Chapter Two

 

* TRENT *

 

I’d been telling the truth when I said I’d come to the bar hoping to run into Megan. I could have just texted her, I suppose. I didn’t have her number anymore, but throw enough money at any problem and it’s solved. I’m sure there were plenty of services out there that would find her number for me at the right price.

But I had this strange wish to see her before sending her any sort of message. I don’t know why, exactly. I guess I was a bit nervous that she was going to be mad at me for not keeping in touch with her like I’d promised, and I figured apologizing face to face would go over better than via text.

When I saw her, though, she hadn’t seemed mad at all. In fact, she’d seemed delighted to see me. Now, she was happily chatting away as she filled a mug to the top with my favorite beer. How she’d known that was my favorite was beyond me. Must have just been a lucky guess. She poured herself a beer, too, and then reached behind the counter to pull out a very pink cupcake. She leaned over the bar top as she peeled off the cupcake’s wrapper, which gave me a clear view of her perfect cleavage inside her hot pink tank top. My cock instantly stiffened, and I felt my face heating up. Thank freaking goodness she couldn’t see my dick from where I was sitting behind the bar. That would have been immensely awkward.

Hey, I know we used to be pretty much best friends and then we fell out of touch and I haven’t seen you in forever, but don’t mind the fact that I have a huge boner for you right now.

I hurriedly took another sip of beer, hoping that Megan wouldn’t be able to see the desire I felt etched into my face. I was pretty good at hiding my emotions. After years of high stakes investing in startups, I sort of had to be. But Megan had always been good at reading me. And right now, I didn’t want to be read. I needed time to process the flood of feelings rushing through me.

I hadn’t expected Megan to look as gorgeous as she did tonight. If I had, perhaps I could have prepared myself a little better mentally, but I’d just stupidly assumed that she’d look pretty much the same as she did when I bid her goodbye eight years ago.

Not a chance.

She had always been beautiful, but now, she was stunning. Her face had matured into a woman’s face, as had her curves. She must have been a late bloomer, because sometime between the last day of high school and today, she’d gone from simple girl-next-door attractiveness to supermodel status. Even her eyes somehow looked different. Oh, they were the same smooth honey-brown color as always, but they held a different expression. She looked more like an old soul now. Like there were depths to her that hadn’t been there before. Depths I’d love to explore.

Depths I couldn’t explore. I was back on the island for a week, tops. I hadn’t wanted to come at all, but my dad had actually left me his property, and my lawyer said it would be much easier and quicker to wrap things up if I came home for a few days. I didn’t bother correcting the lawyer about the fact that Driftwood Island was no longer “home.” It hadn’t been home for a long, long time. My dad had made sure of that. I’d cut all ties with him the day I’d turned eighteen, and I had no regrets about it. He’d treated me so awfully that he’d deserved to be estranged from me. I’d thought he was just as happy to have me gone as I was to be gone, but maybe not, since he’d left me the old beach house and the huge stretch of land it was on.

“So what are you up to these days,” Megan said, seeming to realize that I was only half-listening to her prattle on about whatever local gossip there was. I felt a bit guilty about that. I’d come to the bar to see her. It would be nice if I actually cared about what she had to say.

But Megan didn’t sound mad. She wasn’t one to get angry or hold a grudge, and I appreciated that. You never had to play games with her. If she was mad, she’d tell you calmly, so you could work through it like rational people. She’d refrained from asking me about my dad, which I also appreciated. She knew it was a sore subject, but I figured I might as well tell her. If anyone would understand how perplexed I was about his decision to leave me his land, it would be Megan. But first I would answer her question. What was I up to these days? It was a complicated question.

“I’m just working, mostly. I’ve helped start up several small tech companies, which were then sold to bigger tech companies for nice chunks of change. After a couple rounds of doing that myself I had a pretty good sized nest egg, so I decided to start investing my money in start ups. I have a pretty good nose for it, it seems, because that nest egg has only grown.”

Megan’s eyes had glazed over a bit, and I couldn’t blame her. Life in Silicon Valley was quite alien from the slow, easy pace of life on Driftwood Island.

“Anyway,” I hurried to say. “Look at you, living the fast paced life yourself. Out at work until two a.m.”

She groaned at my teasing jab. “Not by choice. My art isn’t doing so well lately, so I’ve had to take on some odd jobs to cover the bills. This is one of them.”

“You’re still painting, then?”

She nodded, but looked sad. It was strange how much that sad face tugged at my heart. I wanted to reach over and give her a big hug, assuring her that everything was going to be just fine, even though I had no idea what sorts of problems she was facing right now.

“I’m still painting, but slowly. For a while, I was selling enough paintings to this little art gallery in Miami that I didn’t even need a job on the side. But then that gallery folded, and my source of income dried up. I’ve been trying to find another place to showcase my work that will sell as well, but it hasn’t been easy. And to top things off, my grandma is sick. Really sick.”

I looked up in alarm. Her grandma had been her only family for as long as I could remember. The old lady had taken Megan in after Megan’s parents died in a plane crash somewhere over the Caribbean. At least it was assumed they’d died. Their bodies were never found.

“Oh shit, Megan. I’m so sorry to hear that. Do the doctors think she’s going to pull out of it this time?”

I could already tell by Megan’s sad eyes that the answer was no, even before she said the word. “No. The doctors said that she’s too far gone this time. But she’s a tough old lady, and she’s not giving up yet.”

Megan managed a smile, and I reached over to cover her hand with mine. I must have made the comforting gesture at least a thousand times over the course of our friendship, but I’d never felt the spark I felt this time. I almost drew my hand back in surprise, but I left it instead. I didn’t want to draw attention to myself, and besides, I didn’t want to lose the feeling of that spark. Megan felt so good. Her skin was so soft, and radiated warmth.

She was the first to pull back. She shook her head as she grabbed a knife and cut her cupcake in half. “Anyway, look at me standing here whining about my grandmother when you’ve just lost your dad. I’m sure it’s a bit of a mess to deal with it all.”

I sighed, feeling a familiar anger tightening in my chest at the very mention of him. I knew Megan was just making a statement and not trying to fish for information, but I still couldn’t keep the irritation completely at bay. I swallowed hard and tried to sound nonchalant as Megan pushed one half of the cupcake toward me.

“Yeah, it is a mess. He left me his house and land, which I totally wasn’t expecting.”

Megan’s jaw dropped. She hadn’t been expecting that either. “Wow. But you two hated each other.”

I shrugged. “Yeah. Deathbed regrets, maybe?”

Megan shook her head. “He died of a heart attack, Trent. The first one he’d ever had. I don’t think he had much time to stop and rewrite his will.”

I shrugged again. “Well, anyway. Maybe he forgot to update things after all these years. But in any case, I apparently own the property now. I haven’t looked at the will yet, but my lawyer said it’s pretty clear.”

“That property is worth like a bazillion dollars,” Megan said, her eyes widening. Then she looked down at my clothes, and at the expensive watch on my hand. “Not that it looks like you’re hurting for cash right now.”

I withdrew my hand with the watch quickly, putting it behind the bar top where she couldn’t see it. “I do alright. But even if I was poor as dirt, I wouldn’t be gloating about getting money from my dad. I don’t even want the money. I just want to sell off the property and get back to Silicon Valley.”

I saw the first hint of true offense in Megan’s eyes. “I see,” she said slowly. “Must be nice to be able to have that sort of attitude about money.”

I winced. I hadn’t meant to come across as uncaring about her money situation. Heck, if I’d thought Megan would accept it, I would have given her whatever money she needed. Once my net worth had crossed over into official billionaire status, it had become impossible to spend the ridiculous amount of money I had. I couldn’t think of a better use for that money than to help my childhood friend.

My childhood friend who had grown into the irresistible woman in front of me. I licked my lips without thinking about it, but thankfully Megan interpreted the gesture as my wanting her cupcake, not as wanting her.

“Calm down, I already cut you a half,” she said, sliding it over to me. I eyed it suspiciously.

“It’s very pink.”

“What? You’re too macho to eat pink? I thought all the California men loved pink.”

I rolled my eyes. “That’s just a stereotype. And besides, I’m not a California man just because I’ve lived there for eight years. I was still born and bred on this island.”

“Uh-huh. You’re telling me you’re still a local at heart? A local would never just sell off the stretch of land you just inherited. That’s prime real estate.”

“Prime real estate full of bad memories. You can’t fault me for wanting to sell it. So yes. I’m still a local at heart.” I crossed my arms and dared her to disagree with me. But she merely raised an eyebrow and pushed the half-cupcake closer to me.

“Just eat the damn cupcake.”

I sighed, and did as I was told. The thing did smell really good. When I took a bite into it, I was floored. “Wow. This is amazing. What flavor is it? And where did you get it?”

Megan smiled. “So you admit the pink cupcake is good?”

“Yes, I admit it. Now tell me where it’s from.”

“It’s a strawberry champagne flavored cupcake from Julia’s café.”

“Julia owns a café now?”

Megan let out an exasperated sigh. “Yes. I was telling you about it a few minutes ago, but you clearly weren’t listening to a word I was saying.”

I winced, half tempted to ask her what she expected when she was standing in front of me looking too goddamn perfect for words. But I bit my tongue and apologized instead. “Sorry. It’s been a long day. Good for Julia.”

“Yeah. She’s had quite a few changes in her life over the last year. She met one of the Evans brothers and fell in love. They got engaged pretty quickly and now they have a two month old baby girl.”

My jaw dropped. “One of the Evans brothers? But everyone here hates them.”

“Well, Logan is different from his brother Zach. Logan doesn’t pressure the city council to let the resort expand, and Logan has actually worked hard to drive business to the local shops. Julia’s café is making a killing.” Megan yawned loudly. “I’m actually working there quite a bit these days, trying to help her out as much as I can while the baby is so young. The extra money is nice, too. Julia pays me more than she should, and threatens to fire me when I tell her it’s too much.”

I laughed. “Sounds like a sweet gig, then. But wow. Julia married to a billionaire. I guess I can’t say I’m surprised. She always was picky about who she dated. Only the best of the best for her. Come to think of it, you were that way too. Have you found anyone worthy of you yet?”

Megan blushed and shook her head no, and it was almost embarrassing how relieved I was to know that she was still single. “I haven’t found anyone yet. Not that I have time for all that nonsense right now, with two jobs, trying to keep up with painting, and trying to spend time with my grandma. Maybe when life slows down a little bit. If it ever does slow down. I’m beginning to think that whole ‘I’ll get there eventually’ idea is just a myth.”

“Don’t worry. It’ll get easier,” I reassured her. “It sounds like you’re just in the middle of a really hard time right now.”

Megan smiled brightly, and I had to admire her spunk. She was in the middle of a pretty tough time, and she still kept that smile on her face. Suddenly, I didn’t care that we lived on completely opposite sides of the country. I wanted to take her to dinner. Out of habit, I pulled a quarter out of my pocket and tossed it into the air.

Heads I ask her to dinner. Tails I don’t.

I don’t know exactly where the habit had started, but I constantly used a coin toss to make decisions, even some pretty major ones. I guess after the rough childhood I’d had, I figured that life was pretty much a crapshoot anyway, so I might as well let chance decide things. On occasion, I’d even trusted a coin to tell me whether I should invest hundreds of thousands of dollars in a new startup. I knew that was a foolish way to make those sorts of decisions, but I had so much money now that I didn’t care.

Megan laughed when she saw the coin come out. “Uh-oh,” she teased. “What big decision are you making now?”

I didn’t answer right away. Instead, I waited with bated breath to see where the coin would land. Heads. I looked up at Megan and took a deep breath before speaking.

“Megan, will you let me take you out to dinner one of these nights?”

She looked at me uncertainly. “You mean like a date?”

“Yes, like a date.”

It felt like she paused for an eternity before shyly saying, “Okay.”

Maybe my trip back to Driftwood Island wasn’t going to be a total waste, after all.