The Billionaire's Island Romance (The Romero Brothers, Book 3.5) (5 page)

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Christian sat at the bar by the pool a
while later, his cousin Carl at his side. A live band on the makeshift concert
stage by the poolside played the reggae ballad “Three Little Birds” by Bob
Marley. The lyrics
“don’t worry about a
thing, ‘cause every little thing
gonna
be alright,”
boomed through the sound speakers on the stage. Christian wished he could
follow Bob Marley’s advice right now.

A surge of powerful emotions shot through
Christian’s body. He was torn with conflicting feelings. First, he was elated
that he’d finally made some reconciliation with Arianna. She was at least
talking to him again. That was a huge step. It had been way too long—a
month, since they’d made direct contact. He thought he’d lost her forever. That
would have killed a part of him. He couldn’t imagine his life without her.

Second, he was sickened at the thought of
her being harassed by her creepy-behaving uncle. He didn’t like that someone
held an axe over his girl’s head. He didn’t like it one bit. Anger seethed
through his body. He felt a torrent of adrenaline rush through his blood at the
memory of the way her uncle looked at her, as if trying to intimidate her. Was
she terrified of her uncle?

Christian had an overwhelming urge to find
out more about this uncle character. Everything. He didn’t take too kindly to
threats being made against a nice young lady from a man, especially against
his
lady.

“So you want to know what’s the deal with
her uncle?” Carl clarified, sipping on his icy drink.

“Yeah. I don’t trust him. I need to know
everything about him and exactly what he has over Arianna and her parents.”

“Did she say anything specific?”

“Not a lot to go on. Just what I’ve told
you so far.” Christian gazed into the sparkling pool, his eyes were narrowed
and although he was glancing at the water, he wasn’t registering the image of
the swimming pool. His mind was clouded with visions of Arianna, obviously
terrified. Holding some sort of guilt, an onerous burden on her shoulders. Was
this the main reason she’d backed off from getting too close to him? Heck,
every family had a black sheep, or two, but he wasn’t about to let that deter
what they could have together.

“No problem, cuz. I’ve got my men on it.
They’re doing a background check on this guy as we speak.”

“Hell, you made a call already? That was
fast.”

“Yeah, well, as soon as you told me
earlier, I got right on it. Time is everything in this business. Besides, you
really sounded pissed off when we first spoke about it. I just gave our man
JoJo the details, like his name and his link to this place.
A
couple small things to go on right now.
I’ll let you know what they come
up with.”

“Thanks, cuz.”

“Hey, Romeros stick together. We don’t take
chances with threats, whether to our friends or us, and in your case, your
future wife-” Carl grinned and arched his brow.

“What?” Christian turned to his cousin.
“Don’t you think you’re jumping ahead, Carl? Who said anything about marriage?”

“Hey, man, I’m just pulling your leg.
Gramps would love to think that all of us will be tying the knot soon.” He
rolled his eyes, grinning as he shook his head. He lifted his drink to his lips
again, taking a long sip.

Christian shifted his gaze to a couple by
the poolside, cuddling together on the side. He thought about a time when he’d
taken Arianna to the amusement park, they’d held hands and embraced most of the
day. They were supposed to be sightseeing and having fun, instead they had
turned in early and spent the rest of the evening exploring each other’s bodies
like an amusement park, enjoying all the rides, experiencing all the
excitement, together.
 

God, they had such a wicked chemistry. He
felt it and he knew she sure as hell must have felt it. Then it just stopped
abruptly. Something was troubling her.
Something deep and
terrifying for her.
What the heck was it? He would soon find out. He
didn’t want anything blocking her happiness in life. She deserved it and much
more. Whether she was with him or not, he truly wanted Arianna to have the good
life she deserved.

“Can’t believe Zack’s tying the knot, man,”
Carl commented.

“Yeah, I know.” Christian couldn’t help but
grin. “Never thought that Zack, the ultimate lady’s man, would settle down like
that, but Blue’s a pretty cool gal.”

“Yeah. But you know what this means,
right?”

“No. What?”

“My grandfather is going to believe that if
Zack can settle down, then all of us can settle down.”

Christian laughed. “Yeah, that sounds like
Uncle Toni all right.”

“So we’re gonna have to run down that aisle
or run away so he doesn’t catch us.”

Christian laughed out loud. “Yeah, right.
Better get your sneakers on, then bolt,” he teased his cousin. “You’re gonna
need to sprint the hell far away. Uncle Toni is fast and he’ll catch up with
you.”

“Oh, I don’t think so.”

“So, what about you?” Christian asked,
holding his drink up to his lips and taking a long, refreshing swig as he sat
enjoying his time with Carl.

“What about me?”

“You seeing someone?”

“Nah, not seriously.”

“What about that cute assistant you have?
Venus. Don’t tell me nothing’s going on there.”

“Oh, no, man. It’s nothing like that. She’s
sweet. She’s a good girl.”

“Doesn’t have to mean she isn’t a good girl
if something’s going on. You’re both single, right?”

“Well, that’s just it. I don’t know what’s
with her. She’s real secretive about her life. Everything.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, but that shouldn’t surprise you. Women
like to keep a lot to themselves for some reason.” He arched a brow.

Christian grinned. “Did you find out
anything about her?”

“We know all we need to know about her for
work. I would only use our men for good reason. Not just to be, well, all up in
her business.”

“I bet if you two were together, you’d be
all up in her business!” Christian delighted in poking fun at his cousin.

Carl looked as if he was far away for a
moment. “Yeah, well, she’s a nice girl. I really like her. Not saying that I
don’t. I just…
something’s
just a little mind-boggling
about her. But nothing we found out about her seemed odd or out of place, so
we’re leaving it for now.”

“I see.”

“Anyway, I’m going for a swim. I need to
cool off.” Carl placed his glass on the counter.

“I’m with you, man.” Christian could do
with a few laps right now. He thought about Arianna and couldn’t wait to see
her again. Now that he’d spent some time with her for the first time in over a
month, he just couldn’t get enough of her.

“Uncle!” Christian beamed as he approached
Toni Romero, his favorite elderly uncle, who was seated beside his young wife
in the lounge of the hotel. The Sunset Beach room was gorgeous, overlooking the
Caribbean Sea soaking in the fiery sun as it set.
Guests
 
mingled
about in the lounge. It
was in the early evening.

“Well, how’s my favorite nephew?” Toni
grinned and held his arms open. Christian leaned over and hugged him, patting
him on the back.

“Shelly, you’re looking well.”

“Thank you, Christian.”

It seemed as if the rest of the Romero crew
had touched down in Montego Bay and they all decided to gather in the Sunset
Beach lounge. Waiters, dressed in white, walked about offering guests
refreshments. Romantic music played over the speakers soft enough that you could
still hear conversations of people with whom you were speaking.

Zack and Blue were cuddled together in a
corner of the lounge nuzzling each other like soon-to-be newlyweds, while
Antonio and Lucy were sitting together hugging. Their toddler, Alexander, was
playing with his cousin and new friends in the Duponte Hotel Childcare Play
Center. Lucas and Maxine cuddled together whispering in each other’s ears.
Maxine had given birth to a baby girl just six months earlier (also being
entertained at the play center) and this was her first time getting
out—so to speak.

Carl was busy flipping through the screens
on his smartphone—always dealing business as usual. Carl had long been
rumored to be running for mayoral office up in Canada, but everybody told him
it would be a challenge being the first bachelor to run. Most candidates were
married with families. It was all part of the presentation.

Jules and Dion were by the bar deep in
conversation. Troy was speaking with the Romero family’s press secretary,
Pamela, who had also arrived from Toronto, and Alonso, Dr. Alonso
Romero—that is—was sitting by the side enjoying the music and the
breathtaking views of the red sunset and the calming waves of the sea.

A pain of longing shot through Christian’s
veins. He’d never really thought of himself as a marrying man but seeing his
cousins so happy—the ones who were hitched or about to get
hitched,
made him rethink his priorities. He wasn’t exactly
getting any younger. Sure, he’d be thirty soon, but he really had strong feelings
towards Arianna. The question was, did she feel the same about him? She was
still holding back and that bugged the hell out of him. Yeah, she said she
loved his body and the chemistry between them was out of this world. She even
told him that she loved him, for who he was. Yeah, right!
Just
not enough to trust him.
But man, her body caused a reaction in him each
and every time, but was that enough. He glanced at his uncle who was in his
seventies, married for the fifth time to his young nurse who was in her
forties. Heck, even he was getting some regularly. He was blissfully married.

“You know,” Toni turned to Shelly, “I love
this.”

“The vacation?”

“No. Well, yes, that too, and getting
together with family. It’s one of the most important things to do in life with
those close to you.”

“I agree. You raised the boys well, Toni.”

“I tried.” He teetered his hand in a mock
so-so gesture. “Some of them are still a little rough around the edges, you
know,” he teased.

“Hey, what’s that supposed to mean?” Carl
interjected playfully.

“Well, so far, Lucas and Antonio and now
Zack will be married.
But what about the rest of you?
I told you that having a loving wife by your side and a family to call your own
is one of the greatest assets in a civilized society. Looking at little
Alexander today and Mary-Louise made my heart sing for joy,” he said, glancing
up with a sincere smile on his face. “I’m so happy to see Lucas and Antonio
bearing fruit for the Romero family tree.”

“Granddad!” Carl voiced.

“Well, come on now. Look at me. Look at my
age. I feel blessed to have two beautiful great-grandchildren. But considering
my age, I should have more.” Toni playfully laughed and winked.

“Besides,” he continued. “What type of life
do you think I would be having now if I didn’t have any children to begin with?
I wouldn’t have had your father and Antonio’s father. And then there would be
no you or your brothers, Carl.”

“Okay, Granddad, you’ve got a point.”

“Life would be so empty without any family
at this juncture.”

“Yeah, but you still have my brothers, and
me,” Christian chimed in with a wink. He held up his beer bottle to his lips to
take a swig. “I mean
,
you forgot you have your younger
brother. My father?” Christian cocked a brow.

“Hmm-mmm. If that’s how you want to look at
it,” Toni fumbled for words for the first time. His younger brother, Jackson,
had quite a few sons who lovingly called him uncle. One of them was Christian.
“But it’s still not the same as having your own family tree growing,” Toni
said, winking back.

Just then, Arianna dropped in to see that
everyone was okay. She smiled sheepishly when her eyes caught Christian’s. They
always seemed to have this little
play thing
going on.
His crotch throbbed when she stepped beside him. There was something about her
aura, her presence that always got this reaction in him. God, she looked hot in
her red evening dress. Hot as hell!
Sinfully sexy.

“So when are you two tying the knot?” Toni
asked Christian and Arianna.

“Toni!” Shelly exclaimed beside him.

“Granddad, we’re not doing this again, are
we?” Carl teased, as he turned off his phone and placed it on the table before
him.

“Hey, I’m just saying.” Toni shrugged his
shoulders innocently. “Come on now. You two look so good together and don’t
tell me all this talk of wedding doesn’t get you in the mood.” He winked.

Christian shoved his hands in his pockets and
shook his head, grinning.