Jaden (St. Sebastians Quartet #1) (10 page)

She considered that. It made sense. "I kept trying to scream and was swallowing water." She nodded. "Maybe you're right. That bastard forced me into a situation where I'd be unconscious, then he came for me. But that still doesn't answer what pulled me into the water in the first place."

"Has anything like this happened to you before?"

"No. Never. Either he was an apparition or a dream. Even in the dreams he was never able to actually touch me. Yesterday was the first time." She looked down at her hands. They were still trembling, but not as badly as before. "I don't know what to do. I'm scared."

"I'm staying with you tonight. No," He held his hand up to stop her from talking. "I've already decided that I'm staying. If anything else happens, I'll be here."

"I can't expect you to do that. You don't even know me."

"I've never pulled anyone out of a pool and given them mouth to mouth before, so I feel like I know you at least a little."

She couldn't help it. She laughed.

"Jaden, this is the God's honest truth. If I go home tonight, I'll be up all night worried about you. You'd be doing me a favor by letting me stay."

She turned to look at him. His eyes were the brightest green she'd ever seen.

"You're a nice man, aren't you? A good man."

"I try."

What was wrong with her? Not an hour ago she'd nearly drowned to death in her aunt's pool, now here she was, flirting with her rescuer. Though, flirting wasn't exactly right. She was too nervous to flirt. And still too unnerved by what had happened to her.

"So what do you want to do?" He held a finger up. "Before you answer, let me give you the rules."

"Oh, there are rules?"

"Absolutely. Rule one, you're not allowed to think about the Man in White. Rule two, you're not allowed to talk about the Man in White. Rule three, rules one and two are in force until tomorrow."

"It's nearly tomorrow already."

"Until later tomorrow. Until sunrise tomorrow."

"Okay, but before the rules go in force, one last thing. Have you ever heard of a place called Chimera? The man who spoke to me told me to come back to Chimera. And he didn't call me Jaden. He called me Kesi."

"Has anyone ever spoke to you in your dreams before?"

"Never."

"Chimera. I heard that name before, but not as a place." He looked up at the ceiling, deep in thought. "Give me a minute."

She was silent as he considered. When he sat up and looked at her, her heart quickened. But this time it wasn't because of the man. It was what the man might know.

"I remember. It was when I was in college. But it won't help you."

"It may. How do you know that name?"

"Greek mythology. Chimera is a hybrid monster. I don't think that's what you mean, though. Sounds like you're talking about a place. A place you're supposed to go back to. I think the question is, have you ever heard of Chimera?"

"I haven't. And I haven't been to anywhere whose name resembled it. But what if it isn't a place? What if it's a thought or something?"

"A thought? How so?"

"Like a state of mind." She shook her head. "No, that's stupid."

"There's something else. You've said the Man in White has never touched you before and nobody in your dreams has ever spoken to you, until last night. So what has changed?"

"I've thought about that. It has to be me being here and maybe meeting Hayley and Bria. That's the only thing that's different in my life. I think meeting them has..." she tried to think of the right words, but there weren't any. "...it has scared him—the Man in White, I mean." She considered this, then nodded. "Yeah. I don't think he likes the fact that we've met. That we're in the same place. I wonder if Bria and Hayley have had odd experiences since Bria came to stay with Nico."

"I doubt it. As far as I know, tonight is the first time they met."

"I'll talk to them tomorrow. See if they've experienced anything out of the ordinary." She looked out the sliding glass doors toward the ocean. It was too dark to actually see it, but she could hear it. The sound, along with Kenda's arm around her, calmed her.

"We know that there's possibly a place called Chimera and that you resemble someone named Kesi. That gives us somewhere to start."

"Us?"

"Us."

"Why do you care? You've just met me? And as nice as you are, I can see in your eyes that you don't really believe me."

"You don't want me to care? Okay. I'm going home."

"No," she laughed. "I'm glad you're staying. You're just being really nice to someone you don't know. I have to seem crazy to you."

"Do I believe there's an entity that haunts your dreams and has followed you, Hayley and Bria since you were children?" He rubbed at his temple. "That's a pretty tall order for an ordinary guy like me. I don't believe in ghosts. But ask me if I think something strange is going on and I'd say yes. Clearly, something is happening here. I'm not sure what, but I'm gonna find out. Not only for you. I've known Hayley since I was a kid. Same goes for Bria. She's my buddy's kid sister and she's been through enough already. I'm going to help get to the bottom of this."

"Poor Kenda."

"Playing hero by staying the night with a beautiful woman. My life has been a trial."

She couldn't help it. Her smile broadened at the beautiful woman' comment. She shifted so she could look at him, eye to eye, then froze when their eyes met. His smile slid away, but he didn't turn from her.

Kiss me, she found herself thinking. Right now. Kiss me.

He reached around her and her heart nearly stopped. Then he grabbed the remote control. He clicked the TV over the fireplace on and flipped through the channels. "Now, about those rules."

The moment was gone.

"Rules in force starting now," she agreed, disappointed. "I like your idea of television. We don't have to think if we're watching television."

"Exactly."

"Aunt Edna has Netflix. Let's watch Grace and Frankie. If that show can't put a smile on my face, nothing can."

"I've never seen it."

She took the remote from him and clicked the Netflix button. "Then, Kenda Browning, you are in for a treat."

He shifted. "It's hot under here." He bent forward, shifted some more, then came up holding socks. "That's better."

"Now you're comfortable, just from taking off your socks?"

"Absolutely."

They watched Grace and Frankie, but it didn't stop her from thinking. Now she was wondering who this man was. He'd rescued her and now was staying up late with her, a stranger, because he wanted to make sure she was safe. Who did that kind of thing?

"Are you from around here?" she asked.

"No. I'm from Long Island, in New York."

"How did you and your brothers end up here?"

"Tyler. He had this crazy idea to start a business together. He'd been here maybe ten years ago, on business, and fallen in love with the town. But I've gotta tell you, ten years ago St. Sebastians wasn't what you see now. It was a largely forgotten beach town with virtually no tourism. Tyler saw an opportunity."

"So he persuaded you and Chris to move here and start a company? What do you do?"

"Tyler studied business and has his MBA, I'm an architect. I was working for one of those mega firms in Manhattan. Chris is the only one of us without a degree, but he'd been in construction since before graduating high school. Tyler thought we had all the ingredients we needed to start a successful construction company. I would focus on design, Tyler would watch the bottom line, and Chris would oversee the actual construction."

"It all fit into place. Like a puzzle. That's amazing. You do know how amazing that is, right?"

He laughed. "It wasn't at first. I could work with Chris and Tyler, but Chris and Tyler could not work with each other. They kept trying to tell each other what to do and how to better manage their areas. Chris didn't study finance, but he'd handled the books where he'd worked for three years. He wasn't a novice when it came to finances. When it comes to design, Chris is invaluable there, too. He knows what's financially doable. He helps me re-work my ideas when they become a bit too...grandiose. I welcome his help. Tyler, doesn't. So we had to get a general manager to sort of oversee the whole business and speak as an intermediary between Chris and Tyler when needed. Nico has a finance background, but he double majored. Finance and art history." He held his hands up. "No, don't ask."

"So he keeps everyone in check?"

"He keeps Tyler and Chris in check. That's a job too big even for me, and a job I don't want. Even when we were kids they were like oil and water. They'd get into these awful fistfights. The only thing that would stop them would be when I started to cry."

"You cried?"

"I was like eight, and they were eleven and twelve. They were my entire world back then, so it was scary when they'd get into it like that. It was like watching my world crumble."

"What about your parents?"

"Our parents," he snorted. "They meant well. Their idea of good parenting was a backyard pool, seventy-five thousand dollar cars when we turned sixteen, and fat trust funds. My father was busy making money. That's what my mom always told us. Mom was busy doing good in the world. She was on just about every charity board in existence. When they weren't working, they were traveling."

"So it was just the three of you. You must have been close."

"We were and are. Even Tyler and Chris. I make it sound bad, but really we're fortunate. We have this company that's doing far better than we had a right to hope. But if we'd never created it, we'd have been fine. I could have left school and never worked a day in my life and had been fine."

"You're that rich?"

"My parents are that rich. I used some of my inheritance when I went away to college, so I could focus on my studies without having to get a job. I don't need the rest. But it's there for my children."

"You're telling me that you and your brothers started your own company from scratch, without any financial backing from your parents, and have made it into a success?"

"Tyler has been working since high school. He put himself through college. He made some good investments, and had nearly all the capital we needed. Chris lives like a monk. At least he used to. Between the two of us, we were able to round out the money we needed."

"You're not what you seem."

He looked at her then. "I'm not sure if that's good or bad."

"I shouldn't have said that. I'm constantly saying things I shouldn't say."

"Still not sure if I've been complimented or insulted."

"You haven't been insulted."

"Thank you, then."

She looked into his eyes, then let her own eyes drift down to his mouth. And just like that, the desire for him to kiss her was back.

His eyes shifted from her mouth to her eyes, then back. "I want you so bad, Jaden Quinn," he murmured in a husky voice. When his lips touched hers, she sighed, as though she'd been waiting for his kiss for centuries.

He kissed her gently, as though giving her an opportunity to pull away if she wanted to. When she didn't, he deepened the kiss. His arm closed around her, pulling her closer. So close she felt like he was suddenly her entire world.

She lost herself in him, in the taste of him and in his touch. Then he was pressing her flat against the bed, pinning her body beneath his. He kissed her hungrily, making her moan into his mouth.

When he released her and pulled away, she was dazed and light-headed.

He exhaled slowly. "I've been wanting to do that since I met you."

"Is it bad to admit that I've wanted you to do that since I met you?"

He smiled, then he kissed her again. When he pulled away a second time, she was breathless.

On screen, Jane Fonda was dressed in a swanky black outfit.

"Can you believe how gorgeous she is? Lily Tomlin, too. Those women are timeless."

Kenda nodded. "Think they sold their souls?"

Jaden busted out laughing.

"Okay," Kenda said. "I've never seen Gracie and Frankie before—"

"Grace and Frankie."

"Yeah. So you have to tell me about them."

"I can do better than that. This is episode seven. Let's go to the first episode."

But she never put the first episode on, nor did they look at the television again. He leaned over her before she could grab the remote, and kissed her.

CHAPTER TEN

Jaden was surprised by the sunlight coming in through the sliding glass doors of the bedroom. The deck was awash in light, as was the bedroom. She sat up in bed, amazed that she'd fallen asleep in the first place. The plan had been to stay awake.

"What time is it?" she muttered to herself.

The clock on the bedside table said it was after nine.

She rubbed her eyes and yawned. She never slept so late. In fact, she rarely slept more than six hours. Too much sleep and she risked nightmares. But according to the clock, she'd been asleep nearly nine hours.