After Cruz, I wasn't ready for sex with anyone. I wanted to be one day. But for now, I just couldn't. In one week, I'd had sex with two different men. That had been one hell of an adventure.
"One day. If the time is right," I said softly while images of Cruz and the things we'd done played in my head. My heart ached along with them.
"I don't want to just be the beginning of your adventure Lila. I want to be the end."
Cruz Kerrington
MY HEAD WAS fucked. I was at work doing what my father had asked me to do. Not because he'd asked but because I was so damn fucked in the head I needed something to distract me. And other women's vaginas weren't working.
"Cruz, you look so much like your father at that age I had a flashback. I was a waitress again and there was the boss. You're all dressed up in your Kerrington Club polo. I know Woods is proud to have you here with him," Blaire Finlay said as she walked into the dining room with my mother and Harlow Carter, Lila's mother.
"He's his father's twin. In everything including attitude," my mother said with a smile.
"Don't tell him you said that," I drawled knowing he wouldn't want to hear that I acted like him at all.
Blaire laughed, and the three of them walked past me. My mother paused to squeeze my arm gently. Harlow was quiet. She didn't talk loudly like the others or draw attention to herself. She was proper, beautiful, looked nothing even close to her age, and all I could see was Lila Kate twenty years from now. The man that caught her would be one lucky son of a bitch.
Annoyed at my train of thought, I walked down the hall toward my father's office where I'd been headed when those three had arrived. I used to love coming to this office. It meant I got to see my dad. He'd set me up on his desk and let me play with the small golf toy that was on it. I'd watch the flat screen on his wall and observe him as he worked. I wanted to be just like him.
My, how times had changed.
The door to Dad's office opened and he stepped out before I reached him. His gaze immediately locked on me. "Good. You're on time. I'm having a lunch meeting with Captain-you remember Blaire Finlay's brother-and his daughter Emmeline is with him. She's being groomed to take over the restaurant franchise here in Rosemary Beach. I think having you there will make her feel more comfortable since you're closer in age."
Lunch meeting. Fan-fucking-tastic. "I know Emmeline, and she goes by Emmy. Or at least she did two years ago when I spoke to her at an event held here for something or another."
Dad nodded. "Good. Franny, Captain's oldest daughter oversees the franchises in Alabama and Tennessee. Emmeline is being trained to take over the Florida and Georgia franchises. She won't be ready until she graduates college, but Captain starts them young preparing them. Like I should have done with you. Smart businessman." Dad said as he kept walking expecting me to keep up.
"Are we eating here?" I asked hoping the answer was no. I wasn't in the mood to deal with the crowd in there.
"No. Captain's place."
"Why are we meeting with him exactly?"
"Because we need another restaurant at the club. The poolside grill and the main dining room aren't enough. Not anymore. It's time we expanded."
"So you're going to put one of Captain's restaurants in the club?"
"Possibly. It sounds like a good idea. We will see what plays out."
Dad's new Dodge Ram was parked out front and a valet had it already started for us. We climbed in and headed off the club property toward the business part of Rosemary Beach where the stores, eating, shopping and touristy shit was located. I didn't say much, just watched the town pass by. Wondered about Lila Kate because that was my new habit I couldn't shake.
"Talked to Lila Kate lately?" Dad asked as if he could read my mind.
I shook my head no.
"Then you don't know about her buying that place," he said, and my ears perked up.
"What?"
Dad stopped at one of the three traffic lights in town and pointed to a two-story storefront at the corner of the main street. "That one right there on the end. Grant said she bought it. She's opening a dance studio."
I studied the coastal pale blue building. Large windows lined the bottom floor and the second floor had the hurricane shutters that were so damn popular around here. "That can't be cheap," I said wondering what the hell she was thinking.
"It wasn't. But she has a trust fund from Kiro. She's got a good business head. Instead of living off the money she's using it to make more. To build something."
I could hear the admiration in his tone. I knew she was fucking special. He didn't have to nail that point home. I got it. That was why I pushed her away. It had worked too well.