Bring It On (20 page)

How pathetic was that?

But what Colt offered wasn’t any better. In fact, it was worse.

“And what exactly would I do in Peru? Wash your clothes? Cook your meals? Or would my only responsibility be to make myself available whenever you weren’t busy and wanted a roll in the hay?”

Colt’s eyes narrowed. “Don’t do this.”

“Do what? Ask the hard questions?”

“Bring everything down to the lowest common denominator. Don’t put a wedge between us.”

She laughed, the sound ringing with bitterness. “Us? There is no us, Colt. There’s now, this week. We both knew when it was over we’d go our separate ways. It’s just going to happen a little earlier than we’d planned.”

She shrugged, a sharp pain lancing through her chest. She resisted the urge to wrap her arms around herself, not wanting him to see her weakness.

“I will not follow you like some bitch in heat. I will not be my mother.”

“What the hell does your mother have to do with this?” he bellowed, frustration and anger quickly overshadowing everything else.

“Nothing. I have a life. A job I enjoy. Pieces to pick up and put back together. My place is in D.C.”

She would not leave everything behind without a backward glance for a man, not even for Colt. Part of her wanted to give in, to agree to anything he asked. It would be so easy to do.

But he hadn’t offered her promises. He hadn’t told her he loved her or needed her or wanted something more than an extension of the pleasure they’d found together on the island.

Maybe if he had…

But he hadn’t and she refused to be ruled by her libido. With Wyn she’d had a relationship that was passionless but practical. And with Colt she’d had the all-consuming passion that clouded her brain and made her contemplate making bad decisions.

When would she find a happy medium? Someone who could give her everything she wanted and needed? Passion, happiness, a stable future and roots that ran so deep they couldn’t be removed.

That’s what she deserved. But at the moment, the idea of ever finding it felt foreign and unattainable.

Still, she refused to settle for something less. She refused to fall into the same trap her mother had. She refused to lose herself simply to please a man.

She refused to let the moment when Colt walked away break her.

As if realizing that his outburst hadn’t helped his case any, Colt lowered his voice and quietly countered, “Everything will be there after Peru. You can deal with it all then.”

“No, no, I can’t. I can’t put my life on hold because you’re not ready to give up our vacation fling.”

He reached for her, but Lena pulled away. If he touched her, she might cave. And then she’d never forgive herself.

“Go, Colt. I want you to. I know that this is the break you’ve been waiting for. I’m happy for you, really I am.”

Colt’s jaw tightened. His entire body was pulled tight. She knew he wanted to say more, wanted to come up with some argument that was sure to change her mind.

But there wasn’t one. They didn’t have a future. She knew that. Better to end things now and minimize the pain as much as possible.

The loud ring of his cell blasted between them. Colt’s hand tightened around it before pulling it up to look at the screen. He didn’t immediately answer. Instead, he looked at her over the top of it and said again, “Come with me.”

Lena swallowed, forcing back the lump of tears that was stuck in her throat. With a slow shake of her head, she said, “I can’t.”

Spinning away from her, Colt answered the call. She listened, unable to move away and save herself the heartache, as he did exactly what she’d told him to do and accepted Desmond’s offer.

As she sagged against the frame of the door, the pain burst full-fledged through her body.
Finally
was all she could think. Here was the pain she’d come to expect.

It was over and some day she’d figure out how to deal with it. In the meantime, she refused to fall apart. No one would find her unwashed and unhappy, so weighted down by grief and pain that she couldn’t get out of bed. Tissues would not lie crumpled between the layers of her bed. She would not refuse to eat for days and weeks. No one would watch her waste away, losing twenty pounds she couldn’t afford in the space of a few days.

She would not let herself be held hostage by these emotions.

Instead, she sat quietly and watched as Colt went through the bungalow packing his bags. Within thirty minutes all evidence that he’d even been there had disappeared.

At the door, his hand wrapped tightly around the handle of his bag, Colt paused. He looked back at her across the intimate space they’d shared. He paused, staring at her for several seconds before finally saying, “I hope you’ll be happy.”

The door had barely closed before she gave in to the torrent of emotions rushing through her. Tears flowed down her face, silent and as lonely as she suddenly felt.

She’d made the right decision.

So why did it hurt so much?

13

STALKING INTO THE MAIN LOBBY, Colt headed for the receptionist’s desk. There was one more thing he needed to do before he left.

“I need to see Marcy, please.”

The woman behind the desk cringed away from him, letting him know that the expression on his face was probably not the best one to be wearing if he wanted to charm anyone into anything. He tried to wipe the scowl off his face, but it wouldn’t seem to budge.

The woman backed away from the desk, glancing behind her to the hallway leading into the offices. “I’ll go get her,” she said reluctantly.

Colt was in no mood to wait.

Rounding the desk, he headed for the opening, beating her there.

“Wait, sir, you can’t go in there.” She tried to skirt in front of him. He’d give the tenacious little thing points for effort, despite the fact that he could have picked her up and moved her aside with nothing but his pinky finger.

“Trust me, Marcy won’t mind if I find her.”

“Trust me, she will,” the woman answered dryly, but apparently she realized there wasn’t much she could do to stop him.

Colt vaguely heard her pick up the phone and whisper into it as he disappeared into the back offices. He probably had less than five minutes before some security force came swooping down to save little Marcy. By then he knew she’d stop whoever tried to throw him out.

Sticking his head into several offices, he noticed that they were all neat, with mismatched furniture that somehow fit the homey, eclectic feel of the resort. Escape was no doubt a pleasant place to work. Although, at the moment Colt wasn’t exactly harboring the warm and fuzzies for it.

A light shone out into the hallway from the last door on the right. It was early enough that he supposed no one else had made it in, but Marcy was here. Lucky for him.

Rounding the corner, he plopped down into her guest chair. Marcy did a double take, pulling her focus away from the computer screen that sat adjacent to the corner of her desk.

A scroll of color caught Colt’s eye before she had a chance to minimize the screen. It was a photograph of Lena and himself.

“Colt. What are you doing here? I thought you’d be sleeping in today. We don’t have anything scheduled until your couples massages later this afternoon.”

“That’s what I need to talk to you about.” His harsh voice had Marcy shifting in her chair, and glancing back at her computer screen, no doubt just to make sure the pictures weren’t still revolving across it.

“Don’t tell me you’re one of those men who refuse to get a massage. You know, there’s nothing sexual about it. I promise our staff is highly trained and extremely professional.”

“I’m sure they are, but that’s not the problem.”

She frowned. “Then what is?”

“Something’s come up and I have to leave.”

She sputtered, at a loss for words for several seconds. Colt got the impression that rarely happened to Marcy. “But you can’t. We haven’t finished the sessions.”

They had, although she wasn’t ready to admit it yet. He’d only gotten a quick glimpse of the picture as it had flashed across her screen, but it had been enough to recognize good work. If he hadn’t seen it, it might not have occurred to him to use the quality of what she already had as an argument against the need for more. But since he had…

“Show me.” He gestured to the screen now displaying a generic beach scene.

“Show you what?” she asked.

“The photographs. I want to see them.”

She studied him for several seconds. He assumed she was weighing her options and the potential consequences of doing as he asked. She made a move toward her screen but before she could touch it a man burst into the room. If Colt remembered right, this was the head of security they’d met the morning they came out of the jungle.

“Tina said there was a problem.” The man skidded to a halt just inside the doorway. His eyes took in everything. Colt appreciated the thorough calculation used to assess the threat. No doubt he was former police or military.

“Everything’s fine, Zane.” Marcy gestured between the two men. “I can’t remember if you two were introduced. Colt Douglas meet Zane Edwards, our head of security. Colt is part of the couple we’re using for the ad campaign. He dropped by to discuss something with me.”

“Tina said it was more like ‘pushed in’ than ‘dropped by.’” The other man’s eyes narrowed in consideration as they swept over Colt. He was happy that he was sitting down. Less chance Zane would consider him a threat. He was also pretty happy to notice the other man didn’t have a gun tucked into a holster at his shoulder…unless he kept his beneath his black T-shirt and Colt just didn’t see how the man could have hidden it.

Swiveling in his chair to face Zane, Colt decided some damage control couldn’t hurt. “I apologize if I frightened Tina. I didn’t mean to.”

Zane harrumphed, but he let Colt’s apology pass without really challenging it.

“Well, if you’re certain everything’s all right.” Zane’s eyes bored into Marcy’s as if looking for some minute signal she might send.

“I promise she’s not in any danger, at least from me. If you need a secret word or code or something go ahead and ask her for it. She isn’t under duress.”

“Honestly, Zane, I appreciate your concern but we’re fine. I’ll call you if I need you,” Marcy said, lifting up her cell phone from the desk where it had been lying beneath her computer monitor. “Anything else going on that I need to be aware of?”

“Not a thing,” Zane said, already backing toward the door. The man’s eyes swung to Colt’s, his hazel gaze a bit unsettling. “I’ll be keeping an eye on the hallway from the Crow’s Nest.”

It was clearly a warning, an unnecessary one, but he supposed he couldn’t fault Zane for doing his job and doing it well. “Whatever makes you happy, man,” Colt said with a shrug.

Turning on his heel, Zane disappeared almost as quickly and silently as he’d entered.

“I’m guessing he can kill with his bare hands,” Colt quipped, returning his focus to Marcy.

“In many and varying ways. Part of me wishes I was daring enough to ask him for a demonstration.”

“You haven’t?”

“Are you kidding me? Did you see the size of his biceps? No, thank you.”

Colt chuckled. Zane’s appearance had managed to do one thing, if nothing else. It had defused the tension he’d carried with him into the room. He was angry and on edge, but that wasn’t Marcy’s fault.

“I really am sorry that I barged in here this way,” he smiled at her.

She shook her head. “You truly can’t help it, can you?”

“Help what?”

“That mischievous, impish charm thing that you’ve got going.”

“I don’t have a clue what you’re talking about.”

“I know. That’s the problem.” Reaching for her mouse, she started the slide show. “Here, let me show you.”

His original intention was to glance through what they already had and use them to convince Marcy she had enough photographs. But the minute she flipped the screen toward him and the photos started scrolling that all changed. Photographs whizzed by, a kaleidoscope of memories from the past several days.