The Parking Space (12 page)

“Thank you.” My voice was nothing but a whisper as our eyes locked.

“You’re welcome.” With a swift shift of his weight, he scooped me up into his arms.

A squeal left my lips. “What are you doing? I can walk.”

“Yeah, but you’re slow. We can get you there faster if I just carry you.”

Crap. He has a point.

“Okay, well, that . . . that I can’t argue with . . .” I pointed down the dock, trying to make the best of my mortification. “Home, Jeeves.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

I ROCKED FROM side to side in Rick’s arms, a comfort that relaxed my body and melted the stress of the day. I laid my head on his shoulder. Faint remnants of his cologne tickled my nose with rustic scent.

“Helen!” Lisa screamed my name in the distance, the shrillness in her volume caused me to flinch. “What the heck happened? Dr. Stark? What . . . what is going on? What are you doing here? Why are you carrying Helen?”

She darted toward us, leaving Ben behind as she sprinted.

“Hey, Lisa.”

“What happened?”

“I got stung by a jellyfish.”

“A jellyfish? How did you get stung by a jellyfish?”

“It happened when we were snorkeling.”

“You went snorkeling?” Her gaze shifted from me to Rick, then back to me. Her eyebrows furrowed together and she exhaled a deep breath. “Okay, okay, back it up. What is going on? I’m so confused.”

As Ben finally reached us, the two men nodded toward one another, but Lisa intervened before they could utter a word to one another.

“Dr. Stark, why are you here? And how did you two run into each other?”

“I hate to cut your questions short, Miss Carter, but if you don’t mind, can we continue this conversation in Helen’s villa?” Rick adjusted my weight against his chest.

“You can put me down, Rick, I can walk.”

“Rick?” Lisa’s head jerked as she glanced from me to him then back to me.

“I’ll put you down when I’ve reached your couch, okay?” Through the amusement in his voice, a hard, stern determination focused the hazel hue.

“Fine. Fine.”

He strode past Lisa and Ben, who moved out of his way then followed close behind him. I glanced over his shoulder, catching the confused, and yet, intrigued bounce in her step.

“Where is your room key?” Rick asked as he approached the front door.

“It’s in my back pocket.”

He set me down, allowing my arms the freedom to dig into my shorts for the tiny silver trinket. Before I could even think to try to stick it in the lock, he grasped the key from my hand and unlocked the door.

“Ah, don’t even think about it.” He pointed his finger in my face.

“I can at least make it inside.”

“I think you should just let him handle it, Helen.” Delight flecked Lisa’s voice.

I shot her a glare. “Who asked you?”

She cocked her head to the side, and winked while a smirk spread across her face—an all too familiar smirk that I’d seen countless times when she was pushing me toward a man.

Before I could open my mouth in protest once more, he scooped me back into his arms and carried me to the couch. The fluffy cushions were nothing compared to his warmth.

Lisa wasted no time in flopping down in the chair next to me s Rick strolled off toward the bathroom.

“Uh, care to enlighten me on a few things you didn’t mention to me last night when we spoke on the phone. You know things like why he’s here and why you two are together, or, oh I don’t know, that you even bumped into him at all. Why didn’t you tell me he was here?”

“Because I knew how you’d react. And I didn’t know what to make of the situation, yet.”

Her eyes lit up. “Aha! I knew you. I knew you two would hit it off.

“Oh, now, slow down there, roadrunner. He’s made it extremely clear that he’s not looking for a relationship.”

“Oh, please, men say that all the time, and then change their minds. Heck, Ben even said it to me when we first met. Within a week, he’d called me ten times asking me out.” She waved her hand as though to exaggerate her point and winked. “For all you know—”

“Oh no.” I raised my hand to her face. “Don’t say it. I know what you’re thinking. This is not the start of a relationship.”

“That you know of.”

“You’re impossible.” I reached for one of the decorative pillows and covered my face with it for a moment, toying with the idea of throwing it at her head.

“Am I?”

“Oh, shut up.”

She opened her mouth to retort once more, but thought better after Rick strode back into the room. While Ben rounded the couch to her chair, Rick made his way over to me and handed me a glass of water.

“Where’s your phone?” he asked.

“It’s over on that table. Why?”

“I was going to call room service and order a couple bottles of water and lunch for us.”

“Us.” Lisa’s tone clawed up my skin, her mocked hint toward some sort of romance between us obvious to everyone in the room.

“Someone needs to watch her for a possible reaction.”

“Well,” the letter ‘l’ lengthened through her voice. Her tongue rested between her teeth as she glanced at Ben. “I guess we’ll get out of your way, then. We have to meet our parents near the front desk in a few minutes, anyway.” As she stood to leave, she pointed her finger at Rick. “Promise me that you’ll take good care of her.”

“I promise you I will.”

“Wait . . . what are you doing in Bora Bora, anyway?”

Ben stepped forward and reached for Lisa’s hand. “Honey, we should get going. We don’t want to be late and keep everybody waiting.”

“I know, I know, I’m just wondering why he’s here of all places.”

“Oh for the love of Pete, Lisa, he’s here for a job interview.” While I didn’t mean to shout, by the time I’d finished my sentence, my volume nearly surprised me.

“A job interview?” Lisa glanced between Rick and me.

“Honey, I don’t think that’s any of our business.” For the first time, annoyance flickered in the deep brown of Ben’s eyes. Whether or not the stress of the week had gotten to him, I didn’t know, but it was the first time he’d ever taken any kind of a tone with Lisa that I knew of.

“It’s quite all right,” Rick assured. “There has been a clinic here that has expressed their interest in my employment, yes, however, I haven’t decided on the position yet.”

“But wouldn’t that mean you’d move away from San Francisco? What about your practice? Or . . .” She glanced at me. “Or anyone that might interest you?”

“Don’t you have to meet your parents,” I interrupted—my tone crisp enough to give Lisa the stern warning that she needed to stop.

“Fine. Fine. We’re going. We’re going.”

I laid my head back against the couch pillow as she and Ben left, shutting the front door behind them. Sudden exhaustion plagued me along with an empty stomach that growled with a loud rumble.

“You doing okay over there?”

“Yeah. I’m just tired.”

“I understand. Here’s the menu for the room service.” Rick handed me the leather-bound binder. “Pick out what you want and I’ll get it ordered for you.”

“Oh, thank you.”

While he sat down in the chair, I flipped through the laminated pages past the breakfast list. Salads, pizza, sandwiches, seafood, steak, pasta—the descriptions of each item caused my stomach to rumble even more.

Minutes later, while he ordered our desired meals, I closed my eyes and nestled down in the cushions and pillows.

A gentle, salty breeze blew in through the opened doorway out onto the deck, whispering across my skin and drawing out the sweet scents from the fresh cut flowers filling several of the vases around the villa. Even in the heat, goose bumps prickled through my arms, causing the hairs to stand on end.

“They said twenty to twenty-five minutes.”

Opening one eye for a brief moment, I glanced at Rick as he returned to the chair.

“I guess that’s not too bad even though I’m starving.”

“Well, we were supposed to eat at noon, but then someone decided a few hours in the hotel medic sounded like a better way to spend their day.”

“Ha ha. Very funny.”

“I’m just trying to give you a hard time.”

“Given the events of the day, that shouldn’t be hard.”

Heavy laughter burst through his lips. “Ain’t that the truth?”

“Hey now. I thought you said we could start over.”

“You’re right, I did. And we will.”

I propped myself up, squinting a little with the pain still burned through my skin. “So, Dr. Stark, with that in mind . . . what on earth made you look for a job, here of all places?”

He leaned forward in the chair and rested his elbows on his knees, clasping his hands together. “Honestly?”

“Yeah, I think I’d prefer the truth over a lie.”

He gave a slight smile, but within seconds, it vanished and he cleared his throat. “San Francisco hasn’t been a fun place for me to live this past year. It’s full of memories and old wounds that just can’t seem to heal—especially when you run into the one who caused them to begin with.”

“Oh.” I sat up a little straighter.

Although he hadn’t used many details, months of living in the shadows of my former life with Tom helped me understand perfectly.

“I’m . . . I’m so sorry. I know that feels.”

“Anyway, one night I saw my ex, Sandra, with . . . they were having dinner, and I don’t know, something just snapped inside, and I knew I just needed a change in my life, a big change.”

“I understand. I went through all those emotions, too, after I was left at the altar. Of course, I couldn’t really act on them with my job and my whole life tied so close to the city.”

“Wow. I didn’t know that happened to you. That must have been rough.”

“Eh, it’s in the past. No sense in digging it back up.”

Slowly, I adjusted my weight, and rolled on my side as I thought of the man in the lobby. Surely, he was nothing but a ghost in my imagination, a thought so foolish I nearly cringed at my own stupidity.

Rick’s brow furrowed. “I used to wonder what would’ve happened with Sandra, but over time I stopped. Would we have been happy, would we have had any kids, what would our family be like—all the questions I used to ask myself just didn’t matter anymore, ya know?”

“Yeah, I understand.” I bit my lip as my gaze drifted toward the opened doorway out onto the deck. While I’d stopped asking myself those same questions about Tom, they suddenly seemed to pop up in my head. Conversations about kids had been our biggest fights—a daily burden that seemed to hover over us like dark clouds.

He didn’t want children.

And I did.

How I could have been so stupid to think I could change his mind, I’ll never know. Nor how I could be so selfish to think he needed his mind changed. He had every right to say no to children, just as I had every right to want them.

“Helen?”

“Yes?”

“You zoned out on me.”

“Oh, sorry. I just kind of got lost in my thoughts for a moment.”

Our eyes locked, and yet, we didn’t utter another word. He understood in a way that no one else had. We shared something, even if it was heartbreak.

“Can I ask you something?” While I hesitated to ask the question plaguing me, I knew that living even another second without the answer would prove more than I could bear. “How much are you considering this job?”

“Honestly? A lot. Anyone who would pass up this opportunity is a fool. Plus, there’s nothing keeping me in San Francisco.”

“Then why didn’t you tell Natalie yes this afternoon?”

“I’m not about to accept a job in a hotel lobby.” He laughed. “I’ll tell her in a few days when I stop by the clinic. Do you want to go with me? I mean to see the clinic, of course. You could see all the animals. We have several litters of newborn kittens that could use some attention.”

Although his words had punched a hole in my chest, I fought off my utter devastation, distracting myself with a forced attempt to mask my sadness with a joke.

“Let’s see, surrounded by litters of newborn kittens . . . and you think that I’d say no because?”

“I guess I should have known. We’ll go over there when you’re feeling better. So, do you want to eat in here or should we eat out on the deck?”

“Uh, obviously the deck. I mean, have you seen my view?”

We both laughed.

“Do you think you can make it to the table?”

“I think so. My leg still hurts, but I’ll be okay.”

He rose to his feet and strolled over to the phone once more.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m going to add a couple bottles of wine to our order.”

“It’s three o’clock in the afternoon,” I laughed.

“Yes, but baby, it’s five o’clock somewhere.” He winked. “But, if you want to wait, we can save them for dinner if you want.”

“Dinner?”

“You think I’m going to just leave here after we eat lunch? I thought I’d stay for a while if you don’t mind. I doubt you’d want a soak in your hot tub, but maybe a night swim. The salt water will help your burn.”

“Or give me another one.”

“Ah, now, don’t tell me you’re not going to go back in the water again.”

“I was thinking about it.”

“Just give it one more chance. For me? Please? I thought if you were feeling up to it, in a few days I’d take you to swim with the stingrays.”