Searching for Sea Glass: BEST-SELLING AUTHOR (Sea Glass Secrets Book 1) (9 page)

“No, but you just said
I
was one. I never got a call from you Sunny.”

The girl leaned forward. She folded her arms atop the old marred table. She looked him straight in the eye. She defiantly started speaking. “I called you two times. Once on the day Billy was born. It was the same day Willie, Willow died. I spoke to your mistress, lover, or your whore - I’m not really sure what to call that snake. She was the woman on the beach... that night.”

“Leanne Simmons?”

“If that’s her name. She claimed you were in the shower. It was about ten minutes past midnight. She promised she’d give you my message. She promised you’d call me right back. She promised…,” Sunny’s words choked in her throat. She took another sip of wine. She began to feel its warmth spread through her body. She’d need to be careful. She never drank. And when she did it was only a half glass of wine.

“I never got that message.”

“So it’s her word against mine?”

“Why would she lie about something like that, Sunny?”

“I don’t know. I only know I called you because Willie begged me to. She was so sure you would come and… I don’t know.” She waved her hand. “Rescue her. She thought if you were there, maybe she wouldn’t die. She was afraid of dying. She fought as long as she could to give Billy a chance to live. But she was so afraid.”

Sunny said nothing of her own fear. She said nothing of her own injuries.

“Was there a car accident? Was she having complications with the pregnancy? Is that why she was in the hospital” His voice was flat and unemotional.

Sunny couldn’t take his apparent unconcern. “She was brutally beaten. She had internal injuries that the doctors could do nothing to help. She suffered several seizures. She was in a medically induced coma for three weeks.”

“Who beat her?” There was a killing look in his eye. Though the cadence of his voice never changed.

“My father.” Telling that truth was the hardest thing Sunny had ever done. But he deserved to know it. And she wasn’t about to diminish Willie’s sacrifice by not telling him.

“Is he dead?” JD asked. There was a dangerous edge to the words. And a cold promise that if the man wasn’t dead, he would be soon.

Sunny nodded her head. “He died in jail.”

“Good.”

“He wasn’t a nice man.”

“Why was he beating Willow? Was it a rape?”

“No.” This time she lowered her face. “He attacked her because she was trying to save me.”

“Save you?”

Sunny watched as his strong hand gripped the Scotch glass. The knuckles turned bone white. She was sure the glass would shatter in his grasp.

“What happened to you Sunny?” The words were low and far more deadly than any he’d said thus far.

She shrugged. She would tell him anything he wanted to know about Willie. But some things were too personal to share. Some pain was just too deep.

“Tell me.” A muscle jumped along the length of his sculpted jaw.

“It was nothing. I don’t want to talk about it.”

“The
nothing
you’re referring to got my sister killed. I want to know what happened to you.”

She slid out of the booth. She glared down at him. “I don’t care what you want. I loved Willie like she was
my
sister. I love Billy like he grew in my body, under my heart. You can’t just bull your way in here and start making demands.”

The shaking began with her knees. It moved up through her body and down her arms. Finally it settled over her hands. She noticed it at that point and clenched her fingers tightly together. She hoped he wouldn’t notice. It was always a bad idea to reveal your weakness to a lethal predator. They’d always take vantage of it. Of you.

“Why are you so frightened?” he asked. He rose to tower over her.

“I’m not afraid,” she lied for all she was worth.

He settled his large warm hands on her shoulders. The gesture should have been comforting. It wasn’t.

“Sunny, what’s wrong? Just tell me. I’ll take care of it for you.”

She jerked back. She forced her eyes to meet his. “There’s nothing wrong. Other than the fact that you showed up here tonight with your entourage. You can’t have Billy. If that’s what this is about. There’s no way I’m letting you have him.”

He took a step closer. “Have I said anything about taking him? Have I done anything to make you believe I would do such a thing?”

Sunny shook her head. “No, but what other reason would you have for showing up now. After all these years? It certainly couldn’t be because you wanted to see me. It’s been five years,
John
. I’m sure you forgot all about our little escapade on the beach that night. I know I have.”

“My friends call me JD,” he said. He moved forward until the material of his tuxedo coat brushed her breasts.

Sunny couldn’t stop the involuntary shiver that ran down the length of her frame. She licked her lips. She tried to fashion some kind of snappy comeback. But it seemed her brain had gone numb while her senses had taken over. She felt her bosom swell under the ridiculous tee-shirt she was wearing. She felt intoxicated, but she hadn’t drunk her whole glass of wine.

She watched as his every breath caused the most intriguing movement of his deep chest. There was just something seductive about a man in a tux. Especially this dangerous enigmatic man.

Sunny bit her lower lip. She tried moving away from him again. But his hands moved slowly, oh so slowly, from her shoulders. They trailed down her back, igniting a path of fire. They locked together at the base of her spine. She was trapped against him. Though she did admit to herself there had been no force used to get her there.

“I’m not your friend,” she sputtered. This was wrong. He was the enemy. She shouldn’t be basking in the heat of his body. She shouldn’t be savoring the feel of his taunt arms around her. She shouldn’t

“You could be,” he whispered it. His dark head bent to hers. He stopped an aching inch from her lips. When she nervously licked them, he groaned. A second later he swept her up into a whirlwind of jolting desire.

Sunny remembered this feeling. It was like the most exquisite pain. She knew she should run away from him as fast as she could. The last time she’d let him get this close, it’d been years before she found her equilibrium. Truthfully, did she ever regain it? No, she hadn’t. That was why she had a dog-eared newspaper clipping of him in her drawer. And why she’d never been able to make herself get rid of his business card. It was like fighting an ocean riptide, this overwhelming attraction to him. Almost impossible to escape. Unless one had the strength of will to do what seemed counterintuitive, to be free. She knew this. She knew what was happening between them would only lead to more pain and sorrow for her in the end.

But her body just wouldn’t obey. It was as if it recognized him by his touch alone. By the rasping feel of his fingertips. By the searing heat pouring off his sheltering body. By the scratch of the rough shadow of beard on his lean face. Everything in him called to the most elemental parts of her.

“Say you want this,” he ordered against her throbbing lips. “Say you want this as much as I do, Sunny.”

Before she could answer, the screen door of the café crashed open. The shock of the loud sound made her turn. Billy ran in. Sunny’s mind registered three things, JD was not letting her go, Billy was staring up at the both of them with wide intelligent eyes, and the man called Sam had strolled in after the child.

Why are you holding Sunny like that. Is she sick?” Billy asked. It was an innocent question from an equally innocent child.

The big man who’d followed him into the café was not so innocent. His snort of derision caused Sunny to blush and try to tear out of JD’s arms. His arms tightened. She was his prisoner.

“What do you need Sam?” he calmly asked over her head.

“The little squirt here is getting restless. I thought maybe you’d had time to do what was needed. Apparently I was wrong.”

“Apparently you were,” JD growled. He released Sunny from his embrace. He walked over to Billy. The tall man crouched down so they were eye level with each other.

“Are you my daddy?” Billy asked. He was tired. His eyes were very heavy. He had a finger tucked into one corner of his mouth.

JD looked up at Sunny with a cocked questioning eyebrow. Her eyes begged him not to say anything to the child. His own told her he’d humor her for a while. But just for a while. The little boy was his nephew. He would make sure the child knew it before long.

“I’m not your dad,” said JD.

Sunny’s eyes closed in relief. She finally took a normal breath. Then she heard what the man had to say next.

“But I knew your mother, very well.”

“My real mom? The one who lives under the rock at the cemetery?” The child perked up. “Her name was Willow. She’s dead.”

He felt a sting in the vicinity of his heart. He nodded. “I’d heard about that. I was very sorry to learn she’d died.”

Billy rubbed his eyes. He yawned. “Sunny says she was the most beautiful girl in the whole world. Was she?”

JD looked up at Sunny. A long pregnant silence fell between them. “No, there is one woman who’s more beautiful. But Willow, she came pretty close.”

Again Sam snorted. He rolled his eyes. “Come on squirt. Let’s get you ready for bed.” He walked over and hoisted the little boy up onto his wide shoulders. “I think Sunny and JD still have some more talking to do.”

Sunny snapped out of her passion-induced stupor at the man’s words. The last thing she wanted was to do more ‘talking’ with JD McIntyre. She managed to elude his hands when she sped around him. She caught up with the boy and Sam on the path to her house.

“Here, let me have him,” she said as she reached up to gather Billy in her arms.

“I’ll carry him. Just lead the way.” He motioned towards the house.

“I said give him to me,” she demanded.

“I heard what you said. But he’s a heavy little rascal. I’ll carry him into his room and get him to the bed.”

“Who are you?” she asked losing her patience.

“Didn’t JD tell you? I’m his brother Sam, Sam McIntyre.”

“There’s two of you?” She looked at him clearly in the halo of the single porch light. She saw it then, the resemblance. Both men were tall, broad shouldered, and arrogant.

The man chuckled. “Now you sound like our mother. We’re not twins. JD’s a couple of years older than me.”

Sunny began to speak. But he cut her off. “Don’t let that tender little scene back there fool you.”

“What are you talking about.” She looked up at the trusting child sleeping so peacefully against the big man’s shoulder. She wished she was that guileless. But she knew what a hard place the world could be. That’s why she would never turn Billy over to the McIntyre family. One had only to look at Billy’s uncles to know he’d not have a warm or secure childhood in their care.

“You seem like a nice woman. Take my advice. Leave him alone. JD’s not going to fall for some small-town girl with a yen to move up to the big time.”

“The big time?” Sunny was realizing where this conversation was heading. And she didn’t like it.

“Yeah,” he said with a notable lack of emotion. “He was dogging you pretty hard in there. Don’t be fooled by all that
‘most beautiful woman in the world’
bullshit. When you put the boy up to calling JD, he was in the middle of his wedding.”

“He’s married?” Sunny asked aghast. Had she almost just kissed a married man? She wanted to spit in the sand and wipe her mouth. She had no tolerance for those who did not keep their wedding vows. She’d never be part of helping someone break them.

Billy murmured into Sam’s shoulder. Sam cocked his head. “Let’s get the squirt to bed. Then we can talk.”

“Sam,” the name was said, deep and low, like a warning. JD walked out of the café. He moved silently up to the ramshackle porch.

“Looks like big brother’s joining us.” Sam pushed at the slightly opened door with his shoulder.

“There’s no
us
. Give me the boy,” Ordered the dark-haired man. JD didn’t wait for his brother’s consent. He easily lifted the child away from Sam and settled him against his own shoulder. “Go back to the Towers. Tell Matt to stall the others, if he can.”

“Others? Others?” Sunny squeaked. She watched as JD carried Billy into the living room. Sam stayed on the porch. He nodded to her.

“I’m sure our mother is on her way. And I wouldn’t be surprised, if Leanne isn’t coming with her. If I was you, I’d call it quits. You’re never going to bag him. JD has a sixth sense when it comes to manipulation. He’ll use you up, spit you out, and never look back. I’ve seen him do it too many times before. If you get between him and what he wants, he’ll steamroll right over you.”

“What are you talking about?” Sunny shook her head to clear it. She realized JD was watching them both through the living room’s window. Thankfully the killing glare on his face was directed at his brother.

“Coaching the kid to make the call was original, I’ll give you that. But do you really think JD is going to fall for you. I mean, have you seen Leanne?”

“I did not put Billy up to calling your brother. I still don’t know if I believe he did such a thing,” she said stiffly.

Sam chuckled again. And whereas the sound was similar in timbre to JD’s, it failed to stir the slightest response from her. In fact, she found it almost irritating.

“Well, if you don’t believe it, you’re about the only one. The maid accidently turned on the speaker phone as she was trying to mute the thing. The preacher was just getting warmed up when the phone rang. Everybody in that church heard what Billy said. Not only does the Dallas contingent of the Fortune Five Hundred think JD’s been hiding a bastard son or an unwanted nephew. The odds on either are pretty even, I’d say. They think the boy’s mother, that’d be you, keeps JD’s picture and phone number in your underwear drawer. According to Billy, he found them right under your bathing suit. The fact that our baby sister’s name was involved, just makes the whole thing more salacious.”

Sunny’s face paled. She did keep those things secreted away under her bathing suit in her underwear drawer. But how would Sam McIntyre know that? Nobody knew the link between the McIntyres and Billy. She’d been very careful never to speak of it. Was everything JD said earlier true?

“Hey, hold on.” He passed an arm around her waist. “You look like you might drop again. Are you sick or something?”

“Get your hands off her, Sam.” Suddenly JD was there.

“Hey, no harm, no foul, Ok? I was just trying to keep her from hitting the floor.” He held his hands up.

“Both of you stop speaking about me like I’m not standing right in front of you,” Sunny said. “I’m not going to faint. I just need both of you to leave.”

“Not going to happen,” JD drawled. “We still need to talk.”

“Yeah, well, while you two
talk
, I’m getting out of here.” Sam walked away. He got halfway across the yard before he turned back to them. “Sunny, don’t forget what I told you.” He drilled her with his eyes for a minute before he disappeared around the corner of the café.

“Don’t trust him,” JD said. He pulled her through the open door.

“He’s your brother,” she argued.

“And that’s supposed to make a difference?” JD shut the door. He leaned one lazy shoulder against it. He cocked an eyebrow and dared her to try to leave.

Sunny was not staying in this small room alone with him. She’d learned her lesson. She needed to keep the man at a safe distance, if she wanted to survive. Before she ducked into her bedroom, she spoke once more. “He’s your brother. You should trust him. He’s family.”

“I don’t trust anybody.”

“You should try.” She propped her hands on her hips. She glared up at him. “See, that’s the reason you’re so… so…”

“Rich?”

“No, cynical!” she answered totally aghast. “Everything’s not about money.”

“Whatever you need to tell yourself.”

“I don’t need to
tell
myself anything. I just recognize the truth.”

He shoved his shoulder away from the closed door and started coming towards her. Sunny felt like the room began shrinking. JD was a big man. But it wasn’t his physical size that was driving all the air and space from the small living room. It was his sheer masculine intensity. Sunny didn’t think she’d ever been around a man so ruthlessly male. She held up a hand.

“Just stay where you are.”

“I’m not going to hurt you Sunny. I would never hurt you. Haven’t you been listening to anything I’ve been telling you?”

The girl nodded her head. “I have. But what you’re saying and what I’m feeling just aren’t lining up too well.”

JD stopped. His eyes narrowed. “What are you feeling?”

Sunny’s eyes fell instantly to her scuffed flip flops. There was no way she was going to tell him how he affected her. The beast was already too arrogant. If he found out she’d pined for him over the years. Or how her lower more intimate regions were clenching and heating just because of his proximity. Well, he’d use it to his advantage. She was sure of that. She must keep her wits about her. Losing Billy was not an option. And she could lose him so easily to this rich, powerful man.

“Don’t do that. Don’t hide from me,” he growled.

Before she knew his intent, she was gathered into his arms. The whole length of her soft body was dragged up against the hard landscape of his frame. She opened her mouth to catch her breath. And when she did, he claimed possession of her lips.

Later she’d have liked to reassure herself that she’d fought him. That she’d struggled just the teeniest bit against the rough strength of his arms. But that was not the truth. And she could not tell herself such an outlandish lie. The truth was she reveled in every punishing, aching moment of their embrace.

She moaned under the tender assault of his demanding mouth. Her body arched up upon its own volition as one of his fingers carefully traced the underside of her swelling breast.

“Please,” she begged in soft surrender.

“Say it Sunny. Tell me what you want,” he ordered.

She groaned as he slowly kissed his way down her taunt throat. When he got to the tender juncture where her throat met her shoulder, he nipped at her sensitive skin. She gasped. He slowly blew upon the tiny wound he’d inflicted. His finger edged down the slope where her straining bosom peaked. Sunny’s head twisted back and forth. The agony and anticipation were like nothing she’d ever felt.

“Tell me,” he uttered the harsh words against her mouth. His breath was ragged and deep. “Tell me you want this. You want me.”

Sunny felt the hard length of his arousal against her belly. Though she was a woman, full grown, she’d never known such sensual intimacy. His size and strength frightened her. She knew well how a man who lacked self-control could injure a woman. Her own father had killed her best friend. And though JD claimed he would never hurt her, a seed of doubt that had been planted earlier in the café started to grow.

The girl tried as hard as she could to summon the discipline of will to shove at his wide shoulders. She tried to utter the one word that would have stopped him. She shook her head, but burrowed closer to the carved, muscled planes of his chest.

“Yes or no? Tell me now.” He plucked at her pebbled nipple.

A shot of heat telegraphed from her breast down to her core. She felt the gathering moisture there. She ached with a need to be filled. There was a primitive yearning to mate. She wanted to feel truly feminine in a way she never had before. Sunny experienced an agonizing emptiness. One only JD could remedy.

In a moment of total and complete abandon, she managed to find her voice. “Yes, Yes, always yes,” she murmured against his lips.

He swept her up into his arms and carried her to the sofa. He sat with her spread out like a banquet over his lap. He reached up and turned off the lamp. Now the room was dark except for the shadowed light from the café’s neon sign. The frosty blue and deep rosy red made a pattern on the old wood floor.

Sunny opened her eyes. In the dim intimacy, his gray eyes glittered, ferocious with his passion. She knew that same overwhelming desire lit the depths of her eyes as well.

“You’re sure?” his voice was smoldering and dark. “I won’t be able to stop, if…”

Sunny licked her lips. She tasted him. The rich, smoky flavor of the liquor he’d just sipped. The spice of his tongue. They combined into an intoxicating flavor. One she could not resist.