Reckless (Fractured Farrells: A Damaged Billionaire Series Book 2) (2 page)

Eesh. Note to self: Dude has daddy issues.
“Hopefully you get some good relaxation in this week then.”

“Doubtful. Still have to work and my sister is flying in tomorrow with her boyfriend. Any time I do have free will probably be with them. So tonight will have to tide me over for a while.”

Oh no. He was angling for the whole “I’m only in town for a few days and want a fling”.
She’d heard enough stories about one-night stands with tourists gone wrong to last her a lifetime. It would be better to distance herself now instead of leading him on. “Then I suggest you find some better company than me. As soon as this green flash happens, I’m abandoning you.”

“Don’t worry. I’m the opposite of clingy. I think the word my last girlfriend used was ‘commitmentphobe.’ Which is really a stupid word.”

“Stupid?”

“It sounds like some disorder or disease that needs to be cured. I want to have fun with as many different people as possible while I can. That should be celebrated.”

Malia had to look away so he wouldn’t see her grin. “It could also lead to disorders and diseases, though.”

“And that is why I travel with an embarrassingly large stash of condoms.”

Malia couldn’t help it. She snorted with laughter. She knew he was flirting with her and normally she had such a high guard for charming guys like this, but somehow he’d caught her off her game. Didn’t matter. She’d already made it clear that after sunset, she was leaving him alone. “I’ll file that tidbit into my mental folder called ‘Things I Didn’t Want To Know,’ Mr....”

“Right. Names. I forgot you don’t know me.” He stopped and held out a hand. “I’m Robert.”

She eyed his outstretched palm for a second. She really didn’t like touching people. Enough so that she’d had to move to an island thousands of miles from the coast to get to the isolation she craved. Even so, shaking hands was one of those things “normal” people did, and she braced herself for the discomfort.

“I’m Malia.” She met his handshake but surprisingly didn’t feel any skeevy goose bumps. His grip was warm, strong, and every bit as confident as the man in front of her.

And the fact that she wasn’t freaked out was more disconcerting than she wanted to admit.

Malia pulled her hand away and pointed to a bench ahead. “We can sit there and watch for the flash. It shouldn’t be too much longer now.” As she sat, she brushed the sand off her feet, which were now dry enough that a good portion of the stuff came off. Not all of it. As hard as she tried, she constantly would find more bits of the stuff stuck to her skin when she crawled into bed.

Not that she minded. It was a small price to pay to live in such a beautiful place.

“So you know what I was doing wandering around.” Robert tipped his now empty beer. “What brought you here? I thought this beach was all tourists.”

Malia tried to look away from his handsome face and to the gentle ocean, but the sun was too bright at its current angle and she turned back to Robert. “Just doing a favor for a friend. She’s doing a study about the salt levels in the water at different times of the year, so every day she needs samples from that section of beach.”

“So you’re out here every single day.”

“No. But I come out Tuesdays and Thursdays. I help out with a lot of the more time-consuming studies. The university here has some really great programs in geology and biology, so the students normally need a hand.”

“That’s nice of you.”

“Well, they pay me. Not a lot, but it gets me a decent dinner every now and then.”

“Do you do a lot of odd jobs?”

“I do every odd job. Tours, labor, catering, hula dancer. You name it, I’ve done it.”

He leaned in closer. “Whoa. Did you say hula dancer?”

“Well, I wasn’t very good. I don’t exactly look the part.” Unlike the Polynesian beauties who had the delicate dance down to an art, Malia had light-brown, mousey hair. It probably would be much darker if she wasn’t out in the sun so much. “But a friend needed a favor—”

“And you’re the person everyone calls when they need a favor. Not the best position to be in.”

“Well, I get paid for my favors.” She winced. “That came out wrong.”

Robert let out a soft laugh. “I get what you’re saying. I get called for favors all day and I don’t get paid for a damn one.”

“You’re missing out.”

“Apparently.” He was quiet for a few moments and the setting sun was just right so that his blue eyes seemed like such an impossible color that she doubted they could be real.

“The sun is going down any minute. We should probably keep our eyes on it. The flash only lasts a second, so if you’re not paying attention, you miss it.” She took in a few deep breaths as she tried to bring herself back to normal.

Watching the sun was a good excuse to sit in silence and not do any more...
flirting
. She didn’t know where the words were coming from. She didn’t even know how to flirt. At least she didn’t think she did.

So instead, she focused on the oddly romantic horizon while the cool shade of the growing shadows around them was broken up with the warmth coming from the large body next to her. She bit her lip as she closed her eyes. The idea had been that the darkness would help her focus, but instead, all it did was enhance her imagination.
Robert moving closer...setting a hand on her leg...

Her eyes snapped open and she glanced over her shoulder. She hadn’t imagined all of it. Robert was closer. Right next to her, actually. His thigh was just a centimeter from hers. His gaze dropped to her lips and her breath caught in her throat. She should tell him to move back or take a hike or anything. Instead, all that came out was, “It’s going to happen any minute. You should keep your eyes on the horizon.”

Somehow managing to follow her own advice, she turned back to the sunset. Only the tiniest bit of sun was showing now. If the conditions were right, the green flash should be there any second...

“I’ll have other chances to see this,” said Robert softly from behind her. “But I might never see you again.” His breath brushed the side of her ear, letting her know that he was even closer.

Sun. Just focus on the sun. Do not turn around.

And then it was there. The mystical flash. Sure, there was some reason for it. The atmospheric conditions combined with the light spectrum. But to her, it was magic.

“Did you see it?” she asked, still not trusting herself enough to turn around.

“It was beautiful.”

She didn’t know whether he was talking about the sunset or this was one more attempt at flirting, but it didn’t matter. She was going home now and he’d be going back to his hotel. Which was a good thing.

“I’m glad you caught it, Robert. Not everyone does.” She stood at the same time he did and they faced each other.

He held up his empty beer. “I’m due for a refill. Why don’t we continue this conversation at the hotel bar? I can guarantee us a good seat.”

Malia bit her lip.
Damn, it was tempting.
Handsome man, free drinks, good conversation. But she still wasn’t getting involved with a tourist, and considering how strong a pull this stranger had on her already, it was better to run sooner rather than later. “I really need to head home.”

“More favors to do?” he asked.

“Always.” This was her cue. Time to turn around and walk away. Let the nice night stay a nice night in her mind. But she didn’t walk away. She stood there and stared up at Robert. He leaned in slowly, giving her every opportunity to turn or run or slap him or really anything but what she actually did. Instead, she stood up on her toes to meet him.

His lips were warm and soft and gentle and so damn intoxicating. He cupped her face with his free hand and angled her for better access as he deepened the kiss, teasing her lips with his tongue.

At this point, Malia gave up trying to convince herself to run. She wrapped her fingers in Robert’s soft shirt as she kissed him back. It had been so long since she’d even held a man’s hand, let alone kissed one. She’d forgotten how good the contact felt: The sexual rush that ran through her whole body, urging her to do a whole lot more than kissing. The tingle in her hands, telling her to touch him all over. Feel the stubble on his face. Snake under his shirt to see whether his chest and stomach were as sculpted as she suspected.

Because her self-control obviously couldn’t be trusted, Robert was the first one to pull away. Well, he stopped kissing her. His hand was still at the nape of her neck and his forehead pressed to hers. “Come back with me. I have a room. We’ll get room service. It will be so good for you.”

Every one of those words sunk into her and Malia tried to form speech.
Why was she fighting this?
She sure as hell believed that he would make it good for her. Hell, she was halfway to orgasm after just a kiss.
What would happen if it was just the two of them and a bed?

Somehow she found a spare bit of reason left and managed to say, “I just met you.”

“But it was a really nice meeting.”

Malia smiled and Robert kissed her again, a quick brush of his lips against hers. “Tell me what I have to do to talk you into coming back with me.”

She finally forced herself to disengage from him, letting go of his shirt and stepping back so she could actually breathe. Practically, spending the night was a horrible idea. Her bike was locked up a block away, and she didn’t want to be going home in the middle of the night. It was bad enough that she’d waited until dark.

And she certainly couldn’t stay with him until morning. “I have to leave. For real this time.”

He sighed and she knew he was finally starting to believe her. “Can I walk you home?”

She shook her head. “Biking home. Sorry.”

“Well, damn then.”

“We’ll always have the green flash, though!”

Robert didn’t laugh at the half-assed attempt at a joke. “I don’t like to lose.”

“I didn’t realize I was a prize.”

“At least in my game we both win.” Robert reached behind him to pull something out of his pocket. It looked like a little piece of paper. A business card. “If you change your mind, give me a call.”

That wasn’t going to happen. Either way, she took the card. “Have a nice night, Robert.”

“I’ll be thinking about you, Malia.”

It gave her much more of a thrill than it should’ve to hear her name on his lips. “Don’t think too hard. I’m not worth it.” Malia finally forced herself to turn away and start on her way home. She forced herself to keep her head forward and not look back to see what Robert was doing.
Was he still watching her leave? Or had he turned away already, heading back to the crowds of the resorts along Waikiki Beach?

It wasn’t until she reached her bike that she allowed herself to look at the card he’d given her. Not that she was going to call him. Now that she was away from him, she was certain his spell would wear away and she could go back to being her sane, rational self.

Even so, it would be nice to know a last name. The second she turned the card over in her palm, the entire world started to spin. Robert Farrell?
The
Robert Farrell?

Oh no. Oh no, no, no, no, no.
Could it be a different Robert Farrell? Maybe a different Robert Farrell who happened to work at Farrell Enterprises? A different Robert Farrell whose father just died?

Oh no. What had she done?

––––––––

S
o this is what time to myself feels like
. Felt kind of like a punch in the gut. A punch in the gut combined with a now raging hard-on.

Robert didn’t know what the hell he’d been thinking. The entire beach was filled with sexy women wearing bathing suits smaller than most lingerie, but he had to focus on the girl who’d looked as though she was about to bolt the second she’d noticed him watching her.

Not that he could help it. She was just so damn watchable. Her wavy, light-brown hair was almost the same color as her tanned skin, and her dark, deep-brown eyes were impossibly big. He could stare into those eyes for hours, watch them fill with desire or narrow as she tried to figure out whether he was bullshitting her.

He had a feeling that when he called her beautiful she was surprised, and someone that sexy should never be surprised by a compliment. Even though he’d given her his card, he had a feeling she wasn’t going to call. Just his luck. Maybe he should’ve pulled out the billionaire card. Not an actual card, of course, but maybe he could’ve worked it into conversation. Plenty of girls would’ve fawned all over that, but he had a feeling Malia wasn’t as easily impressed.

If she were, she would’ve asked more questions about him. What his job was, what resort he was staying at... All things that could indicate how big his savings account was.

He brought the empty beer bottle to his mouth, hoping to get a few more drops, but it was bone-dry at this point. Probably for the best. He couldn’t drink any more tonight. The time for relaxing was over. He’d probably hole up in his room with his computer and try to get some work in. There had already been two different deals that had fallen through this week and it was only Tuesday. Between picking up those pieces and having Jean and Colin fly in tomorrow, he wasn’t going to get much more done.