by Fiona Roarke
He realized he hadn’t spoken for a while. What had she said? Oh, right. “I’m glad you understand my feelings, but again, I’m not interested in any kind of a long-distance arrangement. Ever.”
“Not even until I take care of the details for my job in Miami? That seems harsh.”
“Harsh? Does it? That’s a laugh. I thought I’d mentioned my regrets about it the last time.” She wanted to play both sides against the middle. She wanted to marry Trey and then string JD along with a fake engagement long distance, no less, and he was being harsh?
Her eyes narrowed. “Am I allowed to give two weeks’ notice or do you want to grab me by the hair and drag me back to Atlanta right now like a caveman and leave my job without a single word or any warning?”
JD squinted. “Two weeks’ notice? What are you talking about?”
“Right back at you, JD. What are you talking about?”
The ever-present confidence in her tone, especially regarding his proposal of marriage when he thought he understood her plans with Trey, was hard for him to manage. He wanted choosing to be his wife to be an easy decision for her, but expected she’d waffle, never expecting her to say yes and certainly not in an instant.
Was that what she’d been waiting for in order to return to him and create a life together in Atlanta, his proposal of marriage? Or did she think that would keep him in her life in the short term until she’d ironed out the prenuptial agreement with Trey?
“I’m talking about marriage. I want to marry you. But I want to live in Atlanta. Everything I have is there. Everything I need, with the exception of you, is there.”
“Okay. I want that, as well. And if we end up married that would be awesome, too.”
So she’d accepted the proposal, but wasn’t certain if they’d end up married? He was confused. “What details about your job do you need to take care of?”
“That’s what I’m trying to explain. I’ll have to deal with it either way. That’s why I came here to Mimosa Key and this lush vacation spot to think through my options. To figure out what I should do.”
JD was afraid she was about to explain the plan Trey had already outlined. He wasn’t certain he wanted to hear it from her lips. “I certainly don’t want to intrude on whatever setup you’ve garnered while in Miami. I understand your options are quite lucrative. It’s a big dream come true for you, isn’t it?”
She frowned. “What setup? What dream come true? What are you talking about?”
“I’m talking about your job in Miami. My proposal is contingent on you being in Atlanta not Miami.”
“And I’m not turning you down. I do want to marry you. I always wanted to marry you, JD,” she said in a slightly raised voice, in a tone he’d never heard from her before. Then her gaze narrowed. “Wait a minute. Is this a proposal or is it some sort of test?”
“Maybe it is a test. Maybe I wanted to know what you’d be willing to do, how far you’d be willing to go to be with me.”
“If you don’t really want to marry me, why did you just ask?” Her eyes filled with unshed tears. She gave the ring one last look of longing before snapping the small box shut. She held the black velvet cube out to him like she knew she had to give it back, but didn’t want to.
She sniffed once, and that made him feel even more miserable. Was she upset because she couldn’t have her cake and eat it, too?
On some level, he’d expected her to say no. That while she loved him and wanted to marry him, the opportunity to run her own store was too good a deal to turn down. Exactly like the promotion to VP in Miami had been too good to turn down.
“Honestly, I didn’t expect you to say yes.” He didn’t reach for the ring box, hastily reassessing what he’d expected her to say and reacting poorly when he got a different outcome, again.
“I don’t understand. Why not? What do you know that I don’t?”
“I know what you know.” Especially the part about your ultimate plans with Trey. And it fucking hurts.
“What about earlier tonight? What was that about?” she asked, pointing in the direction of the bedroom.
“Earlier was about lust and sexual longing and three months without getting any and, oh, yeah, lust.”
She closed the short distance between them and stepped into him. “So let me understand you clearly. You don’t want to marry me. But after three months without a single word, you show up to fuck me soundly, and then leave and go back to your life the way it was before. But for fun you propose to me because you wanted to know what I’d say?” Grabbing his hand, she shoved the ring box into his palm and let go of it. “That’s harsh, too.” The tears welling up in her eyes spilled over onto both cheeks. She swiped at her face angrily.
Fury radiated from her as she turned away. She was not acting at all as he’d expected. Not in any way, shape or form. She was truly pissed. At him.
Something was off. Blazingly, foolishly, off. What did you expect her to say?
JD closed his eyes, realizing that his test had been bogus because he didn’t expect her to want to marry him and he hadn’t been prepared for any other answer.
He’d expected her to hedge, lead him on and ask again about trying a long-distance relationship. And given his mood before Trey had shown up and dashed all his hopes, he was about to reconsider that ultimatum. Hadn’t he spent a considerable amount of free time pondering the idea of starting up a trucking business in Miami as a possible solution to their separation?
He wanted to marry her, but didn’t want to share her with her job aspirations or Trey, whether in Miami or Atlanta. Before she got two steps away, he said, “I planned to ask you to marry me the night you told me about your promotion and move to Miami. Did you know that?”
She stopped, spun around, surprise shaping her features. “I wish we’d already been engaged by then. I might have made a different choice.”
“Why?”
“Because I love you. I do. But back then we’d only been together two months. And while I wanted to marry you, I didn’t know how you felt about it. It took a week of anticipation to get you into bed the first time. I expected it to take at least a year for any hint of matrimonial intent to surface.
“Honestly, I didn’t know you were even close to proposing. We spent every waking hour that we could together, until we didn’t because of this stupid promotion, but I swear that I never expected a marriage proposal so soon.”
JD said quietly, “Then I told you a long-distance relationship was a deal breaker and walked out.”
“Yes. I’m not going to lie, that hurt me deeply.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Will you at least tell me why? I’d like to know.”
He pushed out a long breath. “This may sound familiar. My last girlfriend also got a huge promotion and moved to Chicago. She wanted to stay together long distance, too. I agreed to give it a try.”
Her brows drew together. “What happened?”
“I showed up at her apartment in Chicago to surprise her one weekend, used the key she’d given me to get in, and found her in bed with another guy. She’d assumed I was screwing around and decided to do the same thing. That was her version of long distance. But she was wrong. I was true to her when she didn’t deserve it.”
“Now that’s harsh. I’m really sorry.”
“The moment you told me about Miami, the same vivid Chicago picture slammed into my mind, only instead of some random naked stranger, I saw you with Trey. I couldn’t get the stupid vision out of my head. It shaped my foolish attitude very quickly that day along with my unreasonable flash reaction to just leave without any discussion.”
“Me together with Trey?” She made a face and then snorted once. “Not likely.”
“But that changed while you were in Miami, didn’t it?”
“No. Not really.”
JD thought she seemed a little blasé about the plan to marry Trey to inherit his father’s company. “Are you really going to marry him, even if you don’t care
for him?”
“What? No! Why would I ever marry him?” The shock on her face couldn’t be faked. Could it?
“Because then you’ll get the ultimate promotion. The one you’ve always wanted. You’ll be in charge of Wakeman’s.”
JD watched a myriad of expressions flash across her face, the primary one being confusion. Whatever Trey was working to bring about, it was suddenly and completely obvious that Samantha had absolutely no knowledge of it.
“What ultimate promotion? Me in charge of Wakeman’s?” Her eyes narrowed in suspicion. “Have you been drinking?”
He laughed, feeling better and better about what was probably going on. “No. But something has just become very clear.”
She pushed out a long sigh. “What’s that?”
“I’m an idiot and you are the person that I think you are. First, before anything else happens, I need to apologize to you. I’m so sorry.”
“Sorry for what?”
“For a lot of things. Mostly, though, I’m sorry for not having your back. I’m sorry for believing what Trey said about you even for one second. Also, I was a complete fool for letting you go without fighting for you in the first place. Us being apart for the last three months, that’s totally on me.”
“I’m equally an idiot for leaving you or ever choosing the promotion. But what are you talking about? When did you talk to Trey?”
JD shrugged. “When you left to go to the store a little while ago.”
She looked scared. “He was here? At the villa? How did he know where I was?”
“He said you told him about our secret little vacation when you agreed to marry him.”
“What?!”
JD nodded. “I’ll admit I was taken aback, too.”
“I never tell him anything personal. And I never agreed to marry him for any reason. I especially never told anyone about this vacation, not even Robin.”
“I know you didn’t tell anyone about our trip.” He snapped his fingers. “Speaking of which, I need to call Robin. She was really worried when you didn’t show up to work this morning. That’s why I’m here. She called me, crying.”
“Robin called you and she cried?”
“Yes. Apparently, the scuttlebutt was strong about you being gone without a way to get in touch. The company gossip went all the way from Miami to Atlanta. She called and asked me to find you. Even though I deleted the e-mail reminder for this place and went to Key West, I knew this was likely where you’d gone.”
“How did you know I never told anyone?”
“If you didn’t tell Robin—and that was obvious—you certainly wouldn’t have told Trey. I should have known he was lying. It was just a shock seeing him here.”
“Trust me, I was shocked, too. And in the spirit of full disclosure, I went to the main building because he left a note wanting to meet me. I figured he’d called and left the note just to screw with me.”
“He told me that the two of you are getting married so his father can leave the business to him, but that you’ll run it while he fucks off or whatever he currently does.”
“That’s what he does all right.” She shook her head. “Unbelievable. Mr. Wakeman is likely worried about Trey taking over the business one day. I thought that was the reason he sent me to Miami. He wanted me to help run things there so Trey could take over the Atlanta store, which is smaller. Then nimrod showed up a week after I got into my new job.”
JD frowned. “I might know why you were sent to Miami along with Trey.”
“Oh, yeah? Why?”
“Trey said the Atlanta store is closing.”
Samantha shook her head. “I don’t think so. It’s the flagship store and Mr. Wakeman’s pride and joy. It was the store he took over from his father.”
JD shrugged. “Trey did say it was a big secret. I don’t think he intended to tell me about it. But when he let it slip, he also threatened me if I ever told anyone. Although, it might simply be a delusion he’s cooked up along with the one where he thinks you’ll marry him and take over shared ownership of his eventual legacy in Miami.”
“That’s never going to happen. I loathe him. In fact, I even hate saying his name. I don’t know what my nemesis is up to, but trust me, he’s lying. I disappeared because I overheard him and one of his evil minions discussing me behind my back, saying I was about to be demoted from VP to director. I came to the Casa Blanca Resort and Spa to hopefully run into you again, but also figure out what I’m going to do if I lose my job.”
“I’m certainly glad you ran into me.” JD moved closer. “I truly should have tried a long-distance relationship with you.”
“Why? I understand that your ex hurt you. I get how your past experience would have given you pause.”
“Thing is, it would have worked with the right girl. My ex obviously wasn’t the right girl. You are. So if you need to stay in Miami for whatever reason, we’ll figure something out. Maybe I could start a new business there.”
“I appreciate your willingness to do that, but I’m no longer certain I want to stay in Miami, let alone fight with nimrod, his minion or be part of his evil schemes, whatever they are.”
JD pulled the ring from its velvet holder, grabbed her hand and slipped it onto her left ring finger. He got down on one knee and tried again. “Please forgive me, Samantha. And please marry me.”
Samantha’s eyes welled up. “I forgive you. I will marry you. I’m sorry I left you to come to Miami. I want to move back to Atlanta with you. However, I will probably be unemployed when I get there.”
“That doesn’t matter to me. And I don’t want you to give up your job.” JD stood up and kissed her like they didn’t have tomorrow as an option anymore, but they did. He knew it. Whatever Trey was up to, Samantha wasn’t in on it. Nothing else mattered.
She broke the kiss. “I came here hoping you’d be here, too. I was ashamed to tell you that I’d made a mistake leaving Atlanta.”
“You didn’t make a mistake. You took a well-earned promotion.”
“Perhaps, but now I’m here hiding out trying to figure out what to do about what I learned right before I left work last Friday.” She told him everything she’d overheard Trey telling his friend Drew.
JD pondered it for a few seconds. “Tell you what. Let’s table this discussion for the moment, and go take a shower.”
She grinned. “You want to take a shower?”
“I want to take a shower with you.”
“Hmm. That’s so interesting, because I want that, too.”
“Good. What about this plan? After we get clean…” He paused and kissed her, nibbling a trail to her ear, adding, “…and then get dirty again…” His next kiss was longer, hotter and hopefully put ideas into her head. “We’ll take another long, hot, slow shower, towel each other off, robe up, order some room service and not only make our wedding plans, we’ll also plot your revenge on he-who-shall-not-be-named over a late dinner. What do you say?”
“I say that’s perfect. Want to know what my favorite part will be?”
“Do tell,” he whispered, pressing seductive kisses against a sensitive spot beneath her ear.
“I can’t wait to get dirty with you again.”
Chapter Fourteen
“I can’t believe we’ll be married before the end of this week,” Samantha said as they drove the last mile to the Lee County Clerk of Court Recording Office to obtain a marriage license. It wasn’t the closest marriage license office to Barefoot Bay, but the historic courthouse building in Lee County had recently celebrated its one hundredth anniversary. They decided to drive the extra hour and look at the time capsule contents from the early twentieth century while they were there getting a marriage license.
During breakfast this morning at Junonia, their loosely formed wedding plans from late the night before had moved forward considerably.
“I can’t wait to marry you.” JD glanced at her and squeezed her hand.
The weather was sunny, beautiful and temper
ate. The marvelous blue skies and mild temperatures were supposed to hold up all week. Their wedding and reception were scheduled for inside, but after the ceremony Samantha had a special desire to fulfill. She wanted to run barefoot along the beach in their wedding clothes.
She’d seen a couple do the same thing in a magazine long ago, and never forgot the moment the bride stopped running to kiss her groom enthusiastically as gentle waves lapped at their ankles.
They’d discussed her splashing wedding wish at length the night before over a late room service dinner.
How could she get married in Barefoot Bay and not run shoeless through the waves and let soft sand squish between her toes? The photographer they’d spoken to briefly said he’d be happy to take the shots as long as his equipment didn’t get drenched in the process.
“Are you nervous?” Samantha asked, squeezing his hand in return.
“Only that something will keep us from getting married. I’d do it today if I could, but three days from now is certainly better than what I anticipated when I drove up here.”
She grinned. “I love you.”
“Love you, too.”
Breakfast in the main building had been a serendipitous experience. Their waitress overheard them discussing where they might want to get married as they’d continued chatting about their eventual wedding plans from the night before. Samantha had said she wished they could marry before they left paradise.
Their waitress, Marcia, was refilling their coffee cups. “Are you two looking for a wedding venue here in Barefoot Bay?”
“We’re only here until Sunday morning,” Samantha said. “I’m sure there’s an endlessly long waiting list involved.”
Marcia lowered her voice and leaned forward. “The thing is, I overheard some bridezilla having a meltdown last night in the dining room. She pitched a fit about the surprise bachelor party planned for her fiancé, and promptly canceled all her wedding plans at an extremely high volume, very publically and then left the groom behind. Their nuptials were set for Friday morning. I was supposed to be a server at the reception in the afternoon.”
