CHAPTER SEVEN
The last thing Brody had expected when he’d arrived home late after an intense exercise session with his personal trainer was Carmody making herself comfortable on his sofa. He’d heard the noise of the television in the living room and had assumed that Willa would be lounging there waiting for him. He had been imagining a repeat of their intimate encounter on the cream-colored sofa as he’d quickly shut the front door and hurried inside. Yet, those thoughts had rapidly disintegrated when he’d seen another woman in her place.
Carmody rose to greet him, that perfect, but creepy smile pulling at the corners of her mouth.
“Did we have an appointment?” His tone was clipped as he moved to put a single chair between them. “I didn’t realize you would be coming around today.”
She shook her head and stepped closer. “Do I always need a reason to drop by?”
Brody’s dark gaze narrowed. “Did Willa let you in?”
He glanced toward the ceiling, wondering if Willa was upstairs putting some much-needed distance between the women.
Carmody shook her head again and twirled a set of keys on a blue keychain around her index finger.
“She’s gone. Couldn’t handle the heat. Guess it’ll just be you and me from now on.”
Brody’s frown became savage. “Why do you still have a set of keys and what are you talking about – gone? Where is she? Where’s Willa?”
Rolling her eyes, Carmody moved closer to him, but then became surprised when Brody hastened away.
“She wasn’t good for you, Brody,” she snapped. “I told you that.”
He felt his lip quirk up in a snarl as he glared at her. “What happened, Carmody? What have you done?”
She released a frustrated sigh. “What makes you think I did anything? I told you she was flighty. She might have up and left you, just like that.”
Brody’s expression remained hard. “Carmody.” He said her name through gritted teeth. “What did you do to her?”
Infuriated, Carmody tossed her arms in the air and stalked away from him. “What had to be done.” Spinning around, she perched herself on the arm of the three-seater sofa. “You’re better off without her. We’ll accomplish more together than you would have ever achieved with her.”
This time Brody prowled ominously toward her. “Carmody.”
If she didn’t attempt to explain herself, he would throw her outside on her ass. How had his perfect day ended up becoming the absolute worst? He couldn’t believe Willa would have just left him, without comment or explanation. He knew she was scared of what they had together, but she was a communicator. She never would’ve left him without telling him why.
Carmody gave him a sharp sneer, curling her lips back from her teeth. “Why won’t you give us a chance? Why won’t you let us be good together?”
Brody’s face contorted in disgust, but held his tongue. If he angered her now, he wouldn’t get the answers he needed.
“Because we’re not meant to be together,” he told her. “I’m in love with Willa and nothing you do will—”
“I know, I know.” Carmody cut him off with a curt wave of her hand. “I’m not good enough for you and never will be. The story of my life.”
Her gaze had darkened, more with pain than with anger and Brody noticed the fury which had been brimming in him a moment ago was subsiding. He could see her now, the real Carmody and she wasn’t exactly the person she portrayed. Just like he did when he was acting, she was playing a character, pretending to be or rather wanting to be someone she just wasn’t. For some reason, she had let herself become a sad, lonely, desperate woman, when she really shouldn’t have been. Even though she wasn’t his type, Carmody had a lot to offer any future partner. She was attractive, smart, scarily determined and terrifyingly loyal. Maybe she just needed to realize that.
Brody felt his features soften as he gazed down at her. She had crossed her arms protectively over her chest and had tilted her head away from him petulantly.
“You’ve got to value yourself more, Carm.” Brody forced his tone to become more sincere to help get his point across. “Just because someone doesn’t want you in the same way you want them, doesn’t mean that they think you’re not good enough for them. Mostly, it’s just because you aren’t the right person for them. You need to find your right person, Carm. It will happen, but you can’t force it.”
Carmody glared up at him, her reddish-brown eyes full of anger and annoyance. She watched him carefully and then breathed out a sigh. Her gaze lowered as did her hands and she suddenly looked deflated.
“You’re a bastard,” she told him, her tone only slightly heated. “You should’ve chosen me.”
Brody let himself chuckle lightly. “I’m just not the one for you, Carmody.”
She sighed. “Whatever.”
He stared down at her until she finally looked up at him again.
“Tell me what you did so I can fix it.” It wasn’t a judgment, just a flat statement.
Carmody rolled her eyes. “I may have implied,” she sighed heavily as she waved a hand in the air, “that your relationship with her was negatively affecting your career.”
Brody’s brows furrowed in confusion. “What?”
Her expression became more innocent and she bit her lower lip. “Let’s just say that with a little creative thinking and the use of Photoshop, I was able to make her think that the production company for your next film was dropping you because you were no longer single.”
Brody scoffed loudly. “That’s absurd.”
“I was very convincing.” Carmody smirked, looking much too triumphant for his liking. “I should’ve won an Oscar.”
Dropping his face into the palm of his hand, Brody tried to gather his thoughts. How could Willa have believed such a lie? Obviously Carmody had given her enough evidence. He needed to find Willa and win her back before she left him forever.
Straightening, he hurried over to the closed French doors and swung them wide open. He glanced down to the neighboring pontoon where Willa’s houseboat had been moored for the last few weeks, but it was vacant, there was no houseboat in sight.
He spun to face Carmody, who had turned to look over her shoulder at him.
“Where did she go?” He knew his voice was high-pitched, almost hysterical, but he didn’t care.
Offering him a naïve expression, Carmody moved to shrug.
“Where?” Fury bled through his voice as he ran back to her. “Don’t lie to me, Carmody. If you know something, you better tell me now.”
Her hard gaze narrowed on his, as though in challenge and she opened her mouth to answer, but nothing came out. She paused, her expression softening as though she was reconsidering her words. Then she groaned, sounding unhappy or irritated with what she was about to do.
“Hayden called. She’s gone back to the yacht club.”
Hope filled Brody and his dark eyes brightened with determination.
“Thank you,” he told her as he moved quickly toward the corridor.
At the entrance, he stopped and glanced back at her. He felt a little sheepish doing this now, but it had to be done. Things had gone too far and they couldn’t be taken back. “I’m sorry, Carm, but you know that I’m going to have to fire you.”
Shrugging nonchalantly, she released a long-drawn-out breath. “I know.”
When her russet-brown eyes met his again, Brody offered her a reassuring smile.
“I’ll write you a good reference though.”
She pretended to narrow her gaze threateningly. “You better,” she teased before nodding. “Thanks.”
Brody’s small smile widened and then he was running, down the corridor and toward the front door. He had to tell Willa that everything was all right, that Carmody had lied, and that he – loved her. It may have seemed too early, but he needed her to know now.
*
“I’m not letting you through, buddy, so you can just get back in your fancy car and go home.”
Hayden was like an impenetrable wall at the entrance to the Cruising Yacht Club of Sydney. It seemed obvious to Brody that Carmody must have called him when Willa had left his house and now Hayden was here to play guard dog.
“I need to see her, Hayden. Let me through.”
Brody tried to control his frustration and keep his anger in check, but his patience waned. If he didn’t move his tall, blond ass from the front door of the yacht club in the next five minutes, Brody was going to see if he could put a dint in Hayden’s perfect jaw.
“Sorry, but you’re not a member, so you aren’t allowed through.”
Hayden’s well-muscled arms were crossed defensively over his broad chest, but even with his aggressive stance he still looked preppy. It probably didn’t help that he was wearing a white Lacoste t-shirt and beige chinos. Brody, on the other hand, still hadn’t changed out of his sweaty gym attire. His crusty red singlet and knee-length, black running shorts probably made him look like a person not worth welcoming into the civilized environment of the yacht club.
“Who’s not a member?”
The hoarse, masculine voice came from behind them, forcing Brody and Hayden to glance toward the opened door of the entrance.
An elderly gentleman with a neat white beard stepped forward. “Hayden, I saw you loitering out the front here and was wondering what—”
He paused as he reached Hayden’s side and finally looked over at Brody.
“Is that?” Surprise brightened his features. “Hayden, that’s Brody Nash!”
Hayden gave him a look which suggested he was in no way impressed, but the elderly man ignored him. As Brody smiled politely, the other man extended his hand in greeting.
“Mr. Nash,” he said excitedly as Brody shook his hand. “My name is Bill Evans. I’m the President of the club here. Can I help you with something?”
“Don’t worry about it, Bill, he was just leaving.” Hayden smiled smugly at Brody.
Bill frowned. “Don’t be silly, Hayden. That’s not how we treat guests here.”
With Brody’s hand still in his, Bill pulled him toward the entrance.
Hayden’s face contorted in shock and annoyance. “You wouldn’t have even given him a second glance if he hadn’t been famous,” he griped.
Pausing in step, Bill’s hand moved to pat Brody’s shoulder. “Why don’t you head on inside, Mr. Nash. I’ll be just a moment and then I’ll be in to give you the grand tour.”
With an appreciative nod and excited by the chance of escape, Brody moved quickly toward the door. As he opened it and went to slip inside, he heard Bill and Hayden arguing.
“But, Bill, he’s not a good guy. He—”
Obviously, Bill had cut him off.
“You’re just like your father,” Bill’s throaty voice followed Brody inside. “Being a pompous ass might help you in the business world, but it doesn’t make you friends.”
Brody was grinning to himself when the door closed behind him.
Five minutes later, he’d finally figured out how to get onto the huge jetty where the yachts and Willa’s houseboat were moored. But, as he ran down the narrow path, he noticed a familiar boat pulling away from its mooring.
Suddenly, he heard footsteps thudding behind him. Glancing back, he saw Hayden gaining on him, with Bill standing at the jetty’s entrance gate, waving his fist angrily at Hayden. Bill seemed to be shouting, but his words were inaudible, Hayden’s, on the other hand, weren’t.
“You’re too late,” Hayden yelled, his voice echoing through the corridor of boats. “I’ve called her. She knows you’re coming.”
Fury fueled Brody, spurred him on, helping him run faster. If he wasn’t so desperate to get to Willa, he would have headed back to Hayden and punched him in the face for being such a pain in the ass.
After he’d powered through a few more steps, Brody could see the vacant space, the empty, but disturbed water where Willa’s houseboat had been moored calmly only moments before. As he glanced up and across the turquoise water which glistened in the bright sunlight, his gaze following the tiny swell created by the vessel’s departure, he saw Willa’s boat. It wasn’t that far away and wasn’t moving too quickly. In the gentle breeze of the beautiful blue day, he could hear the steady chugging sound of its motor.
Hayden’s footsteps thudded closer. “She’s gone. You can’t get to her.”
Brody had a brief moment where everything seemed to blur. He glanced back at Hayden, then back out to Willa’s boat. He couldn’t see her, but he knew she was inside there somewhere. He had to tell her now, he couldn’t let her leave without telling her. The fear of losing her had him looking at the water. He could swim. He was a good swimmer and her boat wasn’t too far away. He looked up again, focusing on the houseboat. He could do this.
“Willa!” It was a yell, a deep booming sound, which seemed to rise above the chugging of the deserting boat.
Then Brody was diving into the cool crispness of the salty water and using his strong arms to stroke powerfully through the small waves as he swam expertly toward Willa’s home.
*
“Willa!”
The sound of her name thundering across the water had her turning off the motor. Had someone really called out to her? It had sounded like Brody, but it couldn’t have been. Hayden had told her that Brody had arrived at the yacht club and because he knew she didn’t want to see him and that she wanted to be left alone, she should probably motor away elsewhere for a while or so until he had the situation handled. Though she hated to leave Brody in Hayden’s capable hands, she just wasn’t ready to look into Brody’s eyes and see the hatred, the anger, the betrayal. She didn’t know what he would think of her after Carmody had finally told him what had happened, that he’d lost a role that was so important to him because of their relationship.
Willa felt the boat slow and float listlessly as she moved toward the back porch. She was sure the sound had come from behind her. It had sounded so close she wondered if someone else was already onboard. As she opened the screen door and stepped outside, she glanced around. She was a fair distance from the jetty now and she could see Hayden waving his arms around in the air. Maybe he had called out? Maybe he was trying to tell her it was safe to head back in. It did sound like he was yelling, but she was struggling to make out words in the jumble of sounds. She waved back, but wasn’t sure what to do.
Remembering her mobile phone, she turned to retrieve it, only to be startled by the sound of something hitting the side of her boat. She hurried over, worried something might be doing damage to the vessel, when a wet, human hand slapped onto the deck and then a familiar face appeared.
“Brody?” Astonishment made her voice sharp and shrill.
He breathed heavily as he pulled his whole body up from the water and onto the deck. He was still dressed in the gym gear she’d seen him leave his house in earlier in the day, even his black running shoes, and looked completely haggard.
“Willa.” It was an exhale of breath, barely a name.
She helped him stand and then pushed him toward one of the plastic chairs in her outdoor setting. When he was seated, she turned to head inside, thinking only of finding a towel to dry him off, but he grabbed her hand to stop her.
“Don’t go,” he told her, his dark eyes piercing into hers.
Willa knelt beside the chair, keeping his wet hand tight in hers. “I’m here,” she said. “Are you okay?”
He laughed breathily. “I think,” he took another breath, “I need to add swimming back into my exercise routine.”
She chuckled, but it was a short, abrupt sound and her grin didn’t quite reach her eyes.
“What are you doing here?” Willa couldn’t hide the fear in her voice.
She was so worried Carmody had told him, and he’d been so devastated by the news that he’d had to find her.
“What are you doing out here?” He smiled affectionately. “I thought you were going to relax at my place until I got back from training?”
Willa frowned and her heart sunk. Carmody hadn’t told him. Did that mean she had to break the news? She felt her features furrow in concern and dropped her gaze to stare at their intertwined fingers.
Leaning forward, Brody reached out with his free hand and smoothed the lines of worry on her forehead with his cool, damp fingers. “Carmody told me about what she said to you,” he began.
Willa’s gaze shot back to his. “She did?”
Fear clouded her vision. Was he angry? Upset? She couldn’t see anything like that in his expression. He just looked – content. His dark, cocoa-brown eyes were bright and his jovial grin was loving and tender.
“She did,” he confirmed. “Willa, baby,” he stroked a finger down her face, “it was all a lie. She made it all up. They can’t void my contract just because I’m dating someone.”
Willa’s eyes widened. “But—the document!”
Brody shook his head. “Carmody told me, she did it herself, used Photoshop or something. It was all a ploy to split us up, like everything else she’s done.”
Willa stared at him, trying to analyze his face. Was he serious? Had she actually been nice to that woman, even felt sorry for her and then played right into her damn perfectly manicured hands?
Finally understanding the truth of the situation, Willa slapped a hand to her forehead and closed her eyes.
“I can’t believe I was that stupid,” she whispered.
She heard Brody chuckle and then his hand was under her chin, lifting it. Her hand dropped from her face and she gazed up into his beautiful eyes, so close now to hers. Brody grinned down at her.
“You’re not stupid,” he told her. “From what Carmody told me, she was pretty convincing.”
“And then some.” Willa nodded. “I think she should try her hand at acting.”
Brody laughed and then pressed a kiss to her lips.
“Don’t leave,” he pleaded quietly.
Willa shook her head, brushing her nose lightly against his like an Eskimo kiss. “No,” she agreed.
His gaze narrowed before he chuckled again.
“I think I finally understand,” he said, grinning.
“Understand what?”
“That line that’s been bugging me.” He shrugged and then gave her a mischievous smirk. “Life is only worth living if you’ve got something to lose.”
Willa laughed. “You’re only realizing this now?”
He smiled sincerely. “I guess I’ve never really been afraid of losing anything, until I’d thought that I’d lost you.”
She grinned up at him, love swelling in her heart, adoration beaming through her gaze.
Brody’s grin was infectious before he brushed his mouth over hers again. “I need to confess something,” he said against her lips.
Instinctively, Willa felt herself jerk back a little bit. “Confess?” She didn’t think it sounded good.
Brody nodded slightly as he slipped off the chair to kneel beside her, his clothes still dripping with water, creating a little puddle on the clean, white deck.
“I lied to you the other night when I told you that I was falling in love with you,” he said, his deep voice becoming velvety soft.
Eyeing him suspiciously, Willa frowned. “Oh, really?”
He nodded again. “I should have said…I’m in love with you.”
She felt the corners of her lips quirk upward as her eyes glistened with coming tears.
“I love you, Willa Stone,” Brody told her proudly. “I’m pretty sure I loved you the first time I saw you, during your first break and enter attempt.”
A laugh burst from her lips and she slapped him playfully on his cool, damp shoulder. “I thought you didn’t date criminals.”
A dark eyebrow rose as though in challenge. “You were never convicted.”
She laughed again and wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling his body, wet clothes and all, against hers.
“I love you, too, Captain Famous, including your alter ego Brody Nash.”
He laughed, sliding his arms around her waist and holding her against him. When his lips met hers again, Willa knew she wanted to be with him always. Their love for each other fulfilled her. They were meant to be, she was certain of it and she would never ever again let anything manage to come between them.
The End