Trey would love to have moved all his stuff into the villa with Robin. It would make things so much easier. But his brain put up a roadblock when he thought of it. Not a good idea, he finally told himself. He knew nothing about her except she hadn’t tried to steal his money, making love with her was off the charts, and she was easy and fun to be with. For the first time in a very long time, he felt younger than his years and was looking forward to the next chapter of his life instead of looking backward and living with the pain. Who said life began at forty? For him, he might be saying it began at forty-eight.
How was it possible they had met not much more than twenty-four hours earlier? Or that, despite the lingering pain of Laura’s betrayal and his vow never to become involved with another woman, little by little he was losing his heart to Robin Hanna.
In point of fact, at the moment, the only thing he could find to complain about was her friend who picked the most inopportune times to call, and who just could not seem to let go of Robin so she could enjoy herself. One of these times, Trey might just grab the phone from Robin’s hand and tell the woman a thing or two himself. Whether this lasted two weeks or beyond, he had to know what the hell was going on. His lawyer’s senses were telling him it was much more than some woman in emotional distress.
Damn! Where was this streak of possessiveness coming from? Hadn’t he promised himself no involvements? Nothing complex, just a couple of weeks of good fun at the resort that offered everything. But the connection he and Robin shared had struck out of the blue.
And it was more than just sex. It was something invisible that bound them together, that made last night more than just an energetic physical exercise. And it was the last thing he needed. He was still stinging from Laura’s betrayal and the breakup of a relationship he’d been sure would last forever.
Don’t count on anything. Just have fun.
Well, he was certainly doing that.
By the time they crawled out of bed and into the shower and dressed, it was almost noon. When Robin was busy putting her makeup on, he went out to the pool deck and called one of the offices up at the resort. He’d seen the information for what he thought would be a real treat for her. It would certainly kill her cell connection and shut out those annoying calls from her desperate, clinging friend. He confirmed arrangements for three o’clock that afternoon, the first time they could take him. He just hoped Robin thought it was as exciting as he did.
“How about lunch in town,” he suggested. “Then, this afternoon, I have a surprise treat for you.”
“Oh? Like what?”
“If I told you, it wouldn’t be a surprise, would it.”
She looked at him, her lips curved in an impish grin that made him want to smile in return. Then he hauled her into his arms and kissed the breath out of her. And what about that, anyway? All of this was so out of character for him. Robin Hanna did things to him and, for him, that made him feel ten years younger.
“Lunch in town is great,” she agreed. “But I might still bug you about the surprise.”
“Do you like tacos? The couple I flew down with recommended a great little taco place. No sign, and mostly frequented by locals.”
“I do, but I warn you. After all that time in San Antonio, I’m a taco connoisseur.”
“Well, we’ll just have to give them the taste test.”
If he hadn’t gotten directions, he might have missed the place, what with no sign and nothing to advertise it. But inside, it was jam-packed, and the aroma of spicy beef drifted tantalizingly in the air.
“Whoever told you about this place wasn’t lying,” Robin said, wiping sauce from her lips. “These tacos are out of this world.”
She had put her purse with the cell phone in it on the table when they sat down. They were on their third tacos and second margarita when the purse jittered as the phone vibrated.
Trey put his drink down and looked at her. This was getting to be a real pain in the ass.
“What would happen if you didn’t answer it?” He hoped he didn’t sound as irritated as he felt. He wanted to either break the damn phone or choke her friend.
She looked at him, an apology written all over her face.
“Trust me, Trey, if it wasn’t important, I wouldn’t be taking it. But this person was there for me when I really needed…someone. I can’t do any less, can I?”
He wanted to ask her what kind of situations she’d been in that bred this kind of loyalty, but it really was none of his business. Still, he was only here for two weeks, however long Robin planned to stay. And he wanted to enjoy it without this kind of interruption. Now that he’d finally managed to have fun again, he didn’t want any interruptions or distractions.
And why the hell did she always have to leave the table to take the call? What was it she thought he shouldn’t hear?
Now, she gave him an apologetic look. “I’m sorry. This will just take a minute. I’ll be right back.”
She took the phone out to the patio, leaving him stewing at the table. He almost choked on his margarita when a thought struck him. What if she wasn’t single, after all? What if this was a husband calling her?
No.
No, he wouldn’t allow himself to think that. She didn’t seem to be that kind of person at all.
Still, how well do I really know her?
But when she headed back to the table, he made sure he had a smile on his face. Unless she told him different, he’d believe the story about her friend.
The table was cleared but they lingered over the remains of their drinks.
“I didn’t ask,” Robin said, sipping at the last of her drink, “but what do you think you’ll do after you leave here?”
“You mean when I have to return to real life?” he teased.
“Yeah. I guess.”
He chuckled, but there was only a little humor in it. “What was it you said? I’m examining my options.”
He could tell she wanted to say something else, but he decided not to force it. He wanted her to be in the right mood for the surprise, and to be in a happy mood for the evening. The entire evening.
“Gotcha.”
He glanced at his watch. “Time to get moving. Your surprise is almost ready.”
“Any hints about what it is?”
He grinned at her. “Only that it will take you out of cell phone range.”
And maybe take them both out of the things confining them, him with the unexpected destruction of his marriage and her with whatever those damn phone calls were about. Again he wondered if she was telling him the truth. There’d been an awful damn lot of those calls in less than two days. Was it normal for a woman to have a friend who clung that desperately?
He couldn’t remember Laura ever being caught up in a situation like that, but either they’d all happened during the daylight hours when he was at work, or he hadn’t paid much attention. If the latter was the truth, bad marks for him. He’d make sure to be more attentive next time.
Next time? Am I crazy? Focus on today. Period.
On the drive back to Casa Blanca he turned on the radio and, with the wind caressing them with a wild hand and the music blasting, he drove across the causeway and back to what he’d come to think of as paradise.
“Where are we going?” Impatience edged her words as he grasped her hand and tugged her along past the main resort building to the beach. People were watching the late afternoon sun, some splashing in the water, as Trey continued to make his way down the beach, pulling her with him.
Then there it was, his destination. If he could feel a tremor of excitement, he hoped Robin would be over the moon.
A balloon! OMG!
She never would have thought this was what Trey had in mind. Her stomach flopped up into her throat and back again. Good thing she didn’t scare easily, she thought.
A woman Robin guessed was somewhere in her thirties stood by the balloon, tending to its tether while a crew checked the sandbags holding it in place and steadied it. As they came closer, she smiled and waved at them.
“Hi.” She shook Trey’s hand. “Glad you made it.”
“Are you kidding? I’ve always wanted to go up in one of these things. Zoe, this is Robin Hanna. Robin, meet Zoe Tamarin Bradley.”
Robin just stared. “Is this your balloon?”
Zoe nodded. “My baby.”
“And you drive it? Or pilot it? Or whatever it is you do to a balloon.”
“I do, and I love it. Well, we’ve got clear skies and a pleasant breeze, so let’s get to it, shall we?”
As soon as Zoe and one of her crew had climbed into the gondola, Trey swept Robin up in his arms and lifted her into it then followed her. Zoe stood at the controls, waiting until everyone was situated. Then she fired up a burner, the ground crew let go of the lines, and they lifted easily up into the sky.
Robin leaned into the wall of the gondola, Trey behind her with his arms cocooning her. It frightened and startled her that it felt so right. They might have been together for years instead of days—hours—as natural as this felt. As Zoe steered them over the resort, she looked down at the gorgeous scene below and then out at the Gulf that stretched endlessly away from them. Her heart gave a little skip.
“I feel as if we’ve left everything behind us and we’re free,” she told Trey, leaning into him.
“Do you have something weighing you down?” He murmured the words into her ear. “Besides your friend’s distress?”
She tried to decide how to answer him. “I think we all do, don’t you?”
“That’s why I thought this would be a good idea, symbolic of dropping everything weighing us down and flying free into the rest of our lives.”
If only that were possible.
If she had her druthers, she’d never have been working late that night that changed her life. She would still have been helping the FBI close down Forrester and prosecute her boss, but she’d have had better sense than to work that late alone with only Raymond Forrester around. Of course, she had no way of knowing what would happen that night that would put her in such peril.
Drop it, Robin. Be the balloon, soaring in the sky and leaving everything behind, like the sandbags that keep it in place on the ground.
“Not airsick, are you?” Trey asked, his lips still against her ear.
She shook her head. “Not at all. It feels so freeing up here, as if we could just float through the sky forever.”
He chuckled. “That would be very nice, I think.”
Zoe pointed out certain landmarks below them as they traveled out across the Gulf of Mexico and back over the Naples/Fort Myers area. She manned the balloon and guided it so smoothly Robin thought they might have been on a floating cloud. She almost hated it when Zoe said they were turning back.
She had been debating since Jonas’s last phone call whether to tell Trey about her situation. She knew it was confidential, and she of all people didn’t want any word of where she was getting out. But Trey DeMarcus had been a Navy JAG lawyer for twenty years and was a practicing attorney now with a respected firm. He had to be safe, right? And to tell the truth, she could use the emotional support she was sure she’d get from him.
The minute they were on the ground, she’d hurry to the ladies room and call Jonas. They’d cleared Trey, so how could he say no to letting him in on the truth? And sometimes, it wasn’t how long you knew a person but the vibes you got from them. The visceral reaction.
She could feel the tiny coil of tension inside her release an infinitesimal amount. She needed someone like Trey to have her back. No, not someone like him, but the man himself. Her entire life had changed in two days, and she knew he could give her a sense of stability. Not that Jonas didn’t do right by her, but it was his job, after all.
They drifted to the ground, landing with a slow, soft bump. The crew was already pulling on the ropes to attach the sandbags. Trey climbed out first then lifted Robin over the top of the gondola and set her on the ground.
“Thanks, Zoe.” He reached out to shake her hand again, “This was incredible.”
She grinned. “We aim to please. And by the way, tell your friends it’s a great addition to a getaway package.”
“Will do. I can vouch for that.” He took Robin’s hand. “How about a swim in your private pool? Give me a minute to run up to my suite and grab my suit and some other stuff.”
“Okay. That sounds great.”
He held her hand as they walked into the lobby. And it just felt so right. She wanted to suggest he bring more than his suit and “stuff,” but she also didn’t want to presume. Although, their dynamic had shifted with the balloon ride. They had connected on so many levels. What if—
“Robin.”
She turned at the sound of her name to see Seth hurrying toward her.
“Oh, Seth.” Beside her Trey tensed. “What’s up?”
“Can I see you for just a moment, please?” He looked at Trey. “Could you excuse us, please?”
Trey nodded but stood there, frowning, as Seth tugged her out of the lobby into a little hallway.
“What’s up? Seth, this is just not a good time for me, as you can see.”
He pitched his voice low. “What’s up is that Jonas has been trying to call you for more than an hour. Where were you? He’s about to have a fit worried about you.”
“Oh, sorry. We went for a hot-air-balloon ride.” She forced a smile. “Trey arranged it. Why?”
“Jonas has been trying to call you and losing his mind because you weren’t answering. He said you always answer his calls. You know him. If something is out of sync, he gets paranoid.”
“Oh, he does? Just who the hell is Jonas, and why does he have to talk to you right now?”
Neither of them had heard Trey come around the corner until he spoke. When Robin looked at him, she could see he was seething with anger and something else.
Oh god. What a mess.
“I asked you,” he said between gritted teeth, “who is this Jonas character?” He looked at Seth. “And who are you? Robin, what are you doing with someone from McBain Security?”
“Um, Trey, this is Seth Guillory. Seth, meet Trey DeMarcus.”
Seth held out his hand, but Trey ignored it.
“Robin, you told me a girlfriend was calling you.” A mixture of anger and pain slashed across his face. “What the hell is going on here? Who. Is. Jonas.”
Robin opened her mouth to say something, but Seth touched her arm and looked directly at Trey.
“She can explain things to you later,” Seth told him. “Right now, she needs to come to my office to make a call. This takes precedence.” Seth looked at Robin again. “Sorry, but Jonas is waiting to hear from you.”
Every muscle in her body tightened. “Oh god. Is it bad news?”
“I don’t think so, but let’s get him on the horn.” He looked at Trey. “Could you excuse us for a few?”
He looked from one to the other. “Actually, I can excuse you for a lot longer. Robin, forget about that swim. One treacherous female is enough for me. You forget to tell me you had a husband? Or fiancé? Or whatever the hell this Jonas is? I’m guessing he’s the one making all those calls to you. Too bad you had to lie about it. To both of us, I guess.”
“No, Trey.” She reached out to touch him, but he backed away. “You’ve got it all wrong.”
“This isn’t what you think,” Seth added.
Trey held up his hands. “Whatever it is, I don’t want any part of it. Robin, you’d better hurry. I have the feeling Jonas is getting impatient.”
With that, he turned and strode toward the elevators, anger in every line of his body. Robin started after him, but Seth’s hand on her arm stopped her.
“We’ll make it right later. Jonas is waiting for you to call him.”
“But—”
“We’ll fix it,” he assured her. “Come on. Let’s make that phone call.”
“Fix it?” She blinked back tears. “Seth, he’ll never speak to me again. We should have told him.”
“I couldn’t give out any details without Jonas approving it,” he told her. “But I promise you, I’ll get on it as soon as we’re done here.”
Robin felt nauseous as she let Seth lead her out of the lobby to a golf cart. She paid no attention to where they were going, her heart aching so badly. When they stopped, she realized they were in front of one of the bungalows with a sign that read McBain Security.
“Come on.” Seth helped her from the cart. “I’m sorry I had to do it this way, but Jonas was all over my ass to get hold of you. And obviously you couldn’t make the call in the lobby.”
Now, fear trickled through her. “Is something wrong? Did something happen?”
“Let’s put the call through and find out.”
“Damn, I’m glad to hear your voice,” was the first thing Jonas said as soon as she was connected with him. “Although, thank all that’s holy, the crisis is over.”
“Crisis?’ She gripped the phone. “What crisis?”
“We lost Barkov, the Russian we were still after. We—”
“I thought you said you had eyes on him,” she interrupted. “That you’d have him in custody any minute.”
“Yeah, well, we had a little slipup.” No one could have missed the harsh tone in his voice. “Our slipup, it’s been dealt with, and Barkov is a guest of the federal government as of ten minutes ago, along with his friend.”
Robin felt suddenly weak, and tightened her grip on the phone to stop her hand from shaking.
“B-but there’s no way in such a short time he could have found out where I am and come after me, right?”
“Right,” Jonas agreed. “And I triple checked to make sure that information is locked down tight. Doesn’t mean I couldn’t have gotten bad info or someone wasn’t lying to me. That happens more than I like to think about.”
“So, when I didn’t answer my phone, you figured the worst had happened,” she guessed. Damn. Go figure.
“Yes. Sorry. I know the possibility was minimal, but no matter how tight security is, no matter how we guard against leaks, the impossible sometimes happens. I hope Seth didn’t scare the pants off you. That wasn’t my intent.”
“I understand.” But that didn’t make what happened any easier to deal with. “I’ll still have to testify at some point, right?”
“Yes. I’m sorry. But again,” he added, “we’ll make sure you are 100 percent protected.”
Robin was beginning to wonder if that was even possible. And where could she go afterward that their friends wouldn’t hunt her down? What could she do with the rest of her life?
“Robin?” Jonas’s voice broke into her thought stream. “You still there?”
“Yes. I guess you’ll let me know when it’s safe to come home?”
“Give me a couple of days to cross all the Ts and dot all the Is and then we can bring you back.”
And go where?
“Will it be safe to go back to my condo?” If not, where could she go?
“Not at this time.” He paused. “We don’t want to risk your safety, Robin. These two Russians are just the tip of the iceberg.”
She felt like crying. Didn’t someone say no good deed goes unpunished?
“So, what are my options?”
Jonas cleared his throat. “We’re working on that right now. We’ll have something set before you leave Barefoot Bay. Give me a couple of days to set up something secure.”
Too bad she couldn’t stay here forever.
Everything seemed to be closing in on her at once. Was there even a slim chance she could make things right with Trey? And if she did, so what? She didn’t have the faintest idea of what the rest of her life would look like.
“Fine.” What else could she say?
“Put Seth on.”
Robin handed the phone back to him. “He wants to talk to you.”
She got almost nothing from Seth’s side of the conversation. Then he took the phone into the next room, and she just knew he was discussing the situation with Trey. That is, if there even was a situation left. She ought to tell Jonas to move her somewhere else. She didn’t think she could stay here with the memories of her hours with Trey, with him still here, knowing what a disaster everything had turned into.
When Seth came back into the room, she told him as much.
“Can you call him back in a while, explain it to him, and ask him if there’s somewhere else I can go until he’s set with a place for me to stay back home?”
The look of compassion on Seth’s face made her feel even more depressed. “Listen. I’m sorry I made a mess out of this. I was focused on getting you someplace safe in case all hell was about to break loose. Give me a chance to see if I can fix this.”
She shrugged. “Sure, but I don’t hold out any hope. Can you take me to my villa, please? I’d like to lie down. Then I’m going to figure out if I can find a way to get Trey to listen to me.”
But as she rode along in the golf cart, she was afraid Trey wouldn’t even let her talk to him. She’d thought what happened to them was magic, such a strong connection in less than forty-eight hours. They’d connected emotionally as well as physically, and she’d begun to harbor a secret hope that it would take them beyond their stay here. The pain in her heart was worse than anything she’d ever felt before, and she wasn’t sure she’d ever get over it.
She’d thought things were bad enough before with the Russians after her, the image of Raymond Forrester’s body burned into her brain, and the need for her to testify at the trial of his killers sitting like a loaded gun in her future. But, now, her chance for happiness had just been swept away.
Sometimes, life really sucked.