Once a Marine (19 page)

Rafi brushed his finger along her cheek. “Am I invited?”

She quirked her lips to one side. “Since when did you need an invitation?”

He chuckled. He loved her sense of humor, her ironic way of stating the obvious. How he ever got so lucky was a mystery he hoped to unravel bit by bit. He took a risk in having her meet his family after they’d been together for so short a time, but she seemed to enjoy the trip, and she hit it off with everyone.

They heard a key in the door. Enzo stepped inside. “Hey, you’re back. Did you enjoy the visit?”

She waved him into the room. “I may not eat for a week. Nothing but food, food, food. I met a lot of nice people. Rafi has a big family and lots of friends in Miami.” She patted the cushion next to her. “Sit. Everything OK Friday? I see about six calls from Shari, but she didn’t leave any messages. What’s going on?”

He shook hands with Rafi and sat next to her. “I don’t know,
cara
. She called the office. I told her you weren’t feeling well and took the day off. She didn’t say anything to me.”

“I’ll call her from the office in the morning. I’m puzzled why she didn’t leave any messages.” BD shook her head and sighed. “She can be such a trial, I swear.”

Rafi didn’t like the way Shari screwed with BD’s head. It seemed to him the woman took pleasure in keeping her on edge all the time. If he had his way she’d quit working for her, but he kept his mouth shut. No need to get in the middle of it. He’d offer his opinion, but only if Beautiful asked for it.

He leaned forward, elbows on his knees. “I’m pulling out tomorrow. I picked up a charter to Minneapolis. Joe called me this afternoon before we left Elena’s place.”

“I wondered about that call. How long will you be gone?”

“I’ll probably go directly to LA after I drop Senator Springer off. I’ve been out of the office for too long a stretch this time.”

She tucked her chin and frowned. “Senator Springer? Isn’t he the creepy sleazeball who kept company with hookers behind his wife’s back during his term in office?”

He nodded. “The very same.”

“Ugh, how do you know him?”

“I did a couple of protection details for him last year. Just before he resigned from office he got a raft of death threats. Now he’s working for a law firm in Minneapolis. They need him back there right away. That’s why he called us. It was just a fluke that I was here in the city.”

She slapped her knees. “Dammit, Rafi, we haven’t had much time to talk. I have to go back to work tomorrow, and you’re leaving again.”

“Sorry, Beautiful, but business is business. I don’t work nine to five. I’ve got to take the jobs when they come our way. It didn’t make sense for Joe to fly back here or refer it to a competitor when I was already on the scene.”

She didn’t like his answer. The sour expression on her face said it all. He’d have to find a way to make it up to her. “When are you coming back to LA?”

“What difference does it make? There’s no guarantee you’d be there.” She stood. “I’m taking a shower.” She walked out of the room.

Enzo watched her back and shared a look with Rafi. “BD’s not happy.”

“I know, but what can I do? I gotta pay the bills.” He headed down the hall. “Be seeing you, Enzo.”

The shower clattered like sand on a tin roof. Steam billowed over him when he opened the bathroom door. He peeked in just as she stepped under the water. Digging through his duffle he found his shaving kit, pulled out his toothbrush, and went to the sink.

BD called out to him, “I don’t want company in here.”

Rafi brushed his teeth. Threw water on his face and neck and rubbed hard with a small towel.

If she didn’t want company, she didn’t want company. He got it.

He returned to the bedroom, undressed, and slipped between the cold sheets. Instead of waiting for her, he snapped off the lamp and turned to face the wall.

BD entered the dark bedroom, the only illumination came from the glowing night light in the hallway. Rafi had turned to face the far side of the bed and he’d switched off his lamp.

Fine. She slid between the sheets on her side and moved as close to the edge as she could, making sure there was no physical contact between them. His rhythmic breathing told her he was asleep.

How long since she heard him tap his toothbrush on the side of the sink? Five minutes? Clenching her teeth against rising anger, she squeezed her eyelids tight shut and willed herself to fall asleep.

After staring into the gloomy darkness for what seemed hours, she finally drifted off. Her dreams were filled with hectic, disjointed scenes crowded with dozens of people. Airplanes flew overhead and were parked around the periphery. She and Rafi glared at each other across a crowded dance floor.

He yelled at her about the Plan B pills and how many abortions she’d had. He sneered. “You make me sick.” She pleaded with him, but he invited Shari to dance. Shari smirked with satisfaction at BD’s despair and ran her hand up and down Rafi’s back, hitching up her skirt to reveal her long model’s legs and the absence of undergarments.

Nick yanked BD onto the floor and pulled her into a smothering embrace. Leading her to the small corner of the dance floor occupied by Shari and Rafi, he shouted hateful warnings for Rafi to keep away from BD.

One by one the people in the dream disappeared, leaving only the four of them. They danced slowly, their feet mired in the sucking mud covering the floor. Rafi bent Shari backward into a long sensual kiss, his hand on her breast.

Nick snarled into BD’s face and said he hated her haircut. It made her look like an ugly dyke. She cried out when he grabbed a handful of hair and gave it a painful yank. He forced her to her knees and jammed his penis into her mouth. She choked, gagged, and tried to cry out for Rafi to save her from Nick’s hideous public humiliation.

Rafi and Shari laughed at her distress. He swept Shari into his arms and carried her to a small aircraft. They boarded the plane and took off, leaving BD utterly alone, terrified, abandoned, and struggling with Nick. “No! Stop!”

Rafi rolled over and put his arm around her. “What’s wrong, Beautiful?” His lips brushed against her shoulder. He pulled her tight into his strong, protective arms. “You OK?”

BD shuddered with a dry sob. “I didn’t want to do it. He made me do it.”

“Do what?”

“Nothing…dream…bad dream.” She wanted to say,
Don’t leave. I love you. Stay with me.
Instead she held tight to his arm, soaked up the cloak of safety and protection his body provided. Her hammering heart calmed under his murmured endearments, the brush of his lips on her neck.

She woke to rapping on her bedroom door.

“BD? Are you up?”

Her eyelids snapped open. Her head whipped from side to side. “Rafi?”

“It’s Enzo. I made breakfast. It’s getting late.” He eased open the bedroom door. “Are you coming to work today?”

She pulled the sheet above her waist and sat up. “Yes. I’m coming. What time is it?”

He poked his head around the door. “It’s after eight.”

“Where’s Rafi?”

A typical Italian shrug, then, “He’s not here. He left a note for you on the coffee pot.”

She shooed him away. “OK. I’m getting up. Give me ten minutes.” The door closed and she hopped out. She washed her face, brushed her teeth, and ran damp fingers through her hair. She looked into the mirror. She wasn’t looking her best and brightest this morning. Oh well, it would have to do. A quick dab of lipstick, and she went to her closet, removed a pair of stylish blue pants and a white blouse.

In less than ten minutes BD sat at the kitchen table. Enzo placed a dish of fruit and toast before her, handed her Rafi’s note, and poured coffee for both of them.

She smiled. “Thank you, Enzo. We’ll make it in time if we take a taxi. Did you talk to Rafi before he left?”

He shook his head. “He wasn’t here when I got up. I thought you were both sleeping.”

She looked at the note. “For such a big man he’s very clever at sneaking around without making a sound. I don’t know when he got up. I didn’t hear a thing.”

Her eyes scanned the words in his brief message. “He said he had to leave early. He’ll call when he gets back to LA.” She jammed the note in her pocket without telling Enzo how Rafi signed it. “That’s all he said.”

Chapter Fourteen

Haven’s workroom buzzed with activity as they prepared several of the new garments for a photo shoot. Shari had left instructions to email the shots to her at the LA facility as quickly as possible. Shari would produce a new flyer insert to replace the tacky substitute Norah and Judd came up with. The new catalog would be designed to meet her original vision.

Everywhere, Enzo coaxed, chided, flirted, and flattered. BD admired his ability to apply pressure on the designers and seamstresses without distressing them into rebellion, his sunny personality a great asset in the workplace.

Around two, New York time, BD decided she should call Shari. She’d catch her before lunch in LA, but not too early in her day.

Shari’s abrupt reaction to her call wasn’t what BD expected. “Where in hell were you all weekend? I tried to call several times. All I got was your asinine voicemail.”

BD took a moment to organize her thoughts before she answered. “I took one day off, Shari. You could have talked with me if you’d called my BlackBerry.”

“What made you think you could skip work right in the middle of this crisis I have here? Dammit, BD! You have no idea how upset I am with you.”

BD didn’t know where this is coming from. She took a breath. “I haven’t taken a day off in over a year. Things are progressing right on schedule here. I don’t understand what your problem is with me. Why are you in such a tizzy?”

“I asked you where you were.”

BD’s first reaction was anger. She despised being treated like a misbehaving juvenile. OK, she’d just tell Shari the truth.

“Rafi flew us down to Miami for the weekend. He wanted me to meet his family. That’s where I was. I had my cell phone with me the entire time. You could have reached me.”

“Don’t tell me what I could have done. The next time you get the idea to take off work without my permission will be the last.”

BD gasped. Acid rose from her stomach to sting her throat. To give herself a moment to think before answering, she took a breath to clear her mind. “I’m sorry you didn’t reach me. I should have told you I was taking the day off. But I have to say, I don’t understand why it upset you so much.”

“Well it did, dammit!”

“I can see that.” BD nodded, picturing Shari’s expressive, scowling face, crossed legs, foot bouncing up and down. “Tell me what’s really the matter. Why are you so angry?”

“I haven’t been able to force a board meeting yet. You have no idea of the depth of my mother’s betrayal. She doesn’t let a second pass or miss any opportunity to keep me from having a say about anything.”

BD dropped into a chair. “What about Whitney? You told me you thought you could depend on him to back you.”

“Father is no good at all. He just smiles and nods. When I need him to stand up for me he disappears. Mother and Judd virtually run the company.”

BD stood and twirled a pencil between two fingers, baton style. She lost hold, knocked a file off her desk in her attempt to make a grab for the pencil as it flew across the room. “But, there must be some way you can reach out to your father. Surely he’s aware of what those two are doing? I don’t understand why he’s so apathetic about what’s happening.” BD thought carefully about what she said next. “You don’t suppose there’s anything other than business going on between Norah and Judd, do you?”

Shari expelled a harsh laugh. “As a matter of fact, I do. I believe they’re scheming to take over the company, to cut me and Father out of control. I learned from my lawyers that Judd has been purchasing my father’s shares, a few at a time, for years.”

“But, I don’t get it. Why would Whitney—”

“Mother is more than twenty years younger than Father. He’s well past retirement age. He’s tired. I don’t think there’s any fight left in him. She’s been manipulating him since before I was born.”

That was common knowledge at Grayson, but BD wasn’t sure Shari had ever acknowledged it. “I can’t see what Norah could possibly find attractive in Judd. He’s such a disgusting worm.”

“Everyone seems to know that except Mother. I don’t get it either. Unless…he’s got something on her.”

BD needed to be very cautious about delving any deeper into the Grayson family business. No good would come from it. “Shari, what can I do to help you?”

A deep sigh on Shari’s end, and a pause so long that BD thought they’d been cut off. “Shari?”

“I don’t know, really. Just be there when I call. It helps to talk about it. There’s nobody here to talk to, nobody I trust.”

BD tiptoed through her next comment. “I’m always available to talk to you, you know that. Please remember to leave me a message if you call the apartment or my cell. Enzo can always find me. I want to help you weather this. My future, as well as yours, is at stake.”

“Yeah, I know. I didn’t mean to go off on you like that.”

Tension relaxed in BD’s neck. “We’re good as a team. Keep me in the loop, please.”

“OK. I have to go. My lawyers are on the other line. I’ll call you later. Are you and the flying sex bomb going anywhere tonight?”

BD regretted ever sharing details of her intimacy with Rafi. But at the time she didn’t know he would be more than a fabulous one-night stand. “Rafi left this morning. I don’t expect to hear from him anytime soon.”

“Well, at least he’s not hanging around so much that you’re in danger of becoming bored with him.”

Bored with him? That would be the day. “You’re right about that. Call me later.”

“OK, after I talk to the lawyers.”

* * *

Shari didn’t call that evening, but Kelly and Jack did, delighting BD with the news that they were coming to New York for several days. Jack, principal horn with the Santa Monica Symphony Orchestra, got invited to a short series of interactive concerts for children sponsored by the New York Youth Symphony. He would conduct group sessions on the French horn at Carnegie Hall. He’d be needed for three days, so they’d have time to visit with BD and do some sightseeing.