Something to Believe In (3 page)

CHAPTER THREE

L
ILAH
LIFTED
HER
FACE
to the clean,
sweet night air as she walked into the Rush Tide bar and restaurant and smiled
as the faint breeze caressed her cheek. The waves lapped at the beach a mere
fifteen feet away as she took a seat at the bar.

Donna, a longtime waitress at the Tide, came over with a smile.
“What can I get you tonight?” she asked.

“My usual,” Lilah answered. “Who’s playing tonight?”

“Local band, Shiver Me Timbers. You heard of them?” Donna asked
as she slid a virgin mojito Lilah’s way.

Lilah shook her head. “No, but I’m sure they’re good, if you
booked them.”

Donna nodded, leaning across the bar to share information with
Lilah. “They play a number of places in St. Thomas. Got a pretty good fan base,
actually. They’ve got a rockabilly funk sound. I think you’ll like them.”

“Cool,” Lilah said as she sipped her drink, feeling only
slightly guilty for lying to Lora about the band playing reggae but she could
only take so much of her family’s babying at this point. Out of habit, she took
a pen from her purse and started idly doodling on a napkin.

Donna sighed as she cocked her head, watching Lilah do a quick
sketch of an iguana sunning itself on a palm tree. “You make that look so easy
when I know it’s not. I wish I had your talent, girl.”

Lilah smiled briefly. “Well, napkin drawing is hardly what I’d
call a talent,” she said. “Besides, slinging drinks is a far more marketable
skill. It’s not like I can put this stuff on my résumé.”

Donna shook her head, plainly disagreeing with Lilah’s
assessment. “You have a gift. I know good stuff when I see it, even if I can’t
do it myself. Trust me.”

Lilah accepted the compliment but otherwise let it drop. She
hated talking about her art. It was one of those private things that she
preferred to keep in the background of her life because although she lived and
breathed art, her supposed talent hadn’t gotten her very far.

“So what’s new?” Lilah asked, making general conversation until
she realized Donna’s attention was riveted elsewhere. She swiveled on her stool
and found Larimar’s newest guest sauntering into the Tide, looking sharp, edgy
and completely take-your-breath-away hot.

“Who is that?” Donna asked, her eyes lighting up with obvious
interest. “He is definitely not local.”

“His name is Justin Cales,” Lilah answered, toying with her
straw, watching him. “He’s staying at Larimar.”

“Very nice. If only all the tourists were as hot as him.”

Lilah chuckled and swiveled back around. Lora would jump all
over her if she started flirting with a guest. No matter how cute he was, it
wasn’t worth the hassle.

“Don’t look now but you’ve been spotted,” Donna whispered
before pulling back with a wide grin.

Lilah turned to see Justin heading straight for her. Her cheeks
heated and an inexplicable moment of panic colored her thoughts, almost
prompting her to make a hasty exit. But she wasn’t fast enough and within
seconds, he was sliding into the seat beside her just as she crumpled the napkin
in her hand and surreptitiously dropped it into her purse.

“Welcome to Rush Tide,” Donna said. “What can I get you?”

He glanced at Lilah with a playful grin. “Any
recommendations?”

“Anything with the local rum,” Lilah answered, smiling as she
leaned in to add, “It’s kind of our thing. You can’t leave the island without
having something with rum in it.”

“Sounds serious,” Justin said.

Lilah nodded with mock gravity. “Oh, it is. Donna, can you
please set our new guest up with the house special?”

“One, one-horned butt fish, coming right up.”

Justin mouthed the drink special with a dubious expression. “Am
I going to regret this?”

“Depends on how many you drink and what actions qualify as
regretful.”

His grin widened. “I think I’m going to have fun here.” He
gestured at her drink. “What’s your poison?”

She hesitated but then shrugged and answered. “Virgin
mojito.”

His raised brow said it all but she didn’t feel the need to
explain that alcohol messed with her meds. She certainly didn’t feel like
sharing all her dirty secrets in one sitting. A girl had to hold on to a little
mystery, right?

“So, let me get this straight, you’re pushing rum concoctions
my way, yet you’re drinking slushies? Are you trying to take advantage of me?”
he asked playfully.

His grin did funny things to her stomach. He was either very
dangerous or just what she needed—and it was too early to tell which it was
going to be. “Something tells me the idea doesn’t bother you too much,” she
countered with a sly smile.

“Guilty. I’m a sucker for a beautiful woman. Take advantage all
you want.”

“Duly noted.” She sipped her drink, smiling as his gaze
fastened on her lips with interest. The sparks kindling between them were
difficult to ignore, and even so, she couldn’t think of a single reason why she
would want to.

She imagined taking him home, stripping his clothes and
climbing him like a tree; a thought that nearly took her breath away at the
reckless abandon. She wasn’t generally a spontaneous person—that was Lindy’s
department. But there was no denying the fact that Justin made her feel alive
for the first time in a year.

“What brings you to St. John?” she asked.

“Ahh, small talk. I should warn you, I excel at small talk.
Practically majored in it in college.”

“You have the look of an educated man,” she agreed, regarding
him speculatively. “Probably some expensive Ivy League school, if my intuition
is correct.”

He waited to answer until he’d taken an exploratory sip of the
rum drink, then said, “If I tell you that I went to Yale for my undergraduate
degree, then went on to Harvard Business School would that make me completely
pretentious and untenable to be around? I mean, I don’t want to be
that guy,
you know, the one who throws around his
education like it means more than it does. An education is an education,
right?”

She shrugged. “I wouldn’t know. I never went to college.”

“No? Why not?”

Lilah held her smile in place but inside she froze. She
should’ve known this line of questioning would end up in bad territory. She’d
planned to go to art school in Florida, but she hadn’t been accepted. The blow
to her ego and her fragile sense of talent had been fatal. College after that
had seemed pointless. “Just not my thing,” she answered blithely. “So...Mr.
Highly Educated...business or pleasure?”

“Definitely pleasure,” he answered with a mischievous look. “I
have a month to do what I want and I plan to make the most of it.”

“Why one month? You have a deadline for the end of your
fun?”

His smile remained, but there was something about his
expression that seemed hard as he said, “Life can’t always be about fun and
games, or so I’m told. But a man can do a lot in a month, right? So, what do
locals do around here for fun?”

She lifted her drink. “You’re looking at it.” At his laughter,
she added with a chuckle, “Well, that, and sail, scuba dive, snorkel,
parasail... Oh, and if you have your passport you can take a charter to St.
Croix and Jost van Dyke.”

“I’ll put them all on my to-do list.”

Could you put me on your to-do
list?
The thought jumped in her brain before she could stop it but
she didn’t mind. He was only staying for a month. Plus, he wasn’t from around
here so he didn’t know anything about her. She could be anyone—such as a girl
who hadn’t tried to kill herself a few months ago. The freedom to start fresh
created a brighter smile for Lilah. Yes...Justin Cales could be just what she
needed.

In all sorts of ways.

* * *

I
T
COULD
’
VE
BEEN
THE
RUM
, but Justin found
Lilah irresistibly sexy. Her long blond hair drifted down her back in a
waterfall of gold that made him want to twine his fingers in the soft strands,
and her sweet, playful smiles made his gut tighten with the need to know more
about her.

Oh, and did he mention she was sexy? Her white shorts hugged
her pert rear end like a second skin and her loose gauzy shirt covered a bikini
top over those perfect palm-sized breasts that he was dying to get to know
better.

He was torn between spending more time with her or just staking
his claim and then moving on. The island was probably filled with Caribbean
cuties. Why should he get locked in with only one?

Besides, he wasn’t looking for a relationship—good God, no—but
then again, it didn’t seem that Lilah was in the market for a boyfriend, either.
Maybe she was game for a little fun.

“So...attached?” he asked courteously, though it wouldn’t have
mattered. If she had a boyfriend, he certainly wasn’t around, so she was fair
game in his mind.

“No attachments,” she answered in a husky voice that sent
shivers of awareness down his spine. “You?”

“I wouldn’t be imagining all the things I’d like to do to you
if I were,” he said in an equally low and seductive tone. He wasn’t lying—when
he was attached, he didn’t stray, which was why he made it a point not to get
attached. He liked variety in his carnal diet.

“Oh, really?” Her brow raised slightly. “Such as?”

He moved closer and whispered in her ear, “Come back to my room
and I’ll show you. All. Night. Long.”

Her light laughter warmed him as if a ray of sunshine had just
bathed his insides, and he suddenly hoped his cheesy pick-up line would
work.

“Does that line work where you’re from?” she asked.

Damn. He should’ve known Lilah wouldn’t fall for something so
crass. “Well, not always, but sometimes...and I’m an opportunist. Can’t fault a
guy for trying, right?”

She laughed again and sipped her drink, her eyes dancing.
“Well, keep trying. I think you’re closer to success than you know.”

“Is that so?” he asked, surprised and delighted. His forced
vacation was off to a great start. His dad would be so pissed. No doubt, the
senator had hoped without his friends he’d spend an entire month moping and
moldering on this humid speck of land.
Well, sorry to
disappoint you, Dad. I’m hooking up with the hottest chick on the
island.

An almost coy smile played on Lilah’s lips and he was
irresistibly drawn to her soft, sweet mouth. His palms moistened and he blamed
the humidity, but as he locked stares with the enigmatic woman, he felt
something shift inside him. He’d never been accused of being a romantic at
heart, but for a wild second he wondered if this was what it was like to fall in
love at first sight. If Keenan had heard him say something so girly, he’d keel
over laughing and between gasps ask him if his subscription to the Lifetime
Movie channel had expired. But how else was he supposed to explain how his heart
rate had sped up at the thought of taking her to his room? He pulled back,
putting some distance between them by reaching for his drink. God, he was
overthinking things. She was hot. He was available. End of story.

“You want to get out of here?” she asked.

“Where?” he asked.

“How about the beach?”

A vision of the infamous scene in
From
Here to Eternity
flashed in his mind and he hopped from his stool
with a ready grin. “Show me the way and I’ll follow wherever you go.”

Lilah’s small hand slipped into his and he instinctively
squeezed, liking the feel of her hand in his. He imagined he was going to like
the feel of Lilah—period.

CHAPTER FOUR

L
ILAH
TOOK
HIM
TO
A
BEATUP
Jeep and they climbed in. “This yours?” he asked, buckling
up.

“It belongs to Larimar, but Pops and Grams always said we could
use the resort vehicles to get around as long as we didn’t do anything too
stupid. They were pretty laid-back about certain things.”

Justin thought of his father and how he wasn’t laid-back about
anything. Even though he’d bought Justin a BMW Roadster for his sixteenth
birthday, the man had dictated where and when he drove it. Limits were
fine—hell, he’d been a spoiled rich kid up to no good most times—but the senator
had taken it to extremes. It’d gotten to the point where Justin had just said
screw it and found alternate transportation. In the end, he’d been happier, if
not as stylish. To this day, that Roadster sat in the garage, collecting
dust.

Lilah drove like a native, taking the sharp curves with ease,
as the Jeep rumbled past the resort and up a steep incline.

“So where we going?” he asked, reaching up to hold on as she
shifted the Jeep into a lower gear to climb the hill.

“My favorite beach,” she answered with a smile.
“Hawksnest.”

“Sounds exotic.” He grinned. “You’re not taking me up here to
have your wicked way with me are you? I’m not that kind of boy, you know.” Her
light laughter teased a wider grin from him. “Not buying that, huh? Which
part?”

“We’re almost there,” she said by way of answer, and he
chuckled, happy to be there with her.

Justin leaned his head against the headrest and breathed deep
the lush scent of the tropical foliage that flanked either side of the road as
they drove out of town. It smelled fertile and ripe, almost sweet.

“Smells good, doesn’t it?” she asked.

He nodded, his eyes still closed. “Yeah...it does. Better than
New York on a hot summer day that’s for sure.”

“That where you’re from?”

“You mean my accent didn’t give it away?”

“Well, it did but I didn’t want to assume.”

“No worries. I’m a proud New Yorker. I’m a moderately fanatical
Yankees fan, my favorite food is a dirty water dog, and I knew my way around the
subway before I was ten. So yeah, New York, baby, all the way. Greatest city on
earth. Have you ever been?”

She shook her head, almost shyly, and he nearly offered to take
her sometime. Thankfully, he reined in that errant thought before it popped from
his mouth and ruined an otherwise fabulous night with promises he didn’t intend
to keep. “So, tell me what it’s like to grow up in paradise?” he asked.

“See for yourself.” Lilah chuckled and pulled off the main
road. The beach was only ten to twenty feet from the road. The soft lapping of
waves against the sand combined with sounds in the sweet, redolent night air
that he’d never be able to identify and he found himself struck by the sense of
peace that followed.

Bright moonlight bathed the darkness with milky light, giving
the water a silvery sheen, and he momentarily worried about the things in the
water they wouldn’t be able to see. But his worry was soon eclipsed by the
realization that Lilah wasn’t waiting for him as she grabbed a large beach bag
stuffed in the back of the Jeep and then struck off toward the beach.

She pulled a large blanket from the bag and spread it out, and
then she shocked him when she simply stripped, shimmying out of her white shorts
and gauzy top. His eyes bugged at the tiny bikini clinging to her lean curves
but she didn’t stop there. She cast him a sweetly provocative smile before
untying her bikini top and letting it drop to the sand.

All he could do was stare. Words dried up in his mouth and she
took his shocked silence as proof that he liked what he saw. Then, she wiggled
out of her bottoms and walked into the ocean. Her perfect, heart-shaped ass was
the last thing he saw before she dove into the dark water.

Holy hell! Was she some island goddess? Was he awake or
dreaming? He struggled out of his shorts and nearly tripped and fell on his face
in his haste to join her.
Get a hold of yourself,
he
chastised himself as he splashed into the water. This wasn’t his first rodeo
with a gorgeous naked woman, but one would never know it from the fumbling
awkwardness he was displaying.

The warm water closed over his head and he was grateful for the
split second to compose himself. When he reemerged, she was floating not far
from him, pleased that he’d joined her so readily.

“If you are trying to have your way with me, you’re off to a
good start,” he warned playfully. He reached for her and she glided just out of
reach. “Where you going?” he asked, grinning. “Because I’ll follow wherever you
go. Now that I’ve seen the goods...you’ll never be rid of me.”

It was a playful statement but there was a chord of truth that
clanged inside him that gave him a second’s pause. But his libido quickly pushed
away anything that even remotely resembled serious thought.

She responded with a small giggle. “You’ll have to catch me
first,” she said, and dove under the water.

* * *

L
ILAH
DARTED
AWAY
FROM
Justin, kicking with quick, strong strokes but the New Yorker must’ve put in
some serious time on the swim team because she nearly swallowed a lungful of
water when his arms wrapped around her waist. He’d caught her easily and pulled
her into his chest. Her arms wound automatically around his neck and her legs
around his torso. He swam until his feet could touch the bottom and then they
simply drifted together. Lilah sighed as the tepid water swirled around them
like a liquid blanket of security and warmth, almost drunk with her own
abandon.

“You’re unlike any woman I’ve ever met,” he murmured against
the shell of her ear. She shivered at the spike of arousal that followed. “If I
didn’t know that sirens were mythical, I’d say I’d caught one.”

“You don’t catch sirens...they catch you,” Lilah said,
tightening her hold around his neck, pressing her breasts against him. She felt
the nudge of his erection prodding at the cleft in her backside and she smiled
against his shoulder. It’d been months since she felt even a flicker of desire,
but here with Justin, every feeling that’d been languishing beneath the weight
of her depression came kicking to life. She was nearly delirious from the
intoxicating wash of desire and recklessness and she wanted to saturate herself
within the feelings of happiness. She didn’t want the night to end if it meant
the light of day would diminish what she was experiencing right now. Propelled
by her newfound abandon, she found his mouth quickly, surprising him with an
ardent and insistent kiss that left nothing to the imagination. She wanted him
desperately—and he felt the same.

They melted into one another, feeling as one, as their tongues
danced and dueled, and the water caressed them with soft waves against their
naked bodies.

She clung to him as their kisses turned into a storm of need
and want, buffeting her against the knowledge that what they were doing was
neither responsible nor prudent given her situation but she didn’t care.

Before she realized it, they were out of the water and tumbling
to the blanket. She squeezed her eyes shut, moaning as her body came alive
beneath Justin’s expert touch. There was no fumbling awkwardness inherent to the
first time with a stranger, but rather a complimentary give-and-take that worked
like a fine-tuned machine. His mouth and tongue delivered sensations that
alternatively seemed foreign and familiar and she gasped with the need for
more.

His firm, lean muscles strained with delicious precision as he
entered her. She moaned, holding back nothing as he pushed himself deeper. He
rocked her pelvis, grinding against her pubic mound with enough pressure to make
her cry out and cling to him, needing more. “Yesss,” she sobbed, unable to stop
the rushing tide of sensation swamping her body. She wasn’t alone. Within
moments of her shuddering completion, Justin followed, crying out with a hoarse,
throaty groan that echoed in the still night.

“Oh, God, woman,” he breathed, rolling off her to his back, his
chest heaving. For a long moment, neither spoke. The cacophony of night sounds
filled the air with beautiful music and Lilah couldn’t help the sudden rush of
tears. Alarmed, Justin rolled to his side and wiped the tears away. “What’s
wrong? Are you okay? I thought you wanted this?” he asked, distressed.

She offered a watery chuckle at his concern but didn’t know how
to explain without oversharing. “I’ve been under a lot of stress,” she finally
said. And it wasn’t a lie, per se. Trying to kill yourself, getting committed,
all the while trying to save your family’s resort was stressful. She forced a
smile. “I’m sorry. I ruined the moment.”

His relieved expression was worth the small lie. “For a second
there I was worried I’d misread the signs.”

“I’m not sure how you can misread a naked woman with her tongue
down your throat.”

“Well, I did feel pretty secure that I was heading in the right
direction until just now.” He smiled ruefully and she giggled. “So, stress, huh?
What’s happening that’s got you all stressed out?”

She shook her head. “Let’s not ruin the night with
reality—it’ll come soon enough. Let’s just enjoy ourselves.”

“Oh, crap. You’re married, aren’t you?”

Lilah laughed out loud. “No, of course not,” she assured him.
“Things are just...complicated and I don’t want to think about all that stuff
right now.” She popped to her hands and knees and then straddled Justin,
positioning her moist, hot heat right over his rapidly stirring penis. “What do
you say we jump in the water, rinse and repeat?”

Justin smoothed the hair from her eyes as it hung down and
tickled his chest with the damp strands, and she was struck anew how
handsome—borderline adorable—he was. Likely, he was the one with a wife. But
that wasn’t her concern. Not tonight. He rose up to meet her mouth, capturing it
with firm, possessive pressure, pushing her down until she was on her back
again. She thrilled at the way his stare devoured her body and came back for
more. “I say that’s a stellar idea,” he agreed with an openly lustful gaze.
“Because by the time we leave this beach, I want to know every inch of your
perfect body.”

“Is that so?” she asked, drowning in the darkness of his
eyes.

“Yes.”

She licked her lips, fastening her gaze on his delectable
mouth. “Then what are you waiting for?”

“Saucy wench,” he growled before capturing her mouth and
pinning her to the blanket.

Lilah gasped and realized as his mouth traveled to her
breast...they weren’t going to make it back to the water.

Not yet, anyway.