Wishful Sinful (Rock Royalty Book 5) (21 page)

“Huh? Oh, um, no. Certainly, um, not.” Unfortunately the days away hadn’t eradicated her tendency to blush. She could feel her face beginning to burn.

Not that she was ashamed or anything about yesterday evening. Walsh was a fine lover—

Oh, who was she kidding? He was smokin’. Inventive and amusing and accepting and arousing, and about a million more adjectives that she could name. Most importantly, he’d shown her how to enjoy herself in bed. Her inhibitions and hang-ups hadn’t found space on the mattress once he was on it with her.

As she’d said after he’d given her that incredible orgasm—a memory she’d replayed practically all night long—
wow
.

“You’ll tell me if you have any problems?”

She flicked him a glance. “I have a car reserved to drive me to the airport tomorrow. I’ve already checked in for my flight. There isn’t going to be any trouble.”

“I meant any regrets. Remorse. Uncomfortable thoughts you might have.”

Uncomfortable thoughts? Uncomfortable thoughts because her big bad boss had been attracted enough to play sweet and sexy fun-and-games? He’d
liberated
her.

Why, for the first time in a long while she could imagine herself acting with abandon with some man. He’d be a dark-haired, dark-eyed, heavy-shouldered god of a guy who’d say just the right things to flip her switch. She’d drop her fears and ultimately her entire guard, and she’d give her heart to him.

An ominous chill trickled over her skin. Honey leaped to her feet and moved quickly about the room, searching for anything Walsh might have left behind. Searching for something that would redirect the dangerous turn of her mind as well.

“Is this your pen? No, it’s mine. How about this mother-of-pearl bracelet? No, obviously that’s mine, too.”

She was acting like a spooked, silly goose.

And she couldn’t seem to help herself.

Because suddenly she felt this…this worrisome sense of
loss
.

Everyone got maudlin at the end of a vacation, she assured herself. And remember, she still had another twenty-four hours to enjoy. Perhaps she’d spend all day on the beach. Walsh hadn’t asked her to attend any of the consortium’s scheduled events in his place. She was free…and free of him.

On the other side of the room she sensed him getting to his feet. Good. It was time for him to leave. And then she could be alone and think goddess thoughts about herself and also fantasize about some dark-haired, dark-eyed, heavy-shouldered man she might find—

“Honey.” Walsh put his hands on her shoulders and turned her toward him.

She stared up at the dark-haired, dark-eyed, heavy-shouldered man whose bed she would never play in again. They’d both made promises about that.

But the heat of his hands felt so familiar and familiar too was the jittery response of her nervous system and the traitorous goose bumps that rose on her skin. She remembered that Dayna had said a fling with him was the sure way to get this crush out of her system, and obviously that hadn’t worked just yet. But by the time she was home, surely, surely she’d be cured.

His hands slid to her neck then up into her hair. He tilted her head back, his thumbs brushing the lobes of her ears. She fought off a shiver.

“I’m sorry we had to cut this short,” he said.

“Don’t be. This is good news for the business.”

He nodded, then sighed. “I wish…”

She wondered if he could see all her wishes on her face. He’d have to be blind not to…or willfully so.

That was all right. Better. For the best.

Murmuring something to himself, he leaned down. His warm lips touched her brow.

Then he moved away, and a few minute later he left the villa.

Honey heard the echo of the door closing like a mournful knell in her empty chest. Her legs were leaden as she walked into her room and examined herself in the mirror. The goddess had been a fleeting idea. That sense of being able to fly short-lived. Her happy mood was gone.

Sure, tomorrow she was going home with a golden glow to her skin, a different hairstyle with sun-kissed highlights, and a brand new appreciation of sex.

But no goddess was without a heart—and Walsh had taken hers.

There was no way to deny the truth. She was in love with him.

Back in L.A., Honey didn’t even bother to open her house and stow her suitcase once the driver brought her home. Instead she threw her bag into the trunk of her car and hastened to Payne Colson’s salvage yard. It was her twin siblings’ afternoon to work, and she wanted to check in with them in person.

Seeing her brother and sister would reassure her, and reassurance was what she was after. She wanted to be certain that life could go back to what it was before those days in Mexico.

The plane ride back had been uneventful, and she’d even slept some, but the California skies were gray and the smell of wet asphalt was in the air, quite the letdown after the brilliant days by the ocean. She used the wipers to clear the light rain off her windshield.

She’d feel sunny again once she saw Jeb and Lucy, she told herself. By the time the day ended, when she was settled snug in her home among her own things, she’d feel like the old Honey Brooks, the uber-admin of MadSci.

Her route to the commercial district took her away from the more heavily trafficked areas, and soon she was pulling into the parking lot behind the fence of chain link and razor wire. This facility was Payne’s newest and was dedicated to vintage car parts. When he’d bought the property, along with all the salvage already collected there, among the first tasks had been to build a catalog of what was currently on site. Part of the twins’ job was working with that database.

She found them in the back office, gathered around one of the computers.

“Hey!” Rushing forward, she bent to give each of them a hug from behind. At sixteen, they were still at the gangly stage, but both were taller than she was—Jeb by several inches. When she stepped back, they spun their chairs, and she took a longer look at them, beaming.

“I think you’ve grown in the few days I’ve been gone,” she said.

Their eye rolls were identical.

Honey only laughed, and reached into her purse. “I brought presents from Down Under!”

“That’s Australia,” Jeb said, shaking his head. “Honey, get with it.”

Since she’d made the remark just so he would have the opportunity to sound superior, she laughed. Then she passed to Lucy the pretty silver and turquoise bracelet she’d selected for her. For Jeb, she’d chosen a tooled leather cuff.

When they put them on immediately, her spirits sailed high. Pleasing teenagers was a tricky business.

A shabby loveseat sat against the opposite wall and she plopped onto the cushions. “How’s work going?”

Jeb shrugged. “Okay, I guess. Payne thinks we’re making good headway. He’ll be back pretty soon if you want to talk to him.”

“I came to talk to you. I missed you guys.”

“I like your hair,” her sister said. “I’ve been telling you forever—”

“Yeah, yeah.” Honey touched the curls. “I finally did something because it went bonkers in the humidity. But that’s enough about me. How’s school?”

The twins exchanged glances.

Uh-oh.
“Calculus? Physics?”

Lucy looked down. “It might be calculus
and
physics. We didn’t do so well on our quizzes last Friday.”

“I’m sure that—” Honey had been about to offer Walsh’s tutoring services, but something halted her now, even though pre-Mexico Honey wouldn’t have hesitated. “Do you need to hire someone to help? I’m sure Mom—”

“We’re not talking to Mom,” Lucy said hotly.

Double uh-oh.

Honey sucked in a breath. “I know you’re mad about not being able to go out on the weekend.”

“It’s not just that,” Jeb said. Though the less emotional of the twins, the grim set of his mouth told her he was upset too. “And it’s not just Mom. They’re getting worse, Honey. Shouting at us, shouting at each other…”

Unfortunately, not a new occurrence, not really. But when the twins were younger, she’d been there to usher them out of rooms or out of the house altogether. She’d actually thought their parents’ separation, which occurred around the time she’d moved out of the family home almost two years back, would improve the situation.

But living together or apart, her parents found ways to enrage each other.

Honey bit her lip. “Why don’t I make a call to Mom and see if she’ll be okay with you guys coming to live with me for a few days.”

Lucy shook her head. “It would take us forever to get to school in the mornings from your place.”

Heaven forbid sixteen-year-olds would rise a half-hour earlier than usual. Honey sighed. “At least let me take you out to dinner, then,” she said, glancing at her watch and noting the time. Nearly five o’clock. “Don’t you get off soon?”

“We can’t do that, either.” Jeb rose from his chair and stretched. “Gotta get home and hit the books so we do better on the next quizzes.”

“In order to get accepted to a faraway college where we’ll be out of range of Mom and Dad,” Lucy added.

And out of my range, too
, Honey thought, already feeling a pang of loneliness. She wished she knew how to make things better between her siblings and her parents, but experience told her outright interference always backfired. So she sat quietly while they finished up work and then walked them to their car, trying to sound upbeat when she didn’t feel that way at all.

“I’ll see you soon,” she said. “We’ll think of something fun to do to celebrate you guys acing your next tests.”

Then she waved them off, wearing a big smile. It died as soon as their car receded in the distance, and she barely noticed another vehicle pulling into the lot.

“Hi!” Cilla Maddox waved as she climbed out of the driver’s seat. Her soon-to-be sister-in-law, Cami Colson, got out on the passenger side.

The two women approached Honey, smiling. “You look amazing,” Cami said.

“I…oh…” Suddenly self-conscious, she brushed at her hair.

“And what a cute top,” Cilla added. “Those are the jeans we helped you pick out, right?”

They were hot pink and kind of tight, and she’d never thought she’d wear them, except they’d been in her suitcase when she’d dressed for the flight home and matched the flowers on the embroidered top she’d picked up while shopping on the island with Dayna. It was cream muslin, peasant-style, with puffed sleeves and decorated with colorful, hand-stitched vines and blossoms.

Cami glanced at Cilla. “Honey looks like a totally different person.”

“No, no,” she protested. “I’m the same. I’m totally the same. Walsh’s assistant, nothing more.”

Oh, crud. That sounded suspicious even to her own ears. She pretended her face wasn’t flaming with embarrassment. “Well, it was great to see you, but I should get going.”

“Not without a fuller trip report!”

At that moment another car pulled into the lot. Noting it held Payne and one of Cilla’s brothers, Brody, she resigned herself to a few more minutes of small talk.

Since it began to drizzle again, they persuaded her to go inside the office to continue their chat.

“After Payne locks up we’re going out for drinks,” Cilla said. “You should come with us.”

“No, thanks,” Honey glanced once more at her watch. “I haven’t even had a chance to unpack yet.”

“Walsh is probably back at his desk already,” Brody said. “Knee-deep in super secrets.”

“He actually flew out a day earlier than I did for some important meetings on the East Coast,” Honey said. “I’m not sure when he’ll return.”

“Ah.” Payne rubbed his chin. “That explains why I got that cryptic text about keeping an eye on you.”

“What?” It came out like a squawk. “That’s…strange. Of course I’m perfectly capable of taking care of myself.”

Cami poked her with an elbow. “Did something happen? Did you meet some sexy man like I forecasted? I bet that riled up ol’ Walsh. He probably wants to make sure you got back to L.A. instead of opting for a quickie wedding across the border.”

“Don’t tease, Cam,” Brody put in. “That’s not nice.”

“What are you talking about, teasing?” the other woman replied. “Walsh’s world would fall apart without his second brain.”

Was that why he’d never considered Honey as wife material? Because she already had a more important—to his mind, anyway—role in his life? Not that she’d marry a man who didn’t love her, no matter how strong her feelings for him.

Her mood descended lower, and she reached for her keys. “I really need to get home,” she told the group. “It was good catching up with you.”

She had her car door open when Brody jogged out of the salvage yard office. “Got a second?”

“Uh, sure.” When he stopped beside her, she looked up. “What is it, Brody?”

A smile flitted across his face. “Not everyone can tell me apart from Bing. You always seem to know, even at first glance.”

She shrugged. “My special talent, maybe?”

“I’m sure you have more than one of those.” He studied her face, then smiled again. “Let me take you out to lunch tomorrow.”

“Um…” She blinked, and a question spilled out of her mouth. “Why would you want to do that?”

“Maybe I feel like going out with a nice woman.”

For a change
, went unsaid, but Honey thought she heard it anyway. The Rock Royalty had become fierce in their interest in one another’s well-being, and rumors flew about the group that Brody Maddox had a habit of pulling disappearing acts—and coming home the worse for wear. Booze and bad women, they worried, the good twin finally succumbing to the legacy of the Velvet Lemons.

Whether that was true or not, Honey liked the man—and MadSci would seem so lackluster without Walsh’s presence at his desk. She could use a break from that.

“Sure.” She smiled. “Sounds great.”

The rain clouds disappeared on her drive home. Though darkness had fallen by the time she reached her neighborhood, the intersections were illuminated by streetlights and the houses by cheery fixtures along the front walks or by the front doors or both. Her own—operated by a timer—welcomed her as she pulled into her narrow driveway.