by Jenna Brandt
Chapter 2
A fitful night of sleep and an angry migraine was all Blake had to show for his return to Comet Island. He had spent most of the night coming up with ideas of how to get rid of Peyton Belmont. Not just because he truly wanted her off his island, but because it kept his mind from drifting back to the last time he was at the resort. Blake didn’t want to think about the anniversary of his mother’s death, or the fact that it had been over twenty-eight years since he last saw her. To make matters worse, he got stuck being “mothered” (for lack of a better term) by Mara, his step-monster. The woman would rather devote her time spending his father’s hard-earned money on new designer clothes, handbags, and jewelry. She rarely cared for Blake or any of his eight brothers, even the ones she managed to pop out herself between vacations, cruises, and shopping excursions. It was easier to focus on getting rid of Peyton, something that he could actually accomplish, rather than dwelling on a past he couldn’t change.
The last thing Blake needed was some presumptuous, wellness “expert” trying to boss him around. It was bad enough he kept getting emails from his father telling him what he needed to do. Blake didn’t need his father’s parrot in his ear, trying to force those same ideas down his throat.
“I have the reports from the construction crew about the building on the west end of the island. They are behind schedule, but believe they will finish before the new year,” his older brunette assistant said, as she entered his office and handed Blake a stack of papers.
“Thank you, Jane. I appreciate your bringing this to me. Do you mind grabbing me a cup of coffee—with two Advil—while you’re at it.”
The woman nodded before heading out of his office. Blake spent the next hour pouring over the documents, then deciding he would do better seeing everything in person. He stood from his chair and headed for the door, but before he could leave, the door opened from the other side. It revealed Peyton in a pretty plum sweater, that complimented her green eyes. Her hair was up today, which for some reason disappointed Blake since he had enjoyed looking at it when it was down last night. He shook the thought from his head. He shouldn’t enjoy anything about Peyton Belmont, except perhaps the thought of getting rid of her.
It was time to put the first phase of his plan into motion. Without warning, Blake let out a huge cough, making sure to direct it right at Peyton. He rubbed his face, then let out a loud yawn. “Sorry about that; I woke up feeling really sick. I think I might be coming down with something. Not sure how good of an idea it is for us to be around one another.”
Blake wasn’t one for lying, but the truth was, he did feel sick—to his stomach that he had to put up with an unwanted guest on his island. If he had to exaggerate the truth and turn a headache and lack of sleep into a cold, he would do it to be free from the burdensome woman.
He followed the cough up with a sneeze, making sure to have ample spittle directed towards her. He expected her to step back and give him a dirty look. Instead, she opened her purse and pulled out a tissue. She handed it over to him. “Here, you might need this for your cold.” The way she said the last word made it clear she wasn’t buying his sudden illness.
“Aren’t you worried about getting sick? We don’t have a hospital on the islands,” he told her, hoping to freak her out about the lack of nearby medical care.
“I have an amazing immune system from the combination of vitamins, supplements, and nutritionally rich food I eat. Plus, if the unthinkable happened, and I did end up getting sick, I know there’s an on-call doctor on every island. Besides, I read you have a clinic here on Comet Island,” she said with a knowing smile. “I’ll be just fine.”
Blake’s face scrunched up in frustration. He refrained from letting out the long list of expletives he wanted to unleash, though for a moment it was tempting, considering he thought it might do the trick of getting rid of her. The problem was, no matter how bad he wanted to get rid of Peyton, he wasn’t the type of guy who cursed at a woman, no matter the circumstances. He’d just have to resort to one of his other tactics.
“What are you doing here anyway, Miss Belmont?”
“I came to discuss the plans for the wellness center and program. We need to get started if we’re going to meet the deadline for the new year launch.”
“Well, I have to go check on a few things across the island. Can it wait?”
“Why don’t I come with you?” she countered. “I should see as much of the island as I can. It will help me figure out exactly what needs to be done.”
Blake clenched his teeth in anger. He didn’t want her tagging along, but at the moment he didn’t see a reason to object. “Let me make a quick call before we can head out.”
He spun back around, shutting his door behind him, and headed to his desk. Blake picked up the receiver and punched in the numbers to one of his trusted employees. “Hey, Rick, I need you to do something for me. I need you to change the access codes so that Peyton Belmont doesn’t have access to Wi-Fi. Also, make sure her key card can’t open anything.”
“Are you sure boss? Isn’t that going to cause a huge problem?”
“I’m counting on it,” Blake said with a grin. He punched another number and got a hold of the head of housekeeping. “Hi Ruby, I need you to do me a huge favor. I want you to hide all of the remotes in Peyton Belmont’s room. The flat screen, lights, shades, everything.”
“Are you sure, Mr. Holliday? I don’t want to get into trouble.”
“Don’t worry about that, Ruby. This is my island and you only need to worry about doing what I say. Oh, and make sure there isn’t a lick of hotel toiletries in the room.”
“Okay, Mr. Holliday, I will do what you say,” the maid said, the reservation clear in her voice.
He hung up the phone, pleased with himself. If a cold wouldn’t work, he was certain locking her out of the hotel and messing with her room would do the trick. Who would want to continue to stay somewhere when they’re not welcome?
Everything in Peyton’s room had been messed up when she returned from her day of shadowing Blake Holliday around the island. Either he hired the worst maids in the world, or he had them do it on purpose. On top of that, every remote and piece of toiletry in her room had disappeared, she couldn’t log onto the Wi-Fi even though she kept getting new codes from the front desk, and her key card randomly stopped working. She had to go downstairs three times to get new ones. It was like she was living in a haunted house, but instead of a ghost, it was the irritating sprit of Blake Holliday taunting her.
Despite all of his childish antics, she wasn’t going to let him run her off. Peyton had far thicker skin than Mr. Holliday could ever imagine, and she needed this job to secure her future. At least she could get a good night’s rest.
Peyton slipped on her cotton pajamas, climbed into her bed, and closed her eyes. At least the bed was comfortable and free from problems. She half-expected to find a frog in the sheets. She said a quick prayer and within a couple minutes, she was drifting off to sleep.
The jarring sound of loud music jerked Peyton awake. What in creation was that? She sat up and glanced around the room realizing that the alarm clock beside her bed was going off. Who set it for one in the morning? It must have been left over from the previous guest. She clicked the button and tried to go back to sleep. Just as she was dozing off again, the phone started to ring. She picked it up to find only a dial tone. She let out a sigh, then slammed the phone down on the cradle. Blake had to be behind this, too. She had a good mind to call him on the phone and wake him up in retaliation, but she forced herself to refrain. That was exactly what he wanted. She wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of knowing he was getting to her. She unplugged the power cable for the clock from the wall—and the phone for good measure—before settling back into her bed. It took longer this time, but after what was probably a good hour, she found herself drifting off to sleep once more.
Peyton was right in the middle of opening her own first wellness center in her dream,
when suddenly, the shrieking sound of the fire alarm was sounding in her room. She jumped out of bed, her eyes darting around her room in a panic. Nothing. Again; but it was a fire alarm going off, and there was a small chance that it might be a real fire. Should she stay in her room? Not wanting to take the risk, Peyton slipped on the hotel robe and slippers, grabbed her key card and phone, and headed out the door. She glanced around and realized that she was on a wing of one of the hotels that was still being renovated. Not surprising, since it seemed Blake was relentless in persecuting her. He wouldn’t want that to interfere with any real guests staying in the hotel.
She turned on the flashlight of her phone to help illuminate the path down the hall. She checked the evacuation plan on the wall and made two lefts before she came to the stairwell she was supposed to take. The door was locked. Great, what was she supposed to do now? She turned back around and returned to the map. There was another way out but it was on the other side of the floor. Deciding she didn’t have a choice, she headed in the opposite direction, trying to ignore the awful blaring sound and strobing lights that only made everything worse. Peyton finally reached the other stairwell, and luckily it was open. She made her way down the stairs until she reached the ground floor. She twisted the knob and tried to pull the door open, but it wouldn’t budge. Why was it locked?
She supposed she could go back to her room. It was obvious by now, there was no fire. She trudged back up the stairs, going much slower this time. She reached the top floor and grasped for the knob. Part of her wasn’t surprised when it didn’t budge. Of course, it was locked. In a huff, Peyton let her head rest against the door. Tears of frustration were pooling in the corners of her eyes, but she swiped at them with anger. She wanted to strangle Blake Holliday once she got her hands on him. She wasn’t about to cry over him.
A quick glance down at her phone confirmed calling someone wasn’t going to help—terrific, no bars. She had to hand it to Blake, he’d managed to wear her down. She was actually thinking about leaving. Who would have thought he would be this good at trying to drive her away?
Without warning, the door opened, causing her to spill forward and onto the floor.
“Are you alright, Miss Belmont,” a concerned bellhop asked. “I heard the alarm going off from the elevator and knew you were staying on this floor. I thought I should check on you, so when I knocked on your door and you didn’t answer, I came to check the evacuation route.”
“Right, Blake Holliday didn’t send you to check on me to see if I was ready to go home?” Peyton accused.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” the young man said with a confused look on his face. “I was just doing my job.”
Peyton wasn’t sure if she believed the boy or not, but at this point she didn’t care. She just wanted to get back to her room and get some sleep before she called Gordon Holliday in the morning and tell him she quit.
She stood up from the floor, the young man trying to help her as best he could, then she headed down the hall and back to her room. She pulled out her key card and swiped it over the scanner. It beeped and turned red. “Great, it’s not working again,” she mumbled in frustration.
“I can do it with my key card,” he said, pulling his free and scanning it. Sure enough, it turned green, releasing the lock mechanism.
“Thank you,” she said with a nod. “You’re going to get a huge tip before I leave in a few hours.”
“So soon?” he asked with raised eyebrows.
“You can tell your boss, he won. The “wellness guru” will be leaving once she gets a couple hours of sleep.”
Peyton didn’t wait for a response before slipping into her room. She made her way over to the bed, took off her robe and slippers, placed her phone on the charger, and then laid back down. The weirdest thing happened though: she couldn’t fall back to sleep. Her mind kept going over the events of the day, and she got more and more angry. Peyton realized she wasn’t going to let Blake Holliday win.
Sitting up, she manually turned the light on, grabbed her phone from the nightstand, and started tapping buttons on the screen. If he wanted to push her to her limits, two could play that game. She was going to order everything she could ever imagine they needed for the wellness center and program. Gordon Holliday had given her an unlimited expense account to use while she was working on Comet Island, and she’d chosen to wait to use it until she discussed her plans with Blake. Since he didn’t seem to want to take her or her job serious, she was going to have to take the matter into her own hands. Once she ordered all the supplies, equipment, and even a little something extra for the guests, she decided to throw in a new heavy winter coat, gloves, scarf, and boots that would hold up to the sub-zero temperatures of the island. After all, Blake had told her she needed to dress warmer.
Two hours later, she felt vindicated and free to fall back to sleep. Blake Holliday was going to have a huge surprise when he woke up. Instead of running Peyton off, all he had managed to do was make her firmly decide she wasn’t going anywhere.
Chapter 3
After a full day of putting up with Peyton Belmont, followed by a restless night sleep wondering if his plan to get rid of her had succeeded, Blake decided that taking out his frustration on a set of barbells was exactly what he needed. The steady rise and fall of the fifty-pound weights was a rhythm that Blake recognized and welcomed. No matter how hard of a day he was having, he could always depend on a good work-out to help him get back on track.
“Man, Blaze, I swear you are like a machine. How can you bench so much? I mean, I understand that you had to keep up the stamina when you were training for the Olympics—but your final run was like two years ago.”
Blake finished his last press, then sat up from the bench. He picked up the towel from the side and wiped his face. “You know how it is, Danny, you never really end up out of the spotlight once you’ve been on the international stage like we have. I have to keep myself up for appearances,” he said, patting his flat stomach.
“It doesn’t help that you’re a Holliday, either,” Danny pointed out. “The rest of us can figure out a way to dodge the press, but not you, Blaze. Even if you take away your six gold medals, you’d be recognizable just based on the family you come from.”
Boy, didn’t Blake know it. Living in the spotlight was a part of daily life as far back as he could remember. His oldest brothers were lucky enough to have a few memories of life before being famous, but he wasn’t that lucky. By the time Blake was born, their father had built up his resort empire and made Holliday a household name.
There was a buzz on his Hermès Apple watch, interrupting his thoughts and alerting him that he had a text. He glanced down finding a text message from his oldest brother, Dash.
Thought I should warn you.
Step-monster is back on the islands.
She’s stirring up trouble and looking for money.
Call me if you need me to intervene.
Great, just what Blake didn’t need. Mara. He felt he was just getting rid of one problem. He didn’t need a new one showing up.
Letting out a heavy sigh, he turned to his friend to focus on something else. “When do you need to take off for the holidays, Danny?” Blake asked, curious to know how long he would get to have his oldest friend from the Olympics working on the island.
“Not sure, my parents want me back home before Thanksgiving. They have a bunch of holiday plans for my sister and me.”
“Well, I’m just glad you took the job here at the gym. I know you don’t need the money, but I appreciate your doing it.”
“This is the best job ever. How could I pass it up? What other company comps their trainers with a luxury suite at a five-star resort with all expenses included? Plus, I get to hang out with my best friend,” Danny said with a grin. “Speaking of which, are we going to hop on over to Dancer Island tonight and check out the nightclub?” Danny asked, leaning against the side of the bar above Blake’s head. “I could use a few dr
inks along with some pleasant company.”
“What? I’m not pleasant enough?” Blake jested.
“I was thinking that it might be fun to add some female company to the mix.”
“I don’t know, I still have all that bad press floating around about Crista and Tara. I don’t want to add fuel to the fire.”
“You can’t let that keep you from having a good time,” Danny coaxed. “Besides, I need my wingman.”
Blake wasn’t surprised Danny was trying to convince him to go out. His friends helped him get into most of his trouble, especially when it came to the ladies. The truth was, over the past year or so, Blake had been trying to make better choices. He was getting tired of his playboy ways, but every time he thought he was making progress, an unflattering, false story would pop up in the press. He wasn’t sure how it was happening, which meant he couldn’t get it to stop. Short of falling off the face of the planet, which was impossible because of his famous face, he just had to ride out the bad press and try to avoid providing more ammunition.
“Maybe we don’t have to go anywhere to find pleasant female company after all,” Danny said with a grin as he stood up straight and stared at someone behind Blake.
He turned to see who his friend was looking at, and quickly his temporary good mood fell away. “I hardly think so. Pleasant isn’t the word I would use to describe that woman.”
“Come on, she can’t be all that bad, looking like that,” Danny protested.
Blake admitted to himself, Danny was right. Peyton looked good in the late afternoon light that flooded through the gym’s massive windows that overlooked the Sound. She was wearing an emerald-colored blouse that enhanced the greenness of her eyes, along with black slacks and matching pumps. Today, her hair was pulled back high in a ponytail. It only made her pretty facial features stand-out in all the right ways.
