A thought slammed into his head with the
force of a freight train, causing him to burst into laughter. God,
the answer had been in front of him the entire time. Before he
could speak, Callie tilted her head to the side and said, “Do you
know how attractive you are when you laugh like that?”
He sobered, then frowned. “What?”
“You’re always handsome. But you’re usually
so serious that you walk around with a major frowny face. When you
smile, and especially when you laugh, you’re completely
transformed. You should do it more often.”
Gavin wasn’t normally speechless, but Callie
had managed to render him that way. For a second, he forgot what
he’d been laughing about in the first place. But the thought was
too strong and powerful to be forgotten for long, and he smiled
with its return. “I think I know of a way for you to get money.
Serious money.”
It would also solve the Anticue problem and
give Gavin exactly what he’d personally been looking for.
“Give me a second to finish going through
these files. Then, we need to go someplace we can talk without any
chance of Max catching us.”
Sunny sighed with relief when Gavin strolled
into the bar shortly after eight. She had no idea what time to
expect him, and even though he checked in with her periodically
throughout the day, she still felt better having him there. It
wasn’t that she was scared, just… nervous and on edge.
Gavin dropped onto the stool, rested his
forearms on the bar, and knocked her breathless with the biggest
smile she’d ever seen. “How are you doing?”
She leaned over the counter and returned the
smile. “Better, now that you’re here. I’m ashamed to admit I’ve
been a little freaked out since you sent me those pictures. That
guy is scary.”
He took hold of her hand and rubbed his thumb
across her wrist. “I didn’t mean to scare you. I just wanted you to
know what he looked like, in case he showed up.”
“I understand, and I’m glad you did.
Although, I’d probably shit my pants if he did.”
Gavin laughed and squeezed her hand. “I
promise not to let anything happen to you.”
His confidence didn’t relax her completely,
but having him with her certainly helped. “What'd you find
out?”
His eyes twinkled and his grin broadened.
“Can I have a beer first?” He glanced to the end of the bar, then
warily at her. “You didn’t do anything to Ed, did you?”
She slid the beer to him and shook her head.
“He hasn’t come in yet. Robby really wanted to rip his barstool
cover off and burn it, but I told him he had to wait. I suck at
acting, but I’ll do the best I can to pretend nothing’s wrong.”
Gavin winked and sipped on his beer. “I’ll
keep you distracted.”
“Why? So you won’t have to answer my
question?”
He paused with the beer bottle halfway to his
mouth, then set it back down. “No, so you don’t think about Ed. I’m
working on not being so evasive anymore.”
“And yet, you still haven’t told me what you
found out.”
He scooted forward on the stool and lowered
his voice. “Max has acted on his own in purchasing the Anticue
property. He’s been using Holden funds, but he hasn’t gotten the
board’s blessing on any of it. I think he’s starting to panic.”
“I don’t understand. If he owns the company,
what’s the problem?”
“It’s complicated. He’s the CEO and the
company carries his name, but he doesn’t own it outright. He
reports to a board of directors, and he
can
be fired.”
Sunny felt her eyes widen in surprise. “No
shi—”
Her eyes snapped to the opening door and her
body tensed, cutting off her train of thought. So much for being
more relaxed with Gavin around. When she saw Ed standing in the
doorway with Joe behind him, her nervousness was instantly replaced
by burning anger. For the first time, she understood the phrase
make your blood boil.
Seeing Ed’s name on Holden’s payroll had left
her feeling totally betrayed. Not just for herself, but for the
entire town, for everyone who’d voted him into office and trusted
him to act in their best interest.
“How’s my girlie doing tonight?” Ed asked as
he headed for his seat.
Gavin’s fingertips touched her chin and
turned her head to face him. ”You’re snarling.”
“That’s because I’m pretty sure I could chew
off an arm or a leg right now.”
Gavin laughed, then shocked her by leaning
over and planting a good, long, wet kiss on her, right in front of
everyone. He proceeded to kiss the anger right out of her, which
was probably his intent.
When he pulled back, she swayed a bit and
said, “Maybe I should snarl more often.”
“Naw,” he said, shaking his head before he
took a sip of his beer. “I like you smiling better.” He leaned
forward and cocked his head so the back of it was toward Ed and Joe
and they couldn’t see his mouth moving. “I can’t tell you anything
right now, not here. Especially not with Ed here. But as of two
hours ago, you have nothing to worry about.”
“What?” She didn’t think Gavin would tease
her about something this important, but she still searched his face
for a sign he was joking. “Are you sure?”
Gavin smiled and nodded. “I’m absolutely
positive.”
Overwhelming joy and relief ripped through
her, and she squealed. Gavin’s wide eyes made her realize she was
drawing attention to them, so she threw her hand over her mouth to
squelch her reaction and leaned forward until they were almost
touching. “Max has agreed to call the whole resort off? Or he’s
given up on buying my bar?”
Mischievous evil… That was the only way to
describe Gavin’s lopsided grin and glimmering eyes. “He hasn’t
agreed
to anything. In fact,”—he checked his watch—“he’s
probably getting checkmated right about now.”
Excitement pounded through her and she
bounced on her toes—until she noticed Ed and Joe watching her,
waiting for her to greet them with their beers. She stifled her
excitement by taking a deep breath, then grabbed the bottles from
the chiller.
The overwhelming anger and resentment toward
Ed faded in direct proportion to her lessening worry over losing
the bar. In fact, she might be able to pull this
everything-is-normal routine off, after all.
Realizing she never answered Ed’s question,
she said, “I’m doing all right.” She glanced at Gavin, and he
winked. She even felt a little relief at not having spiked Ed’s
beer with something nasty.
She and Robby had made a list of potential
sabotage techniques, but in the end, they decided to take the high
road and not do anything terrible. Besides, she’d promised Sam she
would never do anything to jeopardize her bar, and she meant it.
Getting a little payback on Ed wasn’t worth that risk.
“There you go, gentlemen.” She set a beer in
front of each man but kept her gaze locked on Joe. It was easier to
be nice if she focused her attention on him and pretended Ed didn’t
exist.
After getting them settled, she rounded the
bar and sat on the stool next to Gavin. Whispering, so as to not be
overheard, she said, “Okay, I need details. This is killing me.
What happened?”
He brushed a stray hair out of her face and
gave her his intimate, lover’s smile. Her feminine spots answered
in their own particular way, something he must have noticed by the
way his gaze dipped to her breasts and his eyelids drooped.
With a slow visual caress, his gaze traveled
up her collarbone, to her neck, and then settled on her mouth. “How
long until you get out of here?”
“Hours. You’re stalling.”
“I’m distracted. There’s a difference.” He
leaned forward and tried to peek down the high collar of her shirt.
“Which necklace are you wearing tonight?”
She pressed her fingers to her throat to feel
the chain, then remembered she hadn’t put one on. Rather than
ruining a potentially seductive moment by sharing that information,
she slowly stroked her finger down the center of her breasts, as if
following the length of chain.
Heat gathered in his eyes as he watched her
fingers, then, without warning, he grabbed her hand and squeezed.
“If you don’t stop, I’ll throw everyone out of here and slap a
closed sign on the door.”
She leaned over the bar and grabbed a
Dum-Dum. “Okay, tell me what’s going on. All of it.”
His sexy facade slipped away, and the
businessman returned. “I went through all the files in Max’s
office.” He was talking so quietly she had to lean forward and
strain to hear him over the background noise. “I don’t believe he’s
done anything horrible, like I was beginning to fear. I think he’s
harassed land owners, spread rumors, stuff like that.”
She must have been glaring, because he added,
“I know, all that’s wrong. But shit, Sunny.” He scrubbed a hand
over his face. “I was beginning to think I’d been an equally horrid
person for turning a blind eye to his actions.” He looked at the
ceiling and drew in a deep breath. “Which, I guess I am, because I
did. But not to the degree I’d feared.”
She ran a soothing hand over his knee. “It
might not have been the right thing to do, but you’re not a
horrible person. And you’ve learned from your mistakes, right?”
He took a deep breath and nodded.
“Absolutely.”
She leaned in closer and lowered her voice.
“Now, what about this property? How did you fix things?”
The wicked gleam returned. “How would you
feel about helping me fix up the old fishing pier? I’m thinking of
turning the top level into a restaurant and restoring the lower
level to its original state.”
“What?” Realizing she was once again drawing
attention to herself with her squealing, she shut up and hunkered
down on her stool. In a harsh whisper, she said, “I think it would
be awesome. But how are you going to do that?”
“To keep things from coming to the board’s
attention, Max put several of the Anticue parcels in his wife’s
name and several in Callie’s. The fishing pier was in Callie’s
name.”
He laughed, and Sunny realized her mouth was
hanging open so far her sucker was about to fall out. She snapped
her mouth shut and swallowed. “She’s going to sell it to you?”
Gavin’s smile was downright cocky. “She
already did.”
Sunny was flabbergasted. Max Holden had been
sneaking property into his wife and daughter’s name, and now the
sneak had been snaked.
The whispering was driving her crazy, not to
mention she was about to bounce off the barstool. Since they only
opened the kitchen on weekends and Robby hadn’t come down from the
apartment, the back of the bar was empty. She grabbed Gavin’s hand,
yanked him off the stool, and dragged him to the kitchen.
“Okay,” she said, shutting the door behind
them. She stood on tiptoes and peered through the window so she
could keep an eye on things. “Start from the beginning and tell me
everything.”
“How about the abbreviated version for
now?”
She cut her eyes to him, judging if this was
another avoidance technique.
He must have understood the look, because he
said, “I swear, I’ll tell you and Robby everything later, when
we’re alone in your apartment.”
She chomped off the last of the sucker,
tossed the stick into the trash, and leaned against the wall.
“Okay. Spill it.”
“Callie wants to move out and be on her own,
but in order to do that she needs money. She had no idea the
fishing pier was in her name, until I told her. It’s a dirty move,
but it serves Max right and fixes all our problems. I made her an
offer on the pier, which gives her the money she needs to move out.
Since I own the largest piece of property and I’m not willing to
sell any more than you are, Max is fucked. Even if the
commissioners change the ordinances, he doesn’t have enough
property to accommodate the resort.”
“Not here, but it could be built someplace
else.”
He looked uncertain. “I’m not sure there’s
anyplace else that could handle something that size. The town takes
up one end of the island, and I think the other end is too narrow
to make it work.”
She glanced out of the window to Ed. “What
about the commissioners?”
Gavin shrugged. “That’ll be up to the Anticue
residents to deal with. I think once they’re exposed, they’ll lose
their seats. The voters will be more cautious from now on and will
thoroughly check all candidates to make sure there aren’t any
hidden agendas.”
“If you own the fishing pier…” What did that
mean?
She chewed on her lip and contemplated having
Gavin as a neighbor. Robby would be happy, because he wouldn’t feel
like he was leaving her all alone. Her hormones were thrilled at
the prospect of a continued relationship with Gavin, but what was
the nature of their involvement? Were they in a relationship, or
were they simply using each other for great sex?
“You look terrified.”
“Yeah.” Well, she kind of was, but she didn’t
want him to know she was mostly scared because she liked the idea
of having him around. “I’m…” She averted her gaze and peeked out
the window while searching for an answer. “I was thinking about
more nights on the beach.”
He shifted closer and wrapped his arms around
her waist. Pulling her to the side so no one could see them through
the window, he nuzzled her neck. “I’m looking forward to a lot of
nights on the beach.” He paused, then quietly added, “I’m looking
forward to a lot of things with you.”
She turned in his arms and smiled
suggestively. “Wanna start tonight?”
He laughed and kissed her nose. “I’d love to
start tonight.” His eyes softened, not the liquid heat they
normally radiated when he was turned on, but something more. “I
wasn’t just talking about sex, though. I want to get to know you.
As a person. As a woman. I want to walk on the beach and watch the
sun set with you. I want to watch you in your workshop and see how
you make those incredible pieces. I want more than sex.”