Discovered (16 page)

“And therein lies
the problem,” he stated. “I don’t want anyone to like me for what I have. I’m
really not interested in spending time with gold-diggers. And besides that, I
live very privately, so in actual fact, there aren’t women throwing themselves
at me. The only women who know who I am are at Vallen Enterprises, and I like
to keep things professional there.”

“So why me?” she
asked, looking up shyly.

“Layla, you’re
beautiful,” Jay replied. “I mean that in every way. Obviously, you look
beautiful, but you’re also lovely on the inside.  But besides that, you have a
great personality, a personality that is usually in sync with mine. And you
liked me for who I was, or at least who you thought I was. You liked me when I
was just an average eighteen-year-old guy. I can’t even begin to explain how
good that felt for me.”

“What about Rachael
Newman?” Layla questioned then bit the inside of her cheek.

“Yes, well, she was
my first choice, but I had to settle for you,” he said sarcastically, rolling
his eyes.

“Really?” Layla
said then pursed her lips in a disapproving manner.

“No, not really,”
he replied. He leaned over and pushed her backward on the couch. He gripped her
waist with both hands then dug his fingers in, causing her to scream with
laughter. “Are we done with the sarcasm, Ms. Sparks?” he asked, mercilessly
torturing her with tickles.

“Um, hum,” she
answered, wiggling underneath him.

He let go of her
waist but continued to stare down at her, his expression changing to one of
awe. “You’re so, so beautiful,” he whispered. He leaned forward and kissed her
long and deep. She relished the feel of their arms tight around one another’s
shoulders as she returned the kiss enthusiastically.

He pulled away from
her but continued to gaze into her eyes, pushing another strand of her red hair
behind her ear. “For all the effort she puts into it, Rachael Newman could
never hold a candle to you. No one could.”

Layla put her hand
on his cheek, overcome with emotion, knowing that she was losing the battle to
keep her feelings at bay. His deep brown eyes probed into her, tearing down the
fragile barrier she’d placed in front of her heart. And what made it all the
more scarier was the knowledge that it was no longer a barrier to keep herself
preserved from an aloof boy who was carrying tons of baggage—this was one of
the wealthiest men on the planet. They were from two different worlds, his, a
world she’d never be able to fit into.

“Why did you decide
to forgive me?” he asked, still staring down at her.

“I put all the
pieces together and realized that your choices were probably limited. I
realized that you were still Jay, the Jay I had come to care about, the Jay I
had so much fun with. And I guess I just didn’t want to stay angry at you,” she
replied quietly, gazing back up at him.

“Thank you,” he
whispered then leaned down to kiss her deeply once more.

“No problem,” she
murmured as he pulled away.

“I wish I could
keep you here forever,” he said. A sadness descended upon the moment, an
unspoken understanding that they both knew his wish was impossible.

Layla pushed
herself up and gathered what composure she could, seeing no point in drowning
in despair. If she was going to be stuck here for a few days, they may as well
make the best of it. “I’d like to see the rest of your house,” she said,
smiling happily.

“Okay,” he
responded with as much forced happiness as she was displaying.  He leaned in and
kissed her quickly on the lips.

He jumped up and
held out his hand to her.

He led her through
another long hallway past the kitchen, to a staircase. They walked down the
stairs and came to a small hall with a thick, oak door on one side and a stained-glass
door to the right. Jay pushed open the stained-glass door and ushered Layla
into an indoor pool oasis.
The
Olympic-sized pool was surrounded by thick, dolomite limestone in natural hues,
accenting the brown bricked walls that were flooded with sconces, creating a
soft, romantic effect.  The room was complete with waterfall, hot tub, sauna to
the side, and fireplace.

“Wow,”
Layla said, looking around the magnificent room. “You really live well.”

Jay
shrugged. “I don’t know if that’s necessarily true,” he disagreed. “This is
just stuff. It’s a novelty at first, but it wears thin after a while. Like I
said, Joey and I spend most of our time in the family room. We barely use the
rest of the house.”

“You’re
just like Issy,” she replied. “She basically said the same thing.”

“When all
of this stuff comes easy, it loses a lot of its appeal,” Jay explained. “It
loses its ability to amuse after a while.”

Layla
nodded, seeing the logic in his words. “Still, a lot of people would consider
you very lucky,” she added.

“I am, but
not for all this stuff. I’m lucky to have Joey, Ben and Issy. I can’t imagine
what my life would have been without them,” he answered.

“You really
love them, don’t you?” Layla questioned.

“Very
much,” he responded. “But anyway, let me show you the rest of the house,” he
added. He led her back to the tiny hallway and through the heavy oak door,
flicking on a light as he walked into the room. “The wine grotto,” he
announced.

She entered
a long, narrow room made completely of gray, stone slabs, rounded at the
ceiling, giving the room a medieval effect. Dark wooden gates, spaced out every
four feet, enclosed racks and racks of wine bottles. Hanging on the walls
between the gates were paintings, all of towns and cities in Spain, and on the
very back wall hung a large, antique, Spanish flag.

“Do you
ever drink any of these?” she asked.

“Once in a
while I’ll have a glass, but not very often,” he admitted. “Most of these
bottles were here when I bought the house. I’m told some of them are worth a
fortune.”

“It’s kind
of spooky in here,” Layla said, looking around the dimly lit, narrow room.

“Really?”
Jay replied. “See, I was thinking that it was kind of romantic.” He leaned down
and pressed his forehead against hers, forcing her gently against one of the
wooden gates. He put both hands on either side of her neck and kissed her
fervently, causing her heart to stammer in her chest.

“Hello? Are
you guys down here?” they heard Ben’s voice call from the stairwell.

Jay pulled
away from Layla and rolled his eyes. “Dude has the worst timing…” he mumbled.
“Yeah, we’re here,” he called out loud, leading Layla back toward the doorway.

“What were you
doing in there?” Joey asked, decked out in a multi-colored swimsuit.

“I was just
showing Layla the wine grotto,” Jay answered.

“Uh, huh,”
Ben mumbled, raising his eyebrows.

“We thought
we’d go swimming,” Issy explained. “Layla, I brought you a bathing suit. I
brought you a one-piece because I didn’t know how modest you’d be and—”

“No, this
is fine,” Layla replied, taking the dark-blue suit from Issy’s outstretched
hand.

“Come on,
I’ll show you where you can change,” Issy added.

“Now?”
Layla asked. “I haven’t finished my tour of the house yet.”

“You’ve
seen most of it,” Issy replied. “The second floor is only bedrooms. The third
floor consists of a gym and a movie theatre that you’ll see tonight because
we’ve planned a scary movie marathon.”

“We have?”
Jay questioned.

“Yes, we
have,” Issy confirmed.

“Oh, God,”
Layla huffed. “I don’t do well with scary movies.”

“Don’t
worry,” Jay piped in. “You can bury your face in my chest as often as you
like.” He winked at Layla, causing a shiver to run down her spine. She suddenly
decided that she loved the idea of a scary movie marathon.

“And that’s
everything,” Issy said, ignoring Jay’s comment, “unless you want to see the ten
car garage.”

“Why would
anyone need a ten car garage?” Layla asked off-handedly.

“Well,” Ben
butted in, “between Jay’s Mercedes GL-class, his classic 1965 Mustang
convertible, the Tasman green metallic BMW 5 series, the Aston Martin DB9, the
Ascari A10, Joey’s Bugatti Veyron and his Alpha Romeo 8C Competizione—”

“Okay,
okay, I get it,” Layla interrupted, holding both hands out in front of her to
stop Ben from talking any further.

“Boys…” Issy
muttered, rolling her eyes. “So easily amused.”

They spent
the next couple of days swimming, watching movies, playing video games and
board games, and eating tons of junk food.

All too
often, Layla forgot her reasons for being there and immersed herself in the
best vacation she’d ever had.

On Monday
morning, she woke to gentle knocking on the bedroom door.

“Come in,”
she called out in a groggy voice, pushing up into sitting position.

Issy walked
into the room and smiled. “It’s just you and me today, kiddo,” she announced.

Layla felt
her heart sink. As much as she loved hanging out with Issy, she and Jay had been
inseparable for the past couple of days, and the mere mention of him not being
there caused her to miss him instantly. She realized the danger in that
reaction immediately; she understood the impending doom of the broken heart she
would face some time in the near future. “Where are the boys?” she asked.

“Gone to
work,” Issy said vaguely.

“You mean
that Jay has gone out to use himself as bait to lure some very dangerous men
into attempting to kidnap him?” Layla pushed.

“Um,” Issy
answered, wincing. “Maybe it’s best if we try not to think about it that way.”

Layla
sighed and nodded her agreement.

“Cable news
just broke the story that the CEO of Vallen Enterprises has reappeared,
claiming he was on a safari in Africa when he was in a car accident and spent three
months in a coma,” Issy explained. “Of course, he wasn’t carrying any ID, so no
one knew who he was. I can only imagine what money has been offered to a
hospital in Kenya to back up his story.”

Layla shook
her head. “That doesn’t sound the least bit convincing. Would anyone actually
believe that?” she questioned.

“You’d be
surprised what people will believe if they hear it on the news,” Issy
responded. “On a happier note, stocks are soaring this morning.”

“Well, that’s
good, I suppose,” Layla replied. “So why are you here? Weren’t you supposed to
be a part of that wonderful plan?”

“Yes, but
Jay thought that you’d be uncomfortable spending the day in the house alone
with only Rick for company, so he asked me to stay with you. So, what do you
want to do for the day?”

“Run,”
Layla replied, throwing her legs off the bed.

“Excuse
me?” Issy questioned.

“I feel
like going for a run,” Layla reiterated. “I’ve been eating crap for the last
couple of days.”

“We could
go workout upstairs,” Issy suggested.

“Okay,”
Layla said, smiling. “Then we’ll have a healthy breakfast and after that we can
watch some girly movies for a change.”

“Really?”
Issy screeched, her face lighting up like a Christmas tree.

Layla
narrowed her eyes suspiciously. “Not something you do often?” she asked.

“Never,”
Issy replied. “I don’t have any girlfriends.”

“Wow, you
four really keep to yourselves, don’t you?” Layla asked.

“You have
no idea,” Issy responded.

At seven
o’clock that night, after oatmeal, two salads, and three romantic comedies,
Layla’s phone rang. She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw Jay’s name on
the front. “Hi,” she said, placing the phone to her ear.

“Hey,
there,” he replied. “How’s your day going?”

“Good. Issy
and I are having a lot of fun together,” she answered. “How are things with
you?”

“Okay,” he
said. “Quiet…a little too quiet.”

“When will
you be back?” she asked.

“Much
later,” he answered. “I haven’t been here for months, and we’re checking out
files on past employees to see if we can come up with any leads. Someone who
worked here before may have been in a position to acquire a good bit of
information about me without me knowing it, possibly.”

“I thought
you said that it was likely that those men were working for a larger
organization,” she reminded him.

“While
that’s still a possibility, the more we think about it, the more unlikely it
appears. Like I said on Saturday, a larger organization would have hired more
men to do the job right.”

“Okay,”
Layla said, feeling her heart sink once more.

“I’ll see
you tomorrow, okay?” he said.

“Okay, I’ll
see you tomorrow.”

“Layla…” he
blurted out before she hung up.

“Yeah?”

“I missed
you today,” he said in a hushed voice.

“I missed
you too,” she replied. She hung up and turned to face Issy’s inquisitive stare.

“Everything
okay?” Issy asked.

Layla
shrugged, wondering why she felt her eyes begin to prickle.

“What’s the
matter?” Issy questioned with overwhelming concern.

“He said he
missed me today,” Layla responded sadly.

“Wow, Jay’s
smitten,” Issy mumbled.

“But what’s
the point?” Layla asked. “It’s not like we can actually be together. Our lives
are so different.”

“I don’t
know if that’s true,” Issy answered, putting her hand on Layla’s knee. “Maybe
it’s just the hopeless romantic in me, but I have faith that you’ll both find a
way. I really hope you do because I like having you around.”

“Thanks,”
Layla said, grateful for the compliment.

The
following morning, Layla walked downstairs and into the kitchen to find Issy
alone. “Where is everybody?” she asked.

“Gone
again,” Issy replied. “They got home really late last night and left early this
morning.”

Layla felt
her heart sink yet again.

“Don’t look
so glum,” Issy said, smiling. “Jay told me to tell you that he’ll be back early
this evening, and that he requests the honor of a proper date with you.”

“He did?”
Layla replied, unable to smother the smile that was spreading over her face.

“Yes,” Issy
answered. “I have been tasked with taking you shopping for something wonderful
to wear this evening. He said to tell you that he’ll meet you in the entry hall
at seven o’clock on the dot. And I made you breakfast,” she added, smiling
proudly. “So hurry up and eat, and then we’ll head to Saks, okay?”

After
breakfast, Layla ran upstairs to change and freshen up quickly.

She met
Issy and Rick at the bottom of the stairs fifteen minutes later. “Is he coming
with us?” she whispered to Issy as Rick led the way to the garage.

“I was
forbidden to leave the house without him,” Issy replied quietly. “I assured
Ben, Jay and Joey that I wouldn’t leave the house unarmed, but they insisted
that Rick come along.”

“Are you?”
Layla questioned.

“Armed?
Yes,” Issy replied bluntly. “And don’t worry, I have had extensive training in
how to use my weapon.”

“Oh, good,”
Layla answered sarcastically, shaking her head in disbelief.

Many hours later,
Layla walked downstairs wearing a ridiculously expensive, tight, dark-green,
spaghetti strap dress that met her knees and a pair of matching green shoes—complements
of Issy’s credit card. Her hair was pulled up into a clamp at the back of her
head with wispy pieces falling gracefully around her face.

When she noticed
Jay standing at the bottom of the steps in a charcoal gray, hand-finished wool
suit that hung perfectly on his athletic build, her breath hitched in her
throat; he looked so distinguished it made her heart stammer.

She noted, with
delight, how his eyes swelled as he awaited her at the foot of the steps.
“You’re so beautiful,” he stated frankly.

“You look great,
also,” she commented, noting that the words were so inadequate.

He walked forward
to meet her as she stepped off the last stair and pulled her into his arms. “I
missed you so much these past two days,” he said sincerely.

“I missed you
also,” she answered, melting into him.

“We’ll go out
through the garage,” he suggested. He took the velvet coat she carried and held
it out for her to slip her arms into then grabbed hold of her hand. He led her
to the back of the house and into a garage that was jam-packed with luxury
vehicles.

Outside the open
garage door sat the same black limo that had taken them there the night she
arrived in Greenwich. The driver, who stood alongside, opened the door for
them. “Thank you, Stanley,” Jay said.

“How many drivers
do you have?” Layla questioned when she was seated comfortably on the plush
leather seat.

“Stanley works for
me exclusively,” Jay explained. “Frank is usually only on hire from time to
time while I’m in North Carolina.”

“And he was so
willing to enter into a gun fight for you?” she pushed.

“Frank is ex-marine
and doubles as a bodyguard.”

Through the window,
Layla noticed Rick and another burley gentlemen climb into a black SUV parked
behind the limo. “The body guards?” she asked, gesturing out the window.

Jay nodded.

“I must admit, I’ve
never dreamed of going on a date this way,” Layla said, enjoying the luxury
against her normally humble nature.

Jay handed her a
champagne flute filled with bubbling fluid. “Champagne?” she questioned.

“I know you’re
underage, but one glass won’t hurt,” he said, smirking.

She sipped the cool
liquid, enjoying how the bubbles danced on her tongue.

They rode up a
deserted road for fifteen to twenty minutes, the black SUV hugging closely
behind, until they reached a smaller road that turned up to an enormous
complex.

“Vallen
Enterprises,” Jay said, just as Layla spotted the giant words written across
the top of the large double front doors.

“It’s huge,” she
replied, staring with wonder at the building that seemed to go on forever. So
overcome by the size of the structure, Layla never bothered to question what
they were doing there. Just when she assumed that the car would pull into one
of the many parking lots, it kept going past them, and on down a long, narrow
road to the back of the complex. “Where are we going?” she finally asked.

“You’ll see,” Jay
replied, a devilish smile on his face.

Finally, the limo
slowed down, nearing a round, concrete patch of land that was surrounded by many
small lights. In the middle of the concrete was a sleek, white helicopter with
a gray and brown stripe running from the tail to the front.

When Stanley opened
the door for them, Layla climbed out and went straight over to inspect the
beauty closer.

“It’s a Sikorsky
S-76C,” Jay said proudly as though that should actually mean something to
Layla.

She walked around
it once and stopped at the side. “Lucia,” she said aloud, running her fingers
over the brown, cursive lettering that graced the bottom of the tail above the
striped lines.

“This is my own
private helicopter,” Jay explained, running his hand over the slick surface affectionately. 
“That’s what I named her.”

“It’s a pretty name,”
Layla replied, looking at him questioningly.

“Yes, it is,” Jay
answered. The glint of nostalgia in his eyes was a dead giveaway that Lucia was
the name of someone who meant something to Jay.

Layla experienced a
twinge of jealousy and swallowed, realizing that the reaction was childish, but
felt the sting nonetheless.  “It’s beautiful,” she said casually, looking over
the helicopter with appreciation.

“It is, but no
match for the beauty standing before me,” Jay replied, winking at her.

Layla smiled and
felt the envy dissipate instantly, especially when she remembered that she was
the only girl to ever see inside his house. That had to be worth something.

Rick opened the door
and helped Layla climb into the compartment that looked very much like the
inside of a limousine. Two rows of soft, brown, leather seats faced one
another, each able to seat three. She and Jay sat together on one of the seats
while Rick and the other bodyguard, Brian, sat up front completely blocked from
view. “Rick is going to fly this thing?” Layla asked.

“He’s been doing it
for years,” Jay assured her. “Don’t look so nervous. I’ve just had a new
vibration reduction system installed, so you’ll hardly notice that you’re in a
helicopter.”

“What if we plunge
into the Long Island Sound?” she asked, looking mildly sick.

“Then we’re in luck.
There is a state of the art, emergency flotation system in this baby.”

Layla didn’t bother
to ask what would happen if they crashed into solid ground, assuming that the
answer was obvious, not to mention gruesome, so she decided to change the
subject. “Where are we going exactly?” she asked again.

“I believe you
agreed to go to the movies with me.”