Cherish her: Laws of Seduction, Book 4 (2 page)

“Yes, really. All that business with Elizabeth made me crazy.”

James runs his finger down my cheek. “I like you jealous. It means you care.” He walks over to a tray of chocolate-covered fruit and pops a strawberry in his mouth.

I let out a shriek. “James!”

James almost chokes. “What?”

“That could be poisonous.”

He looks at me with disbelief. “I think all the drama is going to your head.”

Of course he’s right. “Being locked in the office was pretty shocking.”

James picks up my hand. “Any panic attacks?”

“Only a short one, but that was because Rex rescued me before it could reach its full-blown glory. I kept imagining Becca as the arsonist and thinking of what would happen to me if she decided to set the house on fire too.”

James pulls me into his arms. “Oh, baby. I’m sorry. It should have been me getting you out of there.”

“I don’t care as long as you don’t believe Becca’s lies.””

“Hey,” James says, brightening. “We could spend the night here. If Becca turns up again, she can see that her plan didn’’t work.”

I tilt my head, giving his suggestion some thought. “No, I don’t want to stay here,” I decide. “Let’s go to the boat.

James flashes me a smile. “That’s an even better idea.”

CHAPTER 2

I become aware of a rocking motion. It takes me a few moments to recall that I am on James’s boat. Although it is only mid-morning, I feel sticky and hot. I must have fallen asleep in the sun. Good thing I put sunblock on, even though the sun’’s rays were still weak. Today was James’s birthday, and when Rex had called this morning wanting to play a round of golf, I had insisted that he go. I had been planning to read the book I had brought with me, but looking down I could see that I hadn’t read very far before nodding off. All these late nights were catching up with me.

Sitting up, I look over the rail and my eyes widen in horror. James had left me moored at the marina, but all I can see is a wide expanse of ocean. Other sailboats are faint dots in the distance, and there is no sight of land at all. I hear some thumping from below, and relief hits me. James must have come back and cast off. I laugh a little at my earlier alarm. Of course, the boat didn’t drift off into the ocean on its own. A head appears from below deck and it takes a few seconds for me to register that it is not James. The person comes out further, and along with recognition comes a jolt of shock. “Becca, what are you doing here?”

“Oh, hello Elaine. You’re awake.”

“Obviously. Becca, what are you doing here?” She looks as if she is ready to spend the day on a boat. Her hair is tied back in a ponytail, and she is wearing white shorts and a navy-and-white striped shirt.

Becca gives a delicate shrug of her shoulders. “I wanted to have a look around James’s boat.”

She says this as if it is the most natural thing in the world to trespass on someone’s boat and take it out for a sail. “Becca, you can’t just walk onto someone’’s boat and make yourself at home.”

“I wasn’t planning on doing anything to it. I just wanted to look around. I didn’t expect to find you here all alone. James bored with you already?””

I refuse to rise to her blatant attempt to rile me. “He’ll be back any minute.” Then I realize that when he comes back it will be to an empty boat slip. ““I mean he will be back at the marina soon.” I stand up and look in every direction for any sight of the marina. “Where are we? Can you get us back to the marina?”

“Of course, I am an excellent sailor.”

“In that case,” I wave my hand towards the wheel, “Would you mind turning this boat around and getting us back?”

Becca laughs. “Don’t you know where we are? The marina is that way,” she says, pointing off to my right.

When she makes no move to get us going, I try to hide my rising frustration. “Are we going to sit out here all day then?”

Becca pouts, which would look adorable if I didn’t know how devious she was. “Don’t you like spending time with me?””

I wonder who she is trying to fool. “Not particularly. No.”

Becca’s pout deepens. “You are hurting my feelings. Can’t we make this boat a safe place?”

I take her in for a few beats and come to realize that she is being perfectly serious. Taking my cue from her, I cajole, “Don’t you want to see James? He may be at the slip right now wondering where the boat is.”

I watch as she mulls this over and seems to come to a decision. “You’re right. Do you want to help me?”

Relieved that she has agreed to take us back, I readily agree. At the same time, I decide to be cautious. I can’t help remembering how she tricked me into the office last night.

Keeping my distance from her proves to be fairly easy. We pass a few other sailboats, and I begin to relax. I turn to look out over the bow when something hits me in the back of the shoulders. Looking down, I see the life saver ring at my feet. I start to bend down to pick it up when hard hands are pushing me towards the side of the boat. Desperately, I reach out to grab the railing, but a second hard shove makes me miss. Then I am falling down into the cold, salty water. Spluttering, I push my head back up above the surface. Gentle waves rock me back and forth as I tread water. Looking up at the boat, I see Becca looking down at me. I start swimming to the side of the boat, but before I can reach it, I hear the roar of the motor, and the boat speeds off.

Once again Becca has gotten the better of me. Furiously, I tread water while looking around for a boat to wave down. I see nothing. My fury turns to cold fear as the seriousness of my situation hits me. I am a good swimmer, but there is no way I could swim all the way to shore. Unless another boat comes along, I am going to drown. Rather than treading water in one spot, I decide to swim in the direction Becca had taken the boat.

I swim and swim, stopping occasionally to look around for a boat. Exhausted, I lay back and try to float so I can catch my breath. The choppy water makes it difficult. I have to fight the urge to cry as my plight becomes more and more desperate. Instead, I allow anger to fuel me. Anger at myself for letting Becca get close enough to hurt me, and anger at Becca for pushing me off the boat. I swim on.

The next time I stop to tread water, I see a sailboat. It is small and headed in my direction. I wave my hands over my head trying to catch their attention, but they turn in the opposite direction. Surely I am not doomed to die out here. Did Becca intend for me to die? I think of Seth but quickly push him out of my mind. Don’t think of drowning, Lainey. Think of surviving. I want to be with James. With this thought, I push myself to swim on. When I can swim no more, I restrict my movements to a minimum to keep my head above water. Then I see boats in front of me, four, maybe five. They are still far away, but I can make out figures on the boats. If I just swim a little closer, maybe I can get their attention. My arms and legs feel leaden, but I know if I can’t make them move, I will die. Come on, Lainey, you have to get to those boats. I count my strokes and when I reach one hundred, I know I can’t go on. I stop and scream towards the boats with all that I have. Figures appear on the deck looking in my direction. They heard me. I wave my hands over my head wildly. I see arms pointing in my direction. Joy overtakes me. They see me. I just have to keep treading a little longer.

It seems to take forever, but a midsize sailboat pulls close to me. A man throws in a life saver ring with a rope attached. The first time he throws wide, so he pulls it in and tries again. His second throw is better, but I am barely able to manage swimming the three strokes it takes to reach it. Once I have it, I pull it over my head and arms and hold on as tightly as I can before I give the man a thumbs up signal. He hauls me in, and with the help of another man manages to pull me up onto the deck. I am embarrassingly weak and might as well be a rag doll.

They bring me some water, which I manage to drink before laying back in a near-catatonic state. Their excited questions buzz around my head like swarming gnats. Eventually I close my eyes and let exhaustion overtake me.

When I wake up, it is to find myself lying in a hospital bed with no recollection of how I had gotten there. It doesn’t take long for me to discover that a nameless woman fished out of the ocean is quite a sensation. James arrives after he receives a roundabout message through Sam. Sam’s number was the only number I knew from memory. Luckily I was able to reach her, and she called James.

James enters my hospital room looking more disheveled than I had ever seen him. The moment our eyes meet, the shock of my ordeal comes rushing back to me. He seems to sense my disquiet and rushes to me, enfolding me in his arms. “Lainey, baby. You are alright.”

Unbidden, tears stream down my cheeks, and I sniffle against his shirt. “I know. It is just all hitting me now.”

He smooths the hair down at the back of my head and rocks me back and forth. “Oh Baby, I was terrified when Sam called to tell me that you were in the hospital. Thank God you are alright.”

Taking a deep breath, I draw back. “I fell asleep, and when I woke up Becca was on the boat. She had taken the boat out to sea. I thought I had talked her into coming back, but she somehow managed to shove me overboard. I feel so stupid.” I look around for a tissue to wipe my nose. Finding nothing, I use the edge of my sheet. “James, I would have died if that other boat had not been out there.” I look up into James’s eyes, and the expression I see there is chilling.

“This is not fun and games anymore. She needs to be charged with attempted murder.”

The word murder hangs heavy in the following silence. Murder was such an awful thing to think about. Had Becca tried to kill me, or did she think another boat would come along and save me? There was no way to know. There is also no way to prove that she had pushed me off the boat. James continues, “There is a police officer here to take your statement.””

“Why?”

“Because they need to fill out an accident report, but in this case, they will need to make a case against Becca. Should I send him in, or do you want to wait a bit?”

“Send him in now. I may as well get it over with.”

The ride back to Rex’s house is silent. Out of the corner of my eye, I observe James’s tense posture and his firm grip on the steering wheel. We pull up to the front of the house, but before James can make a move to open his door, I lay my hand on his arm. He turns to look at me questioningly. Instead of saying anything, I scramble over the console. When James sees what I intend, he moves to let his seat back so that I can squeeze between him and the steering wheel. I feel a bit like a twisted pretzel, but I ignore the discomfort. As soon as I am settled, I pull James’s head down to mine and ravage his mouth with my own. He groans and his hands push away the hospital gown I am wearing over my bikini.

James pulls back slightly and looks down at me. “You know we are at the house and the bedroom is only a few steps away, right?”

“I couldn’t wait a second longer. When I was out there in the ocean, alone, with no hope of rescue, all I could think about was that I would give anything just to be able to kiss you one more time.”

“Oh, baby.” James runs his hand along my cheek in a comforting gesture.

I drop my eyes from his so he won’t see the moisture building. “You can send the movers next week.” Blinking back the tears, I look up at him again. ““I want to be with you.”

James bends his head down and engulfs my mouth with his once again. As James intensifies his kiss, he presses me back. My elbow hits the steering wheel, and I yelp in pain. “Babe, I think we would be more comfortable in bed.” When he sees my look of challenge he amends, ““Or at least in the backseat.”

Laughing, I shake my head at him. “Okay, we can get out of the car.”

“Thank God. I don’t know if I am up to playing the contortionist today.”

“Haven’t you ever made out in a car before?” I tease.

“Only with you.” James gives me a sly wink.

“Somehow, I find that very difficult to believe.”

James opens his car door, and I half crawl, half fall onto the pavement. Stepping out with his usual grace, James stands looking down at me with an amused expression. I hold up an arm. “Are you going to help me up or just stand there laughing all day?”

He reaches down and takes hold of my hand. “Come on. Let’s get you inside.”

The thought of a shower has me hurrying inside. “I call first dibs on the shower.”

James laughs again. “It’s all yours.” Before I can reach the door, he grabs my hand and pulls me back. “You’re adorable. You know that?”

I smile with delight at his compliment. “That’s what they say.” James gives me a short, hard kiss before ushering me through the door.

CHAPTER 3

Standing in James’s enormous walk-in closet, I marvel at his organization. His suits hang in a row and are arranged by color. The lighter colored suits move progressively up the color spectrum to the black suits. I open one of the built-in drawers and take in the rows of folded ties arranged by color, each fitted into an individual square compartment. Shutting the drawer, I turn to look at the other side of the closet, where my clothes now hang in a neat row.

Once I had given James the go-ahead, he had not wasted time in getting me moved into his apartment. My head is still spinning at the speed with which he made it all happen. I force myself to contemplate the dresses hanging in front of me. Wiping my sweating palms on my cut-offs, I pull a floral shift dress off its hanger and hold it up in front of me. Too casual, I decide, before returning it to its place.