Two if by Sea (14 page)

D
amon and Tony
raced ahead of her, dressed in gold and silver waistcoats and holding pocket watches in their hands.

“Faster, Daphne, we’re late!”

“For what?” Daphne struggled on, trying to keep up, but the harder she ran, the longer the hallway stretched in front of her.

Tony and Damon ducked into a narrow doorway and Daphne raced toward it. She popped through and a voice rang out, stopping her still.

“Off with her head!”

“Rachel?” Daphne looked up to see Rachel sitting on a throne, robes of crimson and gold flowing down her body like rivers of blood.

“It’s the Queen of Hearts to you! Guards! Seize her!”

A pair of new PR associates she’d met a few weeks before grabbed her by the arms. Tony and Damon were nowhere to be seen.

“Let me go! I’ve done nothing wrong!”

“Yes you have! You’ve been living a lie! You’ve been living someone else’s life!”

“No! I want to be in PR. I want to make partner!” She tugged and pulled, but the two associates held her still.

“Off with her head!”

The shiny blade of an axe came out of nowhere and Mr. Hopkins held onto the other end. “Sorry, honey. Looks like I can’t use that body of yours after all. The Queen is taking your place.”

The axe swung down in a vicious arc and…

Daphne screamed. She reached for her neck and her breath came out in jagged sobs. It was a dream. One that hit way too close to home.

She gulped down mouthfuls of air as the terror receded. After a few minutes, she almost laughed.

In a way, she was Alice. She’d gone down the rabbit hole, chasing down two hot guys and a rush and ended up on trial. Too bad she didn’t wake up where she started.

She swung her legs over the edge of the bed and rubbed her eyes. In a few hours, she’d be leaving the Stardust, going home, and shutting the door on this week. On all of that lust and the heartache. The chance at love.

Damn it.
She beat her fists on her pillow. Why did she let herself get carried away? Why did she open her heart?

Even if Rachel hadn’t blown her secret wide open, it would never have worked. Two men and one woman? Just the sort of scandal she worked to cover up. Not what a PR partner should be doing.

There was no way around it. Tony and Damon didn’t fit in Daphne’s life. They never would. She pushed herself up to stand and trudged into the bathroom.
Might as well get on with it.

A few hours later, Daphne wished she’d thrown half of her things overboard. Her bag might as well have been made of lead.

She hiked her stuffed-full weekender over her shoulder and shook her head as Damon offered to carry it. Not a chance.

She wasn’t his responsibility. She never had been. They’d had a nice few days. A crazy fling she could look back on years from now and laugh about. That was all.

“We’ve got a car waiting.” He tried to catch her eye. She didn’t look up.

“I don’t need one. I can catch a cab.”

“Stop being a martyr.” It was the first sentence Tony had spoken since he’d shown up at the door to her suite by Damon’s side.

They’d escorted her through the hallways of the ship and toward the dock without more than a handful of words. It had been surreal. Two days before, she’d have been laughing, they’d have been stealing kisses, and Daphne wouldn’t have had a care in the world.

Now everything sucked.

She tightened her grip on her bag as Damon opened the door in front of her. Blue sky assaulted her and she tugged her oversized hat lower on her brow. The last thing she wanted to see was LA weather.

With her luck, there wouldn’t be a single cloud. Birds would probably sing her all the way to her car.
Ugh
. She pushed her sunglasses up her nose. Why couldn’t today be the day it rained?

Damon and Tony flanked her as they walked down the ramp to the dock.
Odd
. She’d expected more. Wouldn’t some passengers wonder why they’d docked early? Wouldn’t someone be there?

She’d almost anticipated a throng of paparazzi snapping her picture. But she wasn’t one of her former clients. She was just a public relations associate out of a job. No one cared what she did now.

She stepped down onto the dock, the employee said a few words to both men, and the ramp rose behind her.
That’s it. I’m off the boat and back to my life.

Daphne took a deep breath.
Might as well face it now.
She lifted her head, expecting the familiar sights of LA. What she got wasn’t anywhere close.

Rocky outcrops dotted the shoreline. A wooden dock stretched on forever to a sandy beach with not a soul on it. A lighthouse perched on the edge of a cliff. A stone building with flowers hanging from every archway sat nestled on the other edge of the beach.

She’d never seen anything like it. This wasn’t Los Angeles. She glanced up at Damon. “Where are we?”

He smiled. “Welcome to Midnight Cove.”

What?
Her mouth fell open.

“No. I need to go home. You told me…”

“We told you we’d be docking early. I never said where.”

Daphne wanted to smack the hopeful look right off his face. She crossed her arms instead. “I can’t run away with you to some vacation town and hide out. I need to get back to my life. Make calls, schedule interviews. I’ve got a million things to do.

“What about us?” Tony stood beside Damon, his hands stuffed in his pockets. For a man so large and in control, he looked…vulnerable. Exposed.

Daphne shook it off. “What about you? I told you, it would never work. Not now, not ever. How could it? I’ve already been fired.”

Tony tilted his head. “Maybe that was just the beginning.”

“So it’s going to get worse? No, thank you. I’ll pass.” She hugged herself tighter.

“What if getting fired turns out to be a good thing?”

“It can’t possibly.”

Damon stepped forward. “Daphne, look at me.”

She turned to him with a frown. He pried her hands away and she wished they didn’t tremble. “I’m listening.”

“We brought you here because there are some people you need to meet. After you’ve met them and gotten to know the town a little, if you still want to go home, we’ll take you.”

“When?”

“Tonight. We can have a helicopter here within hours.”

Daphne raised an eyebrow. “I don’t need you pulling out all the stops for me.”

“We can afford it.” Damon tugged on her fingers. “Say yes.”

It was against everything her sensible side told her to do. She should be back home in Los Angeles, picking up the pieces of her life. Not walking down a pier and into some town that looked like it had been pulled straight out of the movies.

Samantha’s words echoed in her head. If there was a chance Tony and Damon could find a way…

The smell of blooming flowers mixed with the surf and Daphne swallowed. A few hours. It would only be a few hours. She could meet these people, say goodbye to Damon and Tony, and move on.

Didn’t she owe it to them anyway? She bit her lip and gave Damon a nod. “Okay. I’ll stay. But no promises.”

He smiled. “Never.”

The waiter pulled out her chair and Daphne slid onto the seat. The restaurant was beautiful. Dark hardwoods and walls of windows. Bright white linens and orchids on every table.

A glass of champagne appeared at her seat as a woman in chef’s attire whirled into the private room.

“Tony! Damon! So good to see you. I’m sorry I missed you when you were in town last week.” The woman gave each man a quick hug and turned to Daphne. “You must be Daphne. It’s so good to meet you.”

She held out her hand and Daphne shook it. “Holiday Jones. But call me Holly. Everyone does.”

“Your restaurant is beautiful.”

Holly shrugged. “Don’t thank me, that’s all Ian’s doing. I only make the food.”

A man in a dark blue suit came in, all smiles and handshakes. His long blonde hair was pulled back off his face and the minute he saw Holly, his blue eyes lit up like a clear and sunny morning. “Hi, love.” He leaned in for a kiss before Holly tugged him over.

“Daphne, this is Ian Knowles.”

“Daphne Meadows.” She shook his hand and plastered on a PR smile. Every minute that went by, she slipped back into her old role. The mask came back. Tony and Damon were crazy. She could meet all the residents of the whole town and it wouldn’t cure the ache inside her chest. She couldn’t wait to get out of there.

But she played nice. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Ian. Are you two business partners?”

He chuckled. “That and more. Holly’s the chef here and I help run the front-end. I own a few restaurants and bars in town.”

“More like all of them.” Damon’s voice carried from across the table where he was deep in conversation with another man.

Ian nodded in their direction. “That’s our third musketeer, Trent. He handles our shipping business and runs security.”

Daphne was getting motion sick trying to keep up with everyone. She frowned as she tried to piece it together. “So he’s involved in the restaurant as well?”

Holly laughed. “No, silly. We’re all together, like you and Damon and Tony.” She leaned close and whispered. “It’s kind of crazy, if you ask me, but two guys want to spend the rest of their lives with boring old me.”

“You’re anything but boring, darling.” Ian gave her a squeeze and Daphne gulped down half her champagne. She must be hearing things.

“Trent, come over here and meet their girl.” Holly waved the other man over and he hustled around the edge of the table.

“Trent Malone. I’m the muscle of the relationship.” He shook her hand with a serious grip.

“Hey, I’ve got muscle, too.”

“Yeah, but you don’t know how to use it. Who saved Holly when we were up on that mountain?”

Ian rolled his eyes. “I seem to remember that was a two-man operation.”

Holly butted in the middle. “Just like it always is.” She gave them both a squeeze. “It’s good to meet you, Daphne. I’ve got to get back to the kitchen. You’ll stay for brunch, right? We’re doing waffles and cracked crab.”

Daphne didn’t know what to say. “Okay.” It was the best she could do.

Holly smiled and breezed out of the room as quickly as she’d come in.

Before she could say anything, Damon leaned across the table and asked Trent a question and Ian caught Tony by the arm.

She watched the four of them talk and laugh and carry on like the best of friends. Was this what they’d brought her here to see?

The way they all talked it seemed like Holly and her two men had it all figured out. They’d found a way to make a three-way relationship work. But that didn’t mean she could. They weren’t in public relations. They didn’t live in LA.

A plate full of petit fours arrived and Daphne popped one into her mouth.
Mmm
. Moist yellow cake. Rich raspberry filling. Chocolate buttercream. She wanted to eat the whole plate.

Damon eased into the seat next to her. “What do you think about Holly?”

“She makes the best cake I’ve ever tasted.”

He chuckled and chomped down on one with vanilla frosting. “Mmm. I think you’re right.” He ate another before turning in his chair to face her head-on. “What about their relationship?”

“I’m happy for them. I’m glad they’ve found a way to make it work.”

“And?”

“What? You think one relationship like this is enough to sell me on it? Damon, we’re hundreds of miles up the coast in a tiny resort town. This isn’t Los Angeles.”

“You could move here.”

She gawked. “And do what? Sit on the sand and wiggle my toes in the ocean?”

“If you wanted to.”

Daphne sat back in her chair. “I’m not anyone’s charity case. I can make my own way.”

“I never said you were.” He exhaled. “What if you could work from Midnight Cove, doing PR? Would you think about moving?”

Her first instinct was to say no. But Damon reached out brushed a wayward curl off her face and Daphne jumped. She’d forgotten how the touch of his hand was electric.

She looked up and caught Tony staring. The way his black eyes saw right through her…The way one kiss of his lips sent her flying…Could she move? Daphne shook her head. “I don’t see how it would work. All of my clients would be in Los Angeles. Not up here.”

“Don’t be so sure about that.”

“What are you saying?”

A waiter deposited a plate piled high with Belgian waffles, fresh fruit, and a pair of crab legs in front of Daphne. Damon pointed at it. “Eat. We’ll talk more later.”

“She’s still not sold on the idea?”

Damon shook his head. He’d taken Daphne to every place in the Cove he could think of. They’d had brunch with Ian and Holly and Trent. Gone to coffee at the little shop up the street. Walked Boulevard and Main.

Hell, he’d even pointed out the flowers. Damon wasn’t a flower guy.

“I don’t know what else to do.” She’d seen everything Midnight Cove had to offer, but still Daphne hesitated.

Blake shrugged. “She could meet Summer. I think she’s wrapping up a painting down by the lighthouse. Do you want me to call her?”

Damon ran a hand through his hair. He didn’t know Summer very well. Every time he’d been in town since she’d come back, there had been a gallery showing or she’d been off painting. But she was Blake and Devin’s girl. That had to count for something. “Do you think it’ll help?”

Blake walked out from behind the register. “She ran away from this place twice before she took a chance on us, Damon. If anyone knows what cold feet are, it’s Summer.”

“But she chose you in the end.”

“She did. We’re getting married in two months.”

Damon nodded. If she decided to marry them, maybe she could convince Daphne to stay, at least for a while.

“I’ll call her.”

“Thanks, man.”

“It’s what friends are for.” Blake stepped away to make the phone call and Damon looked around the surf shop.

They’d really hit their stride this year. Summer’s paintings lit up the space with bright blues and crisp whites. Top quality boards from all over the world were stocked and ready. Blake and Devin had transformed the town into a surf mecca.