His Bahamas Affair (The Albury Affairs) (19 page)

Melody rolled her eyes,
“Yes, but I’ve had practice pitching to Allan when I want to spend a lot of
money, and he doesn’t make it easy. Even when he looks at me like that,” she
said pointing at him.

Reno released his lips
in a smile. “Like what?”

“Like his little sister
he’s just amusing before he says no.” She scooted forward her brown eyes
sparkling with determination. “This is a great business deal Reno. You’ve built
this resort into a multi-million dollar business and you should be very proud
of that.”

“I am,” he interjected.

“But why just limit
yourself to one location? My proposition is this, join Red Roses hotels and
become a shareholder…and the Managing Director of the franchise.”

Reno whistled. “You
came ready to butter me up into saying yes, didn’t you?”

She shrugged. “I might
have wanted a chain of hotels since I was in high school and Allan gifted it to
me but I’m smart enough to know I can’t successfully manage it on my own.
That’s where you come in.”

Reno leaned back in his
seat, bouncing the backrest as he stared at Melody intently. There was
something else going on she wasn’t sharing.

“I’m surprised you kept
it after all the pain it caused us.
Casa
Italiano
was the reason that psycho Antony tried to
kill your brother and caused Allan’s and Riana’s close to three years of
hellish exile.”

She nodded with a
miserable sigh. “The first thing I wanted to do was get rid of it but it was
still in Allan’s name when he took off and I couldn’t touch it. But since it
has always been long standing that Matthew would have power of attorney of all
his business decisions when and if Allan was incapacitated, we were able to
change the name.”

“Everything else stayed
the same because Riana loved it and had promised Mr. Torino she would preserve
his wife’s memory…”

“And what Riana wants,
Allan gives,” she sighed again with a smile. “Never thought I’d see my brother
wrapped around a woman’s finger.”

Reno snorted a laugh.
“It’s called love.”

He knew the story about
the business deal. Riana had told him about it those first days she’d come to
him after the incident in Italy. She spoke only of the good memories there
because she believed if she held on to them strongly and ignored reality, then
Allan wasn’t really dead. It had been torture watching her fantasy cloud
shatter and she would come crushing down in hysterical cries followed by
withdrawals as she sunk deeper into her depression. Worst two and a half years
of his life. Even his mother’s death hadn’t hurt so much. It was at that time
he’d wished she was still alive. It was times like these that people needed
their mommies to help make everything okay again.

“And yet you won’t give
in to Loraine,” she added with a sarcastically raised brow.

Reno really didn’t want
to get into this, especially since Loraine’s withdrawal was making his mind
soft. He was quite ready to give her what she wanted if it meant having her
back in his arms, but that wasn’t what she wanted. And worse of all, it
wouldn’t be fair to Tyler.

He kept the discussion
on topic by asking, “What aren’t you telling me about this gold woven business
proposition?”

Her shapely brows drew
together. “What do you mean?”

He leaned forward,
placing his elbows on the desk. “There is something I believe
questionable
about this whole deal you
are leaving out. What is it?”

She worried her lower
lip, her eyes darting around the room as she strived to avoid meeting his gaze.

Yup, he knew it.
Something wasn’t right and he knew just the person to ask.

Reno pressed his
intercom and spoke into it. “Shea, please ask Ruiz to come in here.”

Reno had noticed the
two of them had gotten close, romantic even and it made him slightly
uncomfortable. He worried about Allan’s reaction and what it would do to his
baby sister’s marriage if their little romance blew up in all their faces.
There would be no getting out of family-get-togethers, which would mean fights
and taking sides and Allan and Riana getting caught in the middle. Yeah, he
predicted good times full of family drama. He loved Riana too much to let her
suffer more than she already had.

The door opened and
Ruiz sauntered in. He dropped into the seat next to Melody and stared blankly
at Reno. “You called.”

Reno clenched his jaw.
It was good to know where his loyalties lay. They had been unwavering for the
past few days coated by juvenile attitude, which Reno had taken in stride. He’d
just ignore his brother’s tantrum like he did Aurora’s when she was being
impossible.

“You know about
Melody’s business proposal?”

He sat up straighter in
his seat and Reno was glad to see him change to being professional. It made him
trust Ruiz with
La
Paraiso
more and more.

“Yes, and I think it’s
a great deal. You’ve always dreamed of expanding and Melody is offering you
twelve hotels with one stroke of a pen. You could run it in the States, close
to Riana, especially now that you have a family- no traveling unless you’re
going on vacation.”

Reno chuckled as it
dawned on him. “And let me guess, you two would do all the traveling for me?
Take that burden off my shoulders because it’s good for my family.”

Melody blushed but Ruiz
just cleared his throat leaning forward. “Look, it’s a great deal with awesome
perks for you and we get to travel and enjoy our twenties before we turn into
stiffs like you and Allan.”

“Hey, I take offense to
that! I’m not a stiff.”

Ruiz raised his brow at
him. “Really bro?”

Reno had just had his
first vacation in sixteen years, so yeah, he understood what Ruiz was saying.
“I didn’t work for half my life out of choice you know.”

Ruiz smiled faintly at
him. “Yeah, we know. Half you’re life you’ve worked yourself to the bone to
take care of our sister and your mother. With this deal we split the work three
ways and you wouldn’t have to work so much.”

“Only you two get to
country hop, have fun, and enjoy your youth.”

Melody smiled
tentatively. “You’re only in your twenties once.”

“Aha,” he nodded, “But
you two seem to be forgetting one vital thing.”

They exchanged puzzled
looks before turning back to him.

“Allan Patrick Sinclair
Jr.”

Reno threw his head
back and laughed out loud at the stricken expressions on their faces.

“Allan is not going to
say no to—”

“My little brother
taking his baby sister on a worldwide business trip filled with sexual
exploits?” Cutting her off, he shattered Melody’s argument with a scoff. “Yeah,
I don’t see him nipping that in the bud.”

Melody’s cheeks gained
a pink hew as she blushed, which only made him laugh harder.

Reno smiled, pointing
at the two of them. “I know you two like each other. It’s not exactly state
secrets. You make it too obvious not to notice.”

Melody turned to Ruiz
and stuttered, “I don’t think he’d mind…much.”

Ruiz snorted. “Yeah,
just like Reno didn’t mind even when he found out after the fact that Allan
took Riana on a two months tour of Italy and every bed he could find. Hell, I
minded when I learned about their torrid affair at the wedding. She may be a
grown woman and I may not have known her then but she still is my baby sister.”

Reno nodded, “Ditto.”

Melody smiled like a
naughty little girl with a secret. “You two must have gotten the censored
version. From what I heard, they weren’t very shy about showing their
affections
in public places…of course an
audience or two did help them keep it PG-13.”

Reno and Ruiz
simultaneously groaned. It was too much information about their little sister.
It was a good thing Allan married her or the two of them would have had some
serious issues.

“Why don’t we talk
about the business deal and forget about that?”

Ruiz’s brows shot up to
his hairline. “You are agreeing to the deal?”

Reno smiled at their
matching shocked expressions. “Why is that so hard to believe?”

Ruiz chuckled. “Really?”

Reno shrugged. “It’s
something to seriously consider.”
Especially
now with Tyler and Loraine
, he thought.

Reno took it all as a
good sign- his willingness to let go of
La
Paraiso
, was the step he needed to start letting
go of his insecurities. He just hoped that once he felt like he was on stable
ground, Loraine would still be waiting. And Tyler…it scared him to think of
letting the kid down like his own father had. Reno just needed more time, but
as he was taking that time, he was in need of a good family lawyer.

If this was one of
Georgia’s sick games, and he wanted to make sure Tyler was protected. It would
rip Loraine’s heart in two if Georgia were able to take Tyler away on a whim.
Even if he hadn’t warmed up to the kid yet, it was still his job to protect him
and Reno had every intention of at least doing that right.

Chapter Nine

Loraine sat at the
beach, watching Tyler play with two children around his age belonging to her
new friend Leah. They chased after the water as it went back into the ocean
then ran from it as it came in small waves. She loved hearing his shrilly
laughter, his eyes wide and sparkling with uninhibited joy as he played. She
still couldn’t believe he was the same little boy who was afraid of both sand
and water just a week ago.

Tyler had been
apprehensive about stepping out of the house until Loraine carried him with
Ruiz and Melody as escorts, both promising to protect him if something went
wrong. When she sat down on the white sand, he’d lifted his legs to make sure
he didn’t touch any of it until Loraine coaxed him to do so. When he was
comfortable with that, she wadded in the water, still carrying him. He’d
wrapped himself tightly around her as he cried, his fear so tangible it shook
Loraine to the core. He’d cried for his daddy then and Loraine was so
heartbroken, she didn’t know what to say to him. Tyler was scared and wanted
his daddy to protect him and Reno didn’t want to see hair nor hide of him. It
hurt her more than she ever thought possible.

Ruiz and Melody began
playing in the water, showing how much fun it was and he began to relax. He’d
kicked his feet and his crying turned into laughter as he explored the unknown
and since then, they spent all day out at the beach, continuing his adventure
of discovery and because he wouldn’t stay away from the water. Even his skin
had gained a nice tan and he seemed stronger, healthier.

Loraine threw out all
the medication that came with him. Supplements of what he should be getting by
being a normal little boy. She never thought she could hate Georgia more than
the day Tyler told her he’d never stepped outside the house much less his room
all his life.

But now, Tyler was hers
and she was going to make sure he didn’t lack for anything.

“Mommy, watch me!” he
shrieked, waving at her.

Loraine laughed, her
heart over flowing with joy. “I’m watching honey! Just don’t go in too deep.”

“It’s amazing seeing
them like that,” Leah commented next to her. “When they are born, you imagine a
lot of things but they never quite live up to the reality.”

Loraine nodded, even
though the familiar pain of not being his biological mother threatened to drown
her. “I never thought I could love a child like I love him.”

Leah signed.
“Especially when they call you mommy with so much love. I still tear up!”

Loraine knew what she
meant. She never thought being called mommy would make her so happy to the
point of tears. The love Tyler had for her, made up for not having Reno in
their lives. It had been three weeks; he’d been gone three weeks without a word
to her.

But she understood
him—at least she was trying to. Reno was scared of being a father and failing
just like his own father had. Loraine faced the same fear each day but she
never let it make her turn tail and run. Reno just needed to take a chance,
just one day of being with Tyler, which he won’t. That is the part she couldn’t
understand. Reno wasn’t a coward and he was acting like one huge chicken.
Loraine had wanted to call Riana and vent and get some support but pressuring
Reno wasn’t going help him in anyway. She just had to wait him out but patience
wasn’t one of her strong suits. She just began learning it because of Tyler.

“Daddy!”

Loraine turned to
Tyler’s shriek and watched him as he took off in a dead run, which was quite
fast considering his little feet. Loraine quickly rose from the beach towel and
went after him yelling, “Tyler!”

“Should I get Dan?”
Leah asked, already on her way to her husband.

She stopped running
when she saw whom he was running to. Reno stood there smiling as he watched
Tyler charge at him. He caught him out of the air when Tyler leaped and spun
him around, then tossed him up and catching him making Tyler laugh harder.