Last Resort (The Grayton Series Book 1) (16 page)

He chuckled. “I’m game.”

Just then, they heard voices down the hall and stopped moving. She held her breath as she heard Wendy talking to someone outside the doorway. Screaming was more like it.

“
Are you stupid?” they heard her saying. “Or do you just want to get yourself killed?”
 

“
Neither,” Cassey heard her brother Cole say. She didn’t know he was still there. After what Marcus had said, she’d expected Cole to be on a plane heading to Australia.
 

She put her finger over her lips and nodded to Luke, who was sitting on an overturned bucket, putting on his shoes.

“
I thought you’d learned your lesson last time. I won’t cover for you again like that,” Wendy said.
 

“
And I appreciate your help keeping my family from finding out, but I can handle this. Besides, I need the money to help Cass out.”
 

“
Bullshit,” Wendy said. “You live for the danger. It’s a death wish.”
 

Cole chuckled. “I told you, it’s more dangerous coming around here all the time, eating those honey cookies of yours. A guy’s likely to get fat and lazy sticking in the same place for too long.”

“
Then go,” Wendy yelled. “See if I care.” They heard her walk off.
 

“
Wendy.” They heard Cole chase after her.
 

“
I didn’t know they were a couple,” Luke said, standing up again.
 

Cassey spun around quickly. “What?” Then she laughed. “No, Cole and Wendy aren’t dating.” She almost felt like laughing again, but something held her back. The conversation they’d just overheard could have easily been interpreted as an argument between a couple, but she knew better. Her brother had a different woman on every beach he surfed.

“
Really?” He smiled at her and started walking towards her. “They could have fooled me.”
 

She shook her head. “They fight more than my brothers do. Honestly, I don’t think Wendy can stand Cole. They tolerate each other for my sake. It’s a hate, hate relationship.” She smiled and wrapped her arms around his neck.

“
Like we used to have?” He smiled, then dipped his head down and placed a soft kiss on her lips.
 

Luke’s words played over and over in her mind for the rest of the day. She tried to concentrate on cleaning, but she just couldn’t shake what had happened during lunch.

She’d always been able to keep her feelings separate from her physical relationships. She’d always had a plan as far as relationships went. Keeping her heart safe had been the number one goal in her life. Why, then, was she starting to feel like her heart wasn’t listening to the goals she’d set for herself?

Luke was the son of her enemy, or so she kept telling herself. So far, he’d been there for her, physically and personally, but he just wasn’t the kind of man she saw herself falling for. For one, he was rich. She wasn’t a snob but she was realistic. He’d grown up with money, lots of money. He’d probably never experienced wanting for anything in his childhood. In all the stories he’d told her about his childhood, he’d never had to go long without getting what he wanted.

He’d lived in one of the nicest hotels, eaten at one of the most expensive restaurants, and gone to school at one of the most prestigious colleges around.

By the time everyone called it an evening, she’d talked herself out of having any feelings for Luke. It was for the best. He was out of her league.

When she locked up for the night, she took a second look around. First thing in the morning, the inspector would be there, deciding her fate.

The place had never looked as clean as it did now. Everything shined. Her brothers had helped her employees for most of the day, but after lunch, Cole had left to head to the airport and his surf trip. The news had gotten wind that he’d be surfing the storm waves and it was all over the television set by nightfall.

She hadn’t worried much until she stopped below one of the sets in the bar that was playing a piece about the storm, and she got her first real look at the waves her brother was flying halfway across the world to surf. Marcus walked up behind her and placed his hands on her shoulders and whispered, “He’ll be fine.”

Still, she wished she would have said something else to Cole before he’d left. Maybe if she had yelled at him like Wendy had, he would have stayed.

She was standing at the top of the stairs, her hand on the railing, when Luke walked up the stairs towards her.

“
Don’t worry. Everything is going to go smoothly tomorrow.” He smiled and took her hips into his hands.
 

She shook her head. “Actually, I was worrying about my brother.”

He tilted his head. “Cole?” When she nodded, he smiled. “That man is an ledgend. I’ve never seen a surfer who was born for the water like him, and I’ve seen some of the best. When I was in college, I took a summer off and went to Hawaii. Spent a few months bumming around the beaches, trying to find out what I wanted to do in life. Since I can’t surf, and I wasn’t a threat to the locals, I made friends easily.” He continued his story as he took her hand and walked the rest of the staircase towards her apartment. “Well, I bumped into Maka one day.” He stopped and she watched as a smile crossed his face, reaching all the way to his eyes.

“
Maka? You mean—”
 

He nodded. “The best surfer ever. He holds more records in surfing than they have for surfing. Well, Maka decided to take me under his wing that summer.” He paused as she opened her door. “He told me that if I wanted to, I could be surfing like him by the end of the summer.” He shook his head. “I sat with him on the beach, and every day he would try to convince me to get in the water.” She turned just in time to see a sad look cross his face. Reaching over, she took his arm. He shook his head and sighed. “But because of what happened to Calvin…” He shook his head again. “Anyway, I watched surfers come and go, all trying to impress Maka, seeing if they could convince him to teach them. Maka would sit and point out what each surfer was doing wrong. Then your brother showed up with a group of surfers. He wasn’t there to impress the great Maka. Instead, he headed down the beach to a spot where the surfing wasn’t as good and enjoyed the water. Maka saw him down the way surfing and took my arm and said, “There, that one. He has a ka'i'ininokekai, water heart. He has the power to ride whatever wave he wants in life. Look how he stands, how he rides the waves like they are made just for him.”

“
He said that about Cole?” She reached for his arm. Luke nodded.
 

“
I left the next day after my father tracked me down and told me he’d signed me up for summer classes.” He shook his head. “Cole will be fine. He was the best surfer on the beach in Hawaii, and I’m sure he will be the best in Australia.”
 

She smiled up at him. “I know you’re right. Now all I have to worry about is the inspector tomorrow.”

He chuckled. “I have a few ideas to keep your mind off that.” He pulled her close and kissed her until she no longer worried about her brother or the inspector.

L
uke woke early the next morning. He could feel Cassey’s hair on his chest. Her sweet smell was surrounding him, making him wish that he didn’t have a million other things that he had to do that day instead of lying naked with her in bed all day.
 

When she started to move under his hands, he gently kissed her skin until she calmed down again. Then, as he slid into her, he heard her gasp and watched her eyes open and focus on him.

“
Morning.” He smiled down at her, and she smiled back, wrapping her arms around him. He could get used to this. Being here with her. Waking up next to her, inside of her.
 

They went slow as the sun rose, and then, because they had taken a little too long in bed, they showered quickly. She grabbed a blueberry muffin and a Coke, rushed out of her apartment, and headed towards her office, where she had a few things to finish before the inspector was due.

He chose to sit outside and drink his coffee and nibble on his blueberry muffin over the morning paper.

He had several meetings today and planned to run back to Emerald Beach to finish that talk with his father. He hated to think that his old man was going to disinherit him, like he’d threatened to do, but he was determined to stick to his guns this time.

When he left Cassey, she was downstairs wiping the bar for the millionth time. He knew the inspector wasn’t due to arrive for two more hours and wondered if she was going to make it that long, but then Wendy showed up and she seemed to relax a bit.

As he drove to his first meeting, he thought about last night. Just being with her again gave him the courage he needed to stand up to his father later that day. Imagining holding her made him realize he could get through the tough meeting.

The meeting with Marcus and the building inspector went very well, leaving him feeling even more lighthearted. On his drive towards Emerald Beach, he dialed Cassey’s cell phone.

When she answered, he heard a bunch of yelling in the background and got concerned until he realized it was cheering.

“
Sounds like the meeting with the inspector went well.”
 

She laughed. “Better than well. We are all set to open our doors tomorrow.”

“
That’s really great.” He smiled and turned his blinker on, moving over for a woman who was entirely too rushed to get somewhere. Since he’d installed the hands-free speakers a year ago, he’d always imagined he looked like a fool, talking to himself in the car as he drove along.
 

“
Where are you?” she asked, and he could hear that she’d walked into a quiet room to talk to him.
 

“
Heading to Emerald Beach. He’s my father. I just couldn’t leave things the way they were the other night.”
 

The line was quiet for a while. “I hope things go well with your dad.” He heard the sensitivity in her voice and wondered what he’d done to be blessed with knowing someone who cared so much. Even when his father was hell-bent on destroying her, she still cared that he could make it right with the man.

“
Thanks.”
 

“
I know it may not help, but I think he loves you very much.”
 

 
Luke didn’t say anything for a while. “Thanks. I might have to stay the night here. My mom is
back from Paris today, and I know she’ll want me to stay the night.” He could just imagine her biting her bottom lip with this news. “I wish I could be there to hold you right now,” he said softly.
 

“
Me, too. I was hoping we’d celebrate tonight,” she whispered.
 

Images of her flashed in his mind, causing him to smile. “Really? What would you be wearing?”

He heard her laugh. “I’ve been saving an outfit for just this occasion.” Her voice got husky and lower. “A white bustier, white fishnet stockings, and you.”

“
Oh, God!” He held onto the steering wheel more tightly as his mind raced.
 

“
Are you sure you want to stay there overnight?”
 

He couldn’t answer. All the blood had left his brain and ended up in his pants. He wanted to turn the car back around and drive as fast as he could to get back to her.

“
Luke?” she asked, giggling.
 

“
My God, I want you so bad right now.” He wished he could close his eyes and imagine her in the outfit, but the traffic was getting worse on the two-lane highway and he was just getting into town, where it looked like it was another busy weekend full of tourists.
 

“
I want you, too. Tomorrow.” He heard her talking to someone else. “Listen, I have to go.
Cole’s been in an accident. I’ll talk to you later.” She hung up and he immediately started worrying.
 

He was still a few minutes out of town, so he started flipping through the radio channels, trying to find something on the news. As he drove into the parking lot at Emerald Beach, he finally found a channel that reported that surfer Cole Grayton had been injured in a motorcycle accident outside of Pensacola as he was on his way to the airport. They listed his condition as fair, but didn’t have any more details.

When he walked into the building, he was so preoccupied by the news of Cole’s accident that he almost walked right by his mother and a couple of women standing in the entryway.

“
Oh, there you are Luke.” His mother rushed over to him and hugged him lightly. His mother had always been elegant. She wore the latest fashions, stayed fit by playing tennis, and always had enough diamonds on to warrant a security guard.
 

“
Hello, Mother.” He kissed her cheek.
 

“
You remember Jenna Wallace and her daughter Angela. I was just telling them that you should be here any minute now. They were just down for a weekend visit from New York.” His mother took his arm in a vice grip and walked him towards the two women. Both of them were tall and blonde and could have been on the cover of a magazine. They looked like sisters instead of mother and
daughter. He could see the slight difference in age when they approached. He could also tell that Jenna had had multiple surgeries to look as young as her daughter did naturally. But it didn’t negate the fact that they were both stunning women.
 

Upon seeing them standing in the lobby, he instantly knew his father’s next step. He’d dated Angela for a few months back before Calvin had died. The relationship had been a purely physically one, and they’d left it on good terms. But looking into Angela’s eyes now, he could tell that she had new motives. Thanks to his parents, most likely.