Paul had a smug look on his face as he gathered up the chess pieces and tucked them back into the plastic container. “I doubt it.”
Bill turned on his heel. “Come on, Trudy, let’s go for a walk.”
Now that the truth about their affair was out, Bill wasn’t making any effort to hide his relationship with Trudy. She, on the other hand, still appeared self-conscious and awkward, but she helped Betty take the wool off her hands, then she pushed to her feet. With a nod at the group in general, she tucked her hands around her waist and wandered down the beach with Bill.
Container in hand, Paul pushed off the log they were using for a bench, and gained his feet. “Bedtime, young lady.”
Across from him, Marla raised one eyebrow, her expression sulky as a teenager, which made Reed bite back a smile. “Trudy gets to go off in the dark with Bill, but I’m not allowed to sit out here alone?”
The older man’s gaze slid toward Reed, then back to his prodigy. “You’re not alone and that’s the problem.”
Her mouth turned mutinous. “I’m not tired yet.”
A frown settled over the old man’s face as he turned to Betty. “Are you going to do something?”
Betty stood up and shrugged. “Nope. She’s of legal age to do whatever—” She bent at the waist so she could peer around Paul and waggle her eyebrows at Reed. “—or whoever she wants.”
Without another word, she headed to the shelter and disappeared inside. There was a whisper of bitch and hag, then golden silence.
Well, at least they had one person on their side. No, make that four if he included Trudy and Marla and himself.
The older man’s voice interrupted his thoughts. “Morning comes early and I don’t want a repeat of last night.”
But Marla stayed where she was. Instead, she hooked a thumb over her shoulder, down the beach where Bill and Trudy had vanished into the dark. “Until you separate those two, I’m sleeping out here.”
Paul tried to reason with her. “It won’t happen again.”
She dragged her attention back up to his face and snorted. “If you believe that, then you don’t know Bill very well. Sex is all he ever thinks about.” At Paul’s raised brows, she flushed red and nodded. “Yes, even in the office.”
He turned to Reed, who was doing his best to pretend to ignore them and the now angry voices coming out of the dark, but wasn’t doing very well on either account. “Young man, I’m counting on you not to take advantage of this young woman.”
Another snort came from across the fire.
“Young pups,” Paul muttered as the voices inside the shelter began to climb. He spun on the balls of his bare feet and headed that way. “Those two women are driving me batty.”
As he disappeared inside, the voices stopped briefly, then started up again, and soon his deep baritone was mixed with the angry voices.
Reed dragged his attention to the woman across the fire. “My mom thinks my dad had an affair with your mom.”
With a guilty look, she pushed to her feet, grabbed a hoodie from the pile of clothes, and pulled it on, then sat down on the log next to Reed and bumped up against his shoulder. “Unfortunately, I think it might be true.”
Reed set down the radio. “It’s hard to imagine him looking at anything besides a spreadsheet.”
He felt her shrug against his shoulder. “I don’t know if it’s true. My mom likes to make up stories just to rile the people around her.”
“Well, obviously my mom believes it. Otherwise she wouldn’t be so pissed.”
In the distance, Trudy yelped, then Reed heard a splash like someone landed in the drink. Moments later, the young woman strode out of the dark alone. As she passed them by, she muttered, “I’d tell you not to do anything I wouldn’t do, but right now, I’m refusing to do anyone.”
She disappeared into the shelter.
A minute later, Bill appeared, soaked from head to toe, disgruntled and grumbling beneath his breath. As he picked through the pile of clothes that had dried in the afternoon sun, he glanced at Marla. “What did you say to her?”
She straightened her back. “What? Nothing.”
“If you’re still getting even for the divorce, you should get over it.”
And with that, he stripped off his wet clothes, pulled on dry clothes, and headed into the shelter.
Reed nudged Marla in the shoulder to get her attention. “I saw you and Trudy talking today. What did you say to her?”
“Nothing much.” Laughter filled her gaze. “Honest. But I guess it was enough to put Bill in the doghouse.”
“I like her,” he stated. “She could certainly do better than Bill though.”
“Agreed.” She tilted her head at him. “If you want to go to bed, don’t let me keep you up.”
And just like that, his shorts got tighter. He shifted on the log to ease the discomfort and lowered his voice. “Maybe Dad is right. Maybe you shouldn’t be out here alone.”
She slanted him a look and a sultry smile. “I’m not alone.”
Everything that warned him to stay away from her inevitably seemed to draw him closer. His voice deepened in his chest. “I’m not exactly the safest guy to be around right now.”
She chewed on her bottom lip, the firelight flickering off the serious glint in her eyes before she placed one hand on his thigh, and whispered, “Who said I want safe anymore?”
Reed covered her hand which had started to inch toward the part of his body that was getting harder by the millisecond. “I’m never going back and you’re never leaving.”
“This thing between you and me…it has nothing to do with our real lives.” Her gaze dropped to his mouth. “Right here, right now. Who knows, maybe we’ll never get rescued. It seems like such a shame to waste even a day on this island.”
He stared at her, silent and doubtful, until her soft voice washed over him.
“Are you afraid of me?”
He remembered what it was like to taste her skin, to feel how soft and womanly she was in his arms. “Heck yeah.”
Her gaze dropped to his mouth. “Funny thing is, I’m not afraid of you.”
And Reed feared that if he wasn’t careful, he’d be sunk like his yacht.
She gazed back into his eyes and smiled. “Have you ever had Sex-On-The-Beach?”
Reed nearly swallowed his tongue.
CHAPTER TWENTY
In the glow of the flames, Marla saw Reed’s pupils dilate.
He was so not in her plans.
And yet, something primal drew her to him, something she’d never experienced with her ex or anyone else, something that made her want to throw everything she’d worked for right out the door of her well planned future.
She reached into the pocket of her shorts and pulled out four tiny bottles of vodka. “I stole them from my mom. I don’t have peach schnapps, or cranberry or orange juice, so we’ll have to pretend we’re indulging in a Sex-On-The-Beach cocktail.”
With a soft laugh, Reed took two of the bottles from her. “Oh, I thought you meant something else.”
She shifted on the log beside him and bit back a smile. “Of course you did.”
In unison, they each cracked open a bottle and took a swig.
Marla coughed, and Paul stuck his head out of the shelter opening. “Over to the other side of the fire, young lady.”
“We have a chaperone,” she muttered and deliberately ignored him. But when she finally realized that her boss wasn’t going anywhere until she put some distance between her and the man beside her, she grudgingly pushed to her feet and moved back to the other side of the fire. When he disappeared back into the shelter, she sighed. “He treats me like I’m still thirteen.” She raised her voice so Paul would hear, although she was pretty sure he had supersonic hearing. “I’m tired of always being under the microscope.”
From inside the shelter, her boss retorted, “Keeps you out of trouble.”
Reed shifted on the log and stretched out his legs. “Is he alwa
ys like that?”
She sighed and nodded. “It’s like he’s afraid I’m going to turn into my dad, and nothing I do or say proves I’m not going to dump everything and run off to chase some stupid dream.” There was silence from the man across from her. Only then did she realize what she’d said. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to sound so mean or close-minded.”
He straightened to throw a log on the fire, then stood. “Don’t you ever think that there’s more to life than work?”
She took another sip, coughed and grimaced, then lowered her voice as she stretched out her legs and stared at her bare feet. “Sometimes.”
“Maybe you don’t really want to be like my old man.”
She bristled. “How can you say that? I’ve worked long and hard, and all I’ve ever dreamed about is getting the name Blackhorne back on the office sign.”
“What about fun?”
She scowled into the fire. “Bill used to say the same thing. He wanted to put in his eight hours of work, then go play. But there’s never been any space for fun in my life.”
From inside the shelter, Bill called out, “I can hear you too, so quit talking about me.”
Across from her, there was a crunch of sand, and then Reed stood before her, his hand outstretched to help her up. “Let’s get out of here.”
She took his hand and laughed as she let him tug her to her feet. “Kind of hard to do without a boat or a car.”
“Trust me,” he said in that low sexy voice that sent a shiver up her spine.
Right this very moment, she felt as though she’d follow him anywhere. As they walked away from the fire into the darkness lit only by the moonlight above, he kept hold of her hand as though it were the most natural thing in the world.
Marla wanted to lean into him, to feel the hard strength of his body press into hers, wanted to get lost in the sensation of his arms wrapped around her, holding her close and safe.
He broke the silence. “Do you really think my dad slept with your mom? Heck, I can’t even imagine him sleeping with my mom.”
“I don’t know.” She shrugged and squeezed his hand. “But if he did, I’m sorry. I’m sure whatever happened between them is long over.”
“Yeah, you’re probably right.” He took a swig out of the bottle, and continued to walk, contemplative and quiet as the night around them.
Marla tilted her head to look at his profile. “Is that what you do with all your time? Frivolous fun that means nothing?”
He turned his head, his eyes bright in the moonlight. “Before I answer that, I have a question for you.”
“Fire away.”
“What was the staff meeting on board the yacht about?”
She blinked up at him and prayed it was too dark to see the guilt in her eyes. “If you’re interested in the firm’s business, you should have joined us.”
“I’m not interested.” His gaze drifted over his shoulder toward the shelter behind them. “Bill and Trudy have been whispering since that meeting. What nefarious scheme did my dad cook up to force me back to the firm?”
She laughed, easy, and when she tried to pull her hand out of his, he let her go. “You’re being paranoid.”
In the moonlight, his expression was suddenly hard and distrustful. “We’re talking about my old man here, and when it comes to me, he has one ambition. Force me to walk in his shoes.”
“Would it really be so terrible? Coming back to work at the accounting firm?”
“And give up my life as a dive bum? Stuck in a windowless office for twelve hours a day?” He bent to pick up a rock from the edge of the water, and tossed it into the water. “I don’t know how you do it. It would kill me.”
“And nothing would change your mind?”
“Nothing.” His jaw worked as he returned his attention to her, his gaze hooded and watchful. “Believe it or not, I work.”
Startled, she realized that she’d blindly accepted Paul’s opinion of his son’s character. Saddened that she’d never bothered to find out for herself, she asked, “So tell me, what do you do?”
A smirk shaped his lips. “When I’m not lounging?”
Her gaze travelled over his body, and it registered that he had the physique of a man who worked hard. And his hands were rough and callused, not like her ex’s soft hands. Whatever he did was definitely physical.
She softened her voice. “So enlighten me.”
His voice was low and intimate, just for her ears. “Don’t tell my dad, but when I’m not lazing around and sleeping till three in the afternoon and partying into the wee hours of the morning, I’m running a rather successful business doing offshore marine salvage.”
His admission caught her by surprise. “And that is?”
“Big or small, anywhere in the world, if a boat or ship sinks, we rescue it.”
She glanced at the boat listing in the water, a thoughtful expression on her face. “Oh, I thought maybe you stole that thing.”
He huffed out a gruff laugh. “Wow, your opinion of me must be right up there with my dad’s.”
She forced herself to hold his gaze. “I’m sorry.”
After a few minutes of silence, he resumed walking. “I have a partner. Travis McNeil. You met him at the dock.”
She tilted her head to look at him and something new enveloped her chest…respect. He wasn’t just a beach bum like Paul had made him out to be.
He bumped her in the shoulder. “Whatever you do, don’t tell my dad. I wouldn’t want to ruin his image of his wastrel son. He’d have to find something new to gripe about, and that something new might be my mom…or you.”
The man was protective and sweet, and his sense of humor was so attractive. She downed the rest of the bottle and tucked the other one in her pocket for later. “So you’re not really irresponsible?”
One corner of his mouth hitched up. “Did you like me better when I was bad?”
She laughed. “I’ve always liked you fine.”
But her heart was racing and she wanted to grab him by the shirtfront, tug him down to her level, and kiss him until they were both hot and bothered.
How could she admit that she liked him a whole lot more now than before? What did that make her? A work snob?
In the distance, a bolt of lightning lit up the horizon. She stifled a yawn and turned back toward the shelter. “It’s time for bed. You do know I’m sleeping by the fire with you again, right?”
He fell into step beside her, his hands in his pockets. “Figured. I think whether or not you want to admit it, you have a shred of an adventurer deep in your soul.”
She tugged him down in front of the fire, then turning her back to him, she snuggled into his big body, spooning like they’d spooned last night.
It felt good. He felt good.
Making the decision that had plagued her all day, she said, “Tomorrow we should build a shelter. We’re going to need somewhere more private after you steal a few of Bill’s condoms. Trudy’s still mad at him, so it looks like he won’t need them anyway. Are you with me or against me?”
A huff of laughter slid across her neck and she couldn’t repress a shiver. “Honey, you had me at hello.”
As she drifted off to sleep, a single thought wafted through her brain.
Would she still have him after goodbye?
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Marla woke up in Reed’s arms—safe, protected, warm—and opened her eyes to find the whole camp staring at them. Again. She pushed up on one elbow, grumpy and annoyed with everyone but the man spooning her. “Can’t a girl get any privacy around here?”
Paul planted his fists on his hips, every inch an unmovable rock. “What are you doing?”
She pushed her hair out of her eyes, the better to glare back at him. “I was sleeping and now I’m not.”
Like a crocodile who’d missed taking a bite out of his next meal, Paul snapped his jaw shut, and with his mouth barely moving, growled, “You let the fire go out.”
A curse came fro
m behind her. Reed clamped one hand on her hip and raised himself up on his elbow. Together they stared at the cold pile of ashes.
Paul turned his back on them and stalked away. “Get untangled and get that fire going.”
As her boss and the rest of the castaways turned their backs, Marla scrambled to her feet and grabbed a stack of driftwood to set beside the stone cold fire. She snuck a look at her companion. “Good morning.”
His gaze was hooded this morning, as though he fully expected to discover that she’d become a turncoat overnight. “Morning.”
She squatted down next to him and watched him set some kindling against the wood, pull out their only book of matches, and relight the fire. As the flames took hold and he piled the wood carefully on the kindling, he visibly relaxed.
With a sigh, she pushed to her feet. “I suppose he’s going to blame this on you too. It’s my fault for distracting you.”
“Don’t worry about it.” He straightened, his jaw firm, his broad shoulders rigid as he raised one arm and rubbed the back of his neck. “It’s stupid of me to still want to impress him.”
She wanted to touch and comfort him. Instead, she stuck her hands into the pockets of her shorts. “Don’t be too hard on yourself. Paul is hard to please. We all know that.”
His brow furrowed, and she had the sudden urge to reach up and smooth the worry from his face. “Thanks, but that doesn’t solve his issues with me.”
“Or yours with him,” she added. When he didn’t say anything, she decided to lighten up the mood. “Look at it this way. Now he has something else to focus on besides the fact that you crashed the boat.”
He stiffened. “I didn’t crash the boat deliberately.”
She allowed a small smile to escape. “I know that, but it’s fun teasing you.”
And just like that, humor glinted in his eyes. “Did you just say that you’re having fun?”
As his question sunk in, she realized that despite the near drowning two days ago, despite being stranded on this island, she was having fun. And it was all thanks to him.
Caught Between a Rock and a Hunka Man (Caught Between Romance Book 3) Page 13
