Like One of the Family

by Kimberly Van Meter

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  LILAH CLOSED UP THE FRONT DESK and put the phone on night service then went to see if Pops wanted anything to eat from Sailor’s because she was starving and ready to eat her weight in beef.

  The resort was empty as the last guests had just checked out and Lilah was glad. Hurricane season was her personal favorite because the flow of guests trickled to a manageable stream and everything became more relaxed. If it weren’t for the unpredictable torrential rains and high winds that also came with the season, she’d say it was downright perfect.

  She and Grams used to sit on the patio and watch the lightning streak across the sky, listening to the rain douse the beach. The sound of the rain hitting the water soothed her like none other. If only Lora had learned to appreciate the wonders of the island. Maybe she’d be less high-strung. Lora thought Lilah never worried about anything but the exact opposite was true. Lilah worried a lot. It’s just that Lilah kept her worries private. She’d known Heath was struggling to make a go of the gift shop and it killed her because Heath was a true artist. His work was good enough to go in any gallery in the plaza but he didn’t have the right connections, not yet, anyway. She’d tried to talk him into opening his own gallery in town but he’d been unsure. Taking over the gift shop had been the safe bet. At least, he’d thought it was going to be. Lilah’s heart broke for Heath because she knew that he was under a lot of pressure.

  But with that said, she really didn’t want to see Larimar get sold right out from beneath their feet. Lora and Heath needed to work together or else they were all in big trouble.

  The question was, could Lora work with someone else, most of all Heath? The two were like oil and water.

  She sighed, glad Lindy was coming in a few days. Lindy would help Lora see reason. At least that was Lilah’s fervent hope because Lilah had never been successful at reaching Lora.

  “Pops,” she called out, heading to the private section of the resort and into Pops and Grams’s residence. “You in here? I’m heading to Sailor’s…do you want me to get you a burger?”

  She wandered the expansive apartment and smiled as warm memories of when Grams was alive followed. Grams had been the most amazing grandmother anyone could have. She was a bit unorthodox, which is probably why Lilah identified with her so deeply, even though Lora would say she was closest to her.

  Lora had always thought she’d cornered the market when it came to Grams, Lilah thought with a sniff of annoyance. Which was patently ridiculous when you consider they’d been polar opposites. Of course, that begged the question, why couldn’t Lilah and Lora get along, then? It always felt as if Lora was perpetually irritated with Lilah and Lindy, but Lindy couldn’t care less what Lora thought. Lilah wished she could be as flippant about her older sister. Ugh. Her head ached just thinking about the situation with Lora. There were no easy answers and she was hungry.

  “Pops?” she queried one last time before concluding he wasn’t in the apartment. She went to the private terrace and found it empty, as well. A growing sense of disquiet followed the realization that Pops had left the resort. She went out to the garage and found that one of the resort Jeeps was gone.

  “Shit,” she muttered, biting her lip. “Where’d you go, Pops? Lora is going to kill me.”

  * * *

  LORA CLOSED HER EYES and let the wind caress her face as they returned to Cruz Bay. She was still loose and relaxed, and she couldn’t quite help the small smile that kept finding her mouth. Dusk was upon them and the sunset was like a fire in the horizon. The air smelled sweet and fresh after the rain and she wished every night was this perfect.

  She stole a look Heath’s way as he steered the boat home and her breath hitched in her throat as her cheeks heated. She could smell him on her skin—a heady combination of masculine musk and sunshine—and she had to resist the urge to deeply inhale the intoxicating scent.

  Lora narrowed her gaze at him in open speculation. Could they enjoy a sex life apart from their business relationship? Her toes twitched as desire curled in her stomach, igniting the embers of what had already burned through her body. She looked away, fearing he’d see in her gaze what she wasn’t ready to share.

  She didn’t want romantic entanglements but she’d enjoy spending her nights with someone she clearly shared a connection with while she was here sorting out this issue with the resort. The question was, could she and Heath manage to keep their relationship sexual after-hours and strictly business during the day?

  “Were you serious about the friends-with-benefits suggestion?” she asked, curious as to his reaction.

  “Were you serious about being friends?” he countered with a sardonic grin that was entirely too sexy to be taken seriously. She frowned, determined to stay focused. He sobered reluctantly, regarding her with a somewhat guarded expression. “Why do you ask?”

  “Well, clearly we have some physical connection and I wouldn’t be opposed to—” she drew a deep breath, surprised at how difficult it was not to squirm like a teenager faced with her crush “—continuing if we could come to some sort of arrangement.”

  “Arrangement?”

  “Yes. Let’s be frank. Sex with you is very…good.”

  “Just good? You really know how to massage a guy’s ego,” he said wryly. “Please continue. I’m interested to hear where this is going.”

  She glared. “A little maturity, please? What I’m saying is, yes, the sex is fabulous, okay? Is that better?” If she were being honest, she’d have to say it was the best sex of her life, but there was no need to inflate his ego any further. Besides, she’d never live that admission down and she’d rather keep the information to herself. “So here’s the deal. I propose we enjoy each other’s company in the evening but during the day we keep to strictly business. So no kissing, touching, no endearments—good God, please no endearments. I find them embarrassingly trite. Nothing that would give anyone the impression that we’re being anything other than civil to one another for the purposes of saving the resort. Does that sound amenable to you?”

  She paused and awaited his answer, but it was hard to gauge his reaction to her proposal. The light was fading fast and his silhouette was all she could make out, but somehow she sensed he wasn’t happy with her suggestion.

  She stiffened when the silence stretched to an uncomfortable pause. “I thought you might feel the same way. You seemed to be enjoying yourself, if I recall correctly.”

  “Why does everything have to be squashed and packaged into a neat and tidy compartment? Here’s a newsflash—sometimes life is messy and complicated and it doesn’t fit into a nice little box for your convenience. And to answer your question, no, your offer does not sound amenable to me. It sounds like a damn business arrangement that I’m not interested in signing on for.”

  She stared, glad for the gathering darkness when her eyes began to sting. “I see.”

  “No, I don’t think you do, Lora,” he disagreed hotly. “I don’t think you could see what is right in front of your face.”

  “What are you saying?”

  “Forget it.”

  “That’s not fair. You insult me and then button up? I don’t think so. Say what you mean. I think I can take it,” she shot back scathingly. Certainly she’d suffered through worse than whatever Heath had to dish out. “Go ahead. Don’t hold back.” But in spite of her hot words, there was a small part of her that worried about what Heath might say. She didn’t want to admit it, but his rejection hurt…a lot.

  “Lora…I’m not interested in your deal, okay? Let’s leave it at that.”

  “Fine,” she said, turning away. But it wasn’t fine. Not by a long shot. She wanted to know specifically why Heath found her offer untenable. “For what it’s worth, I thought most men jumped at the idea of being in a no-strings-attached sexual relationship.”
>
  “Well, what can I say? I’m not like most men,” he quipped darkly.

  You can say that again, she thought with a frown. She opened her mouth to retort, but he cut her short. “Let’s just cut our losses and forget this ever happened? Okay? From now on, strictly business. That work for you?”

  It should work. It should sound perfect. But it struck a discordant chord within her heart that reverberated uncomfortably throughout her body. She straightened. “Of course. That’s perfectly acceptable. I assume you’ll remain silent about our…”

  “Hookup?” he asked, the sarcasm causing her to wince inwardly.

  “Y-yes.”

  “Yeah. No one will know from me, sugar bird.”

  She ground her teeth. “Stop calling me that. Only Pops can call me that.”

  “My apologies. Lora. Or do you prefer Ms. Bell?”

  “Now you’re just being an asshole,” she said, feeling miserable inside but refusing to let it show. She could sort out the confused jumble of her feelings later. Right now she just needed to keep it together until they got back to Larimar. “How much longer?” she snapped.

  “Fifteen minutes.”

  By the tone of his voice, she wasn’t alone in thinking that it might be the longest fifteen minutes of their lives.

  * * *

  HEATH DIDN’T KNOW THE TRUE source of his anger, but at the moment it didn’t matter. He was well and truly pissed off.

  He swore silently. There was no one on this planet who could rile him faster than Lora Bell.

  Had they not just shared the most amazing physical and emotional connection together? Apparently he’d been alone in that cosmic union. To Lora, he’d simply been another notch on her belt. If he weren’t so jacked up over the whole situation, he might’ve found the ironic humor in it all. And now she wanted to make an arrangement with him, as if he was some kind of good-time guy, ready and waiting whenever she had an itch she needed scratching?

  Hell no. He was better than that. Right? Yes. Unequivocally. He just had to find a way to forget the feel and taste of her skin, and above all, the way his heart had sang like a bird when she’d been in his arms. Should be easy as long as he remained angry. When he was mad, he didn’t care two figs that she was the epitome of his perfect woman in face and form, or that being with her for that heartbeat of a moment, he’d been deliriously happy.

  So…yeah. Angry. Angry was good.

  “Heath—”

  “We’re almost there.” He cut her off, not caring that he was being rude. “I’m okay with silence, if you don’t mind.”

  “Why are you acting like this?” she asked crossly, but he thought he might’ve detected the barest hint of hurt couched in her tone. He ignored it.

  “I guess I misjudged the level of enjoyment we were both having,” she said with a sniff.

  Was she joking? He wanted to tell her he wasn’t that good of an actor, but that would give her an opening to worm her way into his head and somehow convince him to forget everything he believed in, sell out his soul and slide into her bed with no questions asked. He ground his teeth and focused on getting them home.

  “This is so ridiculous,” she muttered, her frustration mirroring his own but for different reasons. “I would’ve never slept with you if I’d known you were going to be so melodramatic about it.”

  “God, woman, can you just shut the hell up, please?” His best intention to remain quiet shattered as his ire boiled over. “You want to know why I would never consider your little arrangement? Because I’m not interested in soulless little sexual encounters where there’s nothing more intimate than blowing your nose into a tissue and tossing it into the trash. Forgive me, but I’m a little more sensitive than that. I prefer my bed partners to be actively engaged, both mind and body.”

  “Are you saying that you’ve never had a one-night stand?” she mocked, then added with a healthy dose of sarcasm, “Give me a break.”

  Of course he’d had one-night stands, but why should he admit that to her when it would only serve to make her case and force him to tell her why he didn’t want a meaningless fling with her. If she wasn’t ready to be openly romantic in clear view of God and country, she sure as hell wasn’t going to tolerate his admission that he wanted more than her body—he wanted her heart, too. And frankly, one nut-squashing episode per night was his current limit. “Forget it,” he muttered. “This conversation is going nowhere.”

  “Yes, it is,” she agreed angrily. “And you’re a jerk.”

  Yeah, well, he was also an idiot.

  “You know, you’re right about one thing—if I’d known you were going to be like this after we hooked up, I’d have steered clear, too.”

  “Glad we finally agree on something,” she said with ice in her tone. “Now that I think about it, silence is probably the best idea.”

  “Amen to that,” he said stonily. “A-freaking-men.”

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  LORA AND HEATH ENTERED Larimar, both heading in separate directions when a frantic Lilah waylaid them.

  “Pops is gone,” she blurted, getting straight to the point.

  Lora immediately shelved her hurt over Heath and his rejection, her heart stopping at her sister’s words.

  “At first I wasn’t too worried because sometimes he likes to take little jaunts into town to get stuff, but we’ve been trying to keep him from driving too much because he forgets where he’s going or forgets which side of the street to drive on, so it’s just safer for everyone for him to take a taxi or have one of us take him to town.”

  Lora willed herself to calm, knowing that railing at her sister for losing their grandfather wasn’t going to help matters and would likely cause Lilah to break into a useless, blubbering mess, but deep inside a cold knot of worry had begun to form.

  “Where does he usually go when he goes to town?” she asked. “What about Celly? Does she know where he goes?”

  “I already checked all those places and Celly went home early today,” she wailed, a note of cross exasperation in her voice. “Don’t you think I would check there first? He’s gone! Like vanished.”

  “People don’t vanish,” Lora corrected, quickly losing patience with her sister’s immediate panic. “He’s probably just—”

  “He’s gone. You think I wouldn’t know the difference between him disappearing for a few hours and him missing? You haven’t been here, Lora. Sometimes he wanders, but he always manages to find his way back home. But I’ve searched everywhere! What if he fell into the ocean and hit his head? He could be dead for all we know.”

  “Stop it,” Lora demanded sharply, hating that her sister’s fear was contagious. The fact was she didn’t know much about dementia or even what stage her grandfather was in. She hadn’t had time to talk to his doctor, and since he’d seemed mostly fine, aside from the fact that he conversed with his dead wife, she’d put it at the bottom of her priority list. Damn! Wrong move.

  Lora wrapped her arms around herself, determined to hold it together in the face of her sister’s total unraveling. Someone had to keep it together, but Lilah’s fear had started to eat at her ability to think straight. If anything happened to Pops she’d never, ever forgive herself. And to think of what she’d been doing when he disappeared… Oh, God. Fresh shame flooded her cheeks and tears stung her eyes. He had to be all right. Stop freaking out! Keep a cool head, she admonished herself. Everything will be fine. Before she attempted to calm her sister, Heath stepped in, gently grabbing Lilah’s shoulders to get her attention.

  “Li…it’s okay. We’ll find him. The island is only so big and there are only so many places he can go. I’ll start making some calls. Why don’t you and Lora take a second look in town? He might’ve got a hunger for something to eat. Did you check Sailor’s?” She jerked a
nod, but Heath’s voice had in fact calmed her down. Lora choked back her resentment over how easily Heath could relate to her sister and tried to focus on the problem at hand. Seeing as he was so much better at handling hysterical women, Lora took a backseat to Heath for the moment. Heath rubbed Lilah’s shoulders, then released her. “It’s going to be all right. We’ll find him.”

  It sounded like a promise, and even though she knew that logically he couldn’t make a promise like that, she liked hearing it as much as Lilah. Lilah nodded again and looked to Lora, her eyes red and worried. “So you want me to drive?” she asked.

  “Sure,” Lora said, following her sister out. She resisted the urge to look back to Heath with the need to say something—such as a thank-you for stepping up so readily—but given how their last conversation had deteriorated so quickly, she opted to simply remain silent and focus on finding Pops.

  Once in the Jeep, Lora said, “I know it wasn’t your fault about Pops.” Contrary to popular belief, Lora hated the gap between herself and her sisters, but she seemed helpless to bridge it. Most times it seemed easier on everyone’s part to just leave it be. Some things couldn’t be fixed. But even recognizing that fact, Lora still wished for something different. And maybe it was because of that small, buried hope, she was trying to offer some kind of comfort to her sister. She knew Lilah was beating herself up and Lora hated that it wasn’t natural for her to simply put her arms around her baby sister and comfort her as Heath had so easily done earlier.

  Lilah shot Lora a wary look but accepted her comment with a watery sniff. “I know. I’m worried about him, though. I’ve been looking all afternoon. He’s never been gone this long. I tried calling you, but your phone went straight to voice mail. Where were you all day?”

  Lora remembered guiltily that she’d left her phone in her room because she hadn’t had any pockets in her cover-up. She hadn’t expected to be gone long—certainly not all day and evening—and she definitely hadn’t expected to…well, she suddenly understood temporary insanity. She cleared her throat. “I was with Heath. We were discussing the situation regarding Larimar.”