Tailored for Trouble: A Romantic Comedy (Happy Pants) (25 page)

Oh, god. Is it me, or is it getting hotter in here?
Knowing that Bennett lay nude right next to her might be the reason.
You are not going to molest him in his sleep.
She lay there, restless, feeling the gentle breeze through the window.
So hot. So hot.
She got up from the bed and went back out to the living room, searching for a thermostat. There had to be an A/C here somewhere.

Every corner and wall came up empty, so she made her way back to Bennett. She stared down at his naked form and decided he had the right idea. She slipped her dress over her head
. You can handle it. Just a girl and guy, sleeping naked together.

Now cooler, and feeling more tired than she cared to admit, she closed her eyes, lulled by the sound of Bennett’s breathing. She felt like she’d landed on a strange planet where simply being near him felt like home.

Something warm and hot woke Taylor from her sleep, sending sharp pleasurable tingles through her groin, deep into her belly.

“Mmmm…” came a low, wholly masculine groan, rousing her from her drowsy state completely. She felt the heat of a man’s chest pressing against her. “Mmmm…Taylor.”

Her eyes fluttered open, and she realized that Bennett was tightly fitted to her back, his hard cock nestled in the apex of her legs, pushing right against her deliciously sore entrance.

Ohmygod. He’s sleep humping me again. This man is so damned sexy.

She gently reached around and placed her hand on his shoulder, giving him a little shake. “Bennett?” she whispered. “Wake up.”

He gripped her hip and began moving against her, sliding back and forth, right over her little c-spot.

Her eyes rolled in her head as she felt every hard inch of his thick velvety cock creating friction and pushing her toward the edge. He hadn’t even entered her, but dammit if she didn’t want him to.

“Oh, God. Bennett, wake the fuck up. That feels so good. So, so incredible, but…” Well, for starters, he wasn’t wearing a condom, and second, the man was asleep.

She sighed. “Bennett, as much as I want this, it’s probably not the best idea, so please wake up?”

His body jerked a little, and she felt that strong hand dig into her hip. He stopped thrusting and then pulled his hips back. She winced as the motion left her panting, needy, and sadly all alone down there.

She felt the bed shift, followed by a small rustle.

She smiled.
Wicked man. You’re awake now…and you’re—

“Oh fuck!” she cried out as he returned to her and thrust deeply with one sharp motion. He hadn’t even needed to grope or fumble. He knew exactly where to go.

“You’re amazing, Bennett. I—” He thrust again from behind. “Ohmygod. So amazi—” And again. “Zing.” And again.

She felt his lips on the back of her neck and those little sinful flutters in her belly. He may not have been awake before, but he was going hard now.

“You feel so damned good, Taylor. I can’t imagine ever needing to be inside a woman like I need to be inside you.”

He withdrew and pushed the corner of her hip, forcing her to her stomach. His knees worked their way between her legs, and he pushed them widely apart, before blanketing his body over her.

He positioned his cock at her wet entrance and thrust again. Only a man with his size equipment could make this position, lying on her stomach, feel so, so good that she couldn’t speak when she wanted to say so many things, like…

Her thoughts drifted away with each sensual thrust of his hard flesh. Again and again she felt the coarse hair around his shaft tickle her ass as his cock pushed and slid and massaged her until she wanted to scream.

“I love being inside you, Taylor,” he whispered. Slowly he withdrew, and she felt the entire force of his body hitting her, harder and faster, desperately chasing the moment of release.

He reached one hand between her hip and the bed, searching lower and lower, until he found the spot. With three strokes of his finger and cock, she was screaming into her orgasm, pushing back into him to increase the pain and pressure and pleasure.

He planted his arms on either side of her body and worked himself in and out with a few more powerful strokes before he collapsed, giving in to a shuddering climax as his hot cum jetted deep inside her.

After a few minutes of lying there, he rolled to his side, pulling her body with him, staying inside her, still hard as a rock.

She closed her eyes, savoring the heat of him deep inside, the wetness of his release at her entrance…

“Dammit,” Bennett swore, pulling out of her. “I can’t believe this. It broke again.”

Taylor didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Wherever these Balinese condoms came from, they had not been constructed with Bennett Wade’s cock in mind.

He grabbed some tissue from a box on the nightstand, stripped off whatever remained of the latex, and threw it into the trash. She stared at his back for several moments as he sat there panting.

Shit.
This
was
scary. But what could they do now? What could she say? The river was in charge? She’d just sound corny and then have to explain.

“Come back. I’m getting cold.” She wasn’t feeling close to chilled, but that was the only thing that came to mind.

He nodded and lay back down at her side. He then pulled her close, twisting her body to spoon her.

“I can’t imagine anything better in this world than sleeping with you, Taylor. Even your snoring is sexy.”

She laughed and then snuggled her body tightly against him, enjoying the intimate sensation of him falling asleep. For a man with intimacy issues, he was one hell of a snuggler.

“Nite, Benny.” She smiled.

When Taylor woke the next morning, it was to the sound of rain pattering just outside the open window. She stretched her body, immediately feeling a little sad to see the empty spot next to her, the indentation in Bennett’s pillow right next to the indentation in her own, a reminder of how closely they’d slept together last night.

Then she remembered the condom fails. She was on week three of her cycle, she knew that much.
Don’t worry until you have something to worry about, Tay.
Besides, she didn’t want it to ruin the memory of how hot he’d been in bed.

She sat up and smelled something coffee-licious wafting in the air. She scooted from the bed and slipped on the little flowy dress she’d worn last night, then made her way to the living room. The patio doors were open to the empty beach and the rolling ocean. Rain drizzled from gray clouds, casting a somber shadow over the waves.
It’s gloomy, but beautiful.

A gentle breeze floated into the room, pushing the scent of fresh coffee and food her way. A tray had been set out on the counter with a beautiful red trumpet-shaped flower. Next to it there was a note:

Driver will pick you up at ten. Wear something that you don’t mind getting wet. –BW

Wet, huh? What kind of wet?
She smiled devilishly. He’d gone ahead without her, and she couldn’t help but wonder where and why. On the other hand, he’d said that today he’d show her the rest of himself. Something he didn’t feel comfortable showing to just anyone.

She drew a deep breath, feeling nervous about whatever he was going to lay on her. But she loved Bennett. Whatever demons he wrestled with couldn’t be that bad, could they?

Taylor glanced at the clock and realized it was a quarter to ten. She took a few bites of the still warm pancakes that had been hiding underneath the metal plate cover, and then swallowed down a cup of coffee before rushing upstairs to shower and change. She didn’t have any undergarments, but the hotel had delivered a few swimsuits—black, red, and white bikinis. She grabbed the red one and slipped it on. Hey, maybe they’d go for a swim in the rain later when the weather got hotter than hell.

She slipped on a light blue sundress and brown leather flip-flops. Nothing fit quite right, but it wasn’t a total disaster either.

Just as she opened the front door, a man approached, wearing khaki shorts and a golf shirt with “Wade” stitched onto the pocket. He was an older gentleman with kind brown eyes, dark brown skin, and deep smile lines.

“Ah, Ms. Reed. You are ready. I am Wayan. I will be taking you to Mr. Wade. He has gone ahead to deal with some urgent business.”

That was odd. Wasn’t Wayan the name Bennett had mentioned in his sleep?

“Nothing bad, I hope?” she asked.

“No. Nothing our Mr. Wade cannot handle.”

Taylor grinned. “Yes, he is pretty good at overcoming obstacles.”

They made their way to the front of the hotel and got into a honking, army-green Land Rover with thick tires and a steel roof rack piled high with gear—gas can, shovel, winches, and rope.

“So where is Bennett’s estate?” Taylor asked.
The moon?

“It is two hours north of here. But he is at a hamlet about a half hour up the road.”

“What’s he doing there?”

“Negotiating with a man who’s gotten cold feet,” Wayan replied.

“Is it to do with his special project?” she asked.

“Yes, ma’am. His special project.”

After about ten minutes of playing dodge the mopeds, which swarmed the road like angry bees (some transporting a family of four including the baby), they hit the main “highway.” It was a two-lane road lined with impenetrable lush leafy vegetation and the occasional rusted-out car or small gas station (or petrol-in-a-bottle-for-all-of-the-scooters stand) dotting the way.

Eventually Wayan pulled off onto a long, muddy road that cut through thick jungle, just wide enough for one vehicle.

“I hope no one comes the other way,” Taylor said. They’d have to back up and drive in reverse.

“Not to worry, ma’am. We are almost there.”

Indeed they were. Just as he spoke, they came into a large open space where another Land Rover was parked in a ditch. Several shacks surrounded the perimeter of the clearing along with piles of garbage.

“What is this place?” she asked. A stray dog scampered across the muddy clearing, a few equally muddy children chasing after it.

“This, ma’am, is Bali.”

Taylor could hardly believe her eyes. Wayan explained that much of the local population lived like this. “But the resorts and tourists? Don’t they bring in money and jobs?” she asked.

“Only to the wealthy hotel owners who are mostly foreign.”

“I see.” She’d counted ten shacks sprinkled around the periphery of the clearing, but Wayan told her over one hundred people lived in this hamlet. Where? In what? These shacks weren’t big enough for ten dogs let alone one hundred human beings.

Bennett emerged from one of the larger homes—about ten by ten—and waved her in. He wore a white linen shirt, muddy khaki shorts, and hiking boots. He looked like a wilderness explorer, not some tailored billionaire.

She approached him, dodging the large drops of rain that pelted her forehead as they dripped off of the trees above.

“I trust you slept well?” he said as she approached, a shallow smile on his face.

Why did he look so…worried? It made her feel uneasy.

“I did. Thanks.” Her flip-flops made a squishing sound with each step.

“Come inside,” Bennett said. “You can meet Wayan.”

She pointed to the driver still sitting in the Land Rover. “Isn’t he Wayan?”

Bennett laughed. “Names are recycled heavily in this country—it’s a tradition.”

She smiled. “Sure. Okay.” She ducked inside and saw a woman sitting in the corner with a large metal bowl in her lap, peeling some sort of fruit. Several children, dressed in what were basically rags, played with a few rusty-looking toy cars on the dirt floor. To the other side, a man with scraggly gray hair, wearing a threadbare shirt, sat at the table.

Bennett said something to the man in his native tongue. Taylor had no idea Bennett spoke Balinese. Then again, there was a lot she didn’t know about this man. A lot. In fact, at this point, she’d come to expect nothing but surprises from this man.
He’s like a really awesome onion that doesn’t stink.

Taylor made a polite nod at the man who smiled and flashed a set of incomplete teeth.

“So, what are you doing here?” she asked, trying to put everything together.

“I’ve just purchased this man’s land.”

“Okay. And what do you plan to do with it?” she asked.

Bennett smiled and held out his hand. “Come with me.” He looked at the man and mumbled a few odd words. She guessed Bennett was saying goodbye or that he’d be back soon.

She followed him out to the other Land Rover and got inside. Mud was everywhere.

“Sorry about the mess,” Bennett said, “but I had a flat tire earlier. It’s a little wet today.”

Another surprise. Bennett Wade changed his own flat tires. In the rain and mud.

“So what do you want to show me?” she asked, feeling anxious.

“You’ll see.” He cranked the engine and turned the vehicle around, down the road they’d come, waving at Wayan as they passed. But before they made it back to the paved road, Bennett took a right turn down something that looked like an overgrown walking trail. The branches of the trees slapped at the windows, and the rain began coming down in a heavy sheet.

“How can you see where you’re driving?” she asked.

“I know these roads like the back of my hand. I grew up here,” he said.

“The driver last night mentioned that. How come you never said anything?”

“It’s not something I discuss,” he replied.

“Are you going to tell me why?”

“Yes. In a moment,” he replied, ominously.

Taylor’s nerves amped up. He was about to drop a major bomb, wasn’t he?

He turned the vehicle sharply and they began to climb a steep embankment. The tires slipped and spun in the mud, but Bennett knew exactly how to work the steering wheel and gears to keep them from getting stuck.

The car caught a rock or something and jumped forward. She yelped.

Bennett laughed. “I promise, there’s nothing to worry about. I’ve got a satellite phone if we get stuck.”

“What if we roll?”

He thumped his hand on the roof. “This is a real Land Rover, the kind they use to cross the Serengeti. Not a soccer mom wagon.”

Oh.
She hadn’t known there was a difference.

The engine groaned up the last few meters of the steep, muddy road, and then they turned down what looked like another hiking trail.

Then the road just stopped and so did Bennett.

“We’re here. Are you ready?” he said, and turned off the engine. His jaw pulsed with tension.

Taylor wasn’t sure. This was all really strange. “Uh. Yeah. I guess?”

He got out of the vehicle, so she hopped out on her side, stepping right into a soupy brown puddle. At this point, not getting dirty was a lost cause. Her feet, ankles, and calves were completely covered in muck.

She met Bennett at the front of the car, and he took her hand, leading her down a slip of a path between two trees. Just on the other side, the trail dropped off into a steep cliff.

“Wow,” she said. The view was amazing, miles and miles of green pastures and rolling lush jungle. Off in the distance, maybe three or so miles away, the dull blue of the ocean reflected the gray sky above. She imagined on a sunny day how all of this would look: Like a blanket of emerald green, surrounded by a halo of sapphire blue.

“It’s gorgeous, but what is this place?” she asked.

He looked out across the land and put his hand on his waist. “It’s me making things right.”

“I’m not following.”

“I know. And I’ve been trying to think of a way to tell you that won’t make you think less of me, but I keep hitting the same damned wall. Over and over again.”

She reached for his arm. “Whatever it is, you can tell me. I promise it won’t change how I feel.”

“This might.”

He sounded so sure that he made her doubt herself. “O—okay. Try me then,” she said.

He rubbed his scruffy jaw, mulling something over in his mind for several moments before he let out a big whoosh. “When I was eighteen, I helped my father take the land from the people who lived near here.”

Taylor studied him for a moment. “What do you mean by take?”

“My father moved us here when I was about five after he and a partner bought a hotel. From there he bought another and another. He saw this island as an investment opportunity, a place to exploit. Although, that’s not what he would’ve called it. In his mind, it was simply business.”

“And?”

“I helped him.” Bennett shrugged. “When he decided to get into the coffee business, I helped him acquire land, helped him grease palms, convince the various families that what we were offering was a good price. We bought their land for nothing and ran them off of it, forcing them to live in hamlets, like the ones you just saw, without access to clean water, electricity, or schools.”

Was Bennett trying to say he and his father had basically swindled people out of their land?

He continued, “I helped him destroy hundreds of people’s lives. The sad part was, I knew what he was doing was wrong, but I just couldn’t bring myself to stand up to him or disappoint him. I kept telling myself that what we were doing wasn’t illegal. Of course, that didn’t make it right. Those families were too simple and too trusting to realize we were cheating them. Then, after a few years, we sold the farms off to a big company. It’s how we became so wealthy.”

“Oh.” That was a pretty shitty thing to do.

“Yes. ‘Oh.’ ” He nodded in agreement.

“So why are you buying more land?” she asked.

“After my father died and I took over the company, I was here on a trip, checking up on some of the hotels we still own.” The look in Bennett’s eyes became harder and more barren, as though he was holding on to something, something painful, and trying not to allow it to take over.

He went on, “As usual, I stayed at a house we had near the beach. My father had it built after we came into our money—quite the mansion. On that day, though, I was on my cell, getting ready to drive to the other side of the island, when the alarm—a text in those days—went off. I drove like hell to get away, and I did.”

Get away? From what?
Then it dawned on her. There was only one thing people on this island tried to get away from: the ocean.

“Oh God. What happened?” She was almost afraid to know the answer.

He pointed to a spot off on the horizon where there were several hills near the shoreline. “The wave hit, and I watched from up there as it carried off my son. And his mother.”

Taylor’s knees almost buckled. “Your—your
son
? Your wife?”

“We were never married. I’d only slept with her once, but it was enough. She and her family looked after the estate and lived there.”

“You got her pregnant,” she whispered.

He nodded. “Not by accident. By carelessness. I just didn’t care about consequences. I was eighteen when she had Wayan.”

Taylor slapped her hands over her mouth. Her heart felt like it had fallen out of a ten-story building and smashed on the cement sidewalk.

Last night when they’d been together, his reaction to their little condom fail had been so…strange. Endearing and tender, but strange. It had felt so atypical of what she expected from a man in that situation—calm and thoughtful, like he wanted to show her, or perhaps, show himself, he knew how to care.

Was this why? Was he trying not to repeat history?

“Bennett,” she said, holding back the tears. “I’m so sorry. I can’t imagine how hard that was.”

“I didn’t love her. Yes, I cared for her, but I was too selfish, too self-absorbed to really be anything more than just some stranger who gave them money. And I felt ashamed of my son—not good enough—not one of us—not someone my father would approve of.”

“So you never told anyone about him?” she asked softly.

“No. Although my dad suspected. Wayan had my eyes. But my mother still doesn’t know. I wanted to tell her, but it would break her heart to find out she had a grandson she never got to meet.”

“But Bennett, why do you think I’d hate you or think less of you?” It was a tragedy, and he’d been young and stupid and…a real asshole.
But he’s not that person anymore.

“Because when Wayan was alive, I thought money was enough. He had his mother, a home, school—I took care of him financially, but that was all. And then he died because of me.”

“You didn’t make that tsunami happen, Bennett.”

“No. But I’m the one who didn’t lift a finger to save him. I’m the one who decided it was a waste of money to install an alert system on the property. That’s the sort of cold-hearted bastard I was. I never thought about their safety. I thought…” He looked down at his hands. “I thought, ‘What use would it be to spend thirty thousand dollars if I’m hardly ever here?’ ”

Taylor nodded, trying to take it all in.

“That day changed me—broke something inside me—but as much as I try, I can’t erase the past. It’s the one thing money can’t buy me.”

“So what is all this? What are you doing here?” she asked.

“Like I said, it’s me, trying to make things right—at least, the things I can fix. It will never be enough though. Never. Not after what I did to my own child.”

Taylor’s eyes filled with tears. The torment in Bennett’s expression was too much.

“I couldn’t give these people back their land,” he explained, “and if I could, it wouldn’t help them. Things are different now and that land has been overworked. That’s why I’ve been buying up this valley. It’s perfect for growing flowers and a particular kind of tree.”

“You’re going to grow flowers and trees?”

“No. They are—the people we took land from. I’ve paid the previous landowners a very, very good price and am titling it to a co-op owned by the families we ruined.”

“That’s really nice to do, but flowers?” How would that help anyone?

“Lady Mary Fragrances is the largest purchaser of floral compounds and terpenes in the world. This place will become the exclusive source for all of their ingredients.”

“You want to buy Lady Mary so you can control their sourcing?” It was…really, really smart. And now it all made so much sense. Bennett’s company was the king of manufacturing and processing equipment. He could set up a world-class operation here.

“The ingredients they’ll produce are for a premium market,” he said. “The families will make good money, and Lady Mary Fragrances will be more profitable because they’ll have an exclusive contract. We can use the profits to build water-processing plants, roads, schools. A lot of good can come out of it.”

“Wow, Bennett. Just wow.”

“It’s costing me almost everything I have. Or it will if Mary Rutherford agrees to sell the controlling stake of her company.”

“Wait. So you’re giving up everything you’ve built to do this?” She jerked her head toward the wet green lands laid out in front of them.

“I’ll own fifty-one percent of Lady Mary so I can ensure they do things my way, but that money will be tied up, and anything I make will go to this. I have money for living expenses and to build the factory here, but that’s it. I’ll just have enough—after I sell off Wade Enterprises.”

“Oh my God.” In a million years, Taylor would never, ever have imagined that this was Bennett’s secret. It was sad and dark and…he was trying to make good.

“Kate, my ex, is the only other person who knows absolutely everything,” he said. “She left me when she realized I’d be living a more…modest lifestyle. We were together for almost two years.”

Taylor was speechless. How could anyone do that to this beautiful man? It ripped her heart out. “Two years?”

He went on, “She’d been hustling me the entire time—telling me she wanted to stay out of the limelight, refusing any expensive gifts I tried to give her—it was all just an act to make me think she was down to earth, so she could get her hands on my money. I’m glad I didn’t marry her, but to me, there’s nothing worse in this world than being stabbed in the back by someone you trust.” His words reminded her of that incident in Tokyo.

“You mean like that Japanese lady you yelled at in the hotel?” she asked.

“Yes.” Bennett looked slightly irritated. “I was trying to get a rival equipment company to sell their patented processing equipment for the flowers. It would’ve kept our costs down, but that backstabbing bitch I hired tipped off one of Lady Mary’s competitors. The technology was up for grabs. I lost it.