Reckless (Fractured Farrells: A Damaged Billionaire Series Book 2) (13 page)

“Sunset cruises are pretty amazing no matter what boat you’re on.”

“Well, this isn’t just any boat.”

They came to a stop in front of the massive yacht. Malia looked left and right, trying to determine whether she was seeing things. “Are you serious?”

“Yep. I know you’ve been through a lot, so I wanted to give you something special.”

“Special? This boat cost millions of dollars. This is crazy.”

“Well, I didn’t buy it for you.” He smirked.

She lightly tapped him on the arm. “Stop joking and get me on the boat! I’ve never even touched something this expensive.” She’d first learned about the crazy yacht business when she worked the concession stand at the boat show on the island a few years back. But she’d never actually been inside one. This was a Pershing Superyacht. It was the kind of boat that could be confused with a house with state-of-the-art everything. “How big is it?”

“And here I thought size didn’t matter.”

“The motion of the ocean can only do so much. Now give me details.”

A man appeared on the deck and secured the walkway for them to walk onto the boat. Malia eagerly explored as Robert gave her some of the statistics. “This model is ninety-two feet long, has a master suite, two guest cabins, and a state-of-the-art kitchen. And that’s pretty much all I know before I said yes.”

Malia ran to the look at the gorgeous seating area at the front of the boat with plush leather cushions overlooking the bow of the boat. “Did you really need to know more? I would’ve said yes at the word yacht.” She stopped and turned to him. “But, seriously, you’ve outdone yourself.”

Robert leaned in and pressed a kiss to her forehead. “If we have a repeat of last night, it will all be worth it. Now take a seat and hang tight. I’m going to tell the captain we’re ready to head out and I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

Malia watched him go before she ran to look out over the water. She’d been on the island since she was seventeen years old and she’d never done anything like this. Yeah, getting involved with Robert put her in way over her head, but she was starting to get used to the feeling.

A few minutes later, she felt the boat move and she glanced over to see the dock retreating. This must be some captain. Normally the bigger the boat, the slower everything went. As she crossed to the other side of the deck to look at the island, Robert came back with a bottle of wine and two glasses in hand.

“Don’t tell me the wine is super fancy too.” She sat back on the plush seat.

“Well, I have a small confession.”

“Oh really?”

“I know almost nothing about wine.”

Malia snorted at the unexpected admission. Her mind had been going to some strange family confession. This seemed so...normal. And nothing about Robert really seemed normal. “Lots of people don’t like wine.”

“No, I like it. Reds mainly. But when it comes to years or brands, I’m pretty much clueless. The concierge department recommended this one, so I think we’re in luck.”

“Well, I drink the five dollar bottles from the grocery store, so I’m sure I’ll be very impressed.”

Robert uncorked the bottle and poured. “There’s some snacks down in the kitchen if you’re hungry.”

Malia let out a laugh. “The kitchen? You’re not a boat person or a wine person. I feel like I’m learning so much about you.”

“What can I say? I’m an enigma.” He took a sip of his wine as he considered her. “You confuse the hell out of me, though. I know that your name is Malia, you look fantastic in the sun, and you work about a thousand jobs at any given time. Besides that? Nothing. Give me something I can work with. You know so much about my family.”

She scoffed at the question. She supposed she hadn’t talked much about her family, but there wasn’t much to say. Most things associated with her family weren’t happy topics and some of that unhappiness was much too intertwined with Robert’s family. “I’m really not all that interesting, Robert. What did you want to know?”

“Let’s start with parents. I’m assuming you started out with two.”

“Good assumption. Started out with two, but Dad wasn’t around for long. When I was younger, I’d see him once every other week or so and he’d pay child support, but apparently he was only coming over because his mother would hound him. Once Grandma died, he was pretty much gone.”

“Damn.”

“No. It wasn’t really that bad. I was young enough that it didn’t bother me too much.”

“Was your mom around?”

Malia thought over that answer carefully. It was such a complicated question with no easy answer. “Mom...she tried—I’ll give her that. Outside circumstances just made life difficult and sometimes trying to keep a roof over our heads had to come first to any other mothering she could do.”

“I haven’t talked to my mother in five years. She sends me a card every Christmas and birthday. Not a personal card. I think the last one said ‘Do good things and good things will happen.’ Not exactly inspiring.”

“And here I thought rich people had their shit together.”

Robert shook his head as he poured himself another glass of wine. “Sorry to disappoint. In my experience, the more money, the more fucked up.”

“Well, damn. There goes my plan to marry rich.”

Robert shrugged out of his suit jacket and set it on the seat next to him as he scooted right next to Malia. “So have you seen your mother since you moved here?”

“Yep. We moved here together. We’d been in and out of homelessness for years so she saved up enough money for a one-way flight.”

“She got a job here?”

“Not right away, but it’s not like being homeless in New York. There are no freezing winters or the constant threat of being shot. Homeless here is setting up a tent on the beach and not pissing off tourists. And then I figured out that as long as I could offer some sort of value to the tourists, I could make money. So I stuck close to the city and learned as much as I could about the island and was able to make a living. I don’t think Mom ever got used to the island life. She met some traveler on the island a few years ago and moved to LA to marry him. He seems nice enough. Knowing my mom’s taste, I was worried, but they seem to be working things out.”

“Walter had two other wives after he divorced my mother. If you want step-parent advice, I’ve got you covered.”

“We can be messed up together.” She raised her glass to his before she downed the rest of her wine. She normally didn’t drink much, but she felt so safe with Robert. Why not let down her guard a little bit? Robert would make sure she got home, or to her temporary home at least.

“You know what I think?” She leaned in close.

“What is that?” he asked softly.

“More wine.” She giggled—like, legit giggled—as she stood and ran for the stairs Robert had come from. She heard him get up to follow her and she kept laughing. She ran past the galley and to the large stateroom. She stopped in her tracks when she saw the luxurious bed, which was bigger than any bed on any boat should ever be.

Robert’s arms wrapped around her from behind, and she melted into him. He was warm and strong, and everything about this was just perfect.

She turned in his arms and kissed him, wrapping her arms around his neck as he pulled her in closer. He backed her up until her thighs hit the back of the bed and she fell onto the plush blankets.

Robert kissed her hard and deep as one of his knees pushed between hers. She opened for him even as she scooted farther on the bed. He kissed down her neck as one of his hands slid over her breasts and down her stomach to cup her between her legs.

Malia gasped as, even through her panties and the fabric of her shorts, it was enough to send little shocks of electricity through her. She rubbed against him as she arched her back and neck, the sensations almost overwhelming.

Her eyes popped open as she tried to catch her breath, but Robert wasn’t making it easy. As he kissed up her neck and then settled on her earlobe, she let out a soft moan. This was all too much. She started to close her eyes again when something on the nightstand caught her eye.

Was that her brush?

She blinked away the strange thought until she realized that the entire nightstand was covered with her stuff: her brush, the night cream that Robert’s staff had purchased for her, and a few other things she’d left back at the hotel.

Malia tapped Robert’s shoulder as she looked around the rest of the room. Sure enough, the bags of what little stuff she had sat in the corner of the room.

Robert pulled back, his chest crushing hers as he tried to catch his breath. “Is something wrong?”

Malia’s brows drew together as she looked around the room. “What is all my stuff doing here?”

Robert sat up as a sudden tension crept into his body. “Why don’t we go back to the deck? We’re missing the sunset.”

“You’re avoiding the question.” She slid away from him and climbed off the bed as she went through the bags. Every single thing from her room was here. “How did you do this? We drove straight from the resort to the boat.”

“We didn’t take the fastest route.”

A bigger wave hit the boat as the pieces started to fall into place. “You son of a—” She never finished the sentence as she ran up the stairs and back onto the deck of the boat, where the beautiful sunset over the water was dampened by her frantically beating heart. By this point she could still see the island, but it got smaller and smaller by the second. “Take me back.” She turned to see Robert slowly walking up the stairs.

“I can’t do that.”

“Bullshit. You can walk up to that captain right now and tell him to turn this boat around.”

He held up his hands. “You’re right. But I’m not going to do that.”

“You’re kidnapping me.” She gasped and covered her mouth. “This is straight up kidnapping. I’m going to end up dead in the ocean. And you’re rich so you’re never going to get convicted.”
And she didn’t get any good sex beforehand.
That was kind of a stupid thought to have right before she died, but she wasn’t responsible for censoring her mind at the moment.

“I’m not going to kill you,” he bit out. “I’m doing this to keep you safe, damn it.”

“Kidnapping to keep me safe...”
Right. That made even less sense when she said it.
Without waiting for the boat to get any farther from the shore, Malia made a run for it, bolting for the stern, but she never really had a chance.

Robert’s arms wrapped around her and pulled her close. Malia kicked and head butted, but he didn’t even flinch.

“Once we get to the mainland and I figure out what’s happening, you can go back. I’ll buy you a plane ticket, find you a new place, anything. But right now, you’re mine and you’re under my protection. I’m not leaving you alone and unprotected. Got it?”

“One word. Kidnapping. Got it?”

He let out a small laugh and she could feel his breath on her neck. “You might not get over this, but you’ll survive it. And that’s the important part.”

“And what do you think the captain of the boat is going to do when I tell him that I’m here against my will? Do you think he’s going to want to go to prison because you’re a psycho?”

“I think I’m paying him good money. I also think that it’s hard to convince someone you’re on a ten-million-dollar yacht against your will.”

He abruptly released her, apparently figuring they were too far from the shore for her to make a swim for it. And damn if he wasn’t right. Malia looked over the edge of the boat to the island. Distances in water were always farther than they appeared, and Oahu already looked pretty far away.

She twisted around to stare at Robert. “This isn’t something you can just laugh off later.”

To his credit, he didn’t seem amused by the situation at all. “I know.”

“And after this, there is no us.”

“I know.”

“And I’m not giving you any more chances.”

“I know.”

Malia nodded. There was so much more to say, but defeat was starting to sink in. She was on this boat and she wasn’t getting off until Robert determined she could. She crossed past him and he didn’t stop her this time, even though she could feel his gaze burning into her back.

But he didn’t need to be worried. She’d regroup and fight him again later. But for now, all she could feel was betrayal mixed with stupidity. She had trusted a Farrell.
How stupid could she be?

Malia swiped the wine bottle from behind the seats and headed back down for the main stateroom. She opened her mouth to warn Robert to stay the hell away from her, but nothing came out.

She just shook her head as she continued on to the room and locked the door behind her. It was a five-day trip by boat to the mainland, and she’d have to steel herself if she was going to survive it.

And once she regained her composure, Robert had better watch out. Because there was going to be hell to pay for this stunt.

––––––––

R
obert looked out over the open ocean and rubbed a hand over his eyes. Some people would find a few days of luxury cruising relaxing, but it was hard to relax with Malia boarded up in the stateroom below deck and fuming at him.

On some level, he understood her anger. He was sure that if the tables had been turned, he wouldn’t have been too forgiving. But he still missed her. The past four days had been one long boring run, which was a shame, because one of the most interesting people he’d ever met was right beneath him and pretending he didn’t exist.