Payne: A Bad Boy Romance: (With bonus book Mine)

by Kim Linwood

  “There’s enough time for that after hours, Hunter,” Blaze snaps.

  Ignoring him, I cross my arms over my chest and survey the crowd at the bottom like the tribal king I’m supposed to be. “If I marry, it’s going to be for love.” Liz meets my searching gaze with her contact-free, warm brown eyes. “Everyone standing here today has worked hard, and gotten my attention, but can they love me?”

  Is that rattling I hear Blaze’s eyes rolling in their sockets? Is that horrible grinding noise his teeth? It’s amazingly difficult to keep a straight face through this. “If there’s anyone here that doesn’t see us in their future, her and me, forever in love, then stand up now and I’ll send them home with an all-inclusive cruise of their choice for themselves and a guest.”

  Bianca glances over at Danny before stepping forward. Her smile is apologetic. “I’m really sorry, Hunter. You’re a great guy and everything, but I have to be honest and say that you’ll be better off with one of the others.” She flips her long, black braid over her shoulder and shrugs at the camera. “I’ll take the cruise. Thank you, and good luck!”

  Danny’s grin is so wide it must hurt. He can thank me later.

  “Wha—You can’t just… this isn’t…” Blaze sputters in confusion.

  And then there were three. This should be fun.

  Amanda and Megan grin up at me. Liz looks almost as confused as Blaze, but not nearly as angry. She knows there’s some sort of plan, but I didn’t get the details nailed down until this morning.

  “Just Bianca?” I ask. After an appropriate pause to give Blaze a few more seconds of looking like a blubbering idiot, I start the festivities. “Well then…” I throw my hands out dramatically, striking a pose for the cameras. “Show me what you’ve got, ladies!”

  They throw themselves at the slides, having to wade through the knee deep pool at the bottom first. The slope starts gradually, but quickly turns nearly vertical. The crew watches and cheers them on as the girls slip and slide; grabbing hand-holds, only to lose their footing and struggle not to fall back to the bottom.

  No surprise, Megan is fastest, making it most of the way up before an unexpected spurt of water catches her square in the face. Tumbling to the bottom, she lands with a huge splash and a shriek. She sits up and slaps the water with her palms in frustration, though she’s laughing like she’s having the time of her life. In no time, she’s back up and trying again.

  “Let’s make this interesting!” Blaze shouts, just as Liz and Amanda are neck and neck around the halfway point.

  What the fuck? I guess Blaze still has a couple of things up his sleeve. Doesn’t matter.

  Bubbles form along the top of the volcano and start to drip down the slides. From where I’m standing, it’s clear Amanda’s slide is getting a lot less than the others.

  All three of them are struggling, but Liz is having a hard time just staying where she is, let alone making ground. Megan slips again, rolling head over heels into the pool at the bottom. Only Amanda is making any progress.

  Shit. At this rate, Amanda will be the only one who reaches the top. Dropping to my knees above Liz’s slide, I cheer her on while I search under the ledge of the platform with my fingers. With any luck, it just looks like I’m leaning on it for support.

  I find a thin plastic tube that’s vaguely vibrating. Hoping for the best, I tear it loose and throw it at the ground, where it continues to pump out green liquid in pulsing spurts. Blaze yells something that doesn’t matter and I ignore him. After that, it doesn’t take long before Liz and Megan’s slides look the same as Amanda’s.

  Megan and Amanda might be wearing bikinis, but Liz is sexier than both of them, all wet and sudsy. Her white t-shirt clings to her chest, and her bra’s equally soaked. I can just about make out the dark circles of her nipples underneath. Taking my time to make sure, I must be too obvious, because she shakes her head and rolls her eyes.

  I wink and shrug. She can’t blame me for looking. Right?

  Amanda is first to the top, and I give her a big, wet hug. “You sure you’re okay with this?” There’re mics along the platform edge, so I keep my voice to a whisper.

  She nods.

  Liz is next, slapping a hand down on top of the volcano and hauling herself up. She’s laughing as she does it, arms and legs shaking. The most beautiful drowned rat I’ve ever seen.

  I pull her into a hug as well. “I want to kiss you, but I’ve never had my mouth washed out with soap before, and I’m not about to start now.”

  She laughs and shoves me away, her fingers slipping on my skin. Some ideas that are extremely inappropriate at the top of a plastic volcano surrounded by cameras cross my mind. Depending on how this goes, I might need to add bubble bath in the hot-tub to my list of fantasies.

  Megan finally vaults over the side, grinning and bouncing in place. I give her a double high-five while she bursts out, “I still get an honorable mention, right?” Turning to the crowd she raises her hands high above her head. “Right?” They cheer.

  Blaze clears his throat. “You’re all winners in my book, but in the end, there can be only one. The race is finished, and there’s no doubt about it. First to the top was Amanda!”

  “Stop!” Amanda yells, turning to face the crowd. “I can’t do this.” She looks at me and smiles sadly. We both know what she’s going to say, but I’m sure it doesn’t make it any easier. “I’m a fraud. Blaze only planted me in this show to win because we’re supposed to split the money you’re going to offer us.” She turns back to Blaze. “This is where it ends. I’m not going to do this, and you don’t deserve it. The game’s up.”

  I try to look appropriately shocked, but even if I don’t, there are more than enough jaws dropping to make a good cut. It takes guts to stand up in front of all the cameras and admit to the world that you’ve screwed up. I don’t like what she did, but I respect Amanda for trying to set it right. Unfortunately, the producers will spin her as a villain, and she knows it.

  Blaze sputters, shaking his head in denial. “I have no idea what she’s talking about. I’m just the host.” His eyes widen as two uniformed members of the Royal Virgin Islands Police Force walk out from behind an equipment tent, looking grim. Holding his hands up, he backs up. “This is ridiculous. She’s crazy! You don’t have any proof.”

  Amanda bats her big blue eyes and taps her chin. “Hmmmmm. That’s right. None. Oh! Except for the recording I made of our last conversation before today’s challenge.” She stops and cocks her head like she’s trying to remember something. “What was it you said? Something about Sarah being out of the way and you taking care of the challenge?” She sounds sugar sweet but her words cut like a knife. “And you don’t think I actually deleted those emails, do you? I’m sure the officers can confirm they make for some very interesting reading.”

  Not watching where he’s going, Blaze catches his heel on the edge of the platform and like in slow motion, his arms spin and his face goes slack as he tumbles over the side. His back hits the water with a splash, and he disappears under the surface of the very soapy water. He bursts out, spitting and coughing, his head a pyramid of foam.

  The officers fish him out and drag him to his feet. He shouts and swears loudly all the way off the beach as they drag him away. For once I’m glad Dad got his way. This is going to make amazing TV.

  Nodding with an expression of approval, I turn to the crowd. “Well then. It looks like they have everything well in hand. Let’s have a round of applause for Tortola’s finest, shall we?” The spectators, few of whom have any reason whatsoever to like Blaze, burst out in cheers and clapping. I give them a little time, before I hold up my hands. They quiet, nobody sure what I’m going to do now.

  I turn, my eyes locking squarely on Liz’s. “Now, where were we?”

  48

  Liz

  “I… we…” I look around for help from Megan and Amanda, but they do little fingertip waves and throw themselves at the slides, bumping and laughing their ways d
own to the pool at the bottom.

  Traitors.

  “I guess it’s just you and me now.”

  Hunter looks at me with a maddeningly cocky smile and drops to one knee.

  My jaw drops and I grab for his shoulders and pull. “Stand up!”

  “No.”

  “Seriously! Stand. Up!” What the hell does he think he’s doing?

  Not bothered by my panic, he forges on. “Elizabeth Lindsay Bissette, recently known as Sarah Dreyer, will you—”

  “Stop!” My face burns and my heart is being torn in a million directions.

  He grabs my shaking hands and holds them between his own. “Will you do me the honor of—”

  “I won’t marry you!” I blurt out. “Not like this!”

  Do I love him? Yes, absolutely yes. I’ve loved him since I was too young to even understand what that means. Do I want to get proposed to in yesterday’s clothes without even talking to him first, while on top of a giant fake volcano, in front of fifty people I barely know, surrounded by cameras?

  Oh, hell no.

  “Elizabeth Lindsay Bissette, frustrating as you might be, will you do me the honor of buying my island?”

  I fall to my knees in front of him, nearly hyperventilating. “What?” I whisper.

  He scoots forward, cupping my chin and looking straight into my soul. “Will you buy my island?”

  Buy his island? He’s not asking me to—

  But—

  I close my eyes, trying to will my heart to slow. I want to call him a jerk, but this… it’s too much, and at the same time it’s exactly right.

  “Yes!” Is there a ring for that? There should totally be a ring for that. But it’s not just the island I want. Not anymore. “But on one condition.”

  “What’s that?” He raises a curious eyebrow.

  It’s funny. Even knowing exactly what I want to say, it’s difficult to get the words out. “That you never leave.” If I have to be here all alone, I don’t want the island anymore.

  His lips quirk. He taps his chin with his index finger, looking like he’s considering something. And making me wait. Then he nods. “I think we can work something out, but Liz? That sounds suspiciously like a proposal.”

  God damn it. It kinda was.

  “Shut up, it wasn’t.” I hide my face in my hands.

  He laughs. “Well, just in case it was, my answer to your non-proposal proposal is yes.”

  Cheering starts up from below. God, the crew. Amanda, Megan and Bianca. Danny. Hunter’s dad. There’s got to be a way to sacrifice myself to the volcano and melt away. Hunter stops me before I can go anywhere. Taking my face in his hands, he pulls me towards him until our lips meet.

  He tastes all the sweeter now that I know he’s mine.

  We break apart, but not far, his nose rubbing against mine.

  “Liz, when you left, it was like the sun set on my heart,” he murmurs. “When you came back, it rose again, even brighter and more beautiful than the first time. Flying too close to you is bound to get my wings singed now and then.” He laughs as I whack him in the arm. “But the last few weeks have been the best fucking roller coaster of my life, and all I know is that I never want to know what if feels like to lose you again.”

  49

  Liz

  “This had better be worth putting on clothes for,” I grumble.

  Hunter keeps his eye on the horizon. “The view isn’t enough?”

  I give him a sexy smile. “It was better from the bed.”

  “Trust me, okay?”

  “If I didn’t, I wouldn’t be up in this flying death trap.”

  The time since the show filmed has been amazing. Summer has gone, we’re well into fall, but around here you hardly notice. You just sweat a little less at the beach. With everyone gone, our little island became our own little clothing optional resort. If we hadn’t had to eventually let the staff move back to the island so they could start working again, I might still be walking around naked. Best sort-of honeymoon ever. Minus the wedding.

  Plus an island.

  Our—yes, our!—plane starts circling, getting ready to come in for a landing. “No! Did you get reservations?”

  “Mmmhmm,” he answers, concentrating as he skims along the water.

  “You’re getting lucky later, you know that?”

  “I already did.” He’s unable to keep the smugness out of his voice.

  I’d hit him if he wasn’t the only person between me and a plane crash.

  Chef greets us at the door, pulling me in for a huge bear hug. “Welcome back, our Lizzie. I knew it was you.”

  Maria calls out from the kitchen, “Let the poor kids in! Tonto.”

  He sweeps his arm inwards and steps aside. “Come. I have the perfect menu tonight. You’ll love it.”

  Being able to totally be myself is a luxury I won’t take for granted again. I’ll never regret my decision to come back, not just because of the island, or because I can afford the best treatment for my mother, but because it brought me here. Finally, I’m exactly who I’m supposed to be.

  And even better, with the person I love.

  Chef gestures to a table that’s already set and waiting for us. Near it stands a TV that I’ve never seen before, but when I see what’s on I understand.

  “I can’t watch,” I groan.

  Hunter laughs and winks at me. “What? This was a good one.”

  On the screen Elena presses her giant breasts into TV Hunter’s chest and I scowl at the real him. “Oh?”

  His eyes spark and he wiggles his eyebrows. “It got better.”

  That reminds me. “Have you heard from Amanda and Megan?”

  “Dad would know better than me.” He pulls out the chair for me, and I sit, giving him a not-in-this-lifetime look. “Last I knew, Amanda had accepted the internship, and Megan is still deciding between doing the dance show and the survivor thing. Oh, and Danny’s apparently decided that some time in the colonies would do him good. He’s moved in with Bianca in New York City.”

  I nod. We had our ups and downs, but they turned out to be pretty alright in the end. It’s good to hear that they’re doing okay. But I have a date to focus on.

  “Have I mentioned I love you lately?”

  “Hold that thought.” He reaches under the table, drawing out a large rectangular package and offering it to me.

  I take it, shooting him a confused look. “Were we supposed to bring gifts?”

  Hunter, Mr. Cool himself, looks nervous. “This is… just open it.”

  At first I try to be dainty about it, but I can’t get the tape off, so I just rip it open. Inside is the map of the island, back safe and sound in its frame. “Um, thank you?”

  He rolls his eyes and sighs. “Turn it over.”

  The front looks the same, but the back has been replaced with a glass pane so the old deed and the signatures of my sea-going ancestors are visible. “Oh! That’s beautiful, I—” At the bottom, my name is added, penned in a flowing script, but only my first and middle names. There’s room for a last name, so now it just looks unfinished.

  I turn to ask, when I find Hunter on one knee beside me. The question dies on my lips, unasked.

  “Elizabeth Lindsay Bissette.” He swallows, and this time I know it’s for real. No joke, no setup, no camera crew. Just him and me. He wets his lips and continues. “Will you do me the honor of becoming Elizabeth Lindsay Campbell?”

  You’d think having more or less gone through this once before, I’d be less of a mess, but nope. Not even close. Tears stream down my cheeks and I’m all choked up. I have a hard time getting the word out.

  Whether he’s giving me time, or just unsure that I believe him this time, he smiles gently and pulls a small box out of his pocket. He flips the lid open and shows me its contents. It’s beautiful. Lying on a little white pedestal is a pearl ring that reflects the warm light of the restaurant. It looks antique and custom made with small, sparkling diamonds elegantly worked into the
setting.

  It’s perfect.

  He’s perfect.

  The word finally falls out of me.

  “Yes!”

  Epilogue

  — Ten years later —

  “Cate! Watch out for Fool’s Drop!”

  “It’s not here, stupid. It’s further in. Daddy showed me last week.”

  “No, it’s right over there. Behind those ferns.”

  “Cate, Jordan is right. Now watch your step over there. It’s a long way down.” One day the kids will be old enough that I trust them out here by themselves, but today isn’t it. Still, I was about their age when I started exploring on my own. Maybe Cate now that she’s eight, but anywhere she goes, Jordan bounces after, and there’s no way I’m trusting a six-year-old to take care of himself out here, especially one who’s as likely to get into trouble as mine. He takes after his father, that’s for sure.

  I was certainly never that reckless. Nope.

  Though I suppose Mom wouldn’t agree. At least back when she was sober enough to keep an eye on me. She’s not exactly in the running for grandmother of the year, but she’s trying. Sober for seven years now, and we’d never have gotten there without Hunter’s help. For not liking her very much, it’s amazing how many strings he found to pull to get her the right help. I can’t for the life of me figure out why she insists on continuing to live up north, but she claims to enjoy the snow. I always knew she was crazy.

  Speaking of Hunter, I wonder if he’s home yet. Sometimes I wish the kids were a little older, because it would be nice to get more time to ourselves again.

  “Jordan, come here! It’s a snake!”

  “Oh cool!”

  “What? Stay away from that!” Snapping out of it, I jog after to double check.

  “It’s not going to hurt you, Mom.” Cate rolls her eyes at me, looking eerily like her father. “Unless you’re a frog. Then he might eat you up!”