by Serena Grey
“We’re here,” I murmur in her ear.
She stirs and stretches slowly. “How long have we been on the road?”
“Four hours, and you’ve been asleep about two of them.” She smooths her hair while I watch. “You ready?”
She nods, and I open my door, stepping out of the car as Joe opens the door on her side. She joins me on the driveway, taking in the beach cottage, which is close enough to the water that we can hear the surf break on the shore.
Rachel turns to look at me. “Do you own this too?”
“No, it belongs to a friend. He loaned it to me for the weekend.” It’s Alex’s house for when he wants or needs to escape my Draconian demands at work.
“You have friends?” She’s laughing at me. “And here I thought you were a robot.”
My face conveys my hurt. “You met Cameron.”
“I knew you’d play that card,” she says, still laughing. “One friend—that’s pathetic.”
I gesture toward the house. “This makes two.”
“Still not healthy,” she declares, not giving an inch. “How’s Cameron, by the way? And Jules?”
“Still heavily pregnant.”
Inside, the cottage is simply designed with polished wood floors, a stone fireplace, and, through a set of sliding doors, a wooden deck that overlooks the ocean.
Rachel loves it, and that’s all I need.
“Your friend is lucky,” she tells me. “I’d live here and pretend to be writing a book just so nobody would ask why I never leave home.”
“You’d miss your job.”
She raises her eyebrows. “I wouldn’t have to deal with arrogant billionaires nudging my boss into sending me on assignments just so they can seduce me.”
Ah well. “One day you’ll forgive me for that.”
She flutters her lashes dramatically. “What makes you think I’m talking about you?”
I feel something close to a heart attack. “If anybody else tried to pull a stunt like that with you, I’d probably…” I shake my head. “I don’t even want to think about it.”
She laughs and holds out a hand to me. “Let’s go to bed. I’m tired.”
She doesn’t need to ask me twice.
I dream about happier times: vacations with my parents, Aidan squealing and running around on the beach.
I wake up with a feeling of deep, inexorable sadness. Rachel is still asleep, and I drop a kiss on her cheek. She smiles in her sleep, and something expands in my chest. I want to stay and watch her but don’t want to risk waking her up, so I pull on a pair of pajama bottoms and go out to the deck. There, I spend hours watching the water in its centuries-old journey to the beach.
The sun is already up when Rachel comes up behind me and wraps her arms around me.
“Aren’t you cold?”
“Not anymore,” I reply, smiling as my body relaxes into her touch. “Good morning.”
She places her cheek on my back and her arms tighten around me. I take a deep breath. It feels heavenly. She feels heavenly.
“Hey,” she says suddenly. “How did you sleep?”
I turn around so we’re face to face. “Perfectly.”
She smiles and places a soft kiss on my lips. Grabbing her by the waist, I deepen the kiss until all my senses are filled with her.
When I finally release her, we’re both breathing deeply. She grins up at me, her gaze tender.
What is she thinking?
“You must be hungry,” I say quietly, leading her back inside the house. “Let’s eat.”
In the kitchen, I do the cooking while Rachel watches and lays out dishes. After we eat, she gives me a satisfied smile. “I’m going to get used to you making me breakfast.”
“Why not? You have my skills at your disposal, babe—all my skills.”
Her lips part invitingly, and I’m sorely tempted to take her back to bed, but I have urgent work to do, people waiting on the other end of phone lines.
“I have to get to work now,” I tell her with regret. “I have a phone call with my lawyer and some proposals to look over before I visit the property.”
“Oh…” She hides her disappointment. “All right.”
I give her the number for the caretaker in case she wants anything then spend the morning out on the deck with my laptop and phone.
After a few hours, I’m done with the last of my phone calls. I find Rachel on the front porch, working. Of course she’d bring her work along. She’s not the type to wait around, idle.
She looks up to see me watching her and raises her arms in a delicate stretch. “Hey.”
My eyes follow her movements. “How’s it going?”
“So-so.”
“I’m about to leave,” I tell her. “Why don’t you come with me so you can tell me what you think?”
“Me?” She makes a face. “I’m not a real estate analyzer.”
I chuckle. “You don’t have to be.” I want her to come with me, and not just because I’d rather have her by my side than alone here. “I’d like to know what you think.”
She looks unconvinced. “If you insist. What is it, anyway?”
“An old ocean-front hotel. It has historical value and, I suppose, sentimental value to the owners. They proposed a partnership.”
She frowns. “But you own your properties outright, don’t you?”
I nod. “Usually, yes.”
“So, are you going to partner with them?”
“That’s what I’m going to decide today. If I’m going to pour money into the place, I want to be sure it has a chance, and that it’s going to be run like any other Swanson Court establishment.”
She considers it. “When are we leaving?”
My eyes drop to her robe. “I was going to take a shower, and I wondered if you would join me.”
“Oh, well…” She sighs theatrically, making me laugh. “If you insist.”
We make love in the shower. After, I dress her, zipping up her dress and getting on my knees to slide her feet into her sandals. She returns the favor by buttoning up my shirt and tucking it into my pants.
It’s silly and beautiful and intimate.
I watch her brush her hair, satisfied just to look at her. “You’re beautiful.”
Her eyes meet mine and she smiles. “Thank you.”
Crossing the room, I go to take her hand. My chest is full of so many things I feel, and I wish I had the words to explain. “We’d better go,” I say instead.
In the garage, Alex’s Maserati is waiting. I can’t help grinning when I see it. Alex loves that car more than his own life, which gives me a double amount of pleasure to be driving it.
“What?” Rachel is looking at me, curious.
“Alex—the guy who owns this place—he thinks the world of this car. He’s probably having a heart attack at the thought of anybody else driving it.”
“Then why did he agree to let you?”
I give her a teasing smirk. “Because I can be persuasive.”
She chuckles. “Don’t I know it.”
The car drives like a dream, and soon we’re at our destination, the Regency Grace. It’s a three-story structure along the beach with a history that goes back to the Gilded Age.
The owners meet us at the door, Lucy McLaren, who inherited the hotel from her father, and her husband, Dave. They’re both in their seventies but still active enough to oversee the daily running of the hotel.
The older woman gushes over Rachel. “What a lovely thing you are!” she exclaims. “Isn’t she, Dave?”
Dave, who looks like a charmer, takes Rachel’s hand. “Without a doubt.” If he wasn’t pushing eighty, I’d have to challenge him to arm wrestle or something.
The hotel is undeniably well-managed. Most of the guests are families with children. Rachel goes on a tour of the property with Dave while I follow Lucy to her office to talk terms. I’m still on the fence about going into business with them, not because I don’t think it will be profitable, but becaus
e of how attached they are to the property. I always want to have the final say in managing my hotels, and I’m not quite convinced I should put my money somewhere I would have to take a step back.
Even my people are divided on the purchase. Alex likes it, but others on my team do not.
I listen to Lucy’s proposal again, giving no commitment, and then we all have lunch on the deck.
On the drive back, I put on soft music, and Rachel is quiet, reclining on her seat with her eyes closed, her hair lying around her shoulders like a curtain made of the sunset. I resist the urge to stretch an arm out and touch the strands.
“What did you think?” I ask.
Her eyes open as she considers her response. “It has a lot of potential, but it feels so old…like they’ve tried their best, but they don’t really know how to bring it up to date.”
It’s almost as if she read my thoughts. “You’re right. That’s the impression I got too.”
“So…what will you do? Will you invest in it?”
“Not if they want to keep running the place. It’s admirable that they’ve held on for so long because corporations own everything else out there. That’s why I decided to see for myself, even though my team had already put up a red flag.”
“Oh.” She looks sad, and I know she’s thinking about the hope on the McLarens’ faces.
“If I’m going to put the Swanson Court name on the hotel and inject my money into it, they’re going to need new management, new ideas, and thorough refurbishment to make it less ancient and more…”
“Classic.”
I smile. “Exactly.”
“It’s going to need more than a popular restaurant to get people interested. The décor needs changing, and we could tie in sponsorship of local events. Add a more upscale restaurant?” The more plans I consider, the more exciting it becomes. “A few private cabins along the beach…I could make something out of it.”
Rachel is gazing at me. “You’re so sexy when you talk shop.”
I’m not sure if I should be flattered or amused. “Who knew? I’ll have to do more of that when I’m with you.” I squeeze her hand. “Thanks for coming today.”
“I didn’t mind.”
“But I’m glad you were there, and that I can talk about my work with you.”
She sticks out her tongue, making me laugh. “I’m glad you’re glad.”
“I’m going to make you dinner,” I offer. “What would you like?”
“I’d eat anything you prepare,” she says with a smile.
I surprise her by stopping at a popular chain store to buy groceries. Inside, she follows me around, teasing me mercilessly from the moment I park the car.
Back at the house, I make dinner and we eat out on the rear deck with the ocean just a few feet away. Later, I find a blanket and we lie on the porch swing, looking up at the stars. I try to show her the patterns of the constellations, but she insists she can’t see anything, only random stars. She soon falls asleep, and I wait until she’s breathing deeply before carrying her inside the house.
Chapter 23
I know I can get her out of the car. I know it.
The smoke is getting thicker as the fire spreads. I just need to get to the door and pull her out.
Mom!
“There’s nothing you can do.”
The voice is thick and distorted, the voice of a monster—a monster with strong arms, holding me back as the flames take over the car.
Let me go!
Let me go!
“Landon!”
“Landon, wake up. You’re dreaming.”
Rachel’s voice comes from far away, and the other images disappear. I’m asleep, drifting slowly awake. I open my eyes and see Rachel’s are filled with alarm and concern.
I can barely remember the dream, or if I was even dreaming, but her expression worries me.
“What’s wrong?”
She shakes her head. “Nothing.”
I know myself well enough to know it’s not nothing.
“I woke you up with the nightmares, didn’t I?”
She sighs. “Yes.”
Frustrated, I get off the bed.
Her voice stops me. “Where’re you going?”
“I have some reports to read. Go back to sleep.”
“You don’t have to go, Landon. We can talk about it if you want.”
Talk about my mother burning to death while I watched helplessly? “I don’t think so.”
“Don’t you?” There’s a well of accusation in her eyes. “Or maybe you still think it’s none of my business?”
I don’t think that. I wish I could explain to her how my nightmares rob me of my desire to forget, how my desire to forget fills me with guilt. It’s my pain, not hers.
“Landon,” she urges gently. “Talk to me.”
Everything inside me tells me I can’t, that she doesn’t need to share those memories.
Still, I go to sit on the bed and take her hand. “You already know what the dreams are about. The accident. I watched my mother burn in that car, and I couldn’t do anything. Everything changed when she died. My whole family fell apart, my father became a shell, and my brother wouldn’t say a word. In my dreams, I want to save her. I want to save her so badly, and it feels like it would be possible if only I could get away from the person holding me back.”
She squeezes my hand. It’s such a simple gesture, but it soothes me more than I can explain.
“Tell me about her,” she whispers. “Your mother.”
The memories are almost like a dream. My mother laughing, playing with Aidan, dancing with me, then with my dad, dressed up to go out, looking like a goddess.
I sigh. “She was the most beautiful woman in the world, at least to the nine-year-old boy I was. She used to practice at home sometimes, and watching her dance was like watching an angel. She had the softest, gentlest voice, and she liked to laugh.”
Rachel is still holding my hand, and I smile at her.
“She loved Aidan, and she would play with him for hours, no matter what kind of silly game he wanted to play. She loved to read, too. My earliest memory is of her reading to me. I guess she also had a temper, especially when she fought with my dad, but he always knew what to say to her, how to remind her she was the most important person in the world to him.”
Her eyes glisten. “They sound like lovely people.”
The last years of my father’s life were a tragedy, especially compared to what he was in his prime. I take a deep breath. “They were. Then the accident happened.”
She strokes my back. “Landon, there’s no shame in the fact that it haunts you. Most people would never forget if something like that happened to them. You survived. You saved your brother. You were strong for him. It’s something to be proud of.”
But I’m not proud. I close my eyes, remembering that day in the car. My mother, convinced my father was cheating, leaving him. Me in the back with Aidan, wanting more than anything to go back home.
“I wanted to go back.” The words open a well of pain. “I didn’t want to leave. I prayed so hard for anything to happen, anything to make us go back, at least until my father returned. I knew once he arrived, he’d make it up to her somehow. I didn’t know what I was asking for, just any reason for us to go back home and wait for my dad.” My lips twist. “Then something happened. We crashed.”
She puts her arms around me, somehow knowing this is the part that really haunts me, the part I’ve carried alone for twenty years.
I always get what I want.
And sometimes the world falls apart to give it to me.
“Landon.” She rises from the mattress and puts her arms around me. “You were a child.”
“Don’t you think I know that?” I close my eyes. “But it didn’t stop me from torturing myself for years.”
I feel her lips on my shoulder then she’s on the floor in front of me, on her knees.
“Look at me,” she urges. “I’m glad you told me,
but it wasn’t your fault. You didn’t wish the accident to happen. You were just a child afraid of his parents separating. I’m sure you made a thousand more wishes that didn’t come true. It wasn’t your wish that caused the crash. It was an accident.” When I nod, she continues. “Whenever you start thinking like that nine-year-old boy again, just remember how much you loved your mom, how no wish you made could have caused her any harm.”
She’s so intense, it makes me smile. “Yes ma’am.”
“I’m not joking,”
“Neither am I.” I pull her up and draw her onto my lap. “You’re incredible. An angel.”
She smiles. “You need to get back in bed. Get some sleep.”
I set her down on the bed and roll on top of her. “I know what I need, and it’s not sleep.”
“You’re insatiable.”
“You’re irresistible.”
She cups my face in her hands, gazing up at me with a tender expression, then she presses her lips to mine. I roll onto my back so she’s straddling me. Her lips stay on mine, the weight of her body just perfect.
When she pulls away, I reach up to touch her face, grateful for her existence, and for the fact that she’s mine. “You’re like a drug, Rachel. You make me forget everything, everything but you.”
Her eyes close. “When I’m with you, I feel like nothing is missing.” In her eyes, I can see a hint of tears. “It’s like everything finally fell into place.”
I draw her down so I can kiss her again. She tastes like home, like forever.
Don’t leave me.
Her tongue meets mine, tasting and caressing, needing. She moves her hips, grazing my cock, which is already hard. I suck on her bottom lip and she lets out a soft moan.
I need to be inside her.
As if she can read my thoughts, she pulls her lips from mine, shifting her weight down to my thighs so she can wrap her fingers around my rigid erection. She strokes me slowly, tortuously, until I can’t bear it for one more moment, then she brings her hips to hover over me and slowly guides my cock inside her.
She’s warm, tight, and indescribably beautiful. I breathe her name. “Rachel.”
