Affair on the Beach

Chapter 14

I woke up groggy on a wet floor, leaning against a rough surface. I opened my eyes and when my vision doubled, I closed them again, fighting against the need to be sick all over myself. I shivered, riding out the wave of nausea by breathing in sea air deeply. The robe I wore was wet and heavy, no longer providing the warmth I needed. My tongue felt like a nail file to the roof of my mouth and it tasted sickly sweet. I attempted to swallow, but my throat wouldn’t work because of the continued threat my nausea brought with it. I rested my head against whatever it was I was propped up against, not caring if my cheeks got scraped.

Eyes still closed, I attempted to gather my scrambled thoughts.

What the hell happened to me?

Last thing I remembered was walking back to Hudson’s house to pack an overnight bag so I could stay with Xavier in case he needed me. What would Xavier think when he woke up and I wasn’t there? I groaned. He didn’t even know where I was. I didn’t have the heart to wake him just to tell him I was ducking out for a second. He looked so exhausted. I felt the corners of my lips pull downward. There was no point in freaking out about what I should have done. What I needed to do was figure out where I was.

It seemed easier to think than to do because when I opened my eyes again, my vision still blurred. I rubbed my eyes and blinked rapidly to see clearly. It didn’t work. I had to close my eyes again. The nausea was preventing me from focusing. I pulled my knees to my chest and put my head between my knees and breathed. This helped some.

When the ground I sat on felt more solid beneath me and my head was no longer spinning, I opened my eyes again. I seemed to be in some sort of cave, the entrance of which wasn’t very far from where I sat. A crackly fire danced between me and freedom. But before I could think of picking myself up and escaping, the white spray of a large wave came up against the cave’s entrance. The fire sputtered. I was surprised it remained lit for however long I was unconscious in the cave. Panic exploded in my chest, bringing with it much needed adrenaline.

My nausea forgotten, I used the cave’s wall to push myself up to my feet. My knees wobbled a second. Maybe standing up wasn’t such a good idea, but I needed to get back to Maverick Bay before whoever brought me to the cave came back. The threat of my situation hit me then. Who would think to kidnap me? And how dangerous was this person? I wasn’t gagged or tied up, so whoever took me was pretty confident I wasn’t going anywhere.

Gaining strength in my legs, I used the wall for support to inch my way to the cave’s entrance. When I reached the mouth, my heart dropped. Even in the dark of night, I could tell my captor was right not to tie me down. I wasn’t going anywhere. The water was too choppy. Wave after wave crashed below the cave’s lip. The sizes varied, but when a large wave hit, I fell back. I pushed up on my hands, my knees bent, my robe gaping open slightly. I couldn’t see anything else beyond the cave’s mouth. The fire behind me made the darkness ahead of me worse. My panic quickly turned to desolation. Even if I wanted to escape, I would have to wait until dawn to do it. I wasn’t about to find out the hard way that there were jagged rocks waiting for me in the water. I’d seen what had happened to Xavier when Hudson pulled him out of the water, and he was a freakin’ merman who was born swimming. Even Xavier’s scales couldn’t protect him. All I had was a soggy robe that would most likely pull me under than help. Swimming naked in choppy waters wasn’t appealing either. So, I had to wait. No heroics for me for a while.

I rolled onto my hands and knees, preparing myself to crawl back to my cave corner. I’d maybe moved a yard from the entrance when a strong hand grabbed my arm and hauled me to my feet. I yelped. My panic returned. I raised my fists and flailed, hoping to hit something. My elbow connected with a torso covered in scales. I froze.

I turned my head to look up at a malicious smile I was growing used to seeing. All the blood drained away from my body. Zander. He was the one who took me. So Hudson never found him. I didn’t know what could have happened, and I certainly didn’t understand what he wanted from me.

The chill of the night hit me then. I was alone with Zander and who knew what he had planned. Several scenarios that weren’t too promising from my readings popped into my head uninvited. I trembled. I was afraid and I wasn’t ashamed of showing it. This was too much excitement for me.

“Zander,” I said. I wished I didn’t stammer, but what could I do?

“Thought you’d escape, did you?” He arched a mocking eyebrow at me. How could such a handsome face look so sinister? The fact that he could almost be called Xavier’s twin because they shared similar features disturbed me.

I shook my head.

“Not that I’d be surprised if you tried,” he said, humor in his tone. “You have fire in you. I admire that.”

“Then let me go.”

He dragged me back to the corner he’d previously left me and dumped me there. “Can’t do that. You’re here to prove a point.”

I pushed myself up against the wall, not caring that its roughness bit into the material of my sodden robe, and hugged myself. Zander walked back to the fire and fed it wood he must have brought with him. How the wood managed to stay dry was beyond me. He could control waves, so maybe he could dry wood too. The light from the fire danced over his silver scales. I was mesmerized for a moment at their beauty. They had a caramel sheen to them. A familiar color. One that reminded me of Rony’s eye color. I wondered for a second what could have happened between the two of them. They made a handsome couple and a powerful one at that in the business world if they hadn’t broken up. I pushed the thoughts of Rony’s love life out of my mind. It wasn’t as important as why Zander felt the need to keep me hostage. I had to keep him talking, to find out what he wanted with me.

I cleared my throat to catch his attention. “Uhm, what exactly are you trying to prove by keeping me here?”

Zander sat cross-legged by the fire and watched the flames. At first, I thought he wouldn’t answer my question, let alone say anything. So, when he started talking, I held my breath.

“I don’t mean you any harm,” he said, but somehow his words didn’t inspire comfort in me. I should be in a warm bed beside the most delicious man in the world right now, but Zander had other plans.

I didn’t say anything.

He huffed. “I love my sister.”

Huh? I tilted my head in confusion. Where was this conversation going? Was Zander off his rocker completely? Should I be more scared than I already was? Worse? I really had to use the bathroom. The wet robe and cold weren’t helping my uncomfortable state either.

“Did you know what happened between Hudson and my sister?” He looked at me then, waiting for my answer.

I ignored my bladder’s need for relief and said, “Hudson left her at the altar?”

He frowned. “That’s what the media said. It’s partially true. But do you know why he left her standing there all alone?”

I shook my head slowly.

“Xavier put it in his head that he wasn’t ready to get married.” The lines on Zander’s face hardened. “Xavier was pushing his own insecurities onto Hudson and the weak fool believed him, embarrassing my sister and my family in front of everyone watching by cancelling the wedding and disappearing to God knows where, leaving my sister to face the consequences, to pick up the pieces alone.”

The bitterness in Zander’s voice twisted at my heart. I could only imagine what his sister must have felt during that time. Many heroes walked out on their heroines during a wedding. It was touch and go for a while, but in the end they found their happily ever after. Then I reminded myself that I was living in real life, where happily ever after was a fantasy. I was a perfect example of it. Where in the real world would someone like me fall in love after a few days to a god of a man and have him love me back?

I buried the ache in my heart and focused on the potentially dangerous situation I was in with Zander. “So you’re saying it was Xavier’s fault why Hudson ran out on your sister?”

“If that asshole hadn’t said anything, then Hudson and my sister would still be together today,” he said through his white teeth.

“Have you ever thought that maybe Hudson wasn’t ready no matter what anyone said to him? That he was just looking for an excuse to bolt?”

Zander paled. I saw understanding in his bright green eyes. I could work with that.

“No matter what Xavier said or didn’t say, if Hudson was ready to get married then he would be with your sister now. Believe me, I know,” I said, touching my chest.

Zander’s face soured. “How would you know?”

“I read enough romance novels to know.”

He laughed. The sound of his voice bouncing off the cave’s walls. “That’s it? You’re basing your information on trashy romance novels housewives read?”

“I resent that!” Indignation burned in my chest. “There are many wonderful romances out there. And what do you care what housewives read? If romance novels are what it takes for them to escape a while, then who are you to judge them?”

“I’m not here to fight with you, Tamara,” he said, tone softening.

Oh, but I was on a roll. “Yeah, you’re just here to keep me against my will because of this senseless vendetta you have against Xavier. You almost killed him today! And all because he happened to say something stupid to his best friend before his wedding. You should be committed.”

“You’re calling me crazy?”

I waved my hands to indicate where we were. “Uh, yeah!”

He chuckled, but he didn’t sound happy, and in a move so like Xavier’s, he combed his fingers through his wet hair. “Maybe I am.”

That admission stopped me in my tracks. Was it worse if someone admitted they were crazy? I didn’t know, and the last thing I wanted to do was find out, but I had to keep him talking. The more he talked the more time I would buy; for what, I wasn’t sure.

“So what do I have to do with all this? Isn’t you’re beef with Xavier?”

Flames danced in his eyes when his gaze locked with mine. “I want to prove to you that Xavier isn’t capable of loving someone. You’ll see, he won’t come for you.”

I ignored the painful constriction of my heart. “I already know that,” I whispered.

“What?” Zander’s eyes widened.

I hated that I was forced to admit what I was thinking aloud, but if it was what would get me out of that cave in one piece then my humiliation wasn’t so bad.

“Besides the obvious,” I gestured at myself, “Xavier and I have only know each other for a few days. There’s no way he could ever fall in love—” My throat closed.

“You’re a beautiful woman, Tamara,” Zander said.

Tear fell from my eyes when I laughed at Zander’s words. He stared at me in confusion. I dried my tears with the damp cuffs of my robe.

“He’s not coming,” I said between laughs and sniffs. “You’re little kidnap attempt isn’t worth it, Zander. I already know that he doesn’t feel the same way I do.”

“That’s not true,” a voice that never failed to make me warm all over said.

I felt my eyes widen in awe, tears still free flowing.

Xavier stood at the mouth of the cave, his body covered in his blue scales, but they no longer held their golden shine. I didn’t know if it was the faint light from the fire, or that I must be hallucinating, but they looked more bluish hazel now. My heart sang. He came. But I stopped myself from celebrating too soon. He could be here because of Zander, who was now standing by the fire, his back to me. Then Xavier’s words registered in my head.

“What’s not true?” I whispered, my fingers curled before my lips, hiding the lower half of my face from view.

“You came, you bastard,” Zander said, interrupting whatever Xavier was about to say. I wanted to stand and push Zander aside that very second just so Xavier could speak. But my wildly beating heart wouldn’t let me. I was stuck, kept in place by the riot of feelings going through me. I was worried that Xavier wasn’t well enough to be here, that Zander would try to kill him again, and that maybe, just maybe he meant he felt the same for me. Oh, I couldn’t hope for that. It was too crazy.

“Nothing would have kept me away,” Xavier said, his voice grabbing my attention.

“But that’s impossible,” Zander sputtered. “You’re not capable of having feelings for anyone. You proved that by whispering your poison to Hudson the day of the wedding.”

“Zander,” Xavier sounded tired, “I can’t tell you how sorry I am for what happened between Hudson and Sasha. But you have to understand that I had nothing to do with their break up. Hudson wasn’t ready to marry her.”

“If you hadn’t said anything—”

“Even if I hadn’t said anything, Hudson would have still bolted,” Xavier cut him off. “For weeks he was already pacing like a caged animal. What was supposed to be a small wedding turned into a circus, and along the way, Sasha lost sight of what they meant to each other and was swept up in the wave of attention.”

Zander’s fist connected with Xavier’s cheek. I stifled my scream as Xavier collided with the opposite wall of the cave. He rubbed his cheek, but didn’t make a move to retaliate.

“Sasha knows this,” Xavier said instead. “And you would know it if you spoke to your sister more often instead of carrying around this irrational hate you have for me.” He held his hand up to stop whatever a heavily breathing Zander was about to say. “If you want to continue hating me, that’s fine.” His punch came quick, sending Zander falling back. “But I cannot forgive you for putting Tamara in harm’s way.”

I couldn’t see Zander’s expression since he still had his back to me, but since he didn’t move I suspected he was as stunned as I was at Xavier’s words and actions.

After the longest time where we all stayed silent, Zander said, “You love her?”

My heart stopped.

Xavier moved his gaze from Zander to me. My lungs burned, but I couldn’t breathe. I didn’t want to for fear that I would wake up from this dream.

“Look at my scales,” Xavier said. “Then look at her eyes. Tell me you see the answer.”

Zander got to his feet and walked to me. My breath exploded from my lungs when he hunched and took my face in his hands. He searched my eyes then looked back at Xavier, who still stood by the entrance of the cave. Zander looked back at me and smiled a smile that held warmth rather than malice.

“I guess I was wrong,” he said softly, maybe for my ears only, but he wasn’t exactly whispering so I wasn’t sure.

I felt my cheeks heat at what he meant.

He stood and turned away from me. “This isn’t over, Xavier. I will speak with my sister and we will see where we stand.”

Xavier merely nodded once and stepped out of Zander’s way. The merman with silver caramel scales leapt into the water and disappeared without another word. Then it was just me and Xavier in the cave. He didn’t make a move. I wanted to reach out for him, but I found myself unable to move too.

I shook, but not from the cold anymore. I desperately wanted Xavier’s arms around me. I wanted his warmth to make me feel safe. But I was afraid. Afraid that this was just a dream and I was still in bed. Afraid that everything that happened in Maverick Bay was all in my head, that I’d suffered a psychotic break from reading all those books.

Then Xavier ran his fingers through his hair, smiling that half smile I loved the most of all his smiles. “I’ve loved you from the first time I ever saw you.”

“That…that time on the beach.” My voice was shaky. “When…when I fainted.”

He shook his head slowly, never taking his gaze from mine. “What I’m about to tell you will be difficult to believe, but I want you to know.” He hesitated. “Will you listen to me before saying anything? I don’t want you making your decision before hearing me out. Can you do that for me?”

Suddenly, my fear was back. What could Xavier have to say that would cause me to doubt my feelings for him? For a second I didn’t want to hear it. Maybe if I stayed ignorant, I wouldn’t have to decide whatever it was I would decide after he was done speaking. But the thought of not knowing and always wondering changed my mind. I didn’t want to live wondering. If I was going to be with Xavier, I wanted to know everything it was that I needed to know. Like he said before he made love to me underwater, I needed to trust him.

I took a deep breath and nodded once, gathering my robe tightly around me.

For the first time since I’d met him on the beach the day I first came to Maverick Bay, Xavier looked both tired and worried. His fatigue I understood. He wasn’t fully recovered from his ordeal from yesterday. Could it have been only yesterday that I almost lost Xavier? Between realizing I loved him and Zander kidnapping me, Xavier’s near death experience seemed months ago. But what could he be worried about? I didn’t have to wait long to find out.

He dropped his gaze when he began speaking. “The first time I saw you had been a month ago, in the city.”

My heart beat in my throat at the revelation. I would have remembered had I met Xavier a month ago. He was hard to forget. But I pressed my lips together to keep from asking him questions. I was sure he would answer them anyway if I waited long enough.

“I was walking back to the office after a lunch meeting,” he continued, running his hand through his hair. “You see, I normally take the car back, but I needed to think, so I told my driver I’d walk. I was so preoccupied with the details of the deal discussed over lunch that I didn’t see you coming, and I believe you were so engrossed in your reading that you didn’t see me either. We bumped into each other. You dropped your book, but instead of looking at me, you picked up the book and continued reading and walking.” A soft smile stretched his lips. “You were wearing a bright pink floor length skirt, a white top, and sandals. I wanted to apologize for bumping into you, but you were moving away so fast that I didn’t get a chance, so I followed you.”

I found it difficult to breathe. I did have the tendency to read while walking, but I couldn’t recall ever bumping into anyone. Was I so engrossed in my reading that I hadn’t noticed Xavier? I wanted to slap myself.

As if oblivious to my mental castigation, Xavier went on. “You walked into this quaint little bookstore. I went in and you were gone. I strolled the shelves and found you at the back, sitting on this step ladder, still reading and bathed in soft light.” He touched his chest. “The sight of you took my breath away. You had this adorable wrinkle on your forehead that I noticed you get when you’re really concentrating on something, like reading or wiping down tables at the Shack.”

“You were watching me at the Shack?” the question came out before I could stop myself.

I wasn’t sure from the dim light, but I could have sworn Xavier was blushing when he dipped his chin as a silent “yes” to my question.

“I could have watched you all afternoon in that store and when I left, I couldn’t stop thinking about you. I returned every day for a week since just to watch you read. Sometimes you were at the counter, but your favorite place seemed to be the stepladder at the back.”

“Best light there.” My words sounded more like a gasp. I was increasingly nervous. So, he’d been watching me. I didn’t know what to make of it. The romantic part of me thought it was sweet, but the realistic part thought it bordered on stalkery.

“Then when I found out you knew Rony, I wanted to get to know you where I was most comfortable.” He scratched his cheek, a rueful smile on his face. He looked so young then. “I could have introduced myself to you during that whole week I visited the store. And many times I came very close. But I didn’t want you to see me as a man in a suit. I wanted to show you who I was outside the business I belong to.”

“This trip.”

He nodded. “I asked Rony to take you with her. I figured if you saw me in a place where I am most comfortable, you would be more comfortable too. That you would be more receptive to meeting me.”

“So …” My voice faltered. I cleared my throat in an effort to speak again. “So this whole thing, being in Maverick Bay, is so that I could meet you.”

Again he nodded.

I swallowed, my thoughts jumbled. “Next thing I know, the clothes in my closet were really from you.”

I meant it as a joke to lighten the mood, but the seriousness of his face froze my blood in my veins.

“It was Rony’s idea to buy you the clothes, but she did use my credit card. I thought it would freak you out, so I told her to claim all the credit for it. When I saw you wearing the dress she’d bought when we went to the market, you wouldn’t believe—”

I raised my hand to cut him off and he stopped abruptly, the worry on his face joined by uncertainty.

“Tamara,” he said before I could speak. “Please. I know this seems highly unusual and borderline crazy, but you read a lot of romance novels. Surely you’ve encountered something like this before.”

“This isn’t a novel, Xavier,” I heard myself saying.

He paled. “I know. I didn’t mean to frighten you. Tamara, please. When you took my being a merman in stride, I thought I had a chance. That you would accept what I’ve done.”

Could I really be as accepting? What was wrong with me that what he’d done, using my best friend to bring me to Maverick Bay to meet me, frightened me more than the fact that he wasn’t human?

The question came with fatigue. My emotions came crashing down. I was scared and confused. Things like this didn’t happen in real life. A guy wouldn’t go to such great lengths to meet a girl, especially a girl like me.

“Tamara, talk to me.”

I didn’t know what to think, let alone say. But I had to say something.

“Xavier?”

Hope sprang from his blue eyes.

“Please,” I cleared my throat, willing myself to survive the next few seconds, “take me back to Hudson’s house.”