The Rules In Paradise (Playing By The Rules) (31 page)

             
"I think you owe an explanation for that."

             
"I would disagree, but I do believe at this point it is too early to argue since I'm willing to bet you have my balls in a proverbial vice, so I'll start with an 'Anything you want sweetheart'. He was pissed I broke it off, obviously. Rather than understanding that his daughter was the issue he decided to try to squeeze us dry. After much debate I was just going to take him to court. Of course he didn't care for that given I had done nothing wrong in a business sense. Take that look off your face, I do mean in the business sense. I have never practiced bad business and I had documentation to prove we had tried to repay him. Well fast forward to him getting served papers to appear in court. He knew he was in the wrong so he came to my office one day. He said if we didn't take him to court we wouldn't prey on anymore of our customers. However he had already scared away about a fifth of them. Our multi-deal that I told you about was on the ledge, about to jump to another company. He said that if we didn't take him to court he would leave us be and would make sure that Ron Johnson, the head of the decision making for the multi-deal, stayed with us and take us on for the 14 building contract we had started to draw. Since then he has stayed far away from myself and Jason. I retracted the court papers, but I have them ready to use at any moment."

             
"What he was doing was illegal right?"

             
"I wouldn't say illegal. I couldn't prove that he was doing it because I broke his poor daughter's heart. But he could do a lot of damage before an investigation would prove that Jason and I have never done anything wrong. That was two by the way."

             
I started to argue but realized he was right. I had to play much smarter if I wanted the most bang for my question buck.

             
"My turn, tell me the truth about this annoying James fellow. We have not agreed to my question limit and I do not wish to enter into that agreement."

             
"Let me preface that question with a question, and you've got to promise me it doesn't count against me."

             
"I promise," he said. This time I was the one who stopped walking. I held out my hand but with only my pinkie finger up. He stopped and gave me a look.

             
"You have to pinkie promise otherwise I don't believe you won't count it against me. This is how the rest of the world promises, no handshake needed." He wrapped his pinkie around mine with a sigh.

             
"How long were you there last night?" He gave a deep breath and another sigh.

             
"Long enough to want to wring his neck."
             

             
"No, really, how long?"

             
"I watched you conspicuously watch him from down the bar. I watched you approach him. I watched him put his fucking hands all over your body. Then I watched you two try to eat each other's faces off. I watched him invite you back to his room and I watched you agree." His voice was quiet by the end. The hint of amusement and playfulness was gone.

             
"Then you know the whole truth," I said feeling slightly embarrassed.

             
"You had just met him that evening? It seemed as if you two had seen each other before."

             
"No, you watched me meet him." He took a deep breath and closed his mouth again as if hesitating.

             
"Go on, ask it," I said. I was kind of nervous about what was coming next.

             
"Were you really going to sleep with him?" He asked. His voice was still quiet.

             
"Probably." I suddenly felt disgusted and upset with myself.

             
"Why?"

             
"Why not? What did I have to lose? I came here to have fun, to finally face my thoughts of you back in the place where they started."

             
"Is that your new way of having fun? Sleeping with random men?"

             
"Is that your way of asking me if I've been with anyone since you?"

             
"Perhaps."

             
"Then no, it's not my idea of fun."

             
"Since me? That makes me feel wistful. I feel like we have so much history in so little time. Like we are these storybook characters who think about our long written history. I find it extremely impossible that I have known you for so little time, but we are here in this uncertainty in our relationship."

             
I watched his expression turn utterly serious and his focus shifted to his feet rather than the space in front of us.

             
"I know this doesn't begin to make any part of it easier, but it was never about you. It was never on purpose, to hurt you, or to prove anything. It was to make our lives easier until I got myself out of that mess." His voice was softer now, he didn't speak with the same matter-of-fact cadence he usually did.

             
"It doesn't help, it doesn't make me feel better. It makes me feel sick. Think about how you felt, watching us dance, watching him touch me. Times that by a thousand."

             
"I really was thankful that he was going to bring you back to your room. Otherwise I would have had to find him. I was so angry Olivia. I had no right to be, but my goodness, I wanted to kill him. I thought about that, I'm not lying to you. I thought about how angry I was just seeing you dance. I wouldn't have survived the thought if you had left without seeing me there. I wouldn't be able to live with the thought that I had watched you leave with a man who intended to defile you."

             
"Is that what you did, defile me?" I asked, giving him a little smile.

             
"I already loved you by then, I already knew that I had found pure happiness in you. He just wanted to get laid. I just wanted it because it was you."

             
His honesty took me aback. The tone of his voice was emotional and powerful. I felt my heart pull as I thought about him sitting there, watching it all happen. On one hand I was mortified and embarrassed. On the other he knew it ended in nothing, and I had to live with the thought that his story ended in a much different way.

             
"Ok, question number three."

             
"Or question four, but continue. I'm feeling generous today."

             
"What was the moment that tore you up the most? Like, what event or moment or thing did your mind always take you back to torture you?"

             
"That is a really good question actually. I'm not sure I guess. Let me think about it. What is yours?"

             
"The boat. That is when I realized that I could really love you. I watched you be yourself and charm everyone there. It shocked me that everyone was there for you. I'll never forget the look on your face when I first got onboard," I said.

             
"I was blown away. I had always thought you were beautiful, but in that moment I swear you glowed like an angel. A scandalous angel of course in that dress, but you were truly heavenly. You literally took my breath away. I loved you before that, but it was that moment that I knew I would do anything to protect you and love you."

             
"I'd never been looked at like the way you looked at me. Nobody ever treated me like I was precious and breakable like you did later that night. It went so far beyond how you are naturally. You are always so in control and not a sugar coated bone in your body. But that night you made me feel cherished and precious and breakable."

             
"That is how I see you Olivia. You are strong-willed and stubborn as hell, but to me you are to be admired. You are cherished by me and you should be treated like a queen."

             
I smiled at him and kept walking. It seemed like we had walked miles. I had been so caught up in talking to him that I hadn't even thought about what was going on around us.

             
"That night on the beach. When we spent the night just laying, I think that was my favorite. I could see your face outlined in the soft light from the stars, and you looked so beautiful that it hurt my heart. It was that night and that look on your face that haunted me. It was quite unfortunate considering stars come out every night, so I was reminded of it frequently," he said.

             
I smiled to myself. There were so many moments that I treasured with him. I could add today to that list as well.

             
"Come on, we're almost there, see the tent?" He said, pointing a ways down the beach to a white tent.

             
"What is it?" I asked.

             
"You're over your question limit, sorry," he said with a smile.

Chapter 25

             
"Jet skis?" I asked when we had gotten close to the tent.

             
"Yes ma'am. They rent them here," He said.

             
"I don't know if you know this about me or not, but I'm not terribly coordinated or good at this kind of stuff," I said starting to get nervous.

             
"Stop worrying, I'll handle it. I just want you to give me a little faith."

             
I stood back as Cole talked to the man in the tent. They spoke amiably for a few minutes, money exchanged hands, as usual, and Cole came walking back to me smiling.

             
"We're ready to go. I don't imagine you are already wearing your bathing suit?" He asked. I shook my head no.

             
"Ok, well we'll make due with what we have. Ours is down a little bit further. If you have anything that cannot get wet I suggest you leave it in the tent with Damian. I trust him implicitly so it will be ok there." I handed Cole my bag that had very few things in it and he brought it to the tent. I walked with him and we headed a little further down the beach.

             
"This is it. Just stay there. I'm going to get on, start it up and then I'll have you climb on. Just be careful, it will be fine." He climbed on the jet ski and the engine roared to life. He adjusted a few things before he waved me over. I stood next to him on the beach even more nervous than before.

             
"Just step down, throw one leg over and sit, it won't move much, don't worry," he said over the noise from the engine. I did as he said and was firmly planted behind him.

             
"It's going to be like it's sinking in the back, it's not. Just hold on and you won't go anywhere," he called back to me. I wrapped my arms around him and held on.

             
We left the shore and I had dug my chin into his back and my hands were locked together ridiculously tightly around his stomach. I slowly started to weaken my grip and actually opened my eyes to look around. We were going much faster than I had anticipated. I glanced back at the shore and I couldn't even see it. We had gone a long way.

             
"Where are we going?" I yelled to him.

             
"No more questions," he replied and carried on driving us forward.

             
About ten minutes later I felt us start to slow down. His foot wasn't on the accelerator anymore, we were simply coasting forward.

             
"You're going to feel a bump when we hit land, just hold on," he called back. Sure enough I felt the bump and he quickly turned the motor off.

             
"Stay put, just a minute," he said. He unhinged my hands from around him and jumped off. The water came up above his knees and the bottoms of his shorts were getting wet. He pulled and pushed the jet ski until it wasn't going to budge from the shore.

             
"Just put either of your legs on this side. I'll help you off," he said. He held out his hands to me and I did as he asked. I scooted to the edge of the seat and he took me by the waist and lifted me up, carrying me until I stepped only on sand.

             
"Thank you," I said as I straightened my clothing. "Where are we?" I asked.

             
"Somewhere we won't be bothered," he said as he walked a little bit ahead of me.