Dinner with the Jamisons had been like sitting on a hot plate. Richard had to concentrate hard to keep his mind on the conversations. He kept thinking of April and why she was in his room. If he hadn't forgotten the envelope with the tickets he'd purchased as a gift for his friend's parents, he wouldn't have returned to the Eden Paradise House. And he wouldn't have found April in his room.
Her explanation was plausible, especially since she had a key that obviously fit the door. Going to a room on the opposite side of the hall when she'd stayed in it before was also within reason. Yet he had the feeling that all was not as it appeared. Richard had found that to be true more times than not in his line of work. But April could be innocent.
Discussions about Wade, plus family photos and small talk took three hours. Richard was relieved to leave, an emotion he'd never felt in the past with relation to the Jamisons.
Back at the guest house, he went directly to his room. It was dark and he turned on the overhead light. Surveying the space, he scanned the room. She'd been facing the window when he saw her. What was over there?
April was looking for something. He was convinced of it. But what? And where? Richard stood in the place he'd tackled her and turned a full circle. Clockwise, he looked at the radius of the circle, trying to determine where she could have been before he caught her.
His gaze took in the whole room. In his mind, he could only see them lying on the floor, her body completed covered by his. Thoughts of kissing her were so strong he nearly gave into the lust that filled his body as she struggled beneath him. Once she stopped, spent of energy and heaving heavily to draw air into her lungs, she was too helpless for him to put action to his thoughts.
He'd pulled her to her feet, but that didn't dampen his need. The files he had on her did that. As April went to show him that her key had worked in his lock, he quickly glanced at his computer and briefcase, grateful that none of the papers he had on her and her father were visible. The case was locked. But from now on, he'd take care to make sure he left nothing open in his room. To be sure, Richard checked that the lock on the briefcase was on and his computer had shut down. Usually he left it on, but unsure of the house's electrical circuitry, he'd shut it down before leaving for his dinner engagement.
April was now on another floor. Richard did a check of his room, finding nothing out of place, nothing moved and nothing disturbed. Even the brush in his bathroom was exactly as he'd left it. He doubted that she'd been in the room long enough to do anything. He breathed a sigh of relief. He went to the window, she'd been facing when he came in. Outside there was light from the moon, but the darkness on this side of the building camouflaged most of the surrounding area. The lack of the overhead light, when he opened the door, didn't give him a clue to what she might be looking for, if she was looking for anything.
Richard stopped, turning and leaning his back against the giant fireplace wall. He was creating a mountain out of something that could be nothing. Naturally suspicious due to his job and needing to find out what had happened to his father, he might be creating problems where none existed.
And that was not like him.
Yet there were things that were unexplainable, at least the present explanation was as alien as holding a moonbeam. Giving up, he went to bed, but sleep eluded him. His mind was busy thinking of April. It wasn't the possibility that she might have searched his room that kept him awake, it was the imprint of her body under his. He wanted that as much as he wanted to keep breathing.
Where was she? In what room? Could she be directly above him? And was her night as sleepless as his?
***
Makeup was a girl's best friend. And April needed it after her night. An artist hired to do her hair and makeup for a photo shoot when they updated her photo on the boxes and packages of National Nutrition's products, had taught her that. April proved a good student and knew that she could do a lot with a little. Standing in front of her bathroom mirror, she frowned, seeing she had her work cut out for her. She didn't need a makeup case with hundreds of brushes, powders, creams and lipstick colors. The small pouch she carried in her purse with a blush, powder and lipstick could change her appearance, removing the dark circles under her eyes and producing smooth creamy skin.
Blessed with arched brows that rarely needed trimming and skin that showed her daily routine of swimming and jogging helped with the man-made cosmetics.
As she applied mascara, April knew she had to devise something new. She wouldn't give the plan a name or a letter designation. Plan A and B hadn't worked, going further up the alphabet would only depress her. She could wait him out. Richard had a job. He had to return to work sooner or later. Already he'd been at the guest house for a week. How long could he stay without needing to return to an office?
She, too, needed to return. She had a business to run and National Nutrition was in the middle of negotiating an acquisition. April had put Josie off several times. She'd taken conference calls, but she really needed to be on hand for some of the discussions. Yet leaving Barefoot Bay wasn't an option. This was where everything about her life and future hinged. If word got out, it would likely impact funding for the Briar Food acquisition. No doubt the bank would back out. Current product sales would plummet and being arrested was not out of the question. She'd have no business to return to. Staying in Barefoot Bay was the new plan.
That decided, she shook her head at the bathroom mirror and walked back into her new room. It looked like her old one. There was a fireplace on the same side of the room as the one Richard occupied. In fact, this room was next to Richard's. The clerk had checked that the keys to rooms six, nine and her new room twelve did not fit each other. After the one on the third floor proved to have a faulty air conditioner and mold in the bathroom, ironically it put April back on the second floor in a room with a bed that abutted the one where Richard slept.
And speaking of Richard, it was time to eat crow.
***
Expecting to see Richard sitting at their normal breakfast table, April found Darcy Simmons waving her over. Darcy was alone and April wondered where the man of the week was. Unable to leave without insult, she skirted the empty tables until she reached Darcy.
"Good morning," Darcy said, cheerfully.
"Two days practically in a row," April greeted. "I don't remember you being a morning person."
"I'm not." Darcy made a face.
"So what are you doing here? You're on vacation. Sleep as late as you like."
"I would, except this morning I agreed to go sailing."
"You and Mr. Wicksham?"
Darcy nodded.
"Where is he?" April asked. "Why are you eating alone?"
"He's not a breakfast person. He's checking the boat out to make sure everything is ready for us."
"I see," April said, but she didn't see. She didn't understand Darcy's attraction for him. She'd always loved the athletic types. The kind like Richard Steele. April nearly covered her mouth for even thinking of Richard.
"What are you doing today?" Darcy asked, interrupting April's thoughts.
"I'm not sure." She had no plans other than to apologize to Richard. Anything else would depend on whether he accepted it or not.
"What about that guy you were ogling the other day."
April's brows rose. "Ogling?"
"Don't try to kid me, April Quinn. I recognize attraction when I see it and the two of you are both sending out come-and-get-me-chocolate-beams."
"Chocolate beams? Is this some type of new slang I'm too old to recognize?"
Darcy laughed. "As the owner of a nutrition company, you know that chocolate and attraction to the opposite sex have an equal effect."
"I do know that. I've just never heard it put that way before. And I was not ogling him. We happened to run into each other that day. He's a guest here, the same as we are."
The waitress who'd served April for the last few days came over and filled her coffee cup. "Same as before?" she asked.
April nodded and like magic, the woman left and returned with her plate of fresh fruit and a yogurt smoothie.
"Well, things have been known to happen on ships, in hotels, guest houses. . ." Darcy left the rest of the sentence hanging.
"Nothing is happening here. I'm way too busy to get involved with a man."
"If not now, when?" Darcy asked the cliche-ish question.
"I'm not sure." April hadn't thought about a relationship. She was technically married to National Nutrition. All her time and attention at the moment was focused on the acquisition of Briar Foods, a nutritional vegan food company.
"You're not getting any younger," Darcy reminded her.
Memories of a family flooded April's mind. It was a plan she'd had before getting involved with her company. She'd thrown her energy into it when Colin Waverly dumped her for another woman. She smiled, without bitterness. If he hadn't dumped her, there would be no National Nutrition, Inc. But because he did, there was also no marriage and no children.
"I'm not decrepit, yet," she told Darcy. "You've been married three times, yet it doesn't seem to work for you."
"It works. I love being married." She smiled to the ceiling, looking really happy. "I'm just searching for the right man."
"I can say that too," April replied. Her thoughts immediately conjured up Richard's face. She pushed it aside, telling herself that it was there because he was the last man she'd spent any time with. Yet, the reaction in her belly and the increase in her heartbeat telegraphed her a different message–one she wasn't willing to listen to.
At that moment, her cell phone buzzed. April pulled it out of her purse and checked the display. It was Josie.
"I have to take this." Getting up, she saw Darcy nod. "I'll be right back."
Pressing the accept button, she walked out of the dining room and stopped when she reached the porch. It was the same spot where she'd eluded Richard the night before, she spent ten minutes with Josie, trying to sort out things from two thousand miles away.
"This isn't working," she finally said. "I need you, Ross and Glenn to come here." Ross was her financial vice president and Glenn was the corporate attorney. "Bring everything you need and we'll meet at the Casa Blanca Resort and Spa in Barefoot Bay tomorrow at ten." She didn't need to tell Josie to book rooms and a meeting place. Her assistant would have everything ready, even on such short notice.
April returned to the breakfast table where Darcy sat holding her coffee cup and looking out the window.
"Good news?" she asked as April retook her seat.
"Business," she said.
"Everything going well, I trust."
"As usual," April said. "You remember all the crisis we had when we were getting started."
"Crisis?"
"It's not a crisis, just that there are always issues to resolve when you own a business."
"Don't I know it," Darcy said. "Beginning with financing. I don't know what we would have done without that huge personal loan your father gave us."
"We paid him back, with interest," April reminded her former partner.
Darcy nodded. "Ahead of schedule as I remember it. Then he came to the rescue again when you bought me out. Your dad was a true treasure."
A lump formed in April's throat. He was always there for her. After they lost her mother, when April was fifteen, he kept her with him as much as possible. His job took him away, but when he was home, they would do things together, go on trips. It was on their last trip that he died.
"He was on his way to Barefoot Bay when the accident happened," Darcy stated. "Do you know why?"
April would rather not talk about it. "We were celebrating a new acquisition. It was my first really big launch and Dad wanted to visit the Bay again. We'd come here after my mother died and he had an affinity for the place."
Nostalgia and depression were settling over her, so April changed the subject. "What time are you sailing?"
Darcy checked her watch and suddenly jumped up. "I'm late. Gotta go." Grabbing her purse and phone, she rushed out, leaving April alone. Darcy would never change, April thought with a smile.
A fresh cup of coffee appeared as if by magic. April finished her breakfast and with the emptying of her cup, it was time for her to do what she set out to do before arriving at the dining room door.
She needed to find Richard.
***
The second floor looked no different than it had twenty-four hours ago, but April felt like it had changed into a long, dark tunnel. She took a deep breath and dropped her shoulders. She walked to room six and raised her hand to knock. The door opened and she practically fell inside. Richard's strong arms caught her the same way they had on her first day back at the Eden Paradise House.
"April?"
She straightened and stepped back, outside the threshold. Looking up, she saw that Richard was dressed to go out.
"I'm sorry," she said. "I didn't see you at breakfast." She felt uncomfortable, unsure of what she intended to say.
"I went down early and brought something to my room."
She looked past him at the small table. It held the remnants of a cup of coffee and a half-eaten croissant.
"I wanted to apologize for yesterday."
He stared at her a moment as if making a decision. Finally deciding, he stepped back and allowed her access to the room. April walked to the center and turned around, deliberately presenting her back to the fireplace. Richard closed the door and looked at her, not moving from where he stood. He kept his hand on the doorknob. She felt he was already ushering her out.
"Well," she began. "I am truly sorry for mixing the rooms up last night. It was an honest mistake." She'd hoped he'd say something, but he remained mute. "I was thinking about my father. The last time I was here, we were going on vacation together." She looked own, swallowing the lump that always appeared in her throat when she thought of that last day. "He was going to meet me here, but he had an accident and. . ." April stopped.
Richard moved toward her.
"It's all right," she said, stopping him. "I plundered into this room instead of my own."
Richard still hadn't said a word. April waited a second before realizing he wasn't going to accept her apology.
"Well, I apologize again." She moved toward the door. As she got within one step of it, Richard blocked into her path. April stopped to keep from walking into his chest. He looked down at her and her eyes met his. What she saw there had her throat going dry. She tried to speak his name, but nothing came out.
"I accept your apology," he said, taking an additional step toward her. There was hardly any space separating them. April wanted to step back, but she wouldn't relinquish her ground. She'd been the one to come to him with an apology, even though he didn't know the truth of why she was in his room, her apology was as sincere as she could allow it.
"I should go," she said. "You appear to be on your way out."
"I am," he said, but didn't move to let her open the door.
Heat pooled all around April. "Are you going to let me leave?" she asked.
Slowly his head moved from side to side and his mouth came closer and closer. April leaned back. Richard's hand came out and circled her waist, pulling her close until their bodies made contact. The heat that usually accompanied his touch was suddenly a four alarm fire. April burned for him. She admitted it to herself. Even though she'd been here for one agenda, meeting Richard had changed that. She knew he was an imposter, but at this moment that fact was buried too deep in the folds of her brain and it couldn't fight its way over the hormonal messages raging to reach her core.
The air turned electric. April could practically see it snapping between her and Richard. She felt it tingle against her face, her arms, all her exposed skin. Richard stared down at her, his eyes dark as night. April couldn't look away. He held her to him, his gaze equal to that of the arms wrapped around her body. She was surrendering and felt no need to struggle against it. She wanted it, wanted to feel his arms crushing her to his, his mouth on hers.
Richard's head bowed toward her. Hers came up to meet him.
She felt his breath, felt the need that danced between them, wrapped around them and tightened with every inhale and exhale. Her eyes fluttered close as Richard's mouth touched hers. Pent up emotion burst through a dam and she swayed into him, her arms surrounding his neck and her body pressing so close that air couldn't get between them.
He lifted his head and repositioned it several times, tasting her as if checking to see that one side of her mouth was as sweet as the other. April felt her breasts grow heavy. Her legs grew weak and without Richard's arms, she would have fallen to the floor.
Was this possible? Could anything feel this good? How could this man turn her into Jell-O?
Richard's mouth worked magic on hers, teasing and taunting as he brushed his lips over hers. The gentle torture only increased the need within her.
She heard him moan and his kiss deepened. His mouth devoured hers. Their hands roved over each other as if they were fighting flash fires. April went up on her toes, trying to get closer to him. How could she feel like this, like her very soul was being laid open to Richard? How could his mouth make her want to stop time so she could keep the sensations running through her go on for another millennia?
April had no answers and gave up trying to concoct them while Richard held her captive in his embrace. She only wanted to think about the genius of his ability to be master over her feelings. She gave up even thinking about that, allowing only her feelings, her sensations and emotions to find their way to the surface to provide the wild ride she and Richard were experiencing.
An eternity passed before Richard's mouth slid from hers and the two stood holding each other, both for support and to keep from collapsing onto the bare floor.
***
There were many ways to begin a day, Richard thought. Today had been one of the better ways. He usually started by consulting his calendar or to-do list or just remembering what needed to be tackled when he opened his eyes. But finding April at his door after breakfast was a treat he couldn't deny.
He wished he could have stayed, holding her until the sun set and rose again, but he had to get to an appointment and he couldn't take her with him. This time when he left his room, his files and computer were securely stored in a portable safe that the desk clerk found and had brought to his room, pointing out that it hadn't been used in years. Richard checked the combination and locking mechanisms several times before leaving his files in it.
He remembered the photo of April that lay at the back of the folder. Had the young girl grown into a cat burglar? Richard was angry with her for trying to search his room. He was convinced that was her purpose, despite what she said. But the feel of her in his arms, the way her body fit his, the way her mouth angled to just the right tilt, was more than he could contend with. He wanted her mouth on his and he wouldn't be denied. Of course, the kiss developed into something he hadn't anticipated. She could well be a criminal or at least morally loose, but none of that mattered when she turned her liquid brown eyes on him and apologized for her actions.
Richard heard her words, but they fell on deaf ears. His concentration was on her hair, the way the sun turned the highlights a coppery color, the way her mouth seemed to have a lift to it even when she was seriously asking for his forgiveness. He couldn't deny her. Even though his mind told him one thing, his heart was somewhere else. He wanted to believe her. He wanted to look into those eyes, see her smile and laugh the way she had when she was five hundred feet above the water and sailing through the air.
And he wanted to kiss those lips again.