Treasured by Lexi Blake

Chapter Seven

David felt Tessa move in his arms, the soft morning light from the windows giving the whole bedroom a dewy glow.

Her hair had gone everywhere. He was caught in it, the long tresses laid out over his chest and arms.

She was way cuddlier than he would have imagined. She sighed and rubbed her cheek against his chest, her legs moving against his.

He’d had her three times the night before, and his dick should still be sleeping, but nope. His dick—which so often took a backseat to his brain—was standing at attention and demanding to take the lead this morning.

His dick had taken over, and he hadn’t even worked through half his list. He’d meant to make a long, slow study of her nipples, to test how sensitive they were and what kind of play they responded to.

His dick just wanted to fuck her again.

“Did we sleep in?” Her eyes came open, and she yawned against the back of her hand.

“It’s not too late.” He didn’t want her to think he was eager to be anywhere but here. In between bouts of sex, they’d talked. The conversation had been an easy flow of their own personal histories. He was sure she would have told him she was only talking, but he’d been soaking her in, learning about her life. Becoming closer and closer to her.

She blinked and looked up at him, and he saw the moment Doubting Tessa showed up. He’d decided there were two Tessas—the one who teased him and kept getting closer and closer, and the one who remembered what it felt like to cancel a wedding for four hundred of North Texas’s elite.

The key was to get Doubting Tessa to stop thinking. When she went on instinct they were good.

He kissed her, meshing their mouths together in a luxurious embrace. She immediately went soft in his arms, and their legs tangled together.

When he started to move down her body, she rolled over and let him.

“You’re going to kiss me every time I start to get weird about this, aren’t you?”

She was a smart girl. He kissed his way down her neck. “What’s weird about it? This feels perfectly natural to me.”

She sighed. “I work with your brother.”

“And it would be weird if he was here with us, but he’s not. And he won’t make fun of you or act like an idiot if he finds out we’ve slept together. He’ll just try to get you to feed him if he finds you at my place. Don’t give in. He’s an adult, and he knows how to make ramen. If he whines too much, put in earbuds. He’ll get the message.” He kissed his way over her skin, pausing above her nipple. “But that won’t be a problem because we’re not going to have a relationship after next Sunday. So relax and enjoy the time we do have.”

“You don’t believe me.” She said the words on a sigh. “You don’t think I’ll walk away.”

He had a few days to make her change her mind. After all, she’d said they would “throw down” once and then be done, and she was still in his bed. “I can’t make you stay with me. All I can do is enjoy the time I have with you. Sometimes in my line of business you only get so long with a subject. Like the time I got to study a seventeenth century priest’s account of his mission. They would only let me study it in a clean room, and only for two hours at a time.”

Her body started to move restlessly, as though she knew exactly where he was going. “You’re killing me, Professor.”

That was not his intention. He kissed across her belly and started down toward her pussy. His cock had spent a whole lot of time inside this gorgeous part of her, but he hadn’t had a chance to taste her yet. “Tell me why you think my brother can’t handle working with someone I’m involved with.”

This was one subject she hadn’t mentioned the night before. He needed to ease her into talking about her broken engagement. He believed her when she said she wasn’t hung up on the man himself, but it was obvious to him that the relationship and its breakup still affected her.

“It’s not that I think Kyle would give me hell,” she replied in a breathy voice. “I mean at least not more than he gives anyone. Your brother can be sarcastic.”

He kissed his way from one hip to the other, skimming over her pelvis, well aware he was building anticipation. “I know he’s obnoxious, but I’m happy he’s joking again. When he first got home, he was so unlike the brother who’d left. He’s starting to show signs of the old Kyle. Does anyone treat you differently?”

“No. Not really. I mean I’m sure we were talked about, but it was a mutual decision.” She was looking down her body, her teeth worrying that decadent bottom lip of hers. “Is it stupid that I felt like I let Charlotte Taggart down? She set us up. It should have worked.”

Now they were getting somewhere. “Spread your legs wide for me.”

She immediately moved her legs, giving him all the access he could possibly want. There was no shyness in her. It was obvious she trusted him physically. The emotional part was their problem.

She felt like she’d failed.

“I’ve spent some time around Charlotte. I happen to know she likes to set people up, and it doesn’t always work out. Oh, she’ll say she’s the best matchmaker in the world, but she’s the one who set up Boomer with that woman who ran the coffee shop she liked. The one that turned out to be a front for smuggling illegal foods. Boomer nearly got killed with a giant wheel of unpasteurized cheese. She never talks about that one.” He gripped her thighs to give her the illusion of being held down. She seemed to respond beautifully to being controlled during sex.

Sure enough, there was a sigh that came from her lips, and she relaxed against the bed. “I hadn’t heard that story. It’s good to know I’m not the only one.”

He breathed her in, glorying in the smell of her arousal. Her pearl of a clit was poking out of its hood, desperate for affection. “So you feel like you failed when all you did was be brave enough to acknowledge when something wasn’t working.”

“I know what you’re doing, David.”

“I wasn’t being subtle about it.” He pressed a soft kiss on her clitoris and felt a shudder go through her. “When I said I was going to make a study of you, I didn’t mean only your body. Though I have to say, your body is the most beautiful thing I’ve ever studied.”

He kissed her clit again, dragging his tongue over it and reveling in the way she groaned.

“It won’t work,” she said with a whimper.

He thought it was working fine, but then they were probably thinking of two very different things. “Then there’s no harm in answering my questions.”

“If I tell you what the real problem is, will you get to the point because I’m dying here.”

He sucked one side of her labia and then the other. “Yes. Tell me what truly bothers you about the thought of dating me because it isn’t that my uncle is going to fire you if you break my heart. He’ll say some sarcastic shit to me about not being able to hold on to a woman and then ask me to help Seth with his math homework. So tell me the truth and I’ll eat this pussy all morning if you want me to.”

Eating her pussy had definitely been on his list. And he would have to do it several times before he could truly judge what she responded to. A soft tongue or a nip? Maybe both. He was willing to experiment to her heart’s content.

“I don’t want to be that chick who’s dated everyone at the office and is still single. I’d rather admit that I’m supposed to be single and move on.”

Her last relationship hadn’t worked out, and it was still a sore spot for her. It might be for a while, but she would come out of it, and he intended to be there when she did. He intended to spend the next few days blanketing her in pleasure so when they did get back, she wouldn’t be able to deny him. Even if all she wanted was a D/s relationship, he would take it because he knew they were meant to be.

He speared her with his tongue, taking in her taste. She shuddered and moaned as he explored every inch of her pussy. He fucked her with his tongue and let his thumb press down on her clit as she shook and came.

Then it was his turn. He got to his knees and started to reach for the condoms.

A loud banging cut through the lust cloud he was in.

“David! David, get your butt out of bed. It’s time to go to work, my friend. It’s almost noon, and my cook is going to be angry her whole breakfast buffet went to waste.”

“It’s noon?” Tessa gasped and rolled out from under him. “I can’t believe we slept so late.”

He fell to the bed, his cock still throbbing. It was going to be a rough day.

* * * *

This morning had been a near thing. Tessa was still thinking about how close she’d come to telling David that she was being silly and of course they would see each other when they got back to Texas. How could they not when they fit so perfectly together? She’d woken up all happy and warm, and she’d had to force herself to remember that this wasn’t some fantasy where they lived happily ever after.

Your parents did. Why shouldn’t you? Stop beating yourself up. You made a mistake and now you’re never going to try again?

This. This was why she shouldn’t have even thought about getting in bed with David. Or rather she’d thought she could avoid this by doing precisely that. She’d thought she could quell all these questions if she did the man and got it out of her system.

Turned out he was pretty hard to get rid of.

She glanced down at her cell. No bars. Someone had to have a phone because she needed to call back home and get started on finding out who Mateo was.

David was in the library again, his nose in a book, of course. They’d had breakfast with Eddie and Luis and then the men had hidden themselves away in the library, and she’d been left to wander around the house. She’d gone into the gardens and strolled around, took a couple of pictures so anyone looking would see nothing more than some full of herself American tourist taking selfies for her social media.

The last thing she wanted them to realize was that she was hella suspicious and thinking seriously about pulling David out of here.

But there was also a piece of her that wondered if she wasn’t the one she was trying to rescue because she wasn’t sure her walls would hold up against the professor.

It was exactly why she shouldn’t have come on this job. She wasn’t sure she trusted her instincts when it came to him. She might be more invested in protecting herself than him. At least on an emotional level.

If she was a phone, where would she be?

She’d walked around this floor yesterday, and it was all guest bedrooms. Luis had the room across the hall, and two others in this wing were unoccupied. She stopped in front of a big display case. There were pictures of Ricardo Montez with different world leaders. Those were displayed in ornate frames, but there were other pictures, too. Ones of Ricardo with Eddie. A few of them were of Eddie as a child, holding a fishing pole and showing off a gap-toothed grin.

She stopped on the picture of Eddie standing with a younger David Hawthorne. They were both wearing the caps and gowns from their graduation ceremony. Eddie was giving the camera a thumbs-up, but David’s expression was tight, like he was smiling for the camera but something was missing.

His dad, probably.

“We were twenty-four when that was taken,” a deep voice said. “Though I will admit David has always seemed older to me.”

Eddie stood behind her. He was dressed for the heat in cargo shorts and a loose button-down. He was an attractive man, almost a mirror of his father, though all the pictures of Ricardo showed gray at his temples and Eddie’s hair was still pure black.

“He doesn’t look happy in this picture,” she commented. Of all the people she wanted to underestimate her, this man was number one. She wanted him to see her as nothing more than David Hawthorne’s girlfriend, someone who held his hand and enjoyed the ride.

Someone who could handle his quirks. Who didn’t mind that he got lost in work because she was cool with reading a book while he studied or wrote.

She kind of wanted to meet his cat.

“This was shortly after his brother was in a car accident.” Eddie picked up the frame, looking down at it. “I think someone died and his brother felt…like it was his fault. Kyle was being self-destructive at the time, and David felt that strongly.”

“Because he’d lost his dad years before and couldn’t stand the thought of losing his brother, too.” She’d heard rumors that Kyle had gone into the Navy because he’d had some focus problems. She also knew he didn’t have a car. Kyle was notorious for hitching rides with anyone who was going close to where he lived, and she’d heard him talk David into picking him up more than once. He kept saying it was because he hadn’t gotten around to buying a car, but now she wondered about her fellow employee. Kyle seemed so serious. He held himself apart, but he’d also recently hired on, so she understood that. What if it was something more?

David had a lot going on in his life and yet he was so focused on her. Was she being selfish? She didn’t ask him to talk about himself because she knew damn well he would only drag her in deeper. Knowing about his family and his life…just made him feel closer to what she wanted for her own.

She wasn’t ready for this and yet she couldn’t pull away.

“Yes, I suspect that was true,” Eddie agreed. “He felt the loss of his father quite deeply. When my own died, I called David. He helped me through that rough first year. He’s a good man. There is no one I would rather have write my father’s biography.”

“He’s kind of obsessed with your dad. That didn’t make you uncomfortable?” She was curious about their relationship. They seemed like such opposites.

Eddie shook his head. “David never took advantage of our friendship. Not once. My father didn’t give interviews. He was a reclusive man when it came to the press. He didn’t like to leave the island in his later years. David never asked to come out here. He only met my father once. He was polite, and when my father didn’t want to talk about his personal history, they discussed baseball. It’s only been recently that David started talking about writing the book, and he promised I could read it before it was published. I know he’ll have to talk about some of my father’s darker moments. My father wasn’t a perfect man. He had some problems with drugs and alcohol. He didn’t pay much attention to me until I was twelve. He was here on the island, and my mother preferred to live in the city. They never married, so it wasn’t until I called him and told him my stepfather was abusing me that he stepped up.”

“I am so sorry to hear that.”

“It’s a pain from long ago, and honestly, my father coming to protect me…that helped me heal. He stayed in the city for several years because he wanted me to get a good education, but we would come out here for breaks and on the weekends.” He picked up a picture of a dark-haired woman holding an infant. “It’s funny how we always seem to repeat the mistakes of our parents.”

“Is that you as a child?” The woman in the picture had her hair pulled back, holding a tiny infant wrapped in a blue blanket. It had obviously been taken at a hospital as she was sitting up in a hospital bed, a tray to the side that held a small bouquet of flowers and some other objects.

He put the picture back on the shelf. “I was a handsome boy.” His bravado was back, along with his devil-may-care smile. “I was going up to my room to grab a book for David. He thinks he’s found something with one of the maps my father left behind for this treasure hunt of his. I noticed you wandering. Is there anything I can do for you? There’s a pool if you want to swim. I can also schedule some activities for you, if you like.”

Ah, so they wanted to make sure they knew where she was. Or he could simply be a good host, but she wasn’t sure about that. Unlike David, Eddie seemed like a man who didn’t hyper focus and worry about the details. “I’m fine. I might go swimming later. I was just walking around looking. I find this place fascinating.”

“I was surprised David brought a woman with him. He’s usually very focused,” Eddie remarked. “He’s had a handful of girlfriends over the years, but I’ve never actually met one of them. You’re a first.”

She was surprised by that because David was so sweet that she couldn’t imagine he didn’t have a woman in his life most of the time. He was sweet right up until he decided to be dirty, and then he was even sweeter. “He didn’t date while the two of you were in college?”

One shoulder shrugged. “Casually. He didn’t go out with anyone more than a few times, though he did have a woman he slept with. They were more friends than anything else. Well, he was friends with her. I think she was using him. He ended up writing most of her dissertation. He’s not good at telling when a woman is seeing him for the wrong reasons. He can be naïve about relationships. I worry it’s gotten worse since his stepfather became such a famous man. You know who he is, right?”

Here it was. Yes, she remembered this feeling quite well. Maybe she’d lied a little to her professor. In the moment it had felt like the truth to tell him she didn’t want to fail at a relationship again, but the way Eddie was looking at her brought up an entirely familiar feeling. One she hated. “Of course. I met David at his restaurant.”

All the times someone told her how lucky she was to be marrying into a wealthy family came rushing back in. The subtext was always that she didn’t deserve it, that she’d done something wrong to be in the place she was in. That she was a little bit of a whore. Some people didn’t even make it subtext. Eddie wasn’t being subtle.

But then she wasn’t David’s girlfriend. She was his fuck buddy until the end of this trip, and she shouldn’t be so offended.

“David doesn’t take money from them, you know,” Eddie said. “He has wealthy, powerful friends, but he doesn’t have money himself and likely won’t.”

“Then it’s a good thing I have an excellent job and can take care of myself financially.” She was done with this conversation. “Speaking of my job, I need to find a way to call back to the States. Cell service doesn’t work. I was hoping I could use your phone. Your landline.”

Eddie frowned. “Oh, there’s no phone. We had a satellite phone, but it no longer works. I think something went wrong with the company that serviced it. We’re trying to find a solution, but for now if we wish to contact someone off the island, we have to go into the small village a few miles down the road. It’s where some of the biologists stay. Sometimes you can get a signal there. But only sometimes. It’s very small. You don’t want to go there, I assure you. I don’t think it would be safe. We have radios if we need to speak with the mainland.”

That was odd since David had assured her how safe the island was, that there was no real crime. She wasn’t going to argue with Eddie though. She would simply find her own way. “Of course. I’ll talk to David about it. We’ll figure something out. I promised my boss I would check in once I got settled.”

“Well, David should have mentioned how hard communication is out here. I’m sorry to disappoint you,” he murmured.

She wanted to tell him that she would be okay, that she would find a way, but she didn’t want to tip the enemy off, and in that moment he felt like the enemy. “Well, then I’ll have to check out the pool.”

“I hope you have a lovely afternoon.” He turned and walked away, but not before picking up the picture of himself as a baby in his mother’s arms. He took that with him.

She wanted to look into him more, too.

A young woman opened the door to the room Luis was staying in, a bucket of cleaning supplies in her hand. She gave Tessa a bright smile. “Hola,” she began and then winced. “I mean, hello, ma’am. I am going to start your room soon, but I need to go into town to buy…supplies.”

Oh, she wanted to tell the young woman she didn’t have to cater to the American, that she could speak her own language, but she had to play dumb. Still, she wasn’t about to let this opportunity go by. “How long do you think it will take?”

The young woman’s eyes widened. “Oh, not long. I’ll be back in twenty minutes or so. It is close.”

“Excellent. Then you can show me the way.” She could make it into town and back before anyone knew she was gone. “I need to make a phone call, and the big boss here tells me there’s no landline.”

“Si. Yes, we haven’t had a phone since the storm took it out a few weeks ago. It’s hard to get people to work out here.” She started for the stairs, her ponytail bouncing.

Tessa followed, determined to get the information she needed.

Ten minutes later she stood in front of a small building that claimed to be a bar and a hostel and a general store all in one. And apparently they also made great empanadas. The building itself was charming, with open windows overlooking the small bay and allowing a breeze to run through the space. She’d found a group of young men sitting around a table with their laptops open, arguing over something to do with sea turtles and someone miscounting.

No danger there. Her escort, who she’d discovered was named Lara, had waved her in like she wasn’t worried at all. She’d promised to come back for her after she’d picked up her supplies.

Tessa stared down at her cell. Not even the hint of a bar.

“Lady, it doesn’t work in here. You have to go to the roof.” One of the scientists hopped out of his chair and gestured to the stairs. He was a lanky young man with dark hair and a scruffy beard that was barely short of being scraggly. But he had a wide smile and curious eyes. Even if she hadn’t seen him with the science group, she would have pegged him as some kind of an intellectual. She seemed to be surrounded with them these days. “You staying at the big house? I heard they were having guests this week. That’s pretty cool since the guy who owns the place is almost never in residence anymore.”

She nodded, taking in that information. “Yes, I’m staying with my boyfriend who’s doing some research of his own, but I need to call back to the States.”

She glanced down at the clock on her phone. It was almost two thirty, so it was pretty much lunchtime back home. It wouldn’t matter. Someone would answer their line if she could get a call out.

“Well, since they took out all comms a couple of weeks back, this is pretty much it,” the young man said. “I’m Joe, by the way. I’m with the biology department at Stanford.”

“You’re definitely studying biology and not freaking math,” one of his colleagues snarked.

Joe rolled his eyes. “I know how to count. You don’t know how to add. Sorry, we’re doing a study on the sea turtle populations on the island. The man who used to own it put protections in place on the beaches here thirty years ago, and we’re trying to prove that it’s actually changed some of the migratory habits of the animals. But we can’t because someone doesn’t know how to use a calculator.”

It was good to know that boys were the same no matter their professions. She followed the scientist up the short flight of stairs and onto the rooftop lounge. There was a bar and some tables. There was also a barbecue with the most delicious smells coming off it. “This is nice. I was told this place was sketchy.”

“Not at all,” Joe said. “I love this island. I mean, it’s small, but you can get pretty much everything you need. The island is safe. Even with the occasional treasure hunters, there’s almost no crime here. Obviously there are animals out there who will eat you if you give them a chance. There are some big snakes crawling around the interior of this island, but other than that, it’s kind of a paradise. Good food, nice place to stay, friendly people. All in all, I couldn’t have pulled a better job. I have a friend who’s in Antarctica studying penguins. She would kill to be here. The one complaint is how hard it is to get a cell signal.”

She was confused about this. Eddie had told her something had gone wrong with the satellite phone, but Lara had talked about a storm taking out the landline they’d used. “But they have phones out here, right? Or they did?”

Joe nodded. “Sure, but something happened a couple of weeks back.”

“The storm?”

“I mean that’s what they said, but it wasn’t that bad a storm,” Joe replied. “I’ve seen way worse and not had service drop. And it didn’t affect the electricity at all. We’re more used to that happening. I mean we didn’t have a single outage.”

That was odd but not completely incomprehensible. Still, things were starting to not add up, and when it came to something like this, she was good at math. “Where is my best chance at a signal?”

“It’s the far edge. Be careful. There’s no railing.” He pointed to the corner the farthest from the bar. “Most of the time you can get a signal there, but it can drop on you at any moment.”

“Thanks.” She moved over to the corner as music started to float up from down below. It was a soft ballad she didn’t recognize, but the sweet sound made her think of David and how much she’d loved being in his arms.

Who the hell was she? She was not the soft, mushy girl who forgot about her job the minute she got some good dick. The problem was it had been more than good dick. It had been great dick, superlative dick, with a side of mind-drugging intimacy.

She had to stop. Call. She had a call to make, and it wasn’t to a girlfriend to giggle about how nice her night had been. She had most of her team’s numbers in her cell. Wade was likely at Disney World with his family by now, and Kyle was laid up at his mom’s house. She wasn’t about to get Big Tag on the line, so she dialed the number of the person who would probably be the most helpful while also being the least sarcastic.

“Hey, girl. How is Argentina?” MaeBe Vaughn’s sunny voice crackled over the line. “And can I come with you? Because here is not so great. I swear to god if you don’t take that pill I will force it down your throat.”

“Is everything okay?” Tessa could hear a masculine voice complaining in the background.

“I’m here at Sean and Grace’s place bringing the grumpiest man in the world some lunch. He’s supposed to take his meds, but he’s…than the doctor. I do not know how…hasn’t smothered him yet. I got the better…the deal because the cat…better behaved.”

She was dropping in and out. Tessa tried to lean out a bit, and the signal seemed stronger. “Hey, I don’t have much time. Did you get the background check done on the grad student?”

“What? I’m sorry, you’re cutting out.”

She twisted a little, and the static went away. It seemed best if she leaned into the signal. “Grad student?”

“Oh, yeah, he was clean. No police records of any kind. He’s in the US on a student visa, and it’s perfectly in order. The only thing he’s got is an eviction notice on his apartment, but he’s been applying for campus housing. Do you want me to go deeper? I didn’t check into his family. The household staff checked out, too. All good.”

“Who’s listed as household staff? Is there a Mateo? He’s a recent hire,” Tessa explained.

“I don’t remember. Hutch did…” More static. “I don’t have it in front of me, but I can send you the files when I get back to the office.”

Ah, MaeBe could send them, but Tessa wouldn’t be able to receive them until she had a strong signal. Or she could sneak back here and try to get a connection long enough to download the files. She would have to try. She didn’t exactly have another choice. Or she could catch a boat back to the mainland and download the files there.

But she didn’t want to be that far away from David. If she left the island there was a chance something could go wrong and she wouldn’t be able to get back.

“It’s right beside you, Kyle. You don’t need mine,” MaeBe was saying. “Your cell phone is on the table beside you. Right by the meds you are absolutely going to take. Okay…wants to talk to you.”

How long did she have before she needed to get back? They’d been locked away in the library, but someone would miss her if she didn’t return soon.

“Hey, Tess. You have to watch David like a hawk. He gets distracted by shiny objects.” Kyle came over the line loud and clear.

“He’s not that bad. He’s intense when he’s studying a subject he enjoys,” she replied. A subject like her. She could still feel his hands on her body.

“Shit. Now I owe MaeBe ten bucks.”

“For what?” Tessa asked.

“You slept with him.”

It was a good thing she wasn’t standing in front of Kyle because she could feel herself blush. “You don’t know that.”

“Yes, I do, because you’re defending him,” Kyle explained, and she wondered why it was now that she seemed to have found the perfect spot because every word was clear. “I wasn’t being an ass. I didn’t get a chance to talk to you before you left. David sees the best in everyone. He’s naïve and he’ll miss cues. You have to watch out for him. Eduardo Montez isn’t his father. The business he runs has some unsavory connections, but I don’t think they have anything to do with David or I would have called off the trip. That said, I still want you to watch him. I don’t like the timing. This trip came up fast.”

At least they were talking about the job now. “I thought it had been planned for a while.”

“They talked about it for a while, and Eddie always came up with excuses. Then all of a sudden it was the perfect time,” Kyle explained. “Right as David’s spring break was coming up. Keep your eyes open.”

“Okay. I’m going to try to send you some pictures I’ve taken around the estate of some of the staff. It’s probably nothing, but put them through our facial recognition,” she said. She was running out of time, and she’d finally gotten an excellent signal. “I’m texting them to MaeBe’s phone as soon as we hang up, and I’ll try to get back here tomorrow to pull down the files she’s sending me.”

She wasn’t sure she had enough time to do both. She wanted to make sure the names on Hutch’s list were the correct people working in the house now. It seemed like there had been some recent changes.

“Hey, Tessa,” Kyle said, his tone softening. “He’s a good man.”

Yep, they were back to being uncomfortable. And yet she couldn’t hang up on him. Something had changed between her and David the night before, and even if she still walked away, there would always be something intimate between them. If…she was starting to use the word if. “I know that.”

“Look, I’ve known something was going on in his head for weeks, but he didn’t talk to me about you until the day you two left. He’s crazy about you. He might not seem like it, but he is.”

She couldn’t do this. “I’ve got to hurry.”

“Did you ever think that the reason that voice inside told you to break things off with Michael was because you were waiting for David?”

What the fuck had happened to Kyle? “Did you hit your head?”

“It’s the meds,” Kyle replied. “They fuck with a guy’s brain, which is why I’m not taking any more, and no, you’re not going to shove them up my ass. Language, woman. MaeBe’s feisty. All I’m saying is I know you’re all wounded and shit, but my brother’s worth the risk, and he needs someone like you.”

“Like me?”

“When you try, Tessa, you give it your all,” Kyle said. “I’d be happy to have you watch my back. You’ll let him be who he is because you’re comfortable with who you are. You think people talk about how you fucked up your engagement, but what they really say is they admire you for knowing it wasn’t going to work and ending it with kindness.”

That made her stop because he was right about what she’d thought people said behind her back. “They do?”

“Yeah. So stop moping and keep doing my brother. He’ll be in a way better mood when he comes back. The last two weeks have been awful, and now I blame you,” Kyle began. “You have no idea how broody a professor can get, and when he gets broody he lectures. I swear I caught him lecturing the cat and then we were both trying to claw our way out of the place.”

“Ooops, I’m losing you.” She hung up because the last thing she needed was Kyle Hawthorne telling her all the things she’d done wrong when she’d walked away from David the first time.

And one thing she’d gotten right. She took a long breath and steadied herself because hearing that no one blamed her, no one thought she’d made a huge mistake was surprisingly emotional.

Or maybe she was in an emotional mood because being around David gave her all kinds of feelings.

He was still giving her feels because she was standing here not sending the stuff she needed to, and she had to leave soon or they would miss her and start asking questions.

She moved the photos she’d surreptitiously taken into a text she sent to Kyle and MaeBe. The files started to send even as she lost a bar.

Damn it. She moved closer to the edge. There wasn’t a railing around it but there was a short wall that hit her mid-thigh. She leaned over slightly and managed three bars. The message started to send. Just a bit more.

She leaned again, trying to find the best angle.

That was when she started to lose her balance and tip forward.

An arm went around her waist, and she was pulled back against a hard chest.

“Hey, baby, how about we not find out what kind of medical care is available here?” David asked, his arms tightening as though he was afraid of losing her.

“You find her?” a deep voice asked.

David let her go and turned. Mateo stood there, a frown on his face. “Yes. She’s right where I thought she would be.” He turned back to her. “I’m so sorry I forgot about our plans to check out the town. When Mateo announced you were gone I realized I’d done it again. I got distracted and lost track of time. I tried to explain you needed a few things.”

“We could have sent out for whatever the lady needs. There was no need to walk into town,” Mateo replied. “Come and I will take you back.”

So David had covered for her. He was fast on his feet, but she felt bad she’d interrupted his day. And worse that Mateo seemed so upset she’d left. She wasn’t a prisoner there. “I was about to pick it up when I found this place. I was checking out the view, taking some selfies. We can go.”

“Or we can stay.” He reached for her hand and pulled her close. “I like this song. ‘Zona de Promesas.’ Come here and dance with me.”

“What should I tell the boss?” Mateo asked. “He thinks you are coming back.”

“Tell him I’m taking the afternoon off to be with my girl,” David said, not bothering to look his way. “We’ll be back well before dinner. I think we can find our way. Thanks for bringing me out.”

“David, you came here…” she began.

He sighed and hauled her closer. “I came here to study. I simply switched subjects. Now hush and dance with me. We’re on a romantic island off the coast of Argentina in a bar almost no one in the whole world will ever visit. So be here with me.”

She pocketed her phone and rested her head against his shoulder. He’d saved her. She could give him a couple of minutes.

Who the hell was she kidding? She wrapped her arms around him. He was big and strong, and she fit against him perfectly. There wasn’t any place else she’d rather be. Certainly not back home where she might have been given the job of forcing Kyle to take his meds. At least he would get the photos since his phone was apparently right on the table next to…

She realized what had bothered her about the picture of Eddie as a baby. There had been a cell phone beside the flowers. A very modern cell. She wasn’t absolutely sure, but she would swear it was a model that had come out in the last few years.

It hadn’t existed when Eddie was born.

Why would he have lied?

She followed David’s lead and let the question go for now. For now she was David Hawthorne’s lady, and that seemed like such a nice thing to be. She would worry about the job later.