“So you stayed in the Dominican Republic?” Jill prompted.
“Arnaud and Maria sat me down one day shortly after I had contacted my aunt. I was about to turn seventeen and they said that I was welcome to stay with them, but that I should strongly consider returning to the states to finish my education.” Fatigue was finally taking its toll and Brent found it hard to concentrate. “Long story short, I did return to the states. In the time that my father went missing, Aunt Rita had left her arts and crafts business and tried her hardest to maintain the staff at Warm Winds. The business had suffered drastically with Dad gone, but Aunt Rita informed me that I had a pretty decent amount of money tucked away in a trust for my education. I made it into UF−”
“Go Gators!” Jill inserted.
Brent laughed. “−and I was determined to salvage the business. It was crazy for awhile there, because I would commute from Gainesville to Sarasota on weekends to work. And then throw in a couple trips to Miami−”
“What was in Miami?”
“Well, funny thing happened. Some scouts from the University of Miami traveled to the Dominican Republic, and word of mouth had them making an excursion to Al’s small town. The story goes that they offered him a scholarship by the second pitch.”
Jill let loose a chuckle. “Is that a fish tale?”
“Could be, but damn his pitches are a work of art.”
“I’ve seen him. They are.”
“So,” Levity vanished. “You have to understand, Jill. The Petris are my family. And they are in trouble−”
“Say no more.” Jill propped up on an elbow and looked down at him. He could see her face in a slice of moonlight. Concern altered the trek of her eyebrows. “We will take care of this,” she whispered with husky conviction. “Do you know anything about the people holding them for ransom?”
“We?” Brent sat up and swung his legs off the bed. He saw a rose band forming on the horizon and glanced at the clock. 6:15am. Damn. “No, we won’t.” He turned around. “Jill, this is an extremely volatile situation, and I want you as far away from it as possible. I told you this…I told you everything tonight because I owed you an explanation. I owed you the truth for all I’ve put you through, and also…” he sighed and met her eyes, “−also because I felt I could share it with you.”
Jill scrambled off the bed but he backed away, out of reach. “It’s over now, Jill. I wish−God I wish it could be different, but tomorrow I will be getting off this ship and I can’t look back. I don’t know what I’m going into. I don’t know if−” She looked so beautiful in that first blush of the morning. She was disheveled and her lips were parted, waiting for the chance to interrupt him. “It’s time for you to get back to your mother and get on with your cruise−and I hope you can forgive me.”
“Are you through?” she asked.
“Yes. I am.”
“You have one more day until you leave this ship. Do you need Luis, or do you know where you have to go once you get there? Are the Petris being held in their home?”
“Jill,” he warned.
“Listen to me. The point I’m trying to make is that whether I’m with you for the next 24 hours or not makes no difference. I can help you.”
“It makes a goddamn bit of difference if Luis comes after you.” Brent rubbed at the back of his neck and started to pace. “And how in God’s name are you going to help me?”
Jill stepped up to him and placed her hands on his shoulders trying to cease his pacing. She lifted up on her toes and touched her lips to his cheek. It tickled and it scorched at the same time.
“Like that,” she whispered.
“No,” he croaked. “That’s going to do anything but help.”
“If there is a chance that I can spend more time with you before you leave…whatever the consequences may be,” her eyes were plaintive. “Let me just have some of that 24 hours, Brent.”
She had lowered back down onto flat feet, but her palms were still pasted to his shoulders and her chin was tilted up towards him, the first ray of dawn dusting across her lips. Hunger possessed him. He lowered his head and brushed his mouth against hers. Just that brief caress was more than any man could withstand. His lips parted and hers joined in the dance. Slipping his arms around her back he pulled her in close against him and felt the rush he had on the dance floor.
Need flooded him and he nestled that desire into the satin fabric of her dress. He felt the rumble that emanated from Jill’s throat expand to hum throughout her body as she clutched his shoulders. His hands were in a quandary, tempted by the curve of her rear and the swell of the breasts crushed against him. Opting to divide and conquer, one hand slipped down her back and swept over the arch of her bottom, cupping it and using that motion to draw her hips up tight against his. The other hand crept in between their bodies and his fingertip toyed with the exposed flesh at the neckline of her dress.
“Brent,” Jill gasped against his lips.
The sound drew him from a descent into passion.
“Jill.” he rested his forehead against hers and tried to control his breathing.
He cupped her arms and maneuvered enough space to allow airflow between their bodies. “I can’t do this.”
It was so hard to say those words when his body was throbbing in contradiction. “I have no protection. I sure as hell wasn’t planning on needing any when I rushed onto this ship. And−” he cleared his throat, “−and if I’m going to be out of your life tomorrow−what if something happened? What if you got pregnant?”
Jill dipped her head down so that the crown of her hair rested against his collarbone. Her speech was muffled. “Why do you have to be out of my life? Why can’t I see you again…after−”
That thought was a temptation he could not permit himself.
“I don’t know what is going to happen here, Jill.” It sounded foreboding, but it was true. He had jumped into this extortion situation heart first and he had no clue what the condition actually was in Santo Domingo. “I have no idea if they even have Al’s parents or if it’s all a gamble on their part. This is not something that’s going to wrap itself up in a day or two…or a week…”
He held her back far enough that he could look in her eyes…eyes shadowed with layers of passion, desperation, and an affection that caused a bout of queasiness in his stomach.
“I don’t know what the future holds right now, and with that doubt, I can’t bring someone into my life. I didn’t mean to lead you on, Jill. I never meant to lead you on. God help me, I didn’t want that. But you are so damn beautiful, so special, and you make me want what I can’t have.”
Chapter Seven
Get a grip, Jill. Step back.
She chanced a look at the face of the man that was making her heart drum a cadence no band could keep up with. Sunlight invaded the chamber and she stared at his pale scar with a combination of horror and tenderness. Now the crazy cowlick that kept his hair in disarray made sense. Beneath the dark hairline another scar lurked and she had to force her hand to remain submissive and not reach for it.
Brent was protecting her. Not physically. He was trying to guard her from getting hurt. Neither of them had enforced their distance, though. It was the fact that they couldn’t keep their hands off each other that had complicated matters.
Her heart was breaking for the teenager whose world was ripped apart. But before her stood the man that the teenager had evolved into−and this man was resplendent with honor. She looked at him in a new light, as if his shoulders were all the more broad and his height climbed higher than six feet. The indecision and regret in his eyes was real, though.
“Give me this day, Brent,” she whispered. “Just this day, and the future will play itself out. You know that it’s too late. You can’t spare me from being a frantic wreck over what happens to you, so let’s just allow ourselves this. Besides, I need you to hold my hand when I go to security to report the break in.”
“Like hell you do,” he chuckled. “I’
ve seen how intimidated you are by things. God help the rest of the world if you’ve got a mission in mind.”
“I have a mission in mind.” She reached up and touched his face, watching as his eyelids dropped closed and a dent of pain formed on his brow. “Okay, hold my hand when I tell my mother about the break in.”
“Jill−”
“I won’t be a distraction.”
“Like hell you won’t.”
Brent rubbed his eye with the ball of his palm. “Damn, I’m tired.”
“It’s almost seven. You could take a nap. I’m sure the security office isn’t open until nine.”
“I would have hoped they were open 24 hours,” he smiled, but cast the bed a longing glance. “I couldn’t sleep if you were lying next to me.”
“Mmmm,” Jill tapped her chin. “Yeah, the same goes for me.” She took his hand and started tugging towards the bed. “You lay down and I’ll take a shower. How about that?”
Brent tugged back and when she was close enough he dipped his head and kissed her. “How about that?” No less than the time it took him to retreat from the kiss he was shaking his head. “Dammit, that wasn’t really exhibiting control was it?”
The touch of his lips still lingered. She wanted nothing more than to repeat it and sate the passion pent up inside her−passion waiting for a man just like this. But her ardent hero knelt on the edge of the bed and spilled diagonally across it, his head falling within an inch of the pillow. He didn’t seem to care to adjust for that fact so she rounded the bed, lifted his head and tucked the quilted pillow beneath it. His eyes were closed and he murmured gratitude.
Jill leaned down to brush her lips on the disheveled hair and caught a glimpse of the aberrant part. A white slash rooted in a tuft of auburn hair. She leaned further and kissed it, whispering, “Sleep now.”
***
Their stop in the Security office lasted nearly an hour with promises that the surveillance tapes would be studied to determine the perpetrator. Fortunately, the Majesty was not booked to capacity so Jill was assigned a new cabin−an upgraded room with a balcony. It meant nothing to her. Her mind was elsewhere, such as on the tall man in jeans and a white short-sleeved shirt beside her. His jaw was a shade darker as they hastened out of the cabin without an opportunity for him to shave. Lines crept from the corners of his eyes when he smiled, nodding his gratitude to the balding security officer. Brent turned towards Jill and she could see the traces of fatigue there, but it did not detract from his appeal. Who was she kidding? At this stage he could have one eye, and a hunched back and she would still be attracted to him.
“And there was nothing missing, Miss Perry, correct?”
The man behind the desk awaited her answer with his pen raised.
“Correct,” she cleared her throat. “I don’t carry any expensive jewelry or cash with me, so there was really nothing of value in the cabin.”
Under the fluorescent lighting the man’s forehead glistened as his pen flowed with vigor. “Very wise, Miss Perry. It makes our job easier, and it makes your burglar very frustrated, I imagine. No one has reported any cabins broken into yet this morning,” he looked up at the black stenciled clock on the wall, “but it is early.”
“Are you ready?” Brent touched her elbow.
“Mmm hmm.”
With a brief nod at the security officer, Brent steered her towards the door and flashed a quick grin. “Okay, now your mom.”
Why Jill felt nervous at that prospect was beyond her. She had no choice but to report the break in to her mother. She had to account for the change in cabins.
“And you want to come with me for this? You are truly a courageous man.”
“Masochist, you mean.”
Catherine Perry was in the Leeward Dining Room busily chatting with Betsy over the jingle of silverware against porcelain. George Tarantino picked up a piece of bacon with one hand and used the other to hold open a brochure on the table.
“Hi Mom.”
Catherine glanced up and smiled with pearly pink lips. Her gaze shifted to absorb Brent’s presence and her mouth coiled into a playful grin.
“Mr. Coales.” She tipped her head.
“Mrs. Perry.” He tipped in kind. “You ladies are looking lovely this morning.”
George snorted, but did not look up from his brochure.
“What are you two up to?” Catherine asked. “I’ve given up asking if you want to join us, Jill, but now I certainly understand why. Your friend, Mr. Coales here is very persuasive.”
Jill wanted to reach for his hand but thought better of it. “That he is. Mom, ummm, something happened last night−” No sooner had she gotten the words out and Catherine was half off her seat.
“Your knee?”
“No, not my knee.”
Fortified by Brent’s presence, Jill told the tale of returning to her cabin last night to find that it was broken into. As the security office was not open at 3am, and it not being a proper time to bother her mother, she opted to sleep a couple hours on Brent’s couch. In the morning she was assigned a new cabin.
Catherine sipped a glass of water and shifted her glance back and forth between Jill and Brent. To Jill’s complete mortification, Brent spoke up. “Don’t worry, Mrs. Perry. As much as I find your daughter very attractive, and well−” Jill swallowed when he turned to look at her before adding, “−pretty damn special.” He returned his attention to Catherine. “She was safe on my couch is all I’m saying.”
George dropped his bacon.
To Jill it seemed one of those moments where all the noise in the dining room had ceased and everyone was watching them. Catherine locked Brent in a stare down and finally set her water glass back on the table. “That would be the story of Jill’s life. Always safe on the couch.”
“Mom!”
“Oh hush, dear.” Silverware resumed its cadence in the vaulted hall. “I trust Mr. Coales will treat you with respect. He knows that if he doesn’t I will hunt him down and feed him to the sharks.”
Beside her, Jill heard Brent choke down a laugh. “Indeed,” he said. “Your daughter has many of your traits. I would not cross either of you.”
“Oh God,” Jill muttered. “I’ll talk to you later, Mom. We’re going into St. Thomas this morning.”
“Oh, good,” Betsy injected with an enthusiastic smile. “Maybe we’ll see you there.”
“Maybe.” Jill started backing away and narrowed her eyes at Brent to follow, but he took his time saying his goodbyes. It pained her that he looked so at ease at that table, and that her impossible mother seemed to get along with him.
As they walked away, Brent said, “I like your mom. She cares about you.”
“She’s my mother…she is supposed to care. But she needs to acknowledge my age at some stage in my life.”
“Your age being?” Brent grinned as he pressed the button for the elevator.
“29. Well, 30 in a month.” Jill searched his face.
“34. 35 in eight months,” Brent smiled at her inspection.
“Mmmm,” she stepped into the elevator. “You look older.”
“Thanks.”
In the privacy of the elevator he took her shoulders in his hands and pulled her to him for a hard kiss. It shook her to the core.
“So,” he said, setting her back. “Are you sure you’re up for going into St. Thomas?”
Jill gaped and finally corralled her reaction. “You’re the one going on a little over an hour of sleep.”
“I’m torn, Jill.”
His demeanor changed. She was enjoying the playful side of Brent, but the man with the scars emerged.
“I am torn between wanting to spend every waking second of the next 24 hours with you−and not sacrifice a minute of it to sleep…and yet,” he held his hand out for her to get off the elevator and then resumed once they were in the lobby. “And yet, I need my strength for tomorrow.”
The notion was sobering. “Do you want to stay here?” She reached fo
r his arm to slow his progress down across the atrium floor. The sweep of his eyes across the crowd did not go unnoticed. “You really should stay, Brent.”
“If I stay, I will make myself insane. Thinking about them. Thinking about you.” He looked directly at her and Jill felt her throat constrict. “Just give me a few minutes to talk to Al, and we’ll head into town.”
“Okay.”
Offering him some privacy, Jill wandered over to a kiosk full of Neptune Majesty souvenirs. In the mirror behind the cash register she could see him gesticulating with his hand, the tension in his profile truly making him look older than 34. It sounded corny, but her heart ached when she watched him. The pain was for the atrocities the teenage boy had to face. And also the pain for the man heroically seeking to protect his friend…his brother−and a family that took him in as their own. Her heart ached for all that Brent Coales tempted her with. In a few short days she was more comfortable with a man than she had ever been in her life. Fate loved its cruel twists.
Brent stored the cell phone back in his shirt pocket and his eyes met hers across the distance. He didn’t move as travelers passed between them in their haste to reach the next activity. Brent didn’t break that connection. He watched her with the same sober intensity she felt. In this link−the ship−even the world, faded.
Not breaking her gaze, Brent crossed the carpet and approached. He reached for her and pulled her into his embrace, his arms strong barriers wrapped around her back, and his chest the shield of a warrior. She tucked her face into his collarbone as he stroked her hair and dipped to whisper in her ear.
“Maybe we can find you some decent sunglasses in town.”
Jill snorted into his shirt.
“Although I am rather fond of the Chihuahua look,” he added and she could feel his lips curl into a smile on top of her head.
Emotional Waves Page 9
