Seven Nights (8 page)

“Which is?”

He turned back and looked at Danny with an appraising stare. Despite his initial rush of jealousy, Sean actually liked the photographer. He’d done some research into the man. Over the years, he’d been Leah’s loyal friend and was a talented photojournalist. At one point, he’d actually helped Leah get out of a sticky situation during a shoot in Bali. For that, Sean was eternally grateful.

“I don’t trust many people, especially ones I’ve only known a few days,” Sean began.

Danny nodded.

“But I respect your work.” He drew in a short breath. “And that you’re Leah’s friend, so I’m going to be honest with you even though I might regret it later.”

The other man drew back with a look of cautious surprise. “Well, that’s an unexpected beginning to your explanation. I can hardly wait to hear what it is you want from me.”

“I want you to leave.”

Danny’s eyes grew impossibly wide and he nearly choked on his sip of coffee. “What?”

“You heard me. I want you to leave the island. If you’re here, Leah is going to use you like she used you last night. You’re going to be her buffer, her excuse. She’ll never give in to me completely if she has you to run to when her buttons get pushed.”

Danny let out a long laugh. “And you think I’m going to leave her with you, totally unprotected, for
what
reason?”

Sean sighed. He was about to open up to a total stranger who could easily use his words against him.

“I don’t know how much she’s told you about us.”

The other man shrugged. “Not much. I know you were engaged and that you broke up. That’s pretty much it.”

Sean winced. How could so few words encapsulate so many emotions?

“Well, there was more to it than that,” he muttered, bitterness in his tone. “The bottom line is that I loved Leah. And I wanted to prove to her that I was worthy of her love.”

Both of Danny’s eyebrows shot up and he looked like he wanted to say something. Sean paused, hoping he’d get some insight into Leah’s mindset, but the photographer finally just sighed.

Sean shook his head. “Now I
am
worthy. I want her to see that. I want to know if I have another chance.”

“Why didn’t you just come to Philadelphia, then?” Danny asked. “Why all this high drama and hostage taking?”

“Because I know her. I knew if I came to her in Pennsylvania she’d put up a bunch of walls. She’d have all these safe places where she could hide away from me. But here it’s different. Here she’s forced to face me and our past. Maybe she’ll choose the same way she did before, but at least I’ll know I did everything I could this time.” Sean sighed. “I can’t do that if you’re here.”

Danny nodded and a light of understanding was in his eyes. “Because I’m her safety net here.”

“Exactly.” Sean sighed. At least Danny got it. “So I’ll ask you again. Please leave. I’ll arrange for you to be taken to Jamaica on one of the luxury yachts we house here. I’ll put you up in another resort there and pay for whatever you want, whatever will make you happy. At the end of the week, if Leah decides to go home, you can travel back with her, just as you’d planned to. I won’t keep her here if she doesn’t want to stay.”

Danny examined Sean closely. “You’re not a man used to asking for favors, are you?”

“No. So you must understand how important this is.”

“I understand a lot more than you think.” Danny laughed. “A lot more than either you or Leah care to see. Fine. I’ll leave the island today if you want. I should have enough material for the article with the rolls of film I’ve taken so far. I could use a vacation anyway. When you work at a travel magazine, you don’t go to resorts for fun very often.”

Sean exhaled a relief-filled breath. This was one hurdle he’d worried he couldn’t overcome. “Thank you.”

Danny rose from the breakfast table and offered Sean a hand. As the two men shook, Danny’s grip became tighter. “But if I think for one moment that you’ve hurt Leah, I will come back here and prove every stereotype about gay men wrong by beating you to a bloody pulp. Understand me?”

Sean couldn’t help a smile. “I understand completely. You leave the island in an hour, I hope that’s enough time.”

“More than enough,” Danny said as he headed for the interior of the dining hall. “Especially since I don’t plan to talk to Leah before I go. I’ll write her a note, but
you
get to deal with the fallout from this little scheme of yours.”

“That only seems fair.” Sean followed Danny to the glass doors where the other man turned with a wicked smile.

“I mean, I’m sure you remember what Leah is like when she’s mad.”

“I do.” Sean waved to Danny, then sank into the nearest chair with a broad smile. “She’s absolutely gorgeous.”

***

“What the hell does this mean?” Leah asked as she burst into Sean’s office without knocking.

Sean smothered a smile, but refused to look up.

“One minute,” he said, returning his pen to a contract and signing his name with a little more flourish than usual. “Why don’t you take a seat?”

He glanced up in time to see her creamy skin flush dark red and her green eyes flash hot emotion, but she did as he’d asked and flopped herself into the chair across from his desk. As he pressed the button on his intercom and summoned his secretary, Sean allowed himself a longer, more direct look at the woman who had once been his fiancée.

She was wearing a rose-colored tank top that brought out the lightly tanned perfection of her arms. The v-neck skimmed seductively low, revealing just the barest hint of cleavage.

Sean shifted slightly, thankful he was safely behind his desk so Leah wouldn’t see how fast his cock went to rock hard when she entered a room. His poor erection was still throbbing from disappointment over last night. No amount of self gratification in a cold shower would change that. Only Leah could ease that particular ache.

“Ah, Margot,” he said with a smile as his secretary entered the room. “I’ll need you to fax this over this afternoon. And see if you can get Mr. Todd on the satellite phone. He’s due in this evening and I want to speak to him about how the tour went before he does.”

“Of course, sir. I’ll notify you as soon as I reach him.” The older woman slipped from the room with a smile for Leah and a nod.

“Will was out on
The Passionate
with two couples from New York. We have yachts for special tours and one of us always guides them. Next time it will be my turn to play host,” he explained, though from the narrowed gaze Leah had pinned him with, he knew she didn’t care about anything at the moment except for her anger.

“And what about Danny? Is he out touring the Caribbean on one of your yachts? Who, pray tell, is guiding him?”

 Sean rose to his feet and walked over to the window to look out at the scene below.

“No one. Danny is on his way to Jamaica until the day of your departure. You’ll meet with him there and fly back to Philadelphia together, as planned.” He turned to lean on the glass and watched her reaction.

Instead of rising up in righteous indignation or letting loose with a stream of colorful curses, Leah only cocked her head and stared at him, her mouth parted and her eyes strangely unreadable.

“You-you mean you admit to sending him away, just like that?” She balled her hands into fists on her lap.

“I won’t lie to you, Leah. I asked Danny to go and he agreed.”

She let out a soft gasp, but the pained expression that accompanied it left a trail of guilt through Sean’s soul. For the first time, he wondered at the prudence of his actions. He’d hurt her. Really hurt her.

“How could you?” She shook her head. “Better yet,
why
would you do that to me?”

He hesitated. He hadn’t expected her to feel so betrayed and now he wasn’t sure how to explain himself.

“Last night you and I made a connection,” he began slowly, picking each word with care. “I thought we were finding a way back to each other. It seemed like we were getting past the bullshit and remembering all the good things we shared, all the things we meant to each other all those years ago. Then Danny interrupted us and I-”

“Wait!” Leah surged to her feet, nearly flipping over his fancy office chair in the process. “You asked my photographer, my
friend
, to leave this island because he interrupted your little seduction scene in the dining room?”

“No-” he began, but she didn’t stop talking or heading across the room in a few long strides.

“You bastard! Don’t give me all this connection crap. You wanted to get under that little blue dress you bought me, but Danny got in your way. Well, come on then.” She opened her arms wide and took another step forward until her breasts nearly brushed his chest.

“What?” Sean’s mind spun with both her total misunderstanding of his intentions and the feel of her body heat crashing into him.

Her eyes flashed dangerous fire and her voice trembled with harsh emotion. “If this week is all about fucking me then let’s get it over with. Once you’re done, I can get Danny back and write my damned story.” With that, she slipped her fingers under the hem of her tank top and yanked it over her head in one jerky motion. “Go ahead, Sean.”

But this time her voice lacked angry heat. Her hands trembled as she let her shirt drop to the floor.

Her bra was a flimsy strapless contraption of lace and wispy silk and did nothing to hide the rosy tips of her nipples as they jutted toward him in challenge and invitation. She locked gazes with him and Sean was surprised to see that her anger seemed to have melted away, only to be replaced by something just as heated and potent.

“Go ahead and do it,” she whispered, swallowing hard enough that he saw her throat work. “Then we can move on.”

Sean had two reactions. One for his body and one for his mind. His body screamed at him to do as she’d said. To lay Leah back across his desk and have her, hard and fast and satisfying. To suck and taste and claim her like he had done in so many hot dreams. He wanted to shred that flimsy bra with his teeth. To fuck her like an animal until they were both utterly spent.

But his mind’s reaction was louder.

“Not this way.”

Her cloudy eyes took a long moment to clear, then she blinked in confusion. “What?”

He stooped down to snatch up her tank top and gently handed it back to her. “Not this way, Leah.”

She took the shirt from him with shaking hands, but made no effort to put it on as she stared at him. “I just don’t understand you at all.”

He shook his head. She understood him a lot better than she knew, a lot better than even he had remembered. “Look, I admit sending Danny away was pretty high-handed. I apologize for that.”

“You’re apologizing?” Her eyes went wide as she slipped her tank back over her head. “I don’t think you’ve ever apologized to me.”

He winced. Hadn’t he? “Well, I meant to, so many times. I hope you’ll accept my apology and maybe just try to enjoy the rest of the time we’ll share this week.”

For a long moment, she hesitated as she stared at him with an appraising stare that pinned him and stripped him of his protective shell. Only Leah had the ability to reveal him so fully. It was something he feared as much as loved

Finally, she shook her head slowly. “I don’t know, Sean. It seems to me that this ‘fantasy’ trip you planned has had a lot more to do with taking away my safety and control than making me feel relaxed or comfortable.”

Sean stiffened at the accusation even though in some ways it rang true to him. He’d been so wrapped up in the end result of his seduction that he’d lost sight of what means he used to get there. And now, staring across the room at Leah with her arms folded protectively over her chest and her eyes still glittering with disappointment, he could see he’d gone too far. He hadn’t seduced her, he’d pushed her into a corner and now she had no choice but to fight. He had to let her out. Give her some choices.

“I’m sorry, Leah,” he whispered. “Maybe I can do something that will help. Will you come with me?”

She hesitated for a moment and he could see the struggle in her eyes. Part of her wanted to resist, but the other, the part he was trying to tap into, wanted to go with him. To be with him.

“Okay.”

As he crossed the room, he held out a hand to her. Her lips parted slightly and for a brief, horrible moment Sean thought she was going to refuse him. But then she took his hand, sending a wash of both emotion and intense physical reaction ripping through him.

Leah seemed to feel it, too, for she took in a sharp breath through her teeth. But she didn’t let go.

And that was all that mattered for the moment.

***

“Where are we going anyway?” Leah asked.

“You’ll see,” he replied as he guided her down the long red road past villa after villa, the ocean crashing off to their right.

When she’d gone to Sean’s office after she’d found Danny’s note, Leah had expected a showdown. She’d never expected Sean’s apology or to be heading off hand-in-hand with him to some secret destination.

“Here we are.”

Leah shook away her musings to look at the door Sean was unlocking. It was to a villa like her own, only larger and marked ‘Private’ instead of with a number.