Scott's Satin Sheets (14 page)

“Did you hear me, you miscreant? Get off my yacht—now! Or I’ll do better than throw you overboard—I’ll call the damn police and have you put in jail.”

He wanted to fight, to argue. For his job. For Payton’s honor. But he knew fighting a guy as powerful as this one would only be a losing battle and he
would
end up behind bars—or worse, damn it.

He grabbed up his pants, his shoes, then found his shirt. And, damn it all, he couldn’t help remembering that he’d told her he wasn’t comfortable coming here—more than once. But she’d fucking insisted. And now they were both paying for it—the hard way.

“Didn’t I tell you this would happen?” he snapped at her, anger getting the best of him. Then he berated himself, muttering beneath his breath. “Never should’ve gotten involved with a selfish little rich girl who I have nothing in common with. Never.”

Then he stormed past Charles Albright and left the room, and the yacht, without looking back.

Payton lay on the deck in a bikini, soaking up the sun and trying to pretend life was normal. But nothing could have been further from the truth.

For starters, her father had seen her not only in bed with a guy last night, but surrounded by a veritable treasure trove of kinky sex toys too. Ugh. Not a situation in which any girl ever wanted to find herself.

And she’d pretty much told him off after Scott had left. When he’d asked her if she had any explanation for what he’d just walked in on, she’d screamed at him, “Yes, as a matter-of-fact, I do! You’ve treated me like a child for my entire life! You haven’t encouraged or allowed me to live normally! So whatever you’ve seen here tonight that bothers you, you have no one to blame but yourself!”

But her father wasn’t the foremost subject on her mind. Every time she thought about Scott, her stomach pinched and her heart hurt. Because of her, he’d lost his job.

Maybe not his only job—but likely his chance to proceed with starting his own business anytime soon.

And it really
was
her fault. She’d made him come to the yacht despite his wishes, after all. She’d never dreamed her father could really walk in on them. Only after Scott’s departure had she learned that her father had been working on some contracts with a local attorney late last night when he’d learned she’d been seen “hanging all over a guy” on Duvall Street the previous night and had gotten suspicious and decided to come check on her.

And Scott hated her now. He hadn’t exactly said that, but he didn’t have to—his tone had said it for him when he’d called her a selfish rich girl. It made her ill to think of things between them ending this way. Or ending at all, actually. She’d known all along that it would be brief, that she’d leave Key West soon—but now that she’d shared so much intimacy with him, it was hard to face. Somewhere along the way, having sex with a stranger had…stopped feeling like having sex with a stranger.

She let out a long sigh as a sense of despair settled over her. The bright sun and sparkling water didn’t match her mood.

Because if all that wasn’t enough, she was forced to realize that nothing in her life had really changed here. Inside her maybe—but her circumstances remained the same, or worse. Despite yelling at her father, they would still ship out tomorrow and her life would continue to be a wealthy girl’s prison—she’d travel from port to port still under the now even
more
watchful eye of her father. After last night, she couldn’t imagine ever again getting the opportunity to see a guy of her own choosing, nor did she think her father would follow through now on supporting her in starting any sort of profession.

She’d still be nothing but the sheltered daughter of Charles Albright. And sure, she could do something drastic and leave her parents, but was that realistic? She had nothing of her own—no money, no job skills.

Another sigh left her as a startling thought came to mind. Maybe all those sex toys
would
come in handy. Maybe they’d be all she’d ever have. The notion made her want to throw up. Because she didn’t want only sex toys. She wanted a man. She wanted Scott.

They’d shared only three wild nights, but true caring had grown there, maybe because he’d allowed her to be so wild and yet had remained so respectful and sweet.

But he wanted nothing to do with her now. The one real, true thing that had ever happened to her was over, that quick.

And then…then she grew downright angry. She’d done nothing wrong here—unless she counted following her desires as wrong, and she didn’t. It was natural, and maybe she’d gone a little overboard, but again, that was her father’s fault, for never giving her any choices or freedom.

And then Payton gasped. Because something shocking had just hit her. She couldn’t live like this anymore. She simply couldn’t. Realistic or not. She
needed
to do something drastic, something to…make the changes in her life that Scott had inspired. She wasn’t even sure what she planned to do, only that she’d just this very minute reached a crucial breaking point.

She sat briskly up on the chair, determined to…do
something
. That’s when she spotted Daniel bringing her a glass of iced tea. His eyes looked grim enough that she knew he’d heard what happened last night. “Are you all right, Miss Alb—Payton?” he asked, stopping mid-word to use her given name.

“No,” she said, shaking her head.

“I’m so sorry. I had no idea your father had come back onboard or I would have done my best to keep him away from your cabin.”

“Thanks, Daniel, but it’s not your fault.” Then she pushed to her feet. “I need to find him, though. It’s important. Do you know where he is?”

Daniel gave a short nod. “He just called to say he’d be having lunch in his suite at the hotel today.”

She sucked in her breath. It was now or never—confrontation time. “I’m going to get dressed and go talk to him. If I don’t come back, send out a search party.”

* * * * *

Scott clenched his fists and felt his chest tightening. He still wanted to kill somebody. But it wasn’t Payton anymore—it was Charles Albright. Gritting his teeth, he picked up the phone and dialed the number for the yacht, which he’d been given when he’d taken the waiter’s job there.

“Albright yacht,” someone answered. Someone with a British accent.

“Daniel, is that you?”

“Yes, and this is?”

“Scott,” he said simply. “Is Payton there? I need to speak with her.”

“I’m afraid she’s not,” Daniel said, his tone grave.

Scott sighed, feeling shitty for blaming any of this on her. He was a big boy—he’d made his own decisions. “Is she all right?”

“No, in fact. She’s understandably upset—I’ve never seen her quite so…tense and agitated.”

“Do you know where I can find her? It’s important.”

“I’m afraid she’s…meeting with her father right now.”

“Damn it,” he muttered. “On the boat? Because I know coming there would be a pretty bad idea right now, but if that’s what I need to do to see her, I will.”

“No, she’s not on the yacht. She’s in town.”

Scott let out another long sigh. Shit. “Well,” he said, “can you do me a favor, Daniel? Can you ask her to come to my place to see me before she leaves? I’ll be here all night and all day tomorrow.”
Since I have a couple days off from the snorkeling cruise and I
lost my other gigs.
“I have to see her one last time.”

“I’ll tell her, Scott. I’ll do my best to see that she gets there.”

“Thanks, man.”

* * * * *

Payton felt liberated. And terrified.

But there was no going back now.

She’d just had the most gratifying talk of her life with her parents. And when her father had balked, her mother had stunned her by standing up for her and taking her side. And when all was said and done…well, her entire existence would be different now. For better or worse. But deep inside, despite the newness of it all and her fears, Payton knew it
had
to be better.

And now her feet had led her up Duvall Street—quaint and fairly quiet in the middle of a Tuesday afternoon—and to the right…until she found herself standing in front of Scott’s house.

He might not even be here, of course. And if he was, he probably didn’t want to see her. And she couldn’t blame him. But she had so much to tell him—she had to at least try. And maybe her good news—for him—would make him less angry at her, at least enough to let her tell him every life-altering thing that had just happened.

Taking a deep breath, she climbed the stairs to his second-floor entry and knocked on the door.

When she heard the knob jiggle from the other side and knew he was home, her heart rose to her throat. Just to be seeing him again.
Oh God, please let him forgive me.

The door opened and he stood before her in a t-shirt and jeans, face unshaven, hair slightly rumpled—and oh, he was the hottest guy she’d ever seen in her life and it was all she could do not to throw herself on him.

Instead, though, she managed to say past the lump in her throat, “I’m sorry if you don’t want me here, but I had to see you. So please don’t say anything and just let me tell you the things I need to tell you.”

He looked a little dumbfounded, which she supposed was understandable—and she took the opportunity to continue, even though she had to swallow first, trying to get rid of that stupid lump. “I just came from talking with my father. And—I guess the most important thing, for you, is that you have your job—or maybe I should say
jobs—
back.”

His eyes flew wide and he actually flinched. “Seriously?”

She nodded. “Believe it or not, I’ve made him see—with the help of my mom—the error of his ways. And…”

“Yeah?” he prodded.

“Well, this part won’t be as important to you, but I want to tell you anyway—I’ve actually managed to work things out with him. He truly realizes now that he’s been too controlling of me.”

“Why do you think that’s not important to me?”

She blinked, her chest contracting. “Because…I cost you your job, at least temporarily. And I was selfish and we barely know each other and it would be silly of me to expect you to give a damn,” she hurriedly spilled out.

When she gathered the courage to meet his eyes again, they’d narrowed. “You
were
a little selfish,” he said, making her gut pinch. “But I
do
give a damn. And I appreciate you getting my job back for me—more than I can say.”

She swallowed nervously. “It was the least I could do. You…you may not realize this, but you…had a profound effect on me. Sexually and otherwise. I’ll…never be able to thank you enough.”

He let out a little sigh and said, “I’m really bummed that you’re leaving. I had this feeling we could have something good together, rich girl.”

Oh. Wow. Really? Had he really just said that? Because it changed…everything.

“I’m not leaving,” she whispered.

“What?” His eyes went even wider than before.

And then she blurted everything out in a rush. “I’m staying in Key West, because I need my own life, for the first time—and where else better for a girl to sow her wild oats, right? I’m going to open a fashion boutique—called Payton’s Place. Get it? Like the movie? And Dad is giving me seed money—but only enough to start, and I plan to pay him back because you’ve really inspired me to do things on my own as much as possible. And the truth is, my trust fund will become available in a few years, so maybe I don’t have a lot at stake, but I still want to try to do this on my own, as much as I can.”

Scott couldn’t have been more stunned. “I’m impressed, honey. Seriously. This is huge.” It was hard to believe, especially after last night, that her father would loosen his grip on her enough to let her stay
here
, of all places—but maybe, somehow, she’d really made him understand how difficult he’d made her life up to now. And for her to have the guts to go out on her own like this—well, sure, she had a lot more resources than most people, but also a lot less practical life experience, too, so he thought she was being very brave. And then it occurred to him to wonder, “Where are you staying?”

“At the Crystal Sands,” she replied, then rolled her eyes, clearly embarrassed. “I know—not very independent and wild, right? But a girl’s gotta have a roof over her head. And it was a compromise. He wouldn’t agree to this until I had a decent place to stay, so it seemed like an easy answer. And I’ll get my own place when I can.”

“I could use a roommate,” he told her softly, “And a lover.” He didn’t even need to think about it. Chris had been right—sometimes it didn’t take long to know when you’d found the person you wanted to be with. “Despite the short time we’ve known each other, Payton, I…I care for you. And I’d really love the chance to explore that some more.”

Payton bit her lip, amazed. She’d been ready to do this thing on her own—to carve out a life for herself totally
by
herself—but… “To tell you the truth, you’re a big part of why I wanted to stay. I didn’t think you’d want anything more to do with me, but at the same time, I just…didn’t want to leave and know I’d never see you again. And…even if I have wild oats to sow, I’d love to sow them with
you
.”

The naughty grin that unfurled on Scott’s face made her pussy surge. “Don’t worry, baby—I’ll help you sow all the wild oats you want.”

She bit her lower lip, feeling a lascivious little smile overtake her. Her breasts ached and her cunt tingled and—oh God, she got to have
more
of him.
Lots
more!

“I called the yacht earlier to ask you to come over, and that’s why.”

She shook her head, surprised. “What’s why?”

“Well, I wanted to apologize for the things I said last night and…if I had to say goodbye to you, I wanted to do it in a special way. A way that happens to include a little more wild-oat-sowing for my naughty rich girl.”

“Tell me more,” she said, and in response, he took her hand and led her inside, through a small but fairly tidy living room and into a large, sunny bedroom. The first thing she noticed was the shiny cream-colored sheets on the bed. “Oh my God—you got satin sheets!”

Somehow he managed to look slightly sheepish and totally sexy all at once. “Well, honey, you introduced
me
to some new things too—and despite what I said last night, we have plenty in common, like my new appreciation for sex on satin.”