Tides of Deception (Lantern Beach Romantic Suspense Book 1)

by Christy Barritt

  His throat went dry. Skye was so beautiful. So, so beautiful. Inside and out. And she didn’t even realize it.

  Skye’s arms slipped around his neck, and she tugged him closer.

  That was all the invitation Austin needed.

  Their lips met tentatively—but only for a couple seconds. Then Austin pulled Skye closer, locking his arms around her waist. Her breath caught for only a second before her arms tugged him even closer.

  The kiss deepened, and all the pent-up passion they had for each other escaped into one blissful, rain-soaked moment.

  When they finally pulled away, Austin knew the dopey smile on Skye’s face matched his own.

  “Do you have any idea how long I’ve wanted to do that?” he murmured, running his thumb across her jaw.

  “Me too.”

  “Then why haven’t we?”

  Skye nibbled her bottom lip and shrugged. “I’ve been too scared. But when you almost died in that accident . . . and then my accident tonight . . . I just realized there’s no time to be scared. We might not be here tomorrow, and I’d hate for you not to know how I felt about you. I’m tired of living in fear.”

  Pure delight rippled through his heart. “So am I.”

  Skye’s grip on him loosened a moment, and she stepped back. “There are things we should talk about, Austin.”

  Yes, there were things they needed to talk about. Austin needed to tell her the truth about his past and how he’d been struggling lately with choices made on his behalf as a child. Skye needed to know the hurt he wrestled with, and why those hurts had him keeping her at arm’s length for so long.

  “Let’s get inside.” Austin wrapped his arm around Skye, never wanting to let her go. “And we need to call Cassidy and tell her what happened.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  Skye sat cross-legged on Austin’s couch and sipped some coffee he’d fixed. She’d pulled her wet hair up into a sloppy bun and had changed into an old flannel shirt and sweats belonging to Austin while her clothes dried.

  Cassidy was coming in two hours. She had to wrap up a dispute between two neighbors, and she wanted to come herself instead of sending Officer Quinton.

  It was just as well.

  She and Austin had a lot to talk about.

  Austin sat beside her, his wavy hair falling into his face. He was gorgeous. Handsome. Honorable.

  Everything she could ever want.

  Did she dare hope . . . ?

  She sucked on her bottom lip. That kiss had been amazing. Beyond amazing. And her heart felt like it might burst right now. But before she could relish the moment, she had to tell him the truth.

  Austin’s arm stretched along the back of the couch, and he focused his full attention on her. “I’m glad you want to talk because I have something I want to tell you also.”

  “You go first.” Was this about his secret project?

  He glanced down at his hands and drew in a long, deep breath before looking at her again. “There’s a part of my past that I don’t open up about very often, Skye. Honestly, it’s too painful.”

  “I know what that’s like.” Despite her casual words, Skye braced herself for what he had to say.

  Austin took her hand and rubbed the top of her knuckles, not saying anything for a moment. “The truth is that my mom abandoned me when I was six.”

  Skye’s stomach dropped at his news. “What?”

  He nodded, looking somber and almost stoic. This was hard for him. She could tell it was.

  “Before you feel too sorry for me, I should add that I had a wonderful family adopt me when I was eight.”

  “Well, that’s good. But . . . what . . . what happened? What do you mean, your mom abandoned you?”

  He squeezed her hand again and leaned back, his eyes looking distant, like he’d gone back in time to another world—and a painful one, at that. “My mom was a single mom, trying hard to make ends meet on her own. We had some really great memories together when I was little. When she was having a good day, she’d make pillow forts with me and we’d race paper airplanes and see who could walk the longest with books piled on top of our heads. But the truth is that my childhood was a struggle. My dad . . . well, I’m not even sure my mom knows who my dad is, if you know what I mean.”

  Skye nodded, hardly able to breathe. This conversation had shifted things inside her. The truth began to squeeze out her happy feelings. And . . .

  She just needed to listen to what else he had to say. Don’t jump to conclusions, Skye. Just give the gift of listening.

  “She worked hard but only earned minimum wage,” Austin continued. “We lived in a small, dumpy apartment because that’s all we could afford. But all of that changed when she met Travis.”

  Skye had a feeling this was where the story would take a bad turn. She could hear it in the wispy tone of Austin’s voice.

  “Travis was wealthy—at least, he acted like he was. And he thought the world of my mom. Took her out for fancy dinners. Bought her gifts. He showed her a whole new life.”

  “There’s a ‘but’ coming, isn’t there?” Skye knew there was something not so great about this. Somewhere along the line, things had gone terribly wrong, and a little boy’s life had been changed forever.

  “The problem was that Travis didn’t want kids.” Austin pulled his hand away from Skye’s and raked it through his hair.

  She instantly missed his touch. Craved it. But she gave him the space he silently asked for.

  “Travis didn’t like me,” Austin continued. “He merely tolerated me. In the end, he apparently gave my mom an ultimatum. It was me or him.”

  Skye sucked in a deep breath as she absorbed his words. “No . . .”

  Austin nodded. “I came home from school one day, and she wasn’t there. That wasn’t unusual. She worked long hours. But she never came home that night. I was little. And I was scared. But I didn’t call the police. No, I kept thinking she’d come back. But she wasn’t home by the next morning. I stayed home from school waiting for her. She still never came. Finally, I went to the neighbors, and they called the police.”

  “What happened?” Her mind raced ahead, filling in the blanks with terrible, unfathomable things.

  “My mom was gone,” Austin said. “She’d taken her things and left with Travis. She didn’t even have the nerve to tell me goodbye. Of course, I didn’t understand all of that at the time. In fact, I didn’t understand it until I was about thirteen when she showed up again and begged for my forgiveness. At that point, I’d already been through the foster-care system. And, like I said, I’d been adopted into a great home. But a boy doesn’t forget being abandoned by his mom.”

  “No, I’d imagine he doesn’t.” Skye’s head swam, and she reached for Austin’s hand. He didn’t pull away.

  “She asked for my forgiveness that day, but I wouldn’t give it to her. She left crying. And I didn’t even care. Not really. There’s not one single part of me that can justify someone leaving their child like that. On purpose.”

  Her head swam even more as the implications of his statement resounded in her head. “I understand.”

  Finally, Austin’s gaze met hers. “But I’ve decided I need to talk to her again.”

  Skye’s heart skipped a beat as she processed his words. “Why?”

  “I don’t know.” Austin shrugged. “I just know I need to see her. I’ve been looking for her for the last month, but I haven’t been able to locate her. That’s what those phone calls have been about. I’ve hired a PI to help me locate her, and he calls me sporadically to give updates.”

  “I see. Thank . . . thank you for sharing that and opening up to me.”

  Austin ran his finger across Skye’s cheek, stroking it gently as he stared at her. “I felt bad keeping it from you. It’s a piece of my heart, I suppose. I don’t talk about it often. But it’s important that I share it with you because . . . well, because you mean the world to me, Skye.”

  She squeezed his hand harder. He
said that now. But how would he feel when she told him the truth?

  An ache formed in her chest.

  “I hope you find her,” Skye finally whispered, her voice cracking with emotion.

  “I do too. I need closure.” Austin paused for long enough to stare at her, pressing his lips together in thought before saying, “Your turn. What did you want to tell me?”

  How could Skye tell him the truth now? That she’d also abandoned her child—just as his mom had. This was a bad idea. All of her hopes that they might have a future together seemed to fizzle.

  Skye had been a fool to ever hope at all.

  Shouldn’t she have learned that lesson by now?

  Good things didn’t happen to girls like her.

  Before she could formulate an excuse and run, Austin’s phone buzzed and his eyes narrowed.

  “That’s weird,” he muttered.

  “What’s weird?”

  “I have this alarm system that I installed. I just got a notice that one of my windows just opened.”

  Skye’s back stiffened. “What?”

  Austin stood. “Let me check things out. Stay here. Okay?”

  She nodded. “Be careful. Please.”

  As she watched Austin walk to the back of the house, she wondered if this was her chance to flee, to get out of here before she saw the disappointment in Austin’s eyes.

  Because it just might be more than she could bear.

  Austin checked each of the windows but saw nothing. Maybe this system was malfunctioning. Again.

  He paused by the window in his bathroom. It was cracked open ever-so-slightly. But as he peered outside, he saw nothing.

  Maybe it had just come unlatched. That was probably it.

  He shoved it down and locked it again.

  As he returned to the living room, he paused.

  Where was Skye?

  The couch where she’d sat was empty and—

  “I got some more coffee.” Skye walked back into the room with two mugs in her hands. “I refilled yours also.”

  Relief washed through him. Austin had thought Skye left or that something had happened. Maybe he was wound a little too tightly right now.

  He took the mug from her. “Thank you.”

  Skye set down the mugs before lowering herself to the couch again. “Everything okay?”

  “I must have forgotten to latch my bathroom window. I didn’t see anything.”

  “That’s good.” She looked up, her gaze veiled by her eyelashes and a noticeable heaviness about her.

  What had changed? Why was she pulling away and transforming from the warm woman who’d kissed him like she’d meant it to this woman who held him at a distance?

  Austin didn’t want to let that happen.

  He scooted closer and lowered his voice. They’d been making such progress. But now . . . “Hey, what’s wrong?”

  He wanted to see that joy he’d seen in her eyes earlier. Wanted to see her walls coming down. He wanted to talk about the two of them as a couple. Together. For what he hoped would be a long time. Forever, actually.

  But something had shifted in Skye when Austin told her about his past, and he wasn’t sure what or why.

  “My first instinct right now is to run,” she started, lifting her head slightly. “I don’t want you to change your opinion of me. I don’t want to see the disappointment in your gaze.”

  “I would never change my opinion of you.” What secret could possibly hold this kind of power over her?

  Skye’s eyes made it clear she didn’t believe his words, that she fought some kind of inner demon that rocked her world. “Austin . . .”

  “You can tell me anything, Skye.” He reached for her, resting his hand on her knee.

  She rubbed her lips together. Looked at her lap. Finally looked up, but fear was written all across her features.

  What Austin wouldn’t do to erase that.

  “I was at a bad place in my life also, Austin,” she started. “My mom kicked me out when I was sixteen. I moved in with a friend, but her dad hit on me. I ran away from that too, got a minimum-wage job, and lived out of a dirt-cheap hotel while I tried to finish high school. I got my GED instead.”

  Austin’s heart ached at the thought of everything she’d been through.

  “That’s when I met Ian. He came into the restaurant where I worked, and he came in every night until I said yes to a date with him.”

  “How many nights did that take?”

  “Twenty-six.”

  Austin’s eyebrows flickered up. “Wow. He was really pursuing you.”

  “He was. And we started dating. He was from one of the wealthiest families in the area, and I was from nothing. We both had a rebellious side that got us in trouble.”

  “What kind of trouble?”

  She frowned. “The bad kind of trouble. Ian . . . well, he felt untouchable because of who his family was. And me . . . well, I just didn’t have much to live for, I suppose. I knew we needed to break up before . . . well, before one of us died. Before I could, I found out I was pregnant.”

  Austin sucked in a sharp breath. Pregnant? Skye?

  He tried to put the pieces together but reminded himself to slow down. He just needed to finish listening to her tell the story instead of trying to fill in the gaps himself.

  As if something in her subconscious had taken over, Skye’s hand went to her stomach—now flat. But it was like she’d gone back in time.

  “Ian’s parents convinced me to give the baby up for adoption,” she told him. “I didn’t want to. But I had no money. They told me if I went ahead with their plan, they’d give me fifty thousand dollars. I just had to promise to get out of their lives for good.”

  Austin clenched his hands into fists. The whole thing sounded slimy. “What did Ian say about that?”

  “He went along with whatever his parents wanted. He was almost old enough to tap into his trust fund, so I’m sure he didn’t want to ruin that.” She glanced at her hands again. “I didn’t feel like I had any choice. And . . . I believed the lies they told me. I believed I’d be a horrible mom.”

  Austin grabbed her hand and squeezed it, but Skye pulled away. “Thank you for sharing that, Skye. I know it wasn’t easy.”

  Moisture filled her eyes. “And now you know why we won’t work together, no matter how much either of us wants it.”

  He flinched. “What do you mean? Our pasts are our pasts, Skye.”

  “You’ll never look at me the same, Austin.”

  “Skye—”

  She stood before he could grab her hand again.

  “It’s true,” she continued. “I abandoned my baby just like your mom abandoned you. You deserve so much better.”

  “It was different. You didn’t leave your child without explanation so you could run off with some guy. You were trying to be responsible, even if Ian’s family manipulated you.”

  “No, it wasn’t different!” Her voice climbed. She sucked in a breath and closed her eyes. “What kind of person am I to give my child up?”

  He tamped down the emotion in his voice. “It was a brave choice, Skye.”

  “No, I was a coward. I didn’t want to stand up to Ian’s family.”

  “You were young.”

  “But in my gut, I knew what I should have done. You might not resent me now, Austin, but you will. You’ll realize that I’m the kind of person who’d give up the people I love for an easier life. All of those feelings you have about your mom will become feelings you direct at me. It’s only natural.”

  “You can’t know that.”

  Her tortured, red-rimmed eyes met his. “But I do.”

  “So you’re just going to end this before it even starts? You’re going to make the decision for me?”

  “I don’t even know if this is really about you, Austin. Maybe you can forgive me. But can I ever forgive myself?”

  Before Austin could respond, a knock sounded on the door. Cassidy was here to take Skye’s statement on t
he bike incident.

  He was going to have to save the rest of this conversation for later.

  But his heart felt like it had twisted so tightly that it might break.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Skye saw Cassidy glance at her clothes in confusion.

  “I got wet and Austin let me borrow some dry clothes,” she explained, looking down at her oversized sweats and flannel shirt.

  Cassidy raised a hand. “No judgment. Just not your normal look.”

  Skye felt like she’d just been run over. And, in a way, she had—both physically and emotionally. She had no idea sharing her story with Austin would be so draining.

  She’d also had no idea things would take this turn. But she knew she had to tell Austin the truth. He had to know why they would be so wrong together. Why their kiss was only a moment of bliss, but that it could never last a lifetime . . . even if that was what Skye’s heart truly desired.

  “So what’s going on?” Cassidy pulled up a chair and sat across from them at the dining room table.

  Ty had come with her and also pulled up a chair. “Do you mind if I stay? Mac and I are unofficially giving her a hand until she hires someone else.”

  “Not at all,” Skye said.

  Skye made sure to put distance between her and Austin. Based on the way her gaze slid back and forth between them, Cassidy seemed to notice that also. Then again, she noticed everything.

  Skye told Cassidy about the person who’d nearly run her over.

  “Is this connected with the scaffolding incident?” Cassidy asked.

  “What do you mean?” Skye glanced at Austin. She knew about his accident, but Cassidy made it sound like there was more to it.

  “Someone tampered with my jobsite,” Austin finally said.

  “What?” Why hadn’t she heard about this yet?

  “We just discovered it today. I was going to mention it, but other matters seemed more pressing . . .”

  “Oh, Austin. Why?” And why did things keep going from bad to worse?