The helicopter’s approach sounded in the distance. “They’re gonna pick us up on the opposite beach.”
When they approached, one staff member handed Scottie a pair of goggles. Men ran out ahead as the helicopter came in closer. They tossed their bags up into the bird and then carefully wrapped easel-shaped packages. Men climbed the dangling ladders to place those inside. When their personal belongings appeared to be loaded, they motioned for Scottie and Trey to come. They ran to the ladder. She gripped its swaying rungs and placed one foot on the bottom rung, the other on the rung above.
Once they were inside and flying over the water again, she leaned back against him, no longer interested in the views, only in him, in their precious moments together. “What makes you tick? Why do you do what you do?”
He toyed with her fingers. “I don’t know. I started this whole business as a college kid, so initially, I was acting very much in a grown teenager mindset. If it sounded good, if it felt good, if it was fun, I was all about trying it.”
Scottie laughed. She loved that.
“Thankfully, I had people in my life further along who could advise me on wise business practices. But now, what makes me tick?” He shrugged. “You.”
“Me?” She turned to take in his sincere expression.
“Yes, and Jake. My mentor’s words remind me to be grounded and to know myself. What I want now from all of this is success. I want to grow and see where this path will take us. Already, it’s been remarkable, but I didn’t do it just for the money. Jake and I want to build something lasting. We want to leave a legacy, so that’s what we’re striving for. And we feel a responsibility for every person who works for us, for every customer who’s now delightfully addicted to our skin care products.”
She laughed. “I know what you mean. But there’s more to Trey Hemsworth than Beauty Foundation. What moves you personally?”
“Now that I’ve known you, I’d say, the personal side of me is moved by the creative aspect, by working on an idea until it becomes something special and takes on a life of its own.”
“I understand this.” She swallowed, not sure she could get the words out. “I thought the Sea and Song would meet those needs, would help me achieve those same creative outlets, but it’s incomplete. And I don’t know what to do about it.”
He didn’t say anything for a long time. Then he leaned close and his mouth caressed her ear. “You will know.”
She suspected she already did, but would he still respect her? Would he look at her with that same fascination if she decided to stay in Mexico? She suspected that when she told him her final choice, to let him leave without her, she might never see him again.
Chapter 19
Trey packed up his things. Jake, sitting on the couch in his room, asked, “She won’t come?”
“I don’t know. She’s gonna tell us today. She’s hurting. And honestly, I don’t know if she should come.”
“What? How can you say that?”
“Well, when I think of her through her father’s eyes, if she were hurt and came to him, would he tell her to go back to those snakes? To face Damian?” He shrugged. “I don’t know. Dude, she’s happy down here.”
“Is she though? She seemed pretty lonely, reaching out to a group of local lifeguards for company.”
Trey thought through that and Jake was right. “I don’t know what else to tell her. She’s gotta figure this one out.”
The bellboys propped their door open and were loading luggage onto their carts.
They were leaving on an early flight. The press had sent out their statements, and now #hotTrey was trending with #ScottieTrey and he could only smile. They made a stunning couple. He held up his phone. “This kind of publicity I could get behind.”
Jake laughed. “Right? It’s great! Our sales are up. We’ve got a whole new marketing plan.”
When Trey did not echo his enthusiasm, Jake waved his hand. “Too early. Still grieving the stubborn girlfriend in Mexico.” He shook his hips. “A hot little chica down in Mexico.”
Scottie knocked on the open doorframe. “Something I should know about?”
Trey felt his face heat. He could have knocked Jake in the head with his flip flop. “No, Jake’s just being… Jake.”
She stood in front of them. “I just came to tell you I’m not coming.”
Jake patted the couch. “Sit by me. Tell Jake all.”
“Just like that? You’re not coming back?” Even though he was conflicted, even though he knew this was coming, Trey couldn’t keep the bitterness out of his voice.
“Come on, Trey, she’s not rejecting you, just everything you care about and your relationship with her, and an opportunity to partner with your company in a new product line, and opportunities to make out…okay, she’s totally rejecting you. And me, now that you mention it.” Jake frowned at her.
Trey shook his head. “I don’t know if you’re helping anything here, dude.”
Scottie turned from one to the other until they stopped talking. “Are you finished? ’Cause I’d like to say something if you’re finished.”
Trey raised a hand. “By all means.”
“I can’t do it. I want to, but I can’t.”
“That’s it?
“Well, yeah, isn’t that enough? My complete inability to even attempt to buy a plane ticket out of here should be an indication that I’m not in an emotional place right now to handle all of this.”
Trey felt urgency to convince her. If she was going to come with them, he’d better change her mind now. “Look up what they’re saying. You gonna let that stand?”
“No, I’ve got my lawyer working on that. We’re gonna try and take him down.”
“But it won’t work half so well if you aren’t there. You know that.”
“No, forgive me, but I don’t know that. I know that I was given a company I couldn’t even keep for one day. They hated me so much they didn’t even give me a chance to make something of it.” She gulped and Trey wished he wasn’t being so hard on her. “Why would I even want to be with them again?”
He hated himself even before he said it. “’Cause it will always be Redding Cosmetics, founded by Mr. Redding, built by him and his daughter.”
Her face pinched in pain. “Don’t you know I feel that? Don’t you know I’m in agony that the girl he wanted me to be doesn’t exist? I’ve let him down in every way.” She turned from them. “Look, here’s proof. I will look up what they’re saying. They never would have said stuff like this about Dad.” She typed in some kind of search and stared at it. For a moment, her face went white and he hoped they hadn’t said anything new and terrible about her.
“You’re meeting with Damian tomorrow?”
Oh. Right. Terrible timing for that to come up. He held up a hand. “With the hopes that what I set up with your board will carry over for when you are ready to step up.”
She shook her head and stood. “But you didn’t tell me.” She shook her head. “No, this is like your contingency plan. This is so Beauty Foundations can have a backup profit-maker even if all the stuff with Scottie goes south. Do you even care who you work with at all? Me or Damian, it doesn’t matter as long as you work the deal?” Her hands shook with what he guessed was fury, and he deserved it. From her perspective anyway.
“But Scottie, I have told you a bazillion times even in this same conversation how much I want you to go back. Make this deal. Be my partner in these product lines, continue what your father started. Do it for him. If not for me, do it for your dad.” He went into his closet and brought out a huge canvas. She didn’t want to look at it, but he turned it around. “Do it for this man, my dearest hero and mentor, the reason Jake and I are who we are today. Do it for Mr. Redding.”
Her father’s eyes shone back at her. She’d captured their twinkle, the way they looked when he saw her. Her heart clenched and twisted in a terrible, painful agony. The fullness of Trey’s words sunk down around her. “My father was your mentor?”
&nb
sp; Trey nodded. “He was. We planned together in that blue journal of his. He taught us everything we know. And we owe it to him. We owe it to you. We owe it to ourselves and all our customers to tell you that the future of Within Cosmetics rides on your shoulders. If you come back, it will be something truly special. If you stay away, it will just be.” Trey breathed out. There. He’d said everything he wanted to say.
She reached for his hand and smiled at Jake. “I’m so happy to hear that he was your mentor. He told me about you guys. And, I do believe, viewed you in many ways as sons.” She squeezed Trey’s hand. “I feel comforted knowing you will be there, in negotiations with Dad’s company, and that things will be okay. Without me.”
They both sat back on the couch, growling or grumbling. Trey’s watch dinged. “We have to leave.” He turned agonized eyes to Scottie, and Jake slipped out of the room.
She looked away. “I can’t handle you looking at me like that.”
“Well, what do you want me to do, Scottie? Act happy about this?”
She shook her head. “I guess not. But don’t hate me. Don’t…blame me, for whatever happens.”
He didn’t answer. He didn’t know how he would blame her. But if he ever saw her again, it would be many months before he could while they tried to work things out. She and her lawyer were about to make things crazy over at Within Cosmetics. They’d be in no position to make an agreement with Beauty at the moment. And all of it made him ill. “I guess I’ll call you. At least there’s that.”
She stepped closer. “Yes.”
He leaned forward, pressing his lips to hers, but the finality of it made him pull away after only a moment. “I love you, Scottie.”
She gasped. “I love you too. I’m sorry.”
He nodded and then left the room.
Chapter 20
Scottie watched them walk away down the hall with the gut-clenching realization that she should be going with them. She knew she should. Her dad needed her. Even from the grave, he needed her, and she was hedging. Why?
She was afraid.
They turned the corner. And she tried to think it was too late. They were out of sight. But the insistence inside that she leave was pulling and tugging at her peace. Had he really been her father’s friend? She searched in her phone for Trey Hemsworth and Trevor Redding. Sure enough, Trey’s young college face and her dad’s proud one showed up all over the place. Where had she been? Princeton. And all the while, her dad was helping Trey and Jake get started. He’d even signed off on their senior capstone project. Wow, he’d been a true mentor to them and she could now finally understand why Trey cared so much, why he was willing to stick his neck out for her. For her father, willing to actively work for her company with nothing to gain from it all, simply because of his love for her father.
She had such a larger claim to the responsibility, and yet he was the one to act. Trey’s company was on the line, Trey’s reputation. They were accusing him of criminal acts by association with her. And yet he stood strong. He loved her father. He loved her. A new surge of strength rose up inside and she grabbed hold before it raced away again. Trey’s example moved her enough to start putting some things in motion. Even if they scared her to death, she could take the first steps. She groaned and texted her old assistant. “I’m back. Can you get me a flight to Chicago?”
Then she texted Maggie. “I’m coming. Let’s talk.” She told her attorney the new plan. And then she went to her room to pack. This plan was better. She’d much rather go back on her own terms and not on the arm of Trey. She could do this.
She hoped.
When she got back to her room, a wrapped package sat on her bed. And she remembered her father’s journal. Relieved that she hadn’t left before its arrival, she rushed to the bed and opened the wrapping.
Her heart jumped to her throat when she saw the well-used cover, the well-thumbed pages, and when she opened it, full of her father’s handwriting, she almost clutched it to her heart. Skimming to the end, she stopped on the pages with her handwriting. Both theirs together mixed and molded a plan for the future. And she knew she had to implement it. The future of Within Cosmetics. And as she read through the words again, she smiled. Trey and Beauty foundation were all over it. Not precisely by name, but now that she knew her father had mentored them, she knew what was in his head when he mentioned types of companies and people. And then at the end was something she’d never noticed before, a slip of paper, tucked into a pocket. Her hands shook as she unfolded it. One more thought from her father, something she hadn’t read before perhaps, his voice from the dust. But she was slightly disappointed in the find. At first glance, the paper held only a bunch of his scribblings, and even though it seemed meaningless, she treasured it, reading and trying to decipher each one. Then down in the corner, words popped out at her. “Beauty Foundation. Within. Beauty Within. Golden idea.”
Tears filled Scottie’s eyes. Her very thought she’d already had, with the name of the product line, in her Dad’s handwriting. She felt as if he’d come back from the dead to show her this very thing. Instead of fear, stress about facing the big players in the market, her own board, Trey’s face came into her mind. Trey, the man she’d love to be with personally and whom her father approved of in a business relationship. The very same idea she’d had, a union with him.
And now, all of a sudden, after all these months, she felt like doing something about her unfair treatment. Now instead of fear to enter that board room again, she welcomed the battle. In fact, she found there were quite a few words she’d like to say. Her heart raced in anticipation, and she skipped. Trey would be there too. She texted her assistant again. I need the first flight out of here. I’ve got to crash a board meeting Thursday.
Where was that guy? She called him. After two rings, he picked up. “Goldwater.”
“Tony.”
“Scottie?”
“Yeah, it’s me. Did you get my texts?”
“Well, yeah, but…hold on a sec.”
She waited. What was wrong with him?
“Scottie, I have another job.”
“What? Quit. I pay better than anyone.”
The pause lasted longer than it should. “You don’t have the best reputation right now. People are talking indictment.”
“It’s good you have a job already, Tony, ’cause after that comment I wouldn’t hire you again anyway.” She hung up.
He called back immediately. “Look, I’m sorry. You’re right. What was I thinking?”
She waited.
“And I’d love to come back and work for you.”
She air pumped and held a hand to her heart. She just couldn’t be training a new assistant. “Okay. Get me that flight and meet me at our spot at seven a.m.”
His grumble went unheard. Scottie was just happy to be back in the game. “Oh, and Tony.”
“Yes, I’m still here.”
“This is gonna be a wild ride.”
“Welcome back.”
“Oh, and Tony?”
“I’m still here.”
“Trey Hemsworth is one of the good guys.”
“And let me guess. Damian is still on the naughty list?”
“You know it.”
“Got it. Might I make some additional suggestions if we’re making lists?”
“Yes email me.”
“Absolutely.”
She smiled when she finally hung up. Man, it felt good to be back on her toes. Within about ten minutes, she had her flight information and was packed and on her way to the airport. She’d spoken with her lawyer, who couldn’t be happier. You’d think she’d offered her an immediate partnership. She smirked. Perhaps she had. This was be a huge, high-profile case even if they settled. Damian made sure of that. Bad move. Now, she just needed to plan her move. And decide what to do about Trey. Yes, she wanted to work out a new combined product line. But did she want him in her life? Yes. But should she? Who knew? She’d figure that out when the time came. And in the meant
ime, she was so looking forward to the expression on his face when she walked into that board room. She giggled to herself. Even though she’d pretend she didn’t see it.
And the expression on Damian’s. Tomorrow was going to be a good, good day.
Chapter 21
Trey adjusted the sleeves of his favorite suit. “A bit anticlimactic, isn’t it?”
“Our meeting at Within Cosmetics with no Redding present?”
“Exactly. Dude, why wouldn’t she come?” Trey had never felt more conflicted. If only she could save her company from Damian and not be personally attacked in the process.
“I don’t know. She’s your girl.”
“Maybe. And I don’t know how to help her.”
They walked down to the street together and Jake hopped in the car first. “I just gotta keep myself from punching Damian in the face.”
“You? He’s been in every dream. Over and over, I relive the moment when my fist connects.” Trey mimed a well-aimed punch. “I’m not even a violent person and I want to take that guy down.”
They pulled up to the building which housed Within Cosmetics. Jake pushed the button and they made their way to the elevators and rose to the top floor. “I miss Trevor Redding.”
“Every time. This building just smells like him.”
“Didn’t he have that one kind of lotion or something?”
“Sandalwood.”
“That’s the one.” They were quiet for a moment. Trey hoped he was moving forward as his mentor would want. He knew he had wanted this joint move. But Trey assumed he would have wanted it with Scottie present. But only if she were happy. Either way, Trey was here today to listen and talk as little as possible.
As soon as he exited out onto the floor, a swarm of people stepped up in his face. Cameras flashed and people shouted out questions. “Mr. Hemsworth. Is it true you are helping Scottie Redding hide out?”
“Is Scottie Redding hiding from her subpoena?”
“Tell us why you’re here today, Mr. Hemsworth.”
Her Billionaire Lifeguard Page 9
