Two

Abby

“Roc? What are you doing here?” I couldn’t believe it. The man who’d haunted my every dream and thought since I’d fled St. Lucia a heartbroken mess now stood before me, looking even better and sexier—if that was possible—than he had four years ago. He stood less than six feet away, inky-black hair shining and still just long enough to give him a rakish air. Broad shoulders spanned the doorway, his flat stomach, narrow waist and long legs were showcased magnificently in a lightweight grey suit. Piercing blue eyes locked onto mine looking…angry? What the hell right did he have to be angry?

His lips curved up at the corners and he sauntered in with that loose hipped gait that had drawn me to him like a moth to a flame in the night. The door clicked shut and Roc made a production of moving in closer and taking a seat so just the desk separated us. “I own this resort which means you work for me. Again.” He looked so damn pleased with himself I wanted to smack his gorgeous face.

I sucked in a breath at his words, as my new reality sank in and my hand unconsciously went to the photo on the corner of my desk that showed a smiling trio that included me, Melanie, and Lily and flipped it down. Shit. Shit. Shit. This was my absolute worst nightmare come to life. Roc, here? Back in my life? But I couldn’t show him any emotions, and I needed to figure out why he seemed so angry. “Okay. And I assume you’re here to evaluate the facility as well as the staff?”

“That would be correct. I’ll be here at the Azurel for the next six to eight weeks to assess each employee. Everyone will be expected to prove they belong here. That they deserve to work at Azurel.”

I nodded because I heard what he didn’t say. In less than two months, I would be out of a job. “Right,” I swallowed the giant ball of sawdust that sat in my throat and kept my features blank. No need to let Roc see he’d gotten to me. “I’m sure you’ll let me know how I can assist you.”

Deep blue eyes took me in and I wondered what he saw. The fresh-faced twenty-one-year-old who’d fallen so easily for his playboy charm, or the frazzled single mother doing the best she could. I shouldn’t care but for some reason, I did. “Sure. If I need you, I’ll let you know.” He stared for such a long time I had to fight the urge to squirm.

Seeing him again jolted me back to that night in St. Lucia more than four years ago when I’d realized only one of us had fallen in love. The other had a gorgeous actress he’d planned to marry, making me the other woman. Yeah, that thought was more than enough to help me find my spine. Roc wanted me gone and now that I knew he owned the resort, I had no intention on fighting it. But I’d fight for my employees. “Sounds good. Anything else?”

“No.” He barked out, harsher than was necessary but I refused to give him a reaction. Not this time.

“Great. See you around, Mr. Mahoney.”

He shot an angry scowl my way before leaving, and I knew that goading him wasn’t smart but it’s not as if I had anything to lose. He’d already planned my exit from this place, so what more did I have to lose?

As soon as I felt sure I was alone, the breath I’d been holding rushed out of me. My hands shook as evidence of just how shaken up I was about the return of Roc Mahoney.

And what it might mean for me and mostly, for Lily.

***

Roc

Seeing Abby again had left me shaken and I wasn’t too stubborn to admit that. At least not to myself. She looked nothing like the girl I knew years ago. Her body held more curves, at least from what I could see of the half of her not covered by the desk, than the slender almost gaunt look of a starving college graduate. But her face contained the most significant differences and dammit if they didn’t entice me as much as the innocent ingénue. She’d grown into those big emerald-green eyes and that beautiful lush mouth that had always been ripe and ready for my kisses.

And thank fuck she’d gotten rid of those ugly shapeless suits that I’d happily stripped off her during our brief affair. Yeah, she’d turned into a real knockout.

Big fucking deal.

I refused to be swayed by a beautiful face and the sinful body I knew intimately. She’d get the next six weeks before I fired her. If she lasted that long given her habit of running away.

“Been here two days and already sulking. Didn’t I raise you better than that?”

I looked up into the smiling blue eyes of my uncle, Noah, the man who’d raised my brothers and I after our parents died in a plane crash. Our father’s brother, Noah, had taken us in even though it wreaked havoc on his bachelor lifestyle and made us all into men. Very successful men. “We both know I raised you more than you raised me, old man.”

Noah barked out a laugh as he crossed to the bar inside the ocean-view suite I’d taken. “You always were the serious one.”

I couldn’t argue that. “Are you here to hassle me or do you have a reason?”

“Beautiful bikini-clad women are reason enough for me.” Always ready for a party, that was Noah. He leaned on the wall with his ankles crossed, staring. At me. “Why are you sulking? Is this place not what you thought it would be?”

“You could say that,” I told him, one side of mouth kicked up in a wry expression.

“Well, you’ve got the skills and the cash to make it whatever you want.” He handed me a glass half full of amber whiskey and knocked his glass against mine. “Cheers.”

He waited like he’d always done when I needed to talk, waiting me out until his silence forced me to speak. “Abby is here.”

“Ah. I wondered why you bought this place.”

My brows dipped low at his words. “I bought this place because it is the perfect spot for budget friendly vacations.”

Noah shivered visibly. “I hate that phrase, budget friendly. Screw budget friendly, may as well call it cheap.”

“Spoken like a man born with a platinum spoon in his overfed mouth.”

“Overfed? You better hope you’re this fit when you’re my age.” He patted his midsection that only showed a slight pudge in deference to his nearly sixty years. “And don’t lie to your uncle. You could have bought damn near any hotel in Puerto Rico or any other island spot around the world. You chose this place because of her.”

I couldn’t even deny it, dammit. The deciding factor was my desire to exact revenge on Abby for leaving me. She’d blindsided me with her departure, and without an explanation, it had taken me longer than it should have to move past it. Past her. “And if I did?”

Noah pointed at me with the hand holding his glass. “Just be careful. Things have a way of not always being how they seem.”

“Yeah, whatever that means.”