Sunset Thunder (7 page)

Ryder’s eyes darted to Violet,
damn it
, he couldn’t help it.
Companion. She was no companion...was she?

“Well, you know I’ve always been a sucker for blondes,” Ryder said, hating the way Joel brought this out in him. 

Joel laughed his tune of approval. “Yeah, you do. So blonde it was. That’s my man.” 

Blonde beauty with a highlight of violet. 

Joel held his fist out and Ryder cringed when his fist was forced to meet it. He hated what Violet might be thinking right now.
Hated what she was thinking? Why? It wasn’t like they were in a relationship.
Damn, they’d just done what everyone thought he did: had sex in the bathroom.

Still, it bothered him.

“Honestly though, Joel, I didn’t initiate it at all. She walked her long, slim, gorgeous legs toward me, grabbed my shirt with her seductive fingers and planted her wanting lips on mine.” As Ryder described only partial moments of this morning, the rest replayed in his mind and he found himself wanting to go back in time and lavish in the encounter all over again.

Violet’s head turned full throttle in Ryder’s direction. Not just a slight tilt of her head, or an eye stealing side-view, but she looked right at him. When their betraying eyes met for the short flash, her appetite burst, telling him she’d travelled back into that room with him.

Did Violet want a replay?

The anticipation that she might, excited Ryder, but bolts of lightning warded his thoughts
.

Ice queen. Tornado. What are you thinking?

This woman was no ice queen and he liked the way the ambience of her tornado twisted his insides. 

“Do you hear that Violet? What a guy.” Did Joel not see what was happening between them? Was anything happening between them or was Ryder creating it?

“I hear him.” Violet’s gaze didn’t waver and her tone wasn’t threatening.

Was it an invitation?

Ryder didn’t know for certain. But what he did know, was that if they didn’t break the contact, Joel would become suspicious.

Ruder turned to the groom-to-be and told him the truth. “It was the best sex I’ve ever had.”

The comment fetched a roar out of Joel and when his eyes rolled into the air with his laughter Ryder sought out Violet’s again. She was still watching him closely, hadn’t moved. He expected a glare of warning to not say a word, but as many times today, Violet surprised him with a look of confusion and like she was digging into the depth of Ryder for answers to her own questions.

Just ask me, and then maybe I will understand what is going on here.

“Damn Ryder.” Joel hit his shoulder, before turning and walking away mumbling, “If only all blondes were that way.”

Missy was a brunette. It was a direct hit at Violet and it sent prickles through Ryder’s body. Why did Joel always have to be such an ass? Ryder didn’t like it. Violet caught the flicker of hurt over her face and masked it quickly, but not before Ryder saw it.

Ryder was learning Violet was the queen of masking her emotions, but he was curious what was behind those emotions and why she kept letting him in today, a little more each time their eyes met.
Who was the real Violet Caliendo?
It seemed that Joel didn’t know her as well as he claimed to, or else Joel was full of himself. Wouldn’t be the first time he’d exaggerated or flat our lied. 

Ryder hated that Violet was masking hurt inflicted by Joel, when she was being nothing but hospitable to the entire group.

When Joel was out of hearing range, Ryder stepped in front of Violet and said, “Joel talks a lot of talk and he has no idea what he’s talking about with you. Everything I said about today was true and everything was about you.”

Violet’s eyebrows arched, and the mystifying desire clouded her eyes, then slipped away into the depths of her facade. She licked her lips, sucking them into her mouth, a movement that caused a stir down below. When she released them she said, “Ryder, I don’t need you to pet my ego and tell me I’m good at sex, because my ex jabs that I’m not.”

He didn’t feel that he
needed
to say it, but he
wanted
her to know.

“There’s a reason we’re divorced.” With that, Violet walked away, taking any contemplation Ryder had created thinking he met a different version of Violet than Joel.

Ryder was left standing alone, facing the exit and feeling like a giant ass for spending this whole appointment trying to figure out a woman who was nothing more than what she portrayed: Ice Queen.

Joel hit the nail straight on with this woman. Ice Queen. That knowledge should be enough to keep Violet out of Ryder’s thoughts from here on in. 

A WEEK AFTER Violet’s encounter with Ryder, she was glad to say, the man who took her for the ride of her life, wasn’t still in her every thought. Well...not her every
waking
thought. The way his hands traced her skin delicately then parted her legs roughly, and the way his lips kissed her, dark and mysterious, like the moon kissed the sky goodnight, overtook her dreams. Every single night, she’d awaken in panting, hot sweats with Ryder’s rock hard body and handsome face flashing through her mind.

That was ridiculous...wasn’t it? 

She was a grown woman, not a teenager lusting over the captain of the football team...or in Willow Valley, it would be the hockey hero, like Marc’s sister-in-law, Peyton McAdams...now Patterson. She’d been victim to the teenage lust and swooned all over retired pro-hockey player Colt Patterson, who had knocked her up.

Sure, they were
supposedly
happily married now, with twins, a little girl and little boy, Leighton and Landon, but that wasn’t the point. The point was, Violet was a grown woman with two children of her own and needed to start behaving like one.

Then there was the overbearing, wooden lobby washroom door that brought the child out in Violet. She hadn’t made eye contact with that door all week, like a terrified kid fearing what was behind it. Only, it was breathtaking recollections that ignited fire in her...and that was the problem.

Ridiculous.

During the day, against her objections, Ryder was playing hopscotch in Violet’s head, jumping in whenever he pleased, and taking her mind down a road of contemplation about the man she’d labeled him as and the player everyone had labeled him as, including her family. But, after Ryder’s somewhat, sweet remark, to de-buff Joel’s vulgar comment, Violet couldn’t ignore the
way
he’d said it: sincerely and truthfully. She’d stood there feeling like Ryder was talking to her because he
wanted
to, not because he felt obliged, like everyone else. If only his tone had held arrogance, humor or patronizing, and left her livid with him, then her week would have gone by in a less puzzling manner.

Violet couldn’t fit together the pieces of Ryder that she retained from Joel and the pieces of Ryder that she clutched from her own experience of him, to add up to anything more than uncertainty. Violet didn’t like uncertainty, it only led vulnerability for others to swoop in and take advantage of you. Violet would not be taken advantage of...not again.

After an early morning spent with Emma, partaking in the spooky decoration hunt for the annual Fright Fest, Halloween in July at the resort, Violet was hot and sticky. Normally, she would jump in the shower and then head back to work. However, today she had the day off. Instead, she slipped into her one-piece, cream colored, crocheted swimsuit and dove into the heated pool. It wasn’t only the heat of the day she was trying to escape from, but the heat that rushed through her whenever Ryder popped into her head. 

How could sex once with a person she couldn’t even stand to look at, much less desire to touch, leave her craving more?

Violet had done what she knew best, to rid Ryder from her thoughts: overworked herself. Including today, when she’d beat Emma to the storage room to dig out the appropriate decorations for the set-up crew to incorporate in the pavilion at the edge of the resorts property on the beach. The reclusive location was chosen in order to allow the crew advanced time to set up. With the numerous weddings in July, other events needed extra time. Violet was only getting today off because it was the middle of the week, there were no weddings, and she’d booked no appointments, which meant tomorrow was booked solid.

She’d planned on spending her day off with Sophia and Parker, but when Joel promised them a day of fishing and their little faces lit up, Violet couldn’t say no.

A day off. A day all to herself.

It sounded like every working mother’s dream...except she knew the alone time would no doubt center her thoughts around Ryder. 

As the water engulfed her body, she wished the indoor pool, centered in the heart of her family’s suites, wasn’t heated. She needed a fresh, cold wake-up call. 

Craving Ryder Carlex left Violet feeling like one of the ogling bridesmaids that had thrown themselves shamelessly at Ryder at every opportunity...much the way Violet had.

Did he sleep with them too? Did it matter?

The positive point to this whole charade was Ryder didn’t run in the same circles as Violet. It would be a rare honor if he showed his handsome face at one of her mom’s charity events, waving his cheque book around and leaving a nice donation. His generous contributions made Violet consider that maybe he wasn’t as much of a jerk as her first notion of him. But, her common sense was on target to eliminate the consideration. To be more specific, it was his father’s money he was flashing and with Donald Carlex absent from parties the last couple years, it seemed like Donald was probably the generous one. Ryder was only standing in his place, with some pretty woman on his arm. A woman, who in no way he shared that light of love with. The light that Donald and his late wife had held. Violet remembered seeing Mr. And Mrs. Carlex’s love for each other, and then looking at her own parents and wishing they’d shared the same special bond. They hadn’t and that was long before Violet realized happily ever after was the delusion of children’s dreams.

Violet should have known this face from the strained relationship of her parents. The lack of love was a result of Robert’s selfish, money-hungry ways, until his last days, when the cancer took over his body and crushed him down to nothing. Those days had been the only days Violet had seen anything remotely close to compassion, love, or kindness in her father.

Even then, she’d been wary of him.

He wasn’t a man to trust. He was a man to fear, to be cautious of and, sure enough, after his passing, it had been brought to their attention just how corrupt Robert had really been. Behind the walls of Robert’s old office, located outside of their suites, Eliza had revealed a secret hidden room, where they found thousands of lives that Robert had destroyed, all packaged neatly in manila file folders, like alphabetized summer activity events.

It had been unsettling.

Eliza, being the exact opposite of Robert, was a loving, compassionate and caring person to her deepest soul and was making sure to right all the wrongs Robert had inflicted on families. It would take years. Violet didn’t even know where she would begin.

Anya.

Anya, Daddy’s girl. She was the closest to their father, as close as one could get to a brick wall without slamming your head off it. But she had left weeks before their dad’s death and had returned only for the funeral, then vanished again without a word. That was over a year ago and Violet would bet her disappearance had something to do with Robert. All that aside, Violet wished she knew where Anya was or at the very least that she was alright and safe. If there was a file, wouldn’t Eliza have brought it to their attention and ensured Anya’s safety.

Then it hit Violet,
a private investigator
. They should hire a PI to find Anya.

The thought had never dawned on Violet and it startled her at how much it sounded like something her father would think of. But it was brilliant. She could guarantee her sister’s safety and ease the worry she held every day for Anya. Violet planned on running the idea by Marc. With his combined knowledge of his father’s background, he would know which private investigator they could pay for and maintain a secrecy about it.

Violet swam to the far side of the pool, hoping each stroke would leave behind her worry and clear her head.

After this cool down, she had a date with the lounger beside the pool, a book and a bottle of wine. 

She broke through the surface of the water and the tropical indoor paradise of palm trees and bushes around the pool offered a relaxing atmosphere, but the calm was soon ripped away as she heard her son screaming holy terror from the doorway of their suite.

Violet grabbed the edge of the pool, lifting herself slightly to find her panicked son.

What happened? What could possibly happen in the two minutes she’d had to herself to walk and dive into the pool? Where was Sophia?

Violet went straight into mother mode. Joel was picking them up this morning, any minute.
Was everyone okay or was it simply another sibling argument?
Parker was growing a bad attitude that needed adjusting. For being the younger of the two, he didn’t fear Sophia and generally it was her tattling on Parker. 

“What’s wrong?” she called to him, already climbing out of the pool. 

“Dad’s running late,” Parker said, still yelling. He rolled his eyes and with a sneer added, “As usual. Can you drive us to meet him?” 

That was it?
Joel was going to be late and they needed a drive? Thank the stars neither of her children were hurt. 

“Yes.” Violet grabbed her towel from the lounger that had promised her a relaxing afternoon, and started drying her body.

Parker put the phone back to his ear. “Yeah. She said she can drive us,” he snarled into the phone and Violet could imagine how well Joel was handling Parker’s attitude.

When it came to children, Joel’s tolerance wasn’t very high...even with his own. He was the man in the restaurant demanding the crying baby be removed. His standpoint hadn’t bothered Violet while they were married, since she was the woman who removed her children at signs of misbehaviour and returned once the situation was resolved anyway.

Violet was making her way around the pool. “When?” she asked. 

“Now Mom.” Her son was additionally pleasant this morning.

She was glad his sandy hair and cute dimples reminded her of what a sweetheart he could be, when he wasn’t trying to be a rebelling teenager in a child’s body.

“Alright. Where?” she asked. 

“Where?” Parker snapped into the phone and she was glad his anger wasn’t solely directed at her. Violet was midway to her son when he yelled, unnecessarily like she was supposed to know, “Ryder’s house.”

Violet froze.  

Ryder’s house? Ryder’s house! What were the odds? Why? Why? Why!

“Okay. Whatever Dad. Bye.” Parker looked at Violet. “Now Mom. We have to go now.”

Violet hadn’t realized her legs had stopped moving.
Ryder? Really? 

“Dad’s on his way, so come on. Now.” 

Yes, Violet come on and pull yourself together. Now. 

“Parker there’s no need to holler. I’m right here.” She grabbed his shoulders, turning him around and ushering him back into the house. “I’m going to change.”

“We don’t have time.” 

“I’m sure we have time,” she said, squeezing the water out of her hair with the towel. She looked like a wet dog. There was not a chance she would step out in public like this, let alone drive to Ryder’s house. Looking like a wet dog. Absolutely not.

“No Mom. Dad said now and he will leave without us,” Parker continued. Violet was glad her son’s tone was straight forward and solid, because if he whined all his worries to her, the sound would drive her insides mad.

“He won’t leave without you,” she told him heading toward the hall to her bedroom. She passed Sophia who was sitting on the couch holding her overnight bag on her lap.

“He might,” Sophia said.

He might? He might! Joel Bensen! 

The only time in Violet’s entire life, she wished that she wasn’t such a clean freak and that there was a dress tossed over a chair, or a pair of shorts just sitting on the couch. Just enough to cover anything this bathing suit wasn’t. 

The sad, disappointed looks across her children’s little faces was all Violet needed to climb into the car, drenched and wrapped in a damp towel and drive her kids to Ryder’s house.
Ryder’s house.
She wouldn’t even need to get out of the car. Drive in, drop them off and drive out.
Quick and easy. 

Violet had never been past the metal gates of the Carlex’s lake house, one of the gorgeous estates alongside Crystal River. She wasn’t qualified to know whether the gates were closed on a regular basis and left open for them, or whether they remained open all day. The winding driveway was long, taking them under large old maple trees as the sprawling old white brick home, that had been in his family for generations, revealed itself. It was beautiful. 

Joel’s car wasn’t in sight. 

Parker and Sophia jumped out. “Come on Mom.” Parker said. 

“Your dad’s not here yet.” There was no way she was climbing out of this vehicle wearing only a bathing suit, with her hair matted flat against her head and her face bare of makeup. Not a chance.

“He might already be at the boat,” Parker objected. 

“Parker settle down. His car is not here.” Violet reached for her cell phone. There were no pockets in her bathing suit, the cup holder came up empty, and she hadn’t grabbed her purse. She forgot her cell phone. Violet could have screamed.

“Missy could have dropped him off,” Parker was saying, making more excuses for her to climb out of the vehicle. “Come on Mom, please,” he added, sounding like the sweet boy she’d raised. 

Violet’s head dropped to her soaked towel covering her bathing suit.
Two minutes. Two minutes would have been all it took to change.