hello, everyone, it’s so lovely to see you all here tonight supporting such a wonderful cause. It’s always hard to see the children of this community go off to find their fortunes on the mainland, but this scholarship fund makes sure that they can have the best of educations and then bring those skills right back here where we need them the most.”
&nb
sp; Everyone applauded politely and she smiled and toyed with one of the many rings on her fingers for a moment, waiting for the applause to die down before continuing. “Tonight we’ll be changing things up and starting the auction with one of our most popular items instead of leaving it to last…when all your pocketbooks are already feeling lighter. The first item up for bid is a romantic cruise onboard the Dolphin Bay Marina’s vessel, the Fox’s Fancy.”
Gladys smiled down at Sam’s table, where Sam was already beginning to stand when she said, “And coming up here to help me convince you to part with your hard earned money is someone who hasn’t been with us in a very long time. Alexandra Fox, come up here, dear, and let everyone say hello.”
Sam smiled and stepped around to help Lexa up onto the dais, dropping his head to whisper something to her before letting go of her hand with a fatherly smile of pride. Beau had almost forgotten that Sam had once been part of Lexa’s life, and seeing the way the older man looked at her now made Beau remember that it wasn’t just he and Diego who had lost something precious the day Lexa had disappeared.
“She’s perfect,” Diego said, his voice pitched low enough only Beau could hear him. “I told you she was the one.”
“And I never said she wasn’t. I wanted it to be her, too. God, I wanted that.” Beau shifted in his seat, trying to will his cock back down so that he’d be able to go talk to her as soon as the bidding was over.
Gladys took Lexa’s hand and squeezed it, drawing her closer to the mic. “This is Chris’s daughter, Alexandra. She left us a long time ago, but she’s come back to us now and I hope you can all give her a proper island welcome.” Everyone applauded loudly and Beau swore he heard a couple of wolf whistles coming from around the room.
