She hesitated at first but then nodded again. “Promise.”
“Excellent. Now that we have that out of the way, time for breakfast on the patio? Celly’s making fried bananas this morning.”
“I’ve never had fried bananas,” Julianna admitted, smiling up at Miles when he tucked her under his arm, leading the way.
“Then you’re in for a treat. There’s nothing like genuine island cuisine. Honestly, I don’t know how I’ll ever survive going back to the States.”
“Thank you, Miles. You’re turning out to be a lifesaver and a good friend.”
“Ahhh, shot through the heart,” he teased dramatically, acting as if he’d just been drop kicked in the balls. “I’ve been punted to the friend zone.”
Julianna laughed, clearly delighted by his company, and possibly forgetting why she’d been crying in the first place.
With any luck, Miles wouldn’t stay in the friend zone forever. Well, at his core, he was an optimist.
Only time would tell if he was also an idiot.
-2-
Boston, dressed and ready, made his way to Larimar, a plan of action in place. He shuddered to think just how close he’d come to dropping to his knees and begging for forgiveness, prostrating himself before Julianna in the pathetic hope that she might come back to him when in fact, she was the one who should be begging. Didn’t she realize he had the power to destroy her? The point was to win — not limp into second place, licking wounds and whimpering over lost opportunities. Weakness simply wasn’t tolerated.
He strode into the airy lobby of Larimar and waved at Lilah, heading for the bungalows when Lilah stopped him.
“Are you looking for Julianna?” she asked with a bright smile.
“Yes, actually I am. Care to give me a hint?”
“She’s on the beach. Morning swim.” Lilah winked and his smile deepened for her help. She gestured at the bright spray of flowers gracing the counter. “Help yourself to a flower. It always helps.” Ah, the girl was observant. She must’ve realized that he hadn’t stayed at the resort last night.
Boston plucked a bright fuscia bloom from the bunch and inclined his head with false gratitude for Lilah’s benefit. He didn’t need flowers to get what he wanted but there was no sense in raising suspicion. Boston found his way to the beach and saw Julianna talking and laughing with the same guy he’d seen the other day. His body language made Boston want to growl. Yeah buddy, keep touching her shoulder like that and I’ll rip your fucking arm off. She was pregnant with his kid, for Christ’s sake. Get a grip, don’t let your emotions run off with your mouth. Boston took a moment to calm himself and then strode down to the beach to join them. “Good morning, lover,” Boston said, walking right up to Julianna, enjoying her sudden look of surprise and then immediate scowl as she recovered.
“What are you doing here?” she asked, her gaze hot and resentful. Even pissed off, Julianna was a vision. No wonder Surfer Boy was practically panting after her, hoping to piss on her leg before breakfast.
“Let me take a guess. This is…Boston?” the man supplied with a guarded smile that certainly didn’t reach his eyes. When Julianna jerked a short nod, the man extended a hand, saying, “My name is Miles Lassister. Dr. Miles Lassiter. Pleased to meet you.”
Boston regarded his extended hand and patently ignored it. As if he would shake the hand of the man clearly looking to move in on his territory. “Doctor is it? Such service. I had no idea Larimar offered house calls. They really should put that on the brochure.”
“Stop it,” Julianna hissed, looking ready to pelt him with rocks. “There’s no need to be such a prick. Miles was just being nice. And before you came along, I was having a nice morning. Now you’ve ruined it with your face.”
“Funny, you weren’t complaining about my face or my cock yesterday.”
She gaped, immediately embarrassed that he would bring up their interlude in front of a relative stranger but she recovered sufficiently to reply coolly, “Well, from what I’ve been reading, a pregnant woman’s hormones can lead her to do all sorts of foolish things. Sleeping with you is only a step above eating paint chips. Excuse me, as much as I’d love to say that you’ve killed my appetite, nothing does and I’m starving.” She pushed past Boston and Miles went to follow but Boston stopped him with an arm across his chest.
“Where do you think you’re going, Doc?” he asked in a deceptively mild tone.
Miles pushed at Boston’s arm with an expression that said, go ahead, keep pushing because I’ll gladly lay you out for the pleasure of it, but Boston wasn’t intimidated by Surfer Boy, no matter what degrees he had hanging on his wall. He mentally sized his competition up and felt fairly confident he could handle him. “She’s taken.”