Strictly Business [Stud Service 3] (Siren Publishing Classic) (18 page)

* * * *

Susannah loved the way Colt’s arm protectively fit around her waist and held her near him. The afternoon was waning down, and the dock was still full of mainlanders hustling and bustling to get ready for the upcoming races.

She bumped more than a few people as they lugged extra sails and supplies to their boats, and she lazily walked next to Colt to return to the hotel.

It was busier today than when the cruise ships came by the harbor once a week and unloaded the boat full of tourists. A breeze from the east lifted the hair from Susannah’s shoulders. The eighty-five-degree temperatures were spoiling her. She felt comfortable walking barefoot in her khaki capri pants and light-pink tank top.

She didn’t notice much else in the world until nearly walking into a woman that blocked their path.

“Where in the hell have you been? I’ve been texting you all morning.”

“What’s wrong, Sam?” Colt instantly seemed alert, his body tensing at first sight of the piqued woman.

“You really have no idea? The Jackson investors are trying to back out of the nightclub deal. I’ve been trying to get a hold of you, but obviously you were busy playing games.”

Susannah cringed. She swore she saw the other woman sneer at her when she said those words. She didn’t even have a clue who she was up against and why she would be confronting them at that moment. Was it some crazy ex-girlfriend? Somehow the reference to the nightclub made her think the other woman held a current spot in his life. “Colt, who’s this?”

“Oh, sorry,” he apologized, “this is my personal assistant, Sam. We’ve worked together for years now. I don’t know where I’d be without her.”

“Oh.” This was Sam? How come Susannah thought he was talking about a guy all this time. Not that it mattered, but Colt would have to be dead to not notice Samantha had a pretty hot body to be around all the time. Was this a work relationship with certain fringe benefits?

Susannah was beginning to question how close she was feeling to Colt. She was so dumb to have fallen for him this quickly.

Arms folded over her very full chest, Samantha sneered again. “Aren’t you going to introduce the little woman to me? After all, I think I should at least know the name of the woman who’s been making it so you can’t think straight in any of your business deals lately.”

“Sorry this is, ugh…” He stumbled over the words, and Susannah was suddenly very angry with herself and the position she was in at the moment. How could he forget her name at the sight of another woman? Sam must be pretty important in his life to shake him up this badly. She would never have let this happen if she hadn’t let her defenses down with Colt Vance.

Dumb. Dumb. Dumb.

She made it easy for him and stuck out her hand for the Sam to shake. She could at least pretend to be friendly. “It’s Susannah.”

How could she be so naïve? And stupid! She tried to keep the glass shell around her intact before either of them could see how much this little event was hurting her inside. She shrugged off his arm and waved away his concerns. “And don’t worry. I don’t want to get in the way anymore. You guys go take care of your business stuff and I’ll catch up with Colt later.”

“You sure?” Colt seemed concerned.

Little Miss Hot Stuff Assistant didn’t seem concerned one iota. Hands on her hips she had her full attention on Colt Vance.

Susannah licked her lips and nodded, not trusting her voice to stay steady. She felt the powerful emotions well up inside of her, but she was not going to allow either of them know how deeply she was affected.

“Okay, but I want to see you tonight.”

“Sure.” Susannah tried to smile and look happy as he dipped low and kissed her then turned his back to her to hurriedly walk away with his sexy blonde assistant next to him.

She stood paralyzed in place, silently watching them before she felt the first tears gather in her eyes.

This was just—wrong!

How could she have thought she was the only woman in Colt Vance’s life?

He was a millionaire playboy. There was no way he’d fall for little, mousey-haired Susannah—not when he had women like Samantha at his beck and call every day.

How could she be so dumb and gullible? She knew better, and she still fell in love with a man who would break her heart.

Tears stung her eyes when she realized how hopelessly lost she had become. She was in deep. Love hit her like a Tennessee twister, and her world was never as upset as it was today.

She cursed the day she met Colt Vance, and it wasn’t like she got anything she needed out of their whirlwind relationship. Chances were the one time he had lost his impeccable control and not used a condom during the sexual encounter she would never see a baby from the experience. Her parents were still going to hold her accountable and take away her trust fund.

This was the worst day. Ever.
 

“Hello?” Susannah picked up her cell phone on the second ring.

“Hi, is this Susannah Gibson?” a male voice greeted her.

Susannah didn’t recognize the phone number on caller ID, and it felt odd giving out that information before she knew who she was speaking with. “Yes, who’s this?”

“This is Carl East with the USSRV. Our research vessel happened to be in the area, but the harbor is so packed we can’t dock the ship permanently. However I knew you’d be here waiting and wanted to give you the option to come aboard early.”

“Really? I just happen to be at the harbor now.”

“Oh, great! We can be there in fifteen minutes if you can have your bags ready. We can dock at the temporary docking station but can only stay there two hours or less. Do you think you can have your bags packed and ready to go by then?”

“I am not sure.”

“If you need more time, we’ll have to circle the island and come back on our rounds for supplies next week.”

Susannah hesitated. Two hours would be tight. There would be no time for good-byes or keeping her promise to Colt to see him again tonight.

But why should she care? He wasn’t in it for more than a fling anyway. He made his stance perfectly clear when he ran off with his assistant this afternoon, and Susannah didn’t like feeling like a third wheel.

“Two hours. Okay, I can do that.”

“If you’re late, we’ll have to go or we’ll get fined by the harbor master. Are you sure you can make it in time?”

“Easily,” Susannah answered.

“Well, then we’ll see you this afternoon.”

Reality hit her like an atomic bomb. Hard and fast.

She was leaving soon.

She tried to gather her composure. Carl didn’t care about her personal life. He also didn’t have to know she was trying to get over a broken heart or would be suffering like this internally over the next few weeks. “Thank you, Carl. I am really looking forward to working with you and beginning my duties aboard the ship.” Susannah needed to put her energy somewhere productive. It would help her to deal with getting over the relationship with Colt. If she felt this much heartbreak this early, then she was going to need to keep busy to distract herself.

Working on her career would prove to be the perfect distraction.

She closed the cell phone and hailed the first taxi she saw.

Susannah had a bag under each arm, and she was crossing the metal bridge to the boat. Unexpectedly, her cell phone went off at the most inconvenient time.

Balancing one bag on her knee, she plucked the phone out of her front pocket and screeched when she felt it slip from her grasp. “Oh no!”

Plop.

She watched in horror as it splashed into the water.

It sank deep into the water, and Susannah froze on the platform. Her cell phone had all her contacts in it. She could replace it easily enough, but there were numbers on there she had not memorized.

Numbers like the one belonging to Colt Vance.

Crap.

She could probably look it up and find the number of his resort and get in touch with him, but did she really need go crawling back to him?

She had to stop thinking like that. Colt was not that into her, and if he wanted to find her, he could.

Maybe losing her cell phone was a blessing in disguise. She wouldn’t have to pretend she was ignoring his calls.

Until she got a replacement phone, she wouldn’t even know if he called.

She sighed and crossed the water to board the boat and begin the rest of her life. She was free of Colt Vance and the games he was playing with her heart. So why did it feel like she was wearing ten pounds of imaginary chains?

* * * *

“I don’t understand why she’s not returning my calls.” His cell phone was in his hands, and he was tempted to dial again, but he didn’t want Susannah to think he was clingy or desperate despite the fact that was exactly how he was feeling. Colt hadn’t slept in days. He was worried about what happened to his new lover, Susannah. She intrigued him, and after spending the last few days with her, he thought they had both hit it off. “Something must have happened to her.”

Why would she suddenly just leave?

Nothing about the situation made sense.

Sam shook her head and poured a cup of black coffee before handing it off to him. “I don’t know. Maybe she just wasn’t that into you.”

Colt snorted. “You think you’re soooo funny.”

“It was just a suggestion. I mean not every woman you meet is going to throw themselves at your feet and make it easy for you.”

Colt knew she was referring to his other lovers. Most of them he never had to chase. They waited patiently for his attention when he had time to give it. They were always hoping for a ring and for him to commit, but in the end none of them captivated him the way Susannah did. None of them left as sudden and unexplainably either. “I just don’t think this is like her. Leaving so suddenly.”

“You can’t possibly really know a woman after three days.” Sam flopped into the chair across from him and crossed her legs. She’d been with him from the start of his business. They were cousins, and because of that close bond, he trusted her judgment.

In most things.

Nothing anybody said to him would want to make him give up on seeing Susannah again.

Most anybody wouldn’t consider talking back to him either. “I didn’t ask you for your opinion. Did you find out her last name for me at least?”

“That’s another thing. I don’t get you, Colt. You are head over heels in love with a girl—”

“I never said I was in love!”

“And you don’t even know her last name? I swear I can’t leave you alone for five minutes without something crazy happening.”

“Nothing crazy happens to me.”

“Uh-huh. That’s why the funding fell through. Or you couldn’t get the building materials sent from Miami in time for the construction to start.” Sam wasn’t going to give him an inch.

“Those are all minor details and the reason I pay you to help me follow up on everything. I can’t do it all myself. So what’s the girl’s real name?”

Sam rolled her eyes.

“I have no idea.”

Colt sighed in frustration. “Seriously?”

“Seriously!” He ignored it when she rolled her eyes at him a second time. Some things you have to overlook to get the job done. “I still can’t believe you don’t know her last name, but I couldn’t find out for you because you let her stay in the guest cottage. There is no record of her reservations in the hotel computer, and no one seems to know who the hell she is other than she goes by the name Susannah.”

He swallowed hard. Finding Susannah was proving harder than he first thought it would be. “I don’t know what happened to her, but I intend to find out. It could be she’s in trouble. She mentioned she was kidnapped as a child. I don’t know why, but it could mean something now, and maybe she’s connected to someone important they want to hurt.”

“Or maybe she’s on a boat somewhere because she found a new millionaire boyfriend.”

The very idea of her being with another man prickled his skin and caused the hairs to rise up on the back of his neck. He could stand to believe that she could do that to him. “Susannah’s not like that.”

Sam smirked. “You don’t know what she’s like. You’ve known her for how long now? A few days or an entire week?”

“She’s really sweet and not after my money.”

“Okay, little Miss Susannah is better than that. What else do you know about her? I need a little more information to try to figure out who she is. Where is she from? What does she do for a living? You know—that kind of thing.”

“She’s a scientist, and she was supposed to get on a boat next week to do research on the coral reefs for the next six months. I think she said she’s from Texas.”

“Do you know how many ladies are named Susannah and live in Texas? It’s the South.” Sam’s mouth gaped open, and then she shook off her irritation and surprise. “Never mind. Can you narrow it down just a little for me? Do you remember her talking about a certain city?”