Читать книгу The Billion Dollar Pact - Sheri WhiteFeather - Страница 15
ОглавлениеThis was it, Carol thought as she stood on her veranda, breathing in the tropical air. Soon, she and Jake would be leaving the Caribbean.
Already feeling nostalgic, she smiled, remembering last night’s crabbing expedition. She’d squealed like a child when she’d nabbed her first giant blue crustacean. Jake had been right by her side, as promised, making the experience sweet and fun and romantic. Nonetheless, hunting and gathering wasn’t her forte.
Eating was, though. She’d enjoyed the crab-stuffed crepes they’d had for breakfast. For lunch, they’d had French cuisine, served in the dining room, where everyone had gathered for their final meal, talking and laughing, before they’d parted ways.
Some guests were already gone by now and others, like Carol and Jake, were preparing to depart.
She returned to her room, where her suitcase sat, carefully packed. After Jake finished jamming his belongings into his, they would head out for the helipad. When they got to the other island where they’d originally landed, they would board the jet that would take them home.
She checked on Jake to see how he was coming along and found him looking as handsome as ever, dressed in blue jeans and a loose cotton shirt, with a shiny packet in his hand.
Carol gaped at him. “Where you did get that?” As far as she knew, they’d used the final condom last night, after they’d come back from crabbing and climbed in the tub together, taking a long sensual bath.
“It was in my luggage, but in a different compartment from where I usually keep them. It was lodged in the corner, so the edges are bent. But other than that...”
She caught her breath. “Do we have time to use it?”
“We’ll make time.” With lightning speed, he swept her into his arms. They kissed like crazy, tongue-to-tongue, instantly hungry for the forbidden taste of each other.
He backed her against a nightstand, and she opened his zipper and pushed her hand inside. His eyes went glassy as he pressed into her palm, letting her feel him up.
After a few anxious heartbeats, he went after her, lifting the hem of her soft summer dress and removing her panties. In the next frantic second, he shoved his jeans down and donned the protection.
Carol sat on the edge of the nightstand, and as he thrust into her, she locked her legs around him, pulling him closer.
“I like that you don’t wear underwear,” she told him.
“You should stop wearing it, too.”
She couldn’t fathom it, not in her daily life. “I’m too proper for that.”
He nipped at her chin with his teeth, gently, wildly. “Yes, you should see how proper you look right now, with your dress hiked up around your hips.”
Her bottom was getting sore from the friction of the wood beneath her, but she didn’t care. “I couldn’t find my panties on that first morning-after.” But later she’d uncovered them, on the floor, with Jake’s discarded clothes. Or more precisely, his pants, since that was the only thing he’d been wearing.
He pushed deeper, harder. “I should have kept them as a memento.”
“So I could sew them into the quilt?”
He didn’t stop the driving rhythm, not for an instant. “Patchwork panties. That works for me.”
She still hadn’t decided if she was going to make him a quilt. For now, all that mattered was being with him one more time.
He kissed her again, making the back of her throat hum. With her arms looped around his neck, she dug her nails into his shirt and arched her body toward his, taking as much of him as he was willing give.
Jake gave her everything. Rough and fast. Hot and sexy. Dark flashes of pleasure zinged through her blood. She closed her eyes, wanting this desperate moment to last forever, yet knowing it couldn’t.
He used his fingers, rubbing her, intensifying the sensation. She was spiraling into sexual oblivion, lost in the fury. He ravished her relentlessly, lifting her into a fiery abyss.
Carol came in a burst of heat, in a sea of molten wetness. The air was thick, her breaths choppy.
He emitted a gritty groan, and all she could think was how beautiful he was, how powerfully male. His climax exploded just seconds after hers, expelling energy and lust.
She untangled her legs from around his waist, and he put his forehead against hers. In the aftermath, she clung to the feeling, her heart beating a crazy cadence.
When they separated, she wanted to pull him back into her arms. But she knew that wouldn’t change anything. So she let him go.
While he went into the bathroom to clean up, she made a beeline to her own bathroom, grabbing her panties along the way. This time, she wasn’t going to lose them in the shuffle.
Carol returned with her dress smooth and tidy, her underwear in place. Jake came back with his shirt tucked in and his fly neatly zipped.
Fighting a bout of sadness, she glanced down at her feet. She was wearing sandals decorated with little sparkling gems. The other jewels, the real ones Jake had given her, were packed. She didn’t know if she would ever put them on again.
“Ready?” he asked.
She looked up at him. “To go home and act as if nothing happened?”
He nodded.
She searched his gaze, but all she saw, all she felt, were her own scattered emotions staring back at her. “I think I will make you a quilt, with all of the Caribbean trimmings.”
“Promise?”
“Yes.” She wanted Jake to remember that she’d once been his lover, even years from now, when she was happily married to someone else. “Just so you’ll have it.”
“Thanks. But we better go now.” He took charge of the luggage, his and hers. “Should we ask the caretakers for a ride to the helipad or do you want to walk?”
“We can walk.” It was a paved path, with stairs leading to the raised platform. “But I’d like to go the beach first, to the area where the sandcastle was. Or might still be.” Even if it was in ruins, she wanted to see the remnants.
“Okay.” He agreed to take her there.
They went downstairs, left their suitcases on the front porch and ventured onto the beach. But there was nothing to see. Everything was gone, including their beloved mermaid.
“We’re too late,” he said.
“Did the candles get washed away, too?” she asked, trying not to feel empty inside.
“I think someone removed them. I doubt Lena would have allowed them to pollute the ocean.”
“That’s good.” Carol turned to look at him as a salty breeze skimmed the shore. “It’s so quiet.”
He captured a strand of her billowing hair. “Lena told me at lunch that she really likes you.”
Carol leaned closer. “I like her, too.” She’d gotten to know the pop star a little better. During the course of the weekend, they’d chatted here and there. But mostly Lena just smiled whenever she saw Jake and Carol together, saluting Carol for taking a sexy chance on him.
He released her hair, sliding it through his fingers. “And you were worried about fitting in with my friends.”
“But I misbehaved like them instead?”
“Much to my pleasure.” He kissed her, soft and slow, surrounded by the tropical paradise that helped inspire their affair.
Their last kiss, she thought. Their last moment. She slipped her arms around him, holding him as if it was never going to end. Only, they both knew it was coming to a close.
But still, she deepened the kiss, savoring the taste of him for as long as she could.
* * *
A little over a month had passed since the island trip, and now Jake was meeting Garrett for a drink at the LA-area resort Garrett owned. The main building was a grand hotel, with a view of the Pacific Ocean. To the west of it, along the boardwalk, were private condos. Guests could stay at either type of accommodation, depending on their needs.
On this crisp, clear afternoon, a group of people were horseback riding along the shore. Garrett was a horseman who’d built a fancy stable on the property for himself as much as for his guests. In fact, he lived on the premises, near the stables, in a custom-built house on a cliff above the beach.
Jake entered the hotel, his thoughts scattered. He was supposed to be concentrating on a fund-raiser that was in the works for their foundation, but he kept thinking about Carol instead.
She’d called in sick four times this week. That wasn’t like her. She rarely, if ever, missed work. She did seem ill, though. The last time he’d seen her, she looked tired and pale. But Jake wasn’t sure if it was physical or emotional.
Being around each other was becoming increasingly difficult, even with the amount of time that had passed since Lena’s party. They did the best they could, but it was awkward, with both of them overcompensating for the heat that still sizzled between them. He wasn’t sure what was worse: being alone at the office with her or having other people around. Either way, he was feeling the pressure, and so was she.
Was it the stress that was making her sick? He wouldn’t be surprised if it was. But at this point he didn’t know what to do about it other than urge her to see a doctor, if she hadn’t done that already.
He was concerned that if it continued for much longer she was going to find herself another job, one that didn’t include an ex-lover as her boss.
Then what would he do? How would he replace her? Carol was an asset to his company...and to him. She understood him. She knew what made him tick. But maybe it would be better if she left, if they didn’t have to see each other every day. No, he thought. He didn’t want to lose her, not like this.
“Hey! Where are you going?”
Jake spun around and saw that he’d just walked right past Garrett in the front lobby bar. Cripes, he didn’t even realize what he was doing.
“Sorry. I just—” Rather than try to explain, Jake finished with, “Need a beer.”
“Me, too.” Garrett motioned to a table that had been reserved for them.
They sat down, and a spunky little blonde came by to take their orders. They both chose bottled Mexican beer. Normally, Jake would have checked out the waitress or at least smiled at her in his usual flirtatious way, but he was too preoccupied with thoughts of Carol to behave like his old self. Garrett seemed the same as usual, except maybe a bit more uptight.
Not that he was a stick in the mud. Garrett Snow was a great guy, just in a strong-willed way. He didn’t take any crap from anyone, and he didn’t party or play the field the way Jake did, either. Garrett had always been a one-woman kind of man. He was also organized and focused. He preferred to do things himself, barely needing a secretary or assistant. Jake couldn’t fathom it. Carol was the most important person in his employ.
The beers arrived and Jake swigged his first. He glanced around, taking in the decor, with its rich, dark woods, painted details and Native American accents. Garrett was a mixed-blood from the Cheyenne Nation, sired by an Anglo father he’d never known.
“You look like you have a lot on your mind,” Garrett said, reaching for his beer.
“Yeah, I do. I don’t know if I’m going to be much good today, finalizing the fund-raiser stuff.”
Garrett sat back in his chair. He was tall and broad, with deep-set eyes, short black hair and hard-edged features. He squinted a lot, just as he was doing now. “We can work on it another day.”
“Really?” Jake was surprised. His foster brother rarely pushed business aside. “You’d be cool with that?”
“I have things on my mind, too.”
Curious, Jake leaned forward. “Like what?”
Garrett didn’t respond. He didn’t alter his posture, either. He remained as he was, seated far back in his chair, his eyes narrowed. He looked like the hero of an old Western B movie, a half-breed cowboy, preparing to fight the bad guys and clean up the town.
Finally he said, “The woman who ripped us off will be coming up for parole this year.”
Ah, so that was it, Jake thought. Garrett had Meagan Quinn on his mind. The seemingly nice girl who’d embezzled money from them. She used to work for the accounting firm that Garrett, Max and Jake used, gaining access to their financial records and dipping her hands into the pie.
Jake was the most forgiving, of course. He knew what it was like to steal. “She’s serving her time. She’s paying her debt to society.”
“Yes, but she still has to pay her debt to us.”
That was true. As a stipulation of her sentence, Meagan had been ordered to pay restitution to her victims. The money she’d taken wasn’t an astronomical amount, at least not by their standards. But it was still a crime. And it had still pissed them off, especially Garrett, maybe even more than it should have.
Jake took another swig of his beer. “Doesn’t she have to get a verified job offer before she can get paroled? Isn’t that one of the terms of her release?”
“Yeah, and my do-gooder mother wants me to offer her a job, here at the resort.”
Holy cow. If Jake hadn’t been so shocked, he might’ve laughed. Regardless, he still cracked a joke. “Doing what? Working the front desk so she can get your guests’ credit card numbers and go on a shopping spree?”
“That isn’t funny.”
“Yes, it is. I mean, seriously, what the hell is your mom thinking?”
“She’s thinking that I’ll be able to give an ex-con a fresh start at a new life. Of course, the parole commission would have to approve her working for me, but since the restitution she owes would be going to our foundation, they’d probably agree to it.”
Jake nodded. An arrangement had already been made with the court for the money to be donated to their charity, instead of being paid to them. Garrett had taken care of that when he’d attended Meagan’s sentencing. Neither Jake nor Max had made an appearance. They’d trusted Garrett to represent them.
“Mom’s got it in her head that I need to do this, as much for the thief as myself.”
“A little forgiveness wouldn’t hurt.”
“Yeah, well, we’ll see.” Garrett chugged his drink, then set the bottle down with a thud. After a moment of silence, he asked, “So what’s going on with you?”
Well, shit. Now Jake had to spill his guts, too. Only, he couldn’t admit that he’d slept with Carol. He’d promised to keep their affair on the down-low once they got home, and that included not blabbing to his foster brothers about it.
“I’m just worried about Carol,” he said.
Garrett’s expression softened. “Your assistant? How so?”
“She’s been sick this week.”
A frown appeared on Garrett’s face. “How sick?”
“I don’t know. She just seems run-down, I guess.”
“Then give her some time to recover.”
“Maybe I should stop by her place to check on her.”
“Sure, you could do that. But you should probably call first.”
“Or text,” Jake said, recalling the texts that had led to their first night together. “I just want to know that she’s going to be okay.”
“You’re really reliant on her, aren’t you?”
“She’s good at her job.” Hot and sexy in bed, too, he thought. And warm and sweet. Everything he wasn’t supposed to be thinking about. But he couldn’t seem to let those images go, no matter how hard he tried. “I’ll text her after I finish my beer.”
“I’m getting another one.” Garrett lifted his empty bottle and signaled the waitress.
Jake wasn’t having another drink. He wanted to keep a clear head for when he saw Carol.
* * *
Jake rang Carol’s doorbell and shifted the bag in his hand. In his text, he’d offered to bring her some soup. It was as good an excuse as any to con his way over here. Besides, he knew how much she loved the matzo ball soup from a nearby deli.
She answered the door, looking even more exhausted than the last time he’d seen her at work. Dang, he thought. He’d hoped that her condition would be improving, not worsening.
After she invited him inside, he held up the soup. “Do you want this now?”
“Maybe a little. Thank you.” Carol took the bag and went into the kitchen. Jake waited at the entrance of the kitchen, watching her move about. She opened the container and poured some of the broth into a mug, then spooned a matzo ball into it. “There’s a lot here. Do you want a cup, too?”
“No, thanks.” Jake studied her more closely. She was wearing sweatpants and a blousy shirt, and her typically tidy hair was pulled up into a rooster-style ponytail, the ends poking out at feathery angles. In a more relaxed situation, the chaotic style would have amused him. But he was in no mood to smile.
She motioned to the living room, and he followed her to the sofa, where he sat beside her.
She tasted the soup. “It’s really good. Thank you again.”
“You’re welcome.” He paused before he continued, giving her time to eat a bit more of the soup. Then he asked, “Have you seen a doctor yet?”
She shook her head. “I wanted to wait until...”
Jake frowned. “Until what?”
“I was ready.”
That made absolutely no sense to him. “You’ve been sick for almost a week.”
“I’ll make an appointment if I need to.”
“I think you need to now.”
She put her mug on the coffee table. “Let me handle my own business, Jake.”
“I’m just worried is all.”
“I’ll be fine.”
She didn’t look fine. Not in the least. He’d never seen her in such a fragile state before.
“I started on the quilt I promised to make for you,” she said, changing the subject. “But it’s slow going.”
“You’ve been sewing?”
“No. But I cut the squares from the different fabrics. Or most of them. I still need to order a few more.” She glanced toward a basket in the corner of the room where the fabrics were. “You can look at what’s there so far, if you want.”
He went ahead and checked it out, curious to see what patterns she’d chosen. But that didn’t mean he was going to let her get away with ignoring her health issues. He intended to work their conversation back to that. But first, he retrieved the basket and brought it over to the sofa.
He looked through the squares. There were a variety of fabrics, most of them containing the beach themes he’d suggested, with depictions of mermaids, sandcastles and islands on them. She’d even tossed in some printed with blue crabs. There was also a multicolored print that had the same jewel tones as the bracelet he’d given her. She’d included a shiny starfish pattern for the earrings, too. He noticed a geometric Native American print as well, that he assumed was meant to represent him and his heritage. He kept looking and uncovered a stack of squares with grasshoppers on them.
“For Eskeilay,” she said. Then softly added, “The mother of the earth-womb.”
“You did a beautiful job with what you chose.” He wished that he could touch her, hold her, make her feel better, but he figured the last thing she wanted was for him to take her in his arms.
“I plan to include something for Uncta, too. A fire print of some sort, something with a golden hue. That’s one of the fabrics I still have to order.”
“I appreciate your attention to detail.” To the memories they’d created, even if neither of them had spoken of that weekend since.
“I don’t know when I’ll finish it.”
To him, it sounded as if she had mixed feelings about whether to complete it at all. She’d probably only brought it up as a diversion to keep him from bugging her about going to the doctor.
Jake put the basket aside, refusing to let her off the hook. He asked, “Are you ill because of me?”
She had a worried expression. “What?”
He clarified his question. “Is being around me too stressful?”
She twisted her hands on her lap. “Sort of, I guess. Not wanting to face you is part of the reason I’ve been calling in sick.”
“You’re facing me now. You agreed to let me come over.”
“I knew I couldn’t avoid you forever. And it is a little easier seeing you here than at the office. But I still don’t want to talk about it. Not until I see a doctor, and I already told you, I’m not ready to do that.”
He pushed the issue, determined to get answers. “Please, Carol, just tell me what’s going on.”
“It’s too soon to tell you.”
“Too soon for what?” He noticed that she was still wringing her hands. “I’m not leaving here until you level with me.”
Her breath rushed out. “Okay, but it’s going to freak you out.” She looked directly at him, her voice quavering. “I’m scared, Jake. Scared to death that I might be pregnant.”
