Escorting the Groom (The Escort Collection Book 4) (15 page)

The dolphins followed us for a while, and we parted ways when we reached French Cay. It was a small, low-lying uninhabited island. The captain motored the boat expertly toward an inlet. We were out in open water, but we would be safe snorkeling close to the boat.

"Are you ready?" I asked Blake. I'd helped her assemble her mask and snorkel, and the captain had talked her through the basics.

Two hectic spots of color dotted her cheeks. "I think so."

"You'll be fine, babe. It's fun."

She nodded at me. "I'm excited." But she looked nervous as she followed me down the ladder to the water. I waited for her, treading water patiently. The wind had picked up a little bit, and the typically calm water had a bit of a roll to it, but it wasn't too bad. Blake seemed reluctant to let go of the ladder, but she finally did, paddling out to me cautiously.

"You okay?" I asked.

She nodded and adjusted her mask.

"Just follow me." I fit the snorkel into my mouth and swam over to her, making sure hers fit comfortably. She just nodded and gave me the thumbs up. "Let's do it." I put my face in the water and swam calmly toward the reef with Blake beside me.

Colorful fish swam past in groups. More were feasting on the bright, almost fluorescent coral. I pointed out a parrot fish, an angel fish, and a turtle. Blake nodded each time, keeping pace. We swam farther out, and I took out my mouthpiece in order to dive down.

I was examining some sort of triangular-looking fish when I heard what sounded like Blake screaming. I turned around in a panic.

She'd come underwater, but she was struggling to get back to the top. Her mouth was open, and I could hear her shrieking, even though it was muffled. I headed toward her then saw what she was upset about. A large barracuda, silver and sparkling in the sunlight, swam very close to her. Its spiky, needle-sharp teeth poked out of its mouth menacingly. It wouldn't likely go after her, but I could see why she was afraid of it.

I broke the surface of the water, and she was next to me, arms flailing. "Blake."

She went under then popped back up a moment later, barely catching her breath before disappearing again.

"Blake!" I swam to her swiftly, my arms cutting through the water, and grabbed her just before she went under again. I held her up and swam back to the boat. The captain and his first mate were shouting at me. The captain jumped in the water and helped me pull Blake up the ladder. She was spluttering and crying.

I managed to get the mask off her then checked her vitals. "I'm fine," she said, crying. "That fish just scared me, and then I panicked."

Once I was sure she wasn't in any physical danger, I wrapped her in a towel and brought her to the back of the boat, cradling her in my arms. She clung to me, still crying. "I'm sorry." She wiped her eyes.

I felt as if my heart was being squeezed. "Are you hurt?"

Her eyes were red, spilling over with fresh tears. "No, I'm just embarrassed."

I wiped the tears from her cheeks. "You've got nothing to be embarrassed about. I forgot to warn you that we might see a barracuda. And diving in open water like this on a windy day—that was a stupid idea. A selfish one. I'm so sorry." I pulled her closer, and she clung to me.

She let out a bark of laughter. "Five-year-olds snorkel, babe. I'm the one who should be sorry." She buried herself in my chest. "Just don't let that thing near me ever again! Did you see its
teeth
? Did you see its
eyes
? They were flat and shiny, like deadly nickels—"

"Shhh." I rocked her back and forth. "I saw it. I'm going to come back later and put a spear through it."

"Not without me." She shuddered. "I'm going to be the one to do it."

"No." I stroked her hair. "I'm keeping you safe from now on."
Till death do us part.
It hadn't even been a week, and I was falling. Hard. She leaned up and kissed my cheek, and I wrapped my arms even tighter around her, still cursing myself for ever putting her at risk.

T
hat barracuda had scared
the bejeebles out of me.

But what was even worse? The way I'd clung to Lucas as if he was the last life preserver on Earth. I never depended on anyone but myself. I'd learned the hard way that was the only way to make it through this world. But I'd been playing a dangerous game these last few days, and it was starting to catch up to me.

Once we'd gotten home, Lucas had put me in the shower and washed my hair. He was tender with his attention, taking care of me. He must've asked me ten times if I was really okay. I was okay with the barracuda—and I was totally serious about putting a spear in the thing myself—but I was not okay with what was going on inside of me.

I didn't want to be away from Lucas. I wanted to have breakfast, lunch, and dinner with him. I wanted to sit on his lap. I wanted him inside me all the time. I had an undeniable craving for his body. We'd been having sex until I was sore, but still, it wasn't enough.

After we showered and Lucas watched me dry my hair, claiming he didn't want to leave me alone, he led me to bed. "Let's just watch a movie and chill for a little while," he said. "I think we've had enough excitement for one day."

"Okay," I said agreeably. But the fire raging between my legs told a different story—I was, in fact, ready for more excitement. I dropped the towel on the floor and climbed, naked, onto the bed.

"What are you doing?" he asked, watching me with hooded eyes.

"Relaxing." I crawled up toward where he was propped up on the bed and straddled him. I could feel him, already hard and thick beneath me.

"You need to rest." He attempted to gently lift me from his lap, but I clamped my thighs against him stubbornly.

"Don't make such a big deal out of it. I'm fine."

He took a lock of my hair in between his fingers and stroked it. "I was worried about you," he said in a soft voice. "When I saw you go back underwater… it was scary."

I leaned forward and kissed his nose. "Then maybe
you're
the one who needs to relax."

He smiled at me, his dimple showing. "I think I'm recovered enough."

I arched an eyebrow at him. "Enough for what?"

He put his hands on my ass and pulled me forward so that his erection rubbed me through his mesh shorts. "I think you know, Blakey."

"If you weren't so handsome and well-endowed, you'd seriously be bugging me with that nickname by now."

"Lucky for me," Lucas said in a teasing tone.

"And me." I grinned at him then leaned in for a lingering kiss. Our tongues connected gently at first and then with more urgency.

I pulled his shorts off and arranged our naked bodies against each other. We both practically sighed in relief. This felt right. As I slid his cock into me and started to ride him, pleasure ripped through me. And I realized one thing: this felt too good to be true.

But I was going to let myself have it, even if it was just for right now.

* * *

L
UCAS

We went back to French Cay the next day.

"You sure you want to go back in there?" Billy asked Blake, his eyes searching hers. "I can take you over to Smith's Reef. We can snorkel right from the beach."

"I need to get over my fear," she said bravely. "We're in paradise, right? What good is it if I'm too afraid to explore the world around me? I live in Boston, for Christ's sake. It's freezing there ninety percent of the time."

With that, Blake pulled her mask down, stepped up on the edge of the boat in her flippers, and jumped into the water.

"Do you want me to come in?" the captain asked me, watching for Blake below.

"I got her."
I think.
I jumped in the water after her, and my heart rate was already skyrocketing. Blake was determined, that was for damn sure. I adjusted my snorkel and went underwater. She was right below the surface, looking at a rainbow fish. When she saw me, she smiled, and it felt like the sun coming out. Heavenly.

She reached out for my hand, and I took it. Then we swam together, like newlyweds, to explore the reef.

There wasn't a barracuda in sight. The captain said he knew the one we'd seen the day before—his nickname was Dwayne and he was often spotted near this reef. I looked around the water for him, but he never came out.

Someday, Dwayne,
I thought.

* * *

B
LAKE

"The trip was wonderful, Elena. It was amazing." I ran my hands through my hair and looked out the window at the Boston Common, wishing we were still on the island and that I had Lucas all to myself. "Nikki and the rest of the girls did a great job at the wedding. The whole thing was perfect."

"Nikki said they behaved," Elena said. "Did they?"

"Absolutely," I lied.

"This is the most money we've ever made from one client," she said. "If you can keep him happy, he could be a huge source for referrals going forward."

"He seems happy. I think so, anyway. We haven't had any trouble with his family since the wedding." I was glad Elena couldn't see my furrowed brow. We hadn't heard a word from Serena, which unsettled me. She'd been polite to me at the wedding, almost friendly. But I knew she would never sit by and watch Lucas inherit half of all that money without some sort of fight.

"Good. Let's stay in touch. Check in with me if you need anything. Otherwise, I'll call you in a few weeks."

We hung up, and I called my mother next. I looked at my rings, feeling guilty. I couldn't even send her a picture without breaching my confidentiality clause. She would never see me in that wedding dress or see the happy smile that had graced my lips.

Maybe it was better that way.

She answered on the first ring. "Honey, hi! I'm so glad you called. I missed you so much." She paused to cough for a moment, a deep, congested sound.

"Are you okay?"

She waited until her coughing subsided to speak. "I've just been a little off-kilter this week, but I'm fine. I'm taking my medicine. I'm doing all the right things… It's just the humidity, I think."

New England summers were notoriously humid, but that wasn't why she sounded so congested. "You need to call the doctor."

"I don't need to do any such thing. Your sister's here, taking care of me." Her cheerfulness sounded forced.

"What the fuck is Chelsea still doing there?" I hissed, the words tumbling out before I could stop them. My mother hated it when I cursed, and she hated it even worse when I cursed about my sister.

"Blake—
stop
it."

"What's her highness saying about me now?" I heard Chelsea ask sharply from the background. I could just picture them sitting in my dingy kitchen, the cheerful drapes from Target failing to mask the moldy window frames and the view of the paint-peeling, multi-family housing unit smack dab next door.

"We saw your picture in the paper," my mother said tightly. "You look beautiful."

My heart sank at the word
we.
I glimpsed at the
Globe
, lying open to our wedding announcement, which displayed a gorgeous picture of Lucas and me from our photo shoot in the park. The article listed all of Lucas's accolades and was packed with lies about me. "Oh. Thanks."

"Let me talk to her," my sister snapped, grabbing the phone. "You're
married
? To a
billionaire
?"

"Um… yep." I had no idea what my mother had told her.

"Since
when
?" I could almost see the look of complete indignity warping my sister's pretty face.

"Since Lucas asked me to marry him and we got married last week."

"Why didn't you invite Mom?"

"I couldn't," I said quickly.
What had my mother told her?
"Lucas and I wanted… to keep it private."

Chelsea snorted. "You had a hundred people at the 'small, intimate and luxurious' Vegas ceremony," she quoted. "Did you feel like you needed to keep the riffraff out?"

"That's why
you
didn't get invited," I said, unable to hold back. Chelsea always knew how to push my buttons. "Mom couldn't come because she was too sick to travel."

"Everything in the announcement about you is a lie," she said. "You're a
hooker
, not a branding expert with a degree from UNH. The only advanced degree you have is in deep throating."

"
Chelsea
!" My mother sounded horrified.

"Well, it's true. She's a freaking hooker, Mom! Don't act like you don't know it." I practically heard my sister toss her hair. "Maybe you should fill me in on exactly what's going on."

"I'd love to, but I have to go now."

"We should do lunch, you know? Now that you're big time. Take your sister out for a meal on Newbury Street. When was the last time you did something nice for me?"

"I bought you a wedding present when you got married to Vince," I reminded her. "I thought that was pretty giving of me."

"You're really never going to let that go? Vince is a
douche,
and you know it."

But he'd been my douche. Vince had been my first everything—first love, first time. I was only seventeen when I'd met him. I didn't realize what a complete jackhole he was until my sister stole him out from under me right before our wedding and married him herself.

I would have appreciated the opportunity to figure out the extent of his douchiness for myself.

"I've let it go."
Sheesh, I'm lying a lot for one day.
"But I don't really see where you get this entitlement from. What have you done for
me
lately?"

"I haven't called the
Globe
and told them the truth about you." Her words came out too quickly, as though she'd already been contemplating doing just that. "And I haven't called that handsome husband of yours, either, to tell him all about where you really come from."

"You stay away from him."

"What're you worried about, huh? That he might wanna taste of the hotter sister, too?"

Chelsea, your complete lack of remorse shows what a total DOUCHEPANTS-O-RAMA you are.

But I didn't say that. I didn't want to start World War III. "No," I said in as controlled a fashion as I could manage. "I'm pretty sure Lucas thinks
I'm
the hotter sister."

"Well then, you don't need to hide me from him."

Jesus, she didn't take no for an answer. "We're really busy right now. But I'll call you when I can get together. Why is Mom so congested?" I asked, desperate to change the subject.

"Who knows," Chelsea said and yawned. "It's not like it's anything new. She'll be fine."

"You're really something special, you know that?"

"Oh yeah. I know that. I'll be in touch." She hung up before I could tell her not to bother, not ever.

This was just what I needed. Lucas was the best thing to ever happen to me, and now my dead-beat sister had caught a whiff of opportunity. She was probably going to try to leech onto me and suck out whatever she could—a lunch on Newbury street, the opportunity to flirt with my rich, handsome husband.

She also couldn’t pass up the chance to threaten outing me as an escort in order to see what she could squeeze out of me in return. Money. Clothes. Attention. The list of things my sister wanted was endless, as was her list of excuses for why she couldn't hold down a job and obtain them for herself.

I put my face into my hands as the high I'd been feeling since the wedding came crashing down around me. Just when I thought I'd put some distance between myself and my past, it seemed poised to attack me like a zombie, ready to eat me and everyone else near me alive.

I decided to hit the gym while I waited for Lucas to get home from work. At least if I kept in good shape, I had a chance of running away from my problems for just a little longer.