Just Say Yes (Just Say Yes #2) (14 page)

There was no way in hell I was going to go snorkeling again, so I worked my ass off to figure my shit out.

Finally, after many conversations with Josie, I knew who I was. I was Zoey Lynn James. Daughter of Doug and Luisa James, sister to Jason, Noah, Jeremy, and Adam James. Girlfriend to Andy Tate, the best friend of Jess, Sasha, Will, and Justin. I was not a victim of my birth mom, my sperm donor father, or a victim of Rob. I was my own person, who had my own mind and ideas, and would not think of myself as anyone less than that.

When I arrived at the stables early Thursday morning, Josie had Smoke and her horse, Magnum, tied to the fence for our ride. Noticing they weren’t saddled up yet, I went to the barn to see if Josie needed help bringing the saddles out. As I walked through the door, Josie was coming out with a backpack already on her back.

“Ready to go?” she asked.

“Don’t we need saddles?”

Josie shook her head. “No. Where we’re going we won’t need them,” she said with a mischievous smile. She called over her shoulder to one of the stable hands, “Carlos, can you give Zoey a boost, por favor?”

“Sí, señora,” Carlos said with a grin, as he glanced up at Josie. There was something in his eyes that told me he was quite fond of Josie, and not in a friend-like manner. It was much more than that. It appeared that Carlos had a bit of a crush.

With a smile, I untied Smoke, and stepped beside him to wait for Carlos. In the next moment, a strong hand wrapped around my calf, my feet were off the ground, and I was swinging a leg over Smoke’s back. I’d always ridden him using a saddle so I was a little freaked out about falling off.

“Gracias, Carlos,” I said with a wink as I waited for Josie to tell me what to do next.

“Just keep your body centered and you’ll do just fine,” Josie reassured me. In one swift movement, she grabbed a thick chunk of Magnum’s mane and gracefully swung herself up onto his bare back. She took the reins in her hand, turned her horse toward the beach and I followed them.

We rode along the sand in silence away from the stables and from the beachgoers. “You wanted to know my story, Zoey, and you’ve worked so hard for yourself, I’m ready to tell you.”

For some reason I was very nervous to hear Josie’s story. I knew it was bad, so much worse than anything I could have ever imagined. But, if she wanted to tell me, I would let her. She’d listened to me for the last three weeks. I owed her as much.

“Do you know what coyotes and drug mules are?” Josie asked.

Oh, God.
“Yes, I do. My mom is from Santiago, Mexico, and I’ve heard horror stories.” Suddenly, I didn’t want her to share her story because I didn’t want her to relive it. “Josie, you don’t have to tell me.”

“It’s okay, amiga, I’ve made peace with it,” she said, then started her story. “When I was nine, my parents tried to get my family across the border into Arizona from Mexico. They wanted a better life for us so they found a man…a ‘coyote.’ They paid him their life savings to take my older sister, them, and me across the border illegally. The coyote loaded my family, plus more than thirty others into a small trailer then drove us out into the desert toward Arizona. In the middle of the night, the driver stopped to let us all out of the trailer. We thought we’d made it to the border, but we were wrong. We were met by men with guns. All the young women, including myself, were separated from our parents and the men from the trailer. We watched as the others from the trailer were lined up next to a shallow ditch then shot to death. Including my parents.”

Tears fell from my eyes as I listened to Josie speak, but she continued as if she’d told her account of that night a thousand times.

“The men shoved us into the trailer and took us back in to Mexico where they said if we didn’t become ‘drug mules’ and carry drugs to the US for them, they would either kill us or turn us in to whores for the men in their cartel. Since I was so young, my sister tried convincing the cartel to let me go, but they refused. One night while I was sleeping, my sister woke me and we ran away. She had someone on the inside that she trusted, and they took me to a safe orphanage and left. I never saw my sister again.”

“Oh, Josie, I’m so sorry,” I cried. She was only a year older than I was when Child Protective Services took me from my mother.

“Gracias, Zoey. This is no time for crying though,” she said, seemingly unaffected by the story she’d just told me. “Let’s go have some fun and enjoy the rest of our morning.”

Getting over my initial shock of what Josie had been through, we had a great morning together. She’d packed us a picnic to eat on the beach. After lunch, we rode the horses into a small lagoon where they swam around with us on their backs. It was exhilarating, freeing, and the best part of my vacation.

When we arrived back at the stables, I invited Josie over for dinner. She accepted, and that night, we shared a wonderful meal together with my family, talking late in to the evening before Josie made her departure.

“Zoey, take the rest of your time here and relax. I cannot thank you enough for all the help you’ve given me at the stables. If you ever decide to move here, you’ve got a job.”

We laughed, but I knew she meant what she said. “I’ll see you tomorrow. I need one more day then I’ll be out of your hair, I promise.” I hugged her tightly. “Thank you, Josie. You’ve helped me find myself…I will never forget you.”

Friday morning, I woke up feeling like a new person. There was still an ache in my gut, but deep down it was because I missed home. I began the tedious task of packing my clothes into my suitcase and wished I’d brought two so I had more room to pack all the souvenirs I bought.

After breakfast, I left for the stables to go on one last ride. Josie didn’t have a full schedule so she’d left Smoke behind for me.

Not bothering to saddle him up since I was comfortable with him, I slipped his bridle on and led him down to the beach. I kicked off my sandals, grabbed the reins along with a handful of Smoke’s mane, and swung my leg over his back. Once I was steadied, I turned him toward the beach. I let him prance around in the waves like he had the first day I rode him.

It was so liberating I couldn’t help but grin and soon found myself singing quietly. Good thing nobody else was on that stretch of the beach because they would’ve probably thought I was a lunatic.

I wasn’t. I was truly happy…a new and improved Zoey.

After riding a while I hopped down into the surf to cool off, then walked Smoke slowly back to the stables. I took my time and brushed him, feeding him the sugar cubes I’d brought for a treat.

Giving Smoke one last pet and scratch behind his ears, I went to say bye to Josie and all my new friends at the stables. I made my way back to my aunt and uncle’s, and when I arrived, I found the house empty. I strolled into the kitchen and found a note on the countertop.

Since I was home alone for the rest of the weekend, I heated up leftovers for dinner then tried to call Andy, but the call went to voicemail. He was probably working late again. I decided to take a nice long, hot bath. Filling the tub and adding scented bath oil, I submerged in the water up to my chin.

After a while of luxurious soaking, washing, and conditioning my hair, I took my sponge and scrubbed my skin until it felt clean and smooth. My fingertips were getting wrinkly, so I stepped out of the tub and wrapped a large towel around myself. As I did, Andy’s ringtone blasted from my cell phone in my bedroom. I scrambled out of the bathroom to my dresser to answer it.

“Hi, Zoey, how are you?” Andy asked.

I fastened the towel around me tighter. “I’d be much better if it was Sunday and I was seeing you in person.”

He laughed. “Believe me, I know how you feel. Did you get the package I sent?”

Thinking back, I hadn’t seen anything out of the ordinary when I came home from the stables, but then again, I wasn’t expecting anything, so I wasn’t looking.

“No, I didn’t see anything sitting around inside the house anywhere,” I said sadly. I loved it when he surprised me with little gifts or notes. He’d sent me something every week since I’d been gone. I loved him for it because he was thinking about me as much as I was thinking about him.

“Maybe it was dropped off outside the front door,” he suggested. “I checked the shipment tracking online and it should be there. Can you go check? It’s not something that should be left outside.”

I was still wearing a towel. “Yes, of course. Let me change though. I can’t go outside like this.”

“Like what?” he asked, his voice perking up. “What exactly are you wearing, Beautiful?”

“Well, if you must know, you caught me stepping out of the bathtub, so I am wearing a towel.” I hoped he was getting a nice visual, like the one I got a few weeks back from him.

He chuckled, his voice low and gravelly. “Don’t they live outside of town? Nobody can see anything. Please go check outside. Besides, I’d like to see you in your towel in a few minutes. We can Skype.”

“I’ll strip for you if you strip for me,” I offered with a laugh as I made my way to the front door.

“That is most definitely a deal I can agree to,” Andy said with a hint of amusement in his voice.

When I made it to the door, I swung it open wide, and had a sudden flash of déjà vu from the first time I met him. He was standing in the doorway at his apartment, and I remembered that he was the most beautiful man I had ever seen.

Except this time, it was different. I wasn’t in his apartment. I was in Cabo and he wasn’t holding a moving box in his hands. He was holding a carry-on suitcase and his cell phone up to his ear.

“Hey,” he said as he hung up his phone.

I was in complete and utter disbelief.

He was here.

In Cabo.

Three feet away from me.

In the flesh, and
still
the most beautiful man I’d ever seen.

Simultaneously, I hung up my phone, tossed it on the table next to the door, and launched myself across the threshold into his arms. I squeezed him as if my life depended on it.

“Oh my God, I can’t believe you’re here! What are you doing here?” I squealed with excitement as I backed up and grabbed my slipping towel before it came all the way off.

“I heard you needed a ride home from the airport, so here I am, at your service,” he joked and pulled me back to him.

Yes, here he was, arms wrapped around me, smelling so delicious, all tattooed and incredibly hot. “I need a ride, now. Come here,” I said breathlessly, as I slid my fingers inside the waistband of his pants and pulled him closer to me.

I missed the feel of his stubble on my face and his lips on mine, his skin on mine. I unwrapped myself from him and dragged him inside the house, slamming the door. With my fingers still inside the waistband of his pants, I pulled him down the hallway to my bedroom.

“Drop your suitcase,” I ordered. “And those pants too, for that matter.”

Andy grinned, dropped his suitcase, and pulled me to him. I slipped my hands under his shirt, running them over his hard abs and chest. He wasn’t dropping his pants, so I loosened the button and zipper on them myself. I hooked my finger in the top of my towel, letting it drop to the floor at my feet.