FIFTEEN
HE WASN’T AT the corporate suite.
After breakfast and a swim to clear her head, she’d said goodbye to Alessia and her friends at the spa. Honi was outside, waiting, and drove her to the corporate suite at her request. Except it was abandoned.
Maybe Zane didn’t want to come across her. She couldn’t object if that was the case. After all, wasn’t that the same damn reason she’d avoided the building the previous day? He must’ve taken what she said to heart. Or it pissed him off and he never wanted to see her face again.
If he didn’t stay at the resort, which he wouldn’t, he must have his own house on the island. Stood to reason, right? Why buy an island and build a resort only to deny yourself the opportunity to enjoy it in peace?
With a sort of dread circling in her belly, she went back to Honi and the cart.
“Will you take me to the main house, please?” she asked.
Honi did a double take, but a gradual smile curled his lips. “The main house?”
“Yes, I won’t stay… I know it’s probably out of bounds for guests.” Maybe she could leave a message somewhere. “I would never invade his—”
“No,” Honi said and got them going. “You don’t have to explain, Miss Florin.”
Because he could see right through her or he’d been given special instructions on what to do if she made extravagant requests? Maybe he’d drive her right off the end of the island. She’d always considered Honi a luxury, a resort-provided kindness who ensured she got to the right place in a safe and timely manner.
Now she wondered if he wasn’t some kind of spy, or maybe a guard with instructions to take her down if the need arose.
They didn’t drive back toward the hotel, which was something. Maybe. They passed the airstrip and the employee block, as well as the private beach she and Zane spent their evenings on. The road kept on going and going, past a fenced area and a gate. Without signs, she didn’t know what either were protecting. Foliage from each side of the road thickened as they drove up a gradient. Not much, just enough that it felt different from the other end of the island.
In the final bend, the foliage thinned and right in front of them were two grand wood paneled gates flanked by endless natural stone walls. Honi stopped, but it took her a second to see the intercom. Actually, it took him nodding at it for her to figure out she needed to press the button. A single bleep was the response and the button lit up.
Did security have a hut somewhere? She couldn’t see it. Yeah, it was kind of intimidating. No wonder Zane hadn’t brought her there on their dates, she had so many questions. Though, apparently, her subconscious just answered its own questions without bothering to request them from her lips. She reasoned away this and that because, come on, who believed they were going to work with a billionaire every day?
“Yeah?” a female voice yapped all of a sudden. “Forget your keys? What’s the password? Hmm… think maybe the power’s going to my head.”
“Uh…” What was she to…? A female. Zane’s female? “I’m looking for, uh… Zane, Mr. Dyce.”
A pause. “Looking for him for what?”
Reasonable question, though she hadn’t expected to answer it to his staff, or with Honi right beside her.
“I just need to tell him something and there are no phones here. Cellphones, I mean.” There was obviously an internal system, though it wasn’t like she had his number. “Could you just tell him Thea dropped by and—”
Another beep. No more words, just a beep and the light disappeared. Okay, great, so much for leaving a message.
She didn’t expect a gap to form between the gates or for it to continue widening. Even watching it took a second to… Oh, shit, the gates were opening, for her, for… Honi drove through when there was just enough space like they were in some kind of hurry. No. No hurry. Uh… she couldn’t straighten out her thoughts. A message, she was supposed to leave a message, or see him, not see this… woman. A woman in his house, God, was she in an episode of Cheaters?
The smooth golden stone beneath the wheels wound around trees and lush greenery. When it opened out, the house was… wow… Right at the tip of the island, she couldn’t see beyond the building, but with the ocean on three sides, she guessed the view would be incredible.
When Honi stopped the cart, she swallowed. Her driver wasn’t going in, no… coward. Okay, so in fairness, he never joined her in the corporate suite, why should that change now? Because safety existed with him, didn’t he get that? Whatever lay ahead was… unknown. And they were all alone, on a private island… where a body may never be found.
“Your timing couldn’t be better!” A woman strolled from the open doorway into the covered portico. “Do you like Sex on the Beach?”
“Uh… excuse me?”
The woman raised a pitcher. “We have a lot to talk about, beautiful.”
Honi smiled and nudged her on. No going back now. She dipped one foot onto the pathway and then the other, slithering, somewhat begrudgingly, from the seat onto her feet.
“We… we do?”
“Mm hmm,” the woman said, sunglasses and floppy hat topping off her dazzling smile, twinkling even in the shade. “And they’re not here. Come on. Come. Come.”
The stranger spun on the spot, not rushed, just determined as she shook her hair down her back, disappearing inside.
Okay, had she been expected? Who was the woman and where was Zane? Surely if this was his girlfriend…
The only way to find out was to go inside and do what the woman said.
A sweet smell enticed her to traverse the portico and cross the threshold. Light. The whole place was filled with light. Glass panels far above the double, maybe triple, height space, embraced the sky. Stairs curved on either side up to a second-floor balcony. Incredible.
“This way!” the woman up ahead declared, descending a few stairs.
Still dazed, she hurried after the hostess and stopped on the huge semi-circular terrace jutting out from the building behind, just like she thought, the view was…
“Wow.”
“Breathtaking, isn’t it?” the woman asked, seating herself on a double-wide lounger, curling her legs up at her side while pouring from her pitcher into two fruit rimmed glasses. “I thought our island was amazing but this…” The woman put down the pitcher and picked up the two glasses to hold one out to her. “It’s a step beyond, right?” Her smile spread. “Dyce didn’t say you were twitchy. Come sit down, I don’t bite… not you anyway. My beau would get jealous. Though for the show alone, he might buy me another ruby.”
Still sort of staggered, she went to take the glass. Be polite, courteous, listen, smile… What the hell was going on? Maybe this was where she should explain herself, yeah, this would be the time for that, but—fuck, what was that on her hand? A ring?
“Tha—wow—”
“Right?” the woman said, waggling her fingers to show off the huge ruby, then turning her hand to admire it herself. “A sign of wealth to some, passion to others.” She sucked in a breath and gestured at the lounger parallel to hers. “Come and sit down, Thea.”
After a few stuttering steps, she sat. “You know my name?”
“Of course I do,” the stranger said, blowing something from the back of her hand. “Dyce never shuts up about you.”
“I—he doesn’t?”
“No,” the hostess said, extending her legs as she rested against the back of the lounger. “Okay, so that’s not strictly true—I never shut up about you. Dyce is all, ‘don’t harass her,’ ‘leave her alone,’ blah, blah, blah. It’s my duty to know my girls, what’s so difficult to understand about that? How will we take over the world if we’re not tight? He doesn’t get it. He’s a man. Some might say your guy’s the most intelligent in our group…” The stranger angled a little toward her to whisper from the corner of her lips. “Maybe the second most intelligent, but we don’t tell Rourke that.” She corrected her posture. “Yet, somehow, he doesn’t get that women aren’t wired like men. Our men think they run the world, but what would they be without us?”
And she was… none the wiser.
“I’m sorry, I…” Was it guilt or embarrassment quaking and spiking her gut? She didn’t get it. Something was happening, clearly, this woman got it, but they weren’t on the same page. Were they even following the same book? “I don’t know who you are.”
The woman’s head swiveled ninety degrees, then tilted with a little attitude. Oh, God, had she insulted the hostess? Getting kicked out would be one thing, maybe the best possible outcome she could expect.
Could be she’d breathed out too soon, the end of the island was right there, how easy would it be for the stranger to give her a swift kick and say sayonara? In that eventuality, she’d probably never see Zane again. Ha, idiot, the guy? Her first thought was the guy? That would be the least of her worries.
The last thing she expected was for the woman to laugh out loud. Bold and proud, that laugh wasn’t offended at all.
“Oh my God, I love you,” the beauty said, putting down her glass. She swung around to set her heels on the stone and extend a straight arm. “Roxanna Kyst-Lomond…” She hummed. “I’m trying it out, what do you think?”
“Think of…?”
She shook the woman’s hand, still off-balance. Maybe it was a good thing Mrs. Kyst-Lomond didn’t let go.
“The hyphenate.”
“Oh. It’s… nice.”
“Roxanna Lomond sounds kind of weird, doesn’t it? Boring. Maybe I’m just not used to it. But if everywhere I go people call me Mrs. Kyst-Lomond, it sounds like an accusation. Like we’re back in high school. Yeah, I kissed him, a bunch of times and in a bunch of places, most of which you can’t see… when he’s clothed. Which he rarely is when we’re alone… Okay, so that part’s not high school, we’re talking triple-X there.”
“I don’t…”
“Maybe it’s ‘cause it sounds like I define myself by him. Like the only thing people will know me for is who I make out with at bedtime.” The woman, Mrs. Kyst-Lomond’s, smile grew to a grin. “You’re absolutely none the wiser, are you?”
“I’m sorry, I don’t—”
“It’s okay. It’s okay. Dyce said you had no idea who he was either. Any doubts about that are gone now. You don’t watch much TV, do you? Read the gossip mags? Follow celebrity-watch blogs?” Her loose head shook. “You’re like the cherry on our sundae…” Her jaw shifted out of place and back in. “I wonder who you have heard of… Did you know Roman?”
“Lowe?” It was something of a relief to catch a whisper of the thread of a conversation that whipped around in the invisible wind, teasing her with proximity only to then snatch it away. “I knew he was—that he is an actor. I’d heard the name. I don’t think I could tell you anything he’s been in though.”
“If things don’t work out with Dyce, I’m giving you K2’s number… Not that it would do you any good because he’s never reachable on the phone. Maybe his coordinates. Yeah, I’ll give you his coordinates, the last known ones anyway, and we’ll parachute you in.”
Okay, was this a prank? Was Zane somewhere laughing at her confusion? Was it payback? She was… stumped.
“K2?”
“Oh, if you don’t know Zane Dyce, you’ll never know Kinloch. Fun fact, I won a contest once.”
Whiplash to—what?
“You… won a contest?”
Was this the same conversation or had they moved on to something else? Talk about dynamic.
“Your sister won a contest, right?” Mrs. Kyst-Lomond said. “That’s how you ended up here?”
“I ended up here because my mother didn’t want my sister coming alone. Alessia’s the baby.”
“Protecting the people you care about is important.”
“Mrs. Kyst-Lomond—”
“See…” she said, spinning again to lounge on the lounger. “It sounds like you’re accusing me of something.”
“Accusing you of—no, why—”
“Oh, I know, I couldn’t have more permission if I paid the man. If anyone’s allowed to kiss Lomond, it’s me, times a million. The things I put up with for that dude…”
“Your husband?”
“You ever been married?”
“No.”
“You know, marriage… It’s this weird construct we accept the world over, yet it’s… I don’t know. People like Jane, my closest, sweetest Jane, for women like her weddings and marriage are a life goal. She’s dreamed her whole life of the dress and the man. Me? I never thought about it much. Not until my ex did the whole down on one knee thing. God, I ran and ran and ran… At lightning speed. Poor Porter. Then there’s Z, who didn’t even bother to propose, he just opened the door, and I walked on through. There’s wrong and then there’s right. Porter was a good guy, he is a good guy, and I thought we fit but…” She sighed. “Sorry, enough about me, tell me about you, Thea Florin. Sister to Alessia Florin, fan of Roman Lowe… right?”
Cool condensation trickled down the glass, dampening her fingertips. It slipped, just a little, until she tightened her hold again.
“Yeah, that’s about it.”
“Never married. Kids?” She shook her head. “You’re some kind of mentor, right? You’d have a blast with Roux. I’ll give you her number, doesn’t matter if you know her, she’ll pay you more money than you’ve ever seen in your life.”
“Pay me for what?”
“To work with her, and to exploit her husband, her favorite hobby.”
“Mrs. Kyst-Lomond—”
“Just call me Roxie, Thea. We’re girls now. Do you like seafood?”
“Yes, I… yes.”
“Good because we’re getting a spread for dinner. Everyone will be here. They have to be, it’s a sort of intervention. I feel for Struan, but what’s a guy to do, you know?”
“Mrs—Roxie…” She put down the glass then put her hands out almost like she was stabilizing herself with an invisible force. “I have no idea what’s going on right now.”
Roxie’s broad smile glittered again. “That’s because you haven’t drunk anything. Sex on the Beach, trust me, it’s the preference of a good friend of mine. She’s pregnant right now, so we drink in honor of her.”
“We do?”
“Yep. And don’t worry, it’s mostly juice,” Roxie said, raising her own glass to the sky. “We drink to Lilya Kearns, soon to be, Lilya Kintyre—no hyphenate for her, very important—and then…” Roxie’s arm lowered toward her, glass hanging in midair between the loungers, waiting… She grabbed hers up and touched it to Roxie’s, then drank because the hostess did. Roxie smacked her lips. “I’ll tell you anything you want to know.”
“What do I…? I don’t know what I want to know.”
“Okay, let’s start with this: you ever hear of a show called Talk at Sunset ?”
And that was it, the brakes came off—if they’d ever been on—and Roxie really did tell her everything. All about how her relationship started after winning a TV contest. About her fiancé, who, it turned out, owned all of those Crimson clubs Alessia raved about. She probably should’ve figured that out.
She believed every word of the epic adventure. One that started in LA, Chicago really, and took Roxie to every quadrant of the globe. What a whirlwind. Hearing the details, it was no wonder Roxie was such an energetic person, she needed to be just to get through the day.
“Oh, wow, that’s terrifying.”
“That’s exactly what Lilya said.” Roxie topped off their glasses. They were onto their second pitcher… almost ready for their third. We were already in the air, thank God.”
And it was… inspirational. “It sounds like you have an amazing support system.”
“We support each other, yes. We’re family and see each other through. People think the money means private jets and luxury houses, yeah, that’s true…” She gestured around with her glass without raising her head. “But it’s not shallow, it’s not the frivolous that matters. The latitude means something, that’s true opulence. It’s why Casanova gave me Lola’s Liberty. It’s the freedom, the… never having to worry. If one of our people need something, if anyone we care about needs something… Hell, even if it’s a complete stranger…”
“It’s beyond seductive, I can’t imagine it. Most people think they’re doing okay covering the bills. There’s a lot of us regular folk living in our own bubbles, focused on what’s right in front of us.”
“I get it. I was that girl, in my own bubble, focused two feet in front of me. Jane wasn’t, she’s always been the type to give her last, she’s always been the way she is. I’m not sure I can call her a ‘type’ because she’s just, the best of us, the best of humanity.”
“Being with Knox must give her more options though, more resources to work with.”
“Hence the whole wedding thing. Jane needs to be needed; Knox is a work in progress.”
Yeah, and that was the opposite of what the world might think.
She swallowed some more cocktail. “Men always think they’re complete.”
“Oh and men like ours, the rich overachievers, they get the award for thinking they know everything. Even if it’s not close to their field, they always have something to say. They always know best.”
She’d put money on Roxie being no shrinking violet, no matter who was in the room. Zairn, Roxie’s other half, would have his hands full if he tried to quiet or dismiss her, on any subject.
“Zane’s not—”
“No, you’re right, he’s not as pushy as some. I’d say that’s because he’s confident in his intelligence. I’d also say he grew up with Rourke and the rest of the guys and didn’t care so much about shouting the loudest. Sometimes it’s the quiet ones you’ve got to watch. And his brilliance, it speaks for itself. The thing is, our guys don’t compete, not really. They’re proud of each other; they want to raise each other up.”
“I can’t imagine them all together, if they’re as, large as you make out.”
It was hard to imagine such an accomplished group respecting each other without conversation turning into a rabble. Just watching those at the top of her department often gave her a headache. Roxie’s people, Zane’s people, were about twenty grades higher, there wasn’t anyone above them in the chain of command.
“You better get used to them being together. When something goes down, we congregate fast. Best advice is to take any chance you can to hang out with the girls. The guys keep themselves entertained and if we need something, or someone needs to know something, we use our own network. It’s a brave man who’d say no to his woman. Even if they’d take it, like Jane might, the rest of us will speak up for her. Not that Knox would deny her anything, Jane’s his world, as such an incredible woman should be.”
“You’re lucky. To have that kind of support.”
“It’s not just my support. These aren’t my guys, their women are my friends, we’re our own ecosystem. Us women stick together.” She smiled and rolled her head, lowering her sunglasses to the end of her nose to peek at her. “You’re part of that now, my dear.”
“A part of…”
“Don’t pretend you don’t know,” Roxie said, full of delight and mischief. “You’ve got him, baby.”
“Got him?”
“By the balls,” Roxie said. “Just how they love it.”
“You don’t mean… No, Zane and I, we’re not, I—we never—”
“We don’t define our relationships by sex, if that’s what you’re talking about,” Roxie said. “Not until after we’ve surrendered to it, the love, not the sex. You did a number on him though, that whole Roman thing, man, was he pissed.”
“Zane was pissed?”
“Yeah, damn right. He didn’t just give up the island for nothing. All through Roman’s time in rehab, Magnus tried to persuade Dyce to let Roman use it. His reputation was trashed, seriously trashed, and he needed something big to pull him out. This is only a step on the path, was supposed to be a step on the path.”
“I don’t understand.”
“People, women, might like the man, but they might not enter a contest just to have dinner with him or meet him at some hotel.” Didn’t that sound seedy. “But a tropical island, a private tropical island, all expenses paid, all-inclusive. I bet some people entered for that more than Roman.”
Not if what she’d seen in the dining room every morning was accurate.
“And he gave in?”
“Family’s important to Dyce. And I shouldn’t say it, but Roman’s probably his least favorite cousin. He did it for Struan, and maybe too soon.”
“Lola!”
Roxie’s back arched as she rose to sit up and call into the house. “We’re out front!” Roxie put her glass down. “If he asks, you’ve been here the whole time.”
Now she was confused again. “I’ve been…?”
“With me the whole time.”
“Oh… kay.”
Was he likely to ask? Whoever he was? What crime were they concealing?
“Welcome to the rabbit hole, Thea,” Roxie said, wearing a proud grin. “Keep your hands and arms inside the vehicle at all times.”