Barefoot Bay: Hold On To Forever (Kindle Worlds Novella) (3 page)

“Really?” Jack said. “A genius, huh?” Those green eyes settled on her in a way that made Felicity want to cringe. It was like he could see right through her, and see how much of a fraud she really was. She took a long sip of the champagne, grateful now that Luis had refilled her flute. What was supposed to be a low key after dinner celebration was beginning to feel more like the Spanish Inquisition meets Felicity Reed.

“She’s the most creative person I know,” Nicki continued. “And I’m not just saying that because she’s my sister. Have you seen that new ad campaign for the Central Florida Aquarium? The commercial with the talking manatee?
That
was Felicity’s idea.”

Luis looked impressed. “Really?”

Abuela laughed. “Manny the Manatee? I love that commercial! Who does his voice? Is it that comedian who had his own show?”

Oh God
. Why had she bragged to Nicki about that silly talking manatee? She had to put a stop to this before things got out of control.

She swigged back the rest of the champagne. Just for courage, she told herself. “The ad campaign isn’t
exactly
mine,” Felicity admitted.

“What do you mean not exactly yours?” Nicki asked.

“I did come up with the original idea, but a former co-worker of mine helped me develop it.” The tips of her ears began to burn. It was embarrassing having to admit her mistakes in front of this family of super achievers. “And, well, he ended up leaving and going to another agency and they got the account.”

“You mean they
stole
your idea?” Luis said. “Who are these clowns? Let’s sue them on your behalf.”

Felicity stifled a groan. “I assure you, everything was perfectly on the up and up. These things happen all the time in the advertising world.”

“Not if Martinez and Martinez are on the case,” Ellen said.

“Thank you. I appreciate your support. I really do, but I don’t think there’s a legitimate case here.”

“I disagree,” Luis said. “But, it’s your call. Just tell us if you change your mind. You’re about to become family, and family sticks together.” He glanced at Ellen significantly and they exchanged some sort of silent signal. “Speaking of which, we’d love to throw some of our advertising dollars your way. Jack here is in charge of the business end of things. Just talk to him and he’ll set you all up.”

Felicity froze.

Oh no
. No. No. No. Obviously Jack hadn’t told Luis about her pitch. Of course she’d love to snag a big account like Martinez and Martinez, but not like this. She wanted to earn it, not have it handed to her on a silver platter simply because they were about to be related through marriage.

“I wouldn’t feel comfortable unless I did a proper sales pitch and presentation,” Felicity said. “That is—”

“Bah!” Luis waved her off with his hand. “It’s a done deal, right, Jack?”

Everyone turned to look at him.

Jack met her horrified gaze with a calm expression. “Felicity already pitched her PR firm to me. The night of Mitch’s graduation dinner.”

“Why didn’t you say so?” Luis said. “That was two months ago.”

“Because I turned her down.”

Oh boy.
Awkward didn’t begin to describe the new vibe in the room.

Luis cleared his throat. “I…see.” It was obvious, however, that he didn’t understand his son’s decision. Felicity didn’t either, really. It wasn’t like he’d given her a
real
chance to pitch.

No one said anything for a few long seconds. Then Mitch put his arm around Nicki. “We have an announcement to make.”

“I knew it!” Abuela cried. “You
are
pregnant!”

Now everyone turned to look at Lola. “What?” She shrugged. “It happens.”

“No, we’re not pregnant,” Mitch said. “But we do have a major change of plans. After giving it a lot of consideration, Nicki and I have decided to postpone law school.”

What
? Felicity must have heard wrong.

“Postpone law school?” Jack said. “For how long?”

“We’re not sure. Maybe indefinitely,” Mitch said.

Felicity snapped out of her daze. “But…Nicki, you’ve been planning on law school since you were a little girl!”

“I know, and I still think it’s eventually what I want to do, but like Luis said, law school is really intense. We want our first year of marriage to be free from that kind of stress. I know this seems sudden, but honestly, Mitch and I have been talking about this for a while now.”

“If you don’t go to law school then what are you going to do?” Jack demanded. Felicity could have sworn there was an edge to his voice that hadn’t been there before.

“We’re thinking about…traveling,” Mitch said vaguely. “Or maybe we’ll start up our own business. Who knows? We need time to discover who we are as a couple before we make any life-altering decisions.”

“I read about this in
People
magazine,” Abuela said. “It is called a gap year.”

“What kind of business?” Luis asked. “Travel to where?”

“Nothing’s been decided yet,” Nicki said. “But we do have to give the law school a final answer before the beginning of August.”

Felicity’s head felt like it was going to explode. First, there was this whirlwind wedding, and now her sister was giving up on law school? It was like Nicki had been abducted by aliens.

“How are you going to support yourselves during this year of discovery?” Jack asked.

Mitch colored. “I have my trust fund. Plus, we’re not planning on going crazy. Eventually we’ll settle down into something. We just don’t want to feel pressured to do the law school thing right now. Not until we’re both a hundred percent sure.”

“Well, I think it is very sensible,” Abuela said. “If you are not sure then you should not rush into it. Law school will always be there. Right?”

“Right,” Luis muttered. He seemed perplexed by the whole announcement. Ellen, on the other hand, seemed not as surprised. And Jack… Felicity didn’t know him well at all, but he looked ready to blow a stack.

As for her, how did she feel about her baby sister deferring law school?

Not good at all
.

What if her marriage to Mitch imploded? Sure, they seemed like a perfect couple now, but one in every two marriages ended in divorce. She’d hate for Nicki to wake up one morning ten or even twenty years in the future regretting that she’d given up her career plans on a whim.

* * *

Felicity scoured every inch of the Casa Blanca Resort grounds. After that little bombshell Nicki and Mitch had dropped, the evening had quickly gone sour. Jack had excused himself, Ellen had gone off to sleep, and Luis and Abuela had taken turns fighting over the remote.

She’d wanted to catch her sister for some much needed alone time but Nicki and Mitch had gone off “for a walk.” She understood their need for privacy, but that had been nearly two hours ago.

She retraced her steps, checking out the resort’s pool and bar area again. They weren’t at the villa, and according to the valet, neither Nicki nor Mitch had taken their cars, so where could they be?

She was about to give up and go to bed when she saw a lone figure walking up from the beach. Unfortunately, he spotted her too, otherwise she’d pretend she didn’t see him and turn around, but it was too late for that because Jack Martinez was heading straight toward her like he was a man on a mission.

Chapter Three

Jack ran up the steps to the resort’s pool area, making sure to keep eye contact the entire way up. Felicity Reed looked like a deer caught in the headlights. One wrong move on his part and she’d dash away. He had no intention, however, of letting her escape him. What he had to say to her was too important.

“You haven’t seen your brother and my sister by any chance, have you?” she asked. A lone strand of curly brown hair fell across her cheek. She muttered something under her breath, then tucked it behind her ear.

He had no idea why women insisted on putting their hair up. Especially when they had the kind of hair she had—long and wavy—the kind of hair a man liked to wrap his fingers around. He suspected she was clueless on just how attractive he found her. Or maybe she did know. Maybe that’s why she always seemed so skittish around him.

“Relax. I don’t bite.”

She stiffened. “
What
?”

“Let me rephrase that. We need to talk.”

“We have talked, remember? I’m not the one who walked out in the middle of a conversation.”

So she was still holding a grudge from their last encounter. But that had been two months ago. She claimed to be a business woman. Surely he wasn’t the first person to say no to her.

He’d invited her for a drink the night of Mitch’s graduation dinner because he’d wanted to get to know her. He prided himself on being able to read people, and he’d been certain that she’d be amenable to something more than just an after dinner drink. It would be tricky, hitting on his brother’s girlfriend’s sister, but they were both adults. He could be discreet if she was.

But she hadn’t been interested in him. She’d only been interested in jumping on the Martinez and Martinez gold wagon. Not that he blamed her. But there was a time and place for talking business and an intimate after dinner drink wasn’t it.

If he was being honest, getting up in the middle of a pitch had been rude, not typical behavior on his part. Despite the fact he wasn’t looking to change ad agencies, if she had been anyone else he would have let her continue her sales pitch. But he’d been so damned disappointed when she’d started talking business. Still, a late apology wouldn’t hurt and could go a long way in getting her cooperation. Luckily, the pool bar was still open.

“Let me make it up to you.” He signaled the bartender. “I’ll have a Maker’s Mark and a gin and tonic, please.” Jack signed the bill and set the drinks down on a table overlooking the gulf. It was after ten and the resort was winding down. Besides an older couple walking toward the beach and a waiter picking up empty glasses, they were the only ones out here.

He pulled out a chair, and waited for Felicity to make up her mind.

After a few seconds, she reluctantly sat down. She still had on the dress she’d worn to dinner, but she’d ditched the heels and was now wearing the same flip-flops from this afternoon. Her bare shoulder brushed up against his chest giving him a whiff of her perfume. Something tropical and fruity smelling. It took him a moment to realize that it wasn’t perfume but rather the resort’s signature smell. There was an entire slew of spa products in his bathroom—shampoo, conditioner, body lotion, all compliments of the house.

An image of Felicity getting out of the shower, rubbing the tropical smelling lotion into her warm, moist skin made his groin tighten. He was thirty-three years old, for God’s sake. What was it about her that made him feel like some randy teenager? He shifted his mind back to his motivation behind the drink. He couldn’t let this inconvenient attraction get in the way of what he needed from her.

She picked up the gin and tonic. “How did you know this was my drink?”

“It’s what you ordered two months ago.”

“How on earth—”

“I remember everything from that night.”

“Because you’re one of those people with a photographic memory?”

Sure. Let her think that. “Not photographic, but, yeah, I have a good memory. I have to in my line of work.” He took a sip of his Maker’s Mark. “I’m sorry I walked out on your sales pitch, and for what it’s worth, I’m sorry about my grandmother’s behavior tonight. If it’s any consolation, she’s always been…curious.”

She smiled at his reluctance to call it what it was. He’d meant to use the word nosy and she knew it. He leaned back in his chair and grinned. She really was lovely. Not classically beautiful like her sister, but then he’d never been drawn to the obvious. Felicity Reed was interesting. And interesting was never easy. Or boring.

“Apology accepted on both counts. And…it really doesn’t bother me, talking about my mom. It’s Nicki I was worried about.”

“So you really have no contact with her at all?” What sort of woman left her husband and two young daughters behind? He was no shrink, but no matter how well adjusted Felicity and Nicki seemed, it had to have taken its toll.

His expression must have belied his thoughts, because she said, “It’s no biggie. I only have to see the psychiatrist once a week now, as opposed to every other day.”

When he didn’t respond, she rolled her eyes at him. “That was a joke. We saw enough of her when we were younger. The standard every other weekend and two weeks in the summer. When I turned sixteen, the judge didn’t make me anymore.”

He wanted to ask why she’d stopped the visits, but something told him she wouldn’t have been honest with him. “And Nicki? Did she continue seeing her?”

“Until she was eighteen. But we haven’t heard from her for a couple of years and that’s perfectly fine by me.”

He hated to keep prying but for some reason, he couldn’t let it go. “Where does she live?”

“Last I heard she was in St. Augustine.” She drained her drink and glanced behind her. “Damn. The bar just closed. I could use another one of these.”

“I’ll see if he’ll open back up.”

He went to stand, but Felicity put her hand on his forearm stopping him. “No, it’s okay. Let the poor guy go home.”

He glanced down at her hand on his skin. It felt warm and soft and small. He didn’t like thinking of her as a teenager estranged from her own mother. “Are you sure?”

“Positive. Please, don’t feel sorry for me. It’s not like… I mean,
your
story is the really sad one.” Then her brown eyes went wide, as if she realized what she’d implied. “I mean, having your mother die so young and so needlessly.”

“I was only fourteen months old. I have absolutely no memory of her.”

“Which, in itself, is pretty tragic.” She hiccupped.

He noticed how quickly she’d finished off her drink. Combined with all the champagne they’d had at the villa… “Are you drunk?”

“Just happy enough to be melancholy.” She fiddled around with the napkin beneath her now empty glass. “Ellen seems terrific.”

“That she is. She’s the only mom I’ve ever known.”

“How old were you when she and your dad got married?”

“I was nine, but they’d been dating a couple of years before that.”

“So, for the first seven years of your life it was just you and your dad?”

“You make it sound like something out of a Dickens novel. Sure, he used to work all these long hours at the firm, but sometimes I’d go to the office with him. He’d let me pretend to file stuff. Eventually, I got good enough that I could actually do it. He even let me answer the phone.” He raised his voice a few octaves to sound like a little kid. “Martinez Law Firm, how can we help you sue the pants off someone?”

She laughed. He liked knowing that it was because of something he’d said. “Abuela lived with us back then. She taught me how to cook and clean. Do stuff around the house.”

Her smile slowly faded until she was left simply staring at him.

“What? You think I grew up with a silver spoon in my mouth? My dad started the firm with one part-time secretary and a rented two-room office near
Calle Ocho
in Little Havana. Not the most auspicious of beginnings.”

“And now you’re the biggest law firm in Miami.”

“You bet your ass we are. I know you think what we do is shit, and yeah, we got rich off it, but we help a lot of people. And we never represent the big companies. Only the regular Joes off the street.”

“I don’t think what you do is shit,” she said softly. “Is that why you became a personal injury attorney? Because of what happened to your mother? To make things right for people?”

“Among other things. Mostly in the beginning, though, it was because I wanted to be just like my dad. I wanted to make him proud of me, which probably sounds like a cliché, but he’s the best man I know.”

She nodded, like she understood where he was coming from.

It occurred to him that he’d never told anyone that. So why her? Yeah, he wanted to sleep with her, but he’d slept with a lot of women without getting anywhere near this personal.

And then it hit him. He’d told her because in a lot of ways, she was just like him.

“Is that why you kept up the PR firm after your father died?” he asked. “Because you wanted to follow in his footsteps?”

“Something like that.” She glanced down at her watch. “It’s getting late. I better go inside.”

He’d hit a nerve that he’d like to explore further, but now wasn’t the time. “Wait. I haven’t had a chance to ask what you think about Nicki and Mitch.”

“About what? This sudden wedding? Or the big announcement?”

He forced himself to be patient. He’d start with the wedding then work his way over to the big stuff. “I like Nicki a lot. She’s got a good head on her shoulders. So, while I think they’d be better off waiting to get married, I don’t think Mitch is going to be able to do better than her, so I’m on board. How about you?”

She swirled her index finger around the rim of the glass. A nervous gesture? Or a stalling technique? It was difficult to tell. As a litigator, he was an expert at reading physical cues. His clients’ cases often depended on it. Up to just a few minutes ago, he thought he’d had her pegged. But he’d totally misread her once before. He wondered what she’d be like on a jury. Most likely, she’d be a trial attorney’s nightmare.

“I admit,” she said. “I wish they’d wait a few more years. They’re only twenty-two. Babies, really.”

“What were you doing at twenty-two?”

“Trying to impress my father with my creative advertising skills.” She frowned, like she hadn’t meant to say that. “How about you?”

“Starting my first year at Harvard Law.”

“Now who’s trying to impress who here?”

She was right. It sounded like he was bragging, but he’d always been an overachiever. At twenty-two he’d started law school and at twenty-five he’d joined his parents’ firm. By the time he was twenty-eight he was billing more hours than any other attorney in the central Miami office. The next year he’d made partner, and a year after that, he’d been named managing partner. Almost unheard of for someone so young. But it wasn’t nepotism that had gotten him the job. He’d worked damned hard for everything he had. And now, he was just…damned tired.

“What do you think about them postponing law school?” Felicity asked.

Jackpot
. He took a long slow sip of his drink, and tried not to sound desperate. “I don’t think it’s a good idea.”

“I agree.”

This seemed almost too good to be true. But then, why shouldn’t she want her sister to stick to the plan? Maybe he’d been overthinking this. Logic dictated that she’d be his staunchest ally. Maybe this was going to be a simple slam dunk. “So we’re on the same page?”

“It depends on what you mean by that.”

“It means I love my brother and I don’t want him to make a mistake that he might later regret.” He had to keep telling himself that. Otherwise, he was just a selfish prick only looking out for his own best interests.

“I know they think they have the world at their feet, and I mean, they kind of do, but I agree, it’s a big mistake. More so for my sister than for your brother.”

“Care to explain that?”

“Look, I’m not trying to be all fem-bot here, but you have to admit it’s still harder for a woman than for a man. What if Nicki gets pregnant? What if she and Mitch call it quits after a few years? You know the national divorce rate as well as I do. They only have about a fifty percent chance of making it. What happens to her then if she doesn’t have law school for a backup?”

Funny, he hadn’t pegged her for a cynic. But this was exactly what he wanted to hear. First, though, he had to stick up for his brother. “Just to set the record straight, if they ever did break up Mitch would never leave your sister in anything less than a good situation. Did you know there’s not going to be a pre-nup?”

Even though it was nighttime, there was enough artificial light from the adjoining bar area that he could see the color rise in her cheeks. “A pre-nup?”

“Our parents are worth a lot of money, which means Mitch is coming into a lot of money. A prenuptial agreement isn’t uncommon in those circumstances.”

She mulled that over a few seconds. “Okay, but let’s say the marriage ends badly. You have to admit, your family is kind of loaded in the powerful lawyer department. Just because there’s no pre-nup doesn’t mean he couldn’t railroad her.”