Unknown (Unknown Identity #1) (8 page)

“I thought I could build up to it,” he said, coughing and choking while Leslie laughed at his expression and patted him on the back. It was the funniest thing that she’d seen in a long time, and as he tried to recover and save face he shook off the bad taste and then looked at her. “So what brings you here to the island?” he asked, trying to move the conversation away from the disgraceful handling of his liquor.

“I’m trying to get away,” she said honestly, feeling absolutely no need to sugarcoat her life for this man. Sure, he was incredibly handsome, but he’d just gotten out of a serious relationship or something like that. There was no way that he would be interested in her. This was about as safe a situation with a cute guy that she could possibly get into. “Two years ago my husband was diagnosed with terminal cancer, and he elected to fight it for a year before it got the better of him. For the past year, I’ve thrown myself into nothing but work and it’s been really rough. Honestly, it doesn’t even feel like a year since he’s passed, but that’s what the calendar tells me. Depressing, I know.” She swirled her glass. “So, I figured it was time to get out and enjoy life a little. See how the other half lives.”

“Wow,” Conrad said, shaking his head in bewilderment. He stared at her for a long moment, as if comparing his break-up to her loss. He shook his head again. “That had to be horrible. Like walking through hell.”

“It was.” She swallowed, not sure why she was telling him about Michael. She could barely think about him, let alone talk to a total stranger about how empty she felt. “It was horrible while he was sick. I mean, Michael was fantastic through it all—amazing. But…” she sighed and wiped her cheek, checking for tears, “it still sucked. I wouldn’t wish it on anyone. Then he died. I was expecting it would happen, and then when he was really gone it was like I hadn’t expected it. It’s hard to explain. So I moved. Buried myself in my work.”

“And now it feels empty.”

“Yeah.” He’d hit the nail on the head with that simple comment. She stared down at her right hand. “My heart. Everything inside me. Even my hands feel empty. What I wouldn’t give to hold his hand again.” She forced a smile. “So, anyway. It’s a year later now… almost to the date, and here I am.” She raised her glass. “Moving forward.”

“Fuck,” Conrad shook his head again. “It makes all of my problems seem like nothing.”

“Loss is loss.” Leslie was glad the drinks were numbing some of her pain. “It hurts no matter how it happens.”

“Yeah, but still…” Conrad’s beautiful green-blue eyes held her gaze. “I just ended things with my wife. Stupid, I know. You went through hell for love and I’m nursing my broken heart because my wife told me she’d been cheating on me. She admitted it out of guilt and then tried to turn it around to prove to me that she actually loved me. She said she wouldn’t have told me if she didn’t actually love me.”

“Guilt doesn’t prove love,” Leslie replied. “It sounds like she was just trying to clear her conscience.” It wasn’t her place to judge, but she hated this woman for breaking Conrad’s heart.

He scoffed. “And then she went on to say it was my fault that she was cheating
and
she didn’t plan on breaking off the relationship with the asshole she was fucking.”

“I’ll beat her up for you if you want me to.”

Conrad blinked and burst out laughing. It was a deep, throaty laugh that sounded incredibly sexy. “Could you just leave a bottle of something?” Conrad asked the bartender. He waved his hand as he stood up and leaned over the bar. “Charge it or whatever. Hell, I’m going to take it.”

“Sure thing,” the bartender said, offering them an awkward smile like he wasn’t listening to how miserable their lives were.

Conrad reached across the bar and brought a bottle of gin over to him and set it between the two of them.

“Tell me about your wife,” Leslie said after Conrad added gin to her melted ice, and accepted the glass with fresh ice from the bartender for his own. Misery did love company.

“Not much to tell.” Conrad accepted the wedge of lime Leslie offered from the dish on the bar, ignoring the chuckle from the bartender. “I fell in love with her when I was in high school. Her dad was a music video director and got me my first gig when I was young. My dad wanted me to make it on my own and my mom wasn’t much help. All she cared about were pills and parties. So we sort of grew up in love. I had my first crush on her and I was sticking with her through all of it. When I finally got discovered, I made all those stupid, naïve promises that every rising actor makes to his hometown girl, and told her that I wouldn’t be tempted or swayed by anyone through all of it.”

“You cheated on her?” Leslie said, suddenly not liking Conrad nearly as much as she had when she’d walked in to the bar.

But Conrad just smiled and shook his head, pouring himself another glass of gin and swirling it before he parted his lips and downed a fifth of the glass. “Nope,” he answered, grimacing and wincing. “I was totally faithful and committed to her. The past eight years, I kept her with me and I took her to every party, award show, everything. When I was twenty-one and bought my first house, we moved in together and it was great.”

“Maybe you should’ve given her a ring first,” Leslie suggested. She could see where it might have gone wrong on his part. What was he thinking, keeping a beautiful woman around and not marrying her?

“No way,” Conrad shook his head. “I was traveling for small jobs everywhere I could and she was modeling and doing way better at it than I was. Once I hit it big, we got married. Whole magazine cover and everything. She loved all of it.” He pressed his lips tight for a moment. “It was perfect. Fairytale wedding, sweetheart romance, all of it.” He put his glass down and poured more liquid onto his melting ice. “And the whole bloody time she was sleeping with other guys, trying to get her stress out or something like that.”

“What?” Leslie furrowed her brow.

“She said that the best way to relieve the stress and tension was to just have a quick, meaningless fling with someone.” He threw another lemon in his drink. “She said it never meant anything and that she hardly knew any of them.” He looked up at Leslie, his eyes bright with pain. “How the fuck is that supposed to make me feel better, or more forgiving for that matter? Hell, I was so furious I packed up and left the moment she told me. I came here. I doubt she has a clue I’m here. There’s like seven different places she’s probably looking for me. I bet it’s only a matter of time before she shows up here.”

“You’re living like a fugitive,” Leslie said, shaking her head somberly and slowly. The writer in her head took over. “That’s hot. It would make an awesome story.”

Conrad burst out laughing and couldn’t control himself. It was the kind of laugh that was deep inside of him and made his shoulders shake as he threw back his head, his shoulders leaning in as he laughed uncontrollably.

She smiled and found herself laughing, too; not that what she said was funny, but because his laugh was so contagious.

“What’s your name, by the way? I bare my war-torn heart and I don’t even know your name. I’m so sorry.”

“Leslie,” she answered.

“You’re very pretty, Leslie. Thank you for lending an ear without judging me. I’m Conrad,” he said with a smile, extending his hand for her.

“Nice to meet you, Conrad.” An electric surge of excitement rushed through her fingers and through the palm of her hand as she slid her fingers into his.
Funny, my hand’s not empty anymore
. She quickly brushed the thought away. It wasn’t the same as what she had meant earlier when she was talking about Michael.

“It’s been an absolute pleasure to meet you, Leslie,” Conrad said with a smile, glancing down at his very expensive wristwatch. He brought his gaze back up and his almost turquoise-blue-colored eyes locked with hers. “I don’t mean this in a sexual way at all,” he started.

It hit Leslie right then that this was perhaps the worst way to start a sentence in the entirety of the English language. Sure, you could probably say more horrible things, but a woman never wants to hear those words strung together by sexy, crazy-attractive man.

“But do you want to get out of here?” he continued and then his eyes grew big. “Oh shit! I mean, you’re stunning. Gorgeous. Fucking hot body and sexy hair.” He ran his fingers through his own hair. “I… I just don’t want you to think that I’m hitting on you.”

Leslie suddenly realized the expression on her own face must have made him realize what he’d said. Trying her hardest to scrub the expression from her face, she smiled. Conrad just needed a friend. So did she. She looked at the bartender, who was staring at a plasma television on the wall, trying desperately to become invisible. She shrugged at Conrad’s offer. “My suite’s just down the hall,” Leslie said with a nonchalant sort of attitude that the alcohol demanded she adopt for this specific moment.

“What a coincidence; mine, too.” Conrad laughed.

“Nice try, hot shot.” Leslie pushed away from the bar. “But this is a whole non-sexual thing we got going on here, remember?”

“Damn, I’m never going to recover from that,” Conrad said, shaking his head in disgust with himself as he stepped away from the bar for the first time in what was probably an eternity. After all, how long had he been stuck at that place? He’d probably been there all day and maybe the night before, and maybe the day before even. He grabbed the bottle of gin from the bar.

It was a pitiful thought and Leslie grabbed her shoes before swaying gently as she walked out of the bar and looked at the incredible nocturnal view that the great window panels offered her as she turned and headed toward her room.

Conrad Dane, the hottest man that she had ever seen, followed after her, rubbing his head and laughing in embarrassment while she shook her head in agreement with him. “I’ll never let you live that one down.”

She grinned when he muttered, “Damn fine ass as well. Just my luck.”

I
t was weird, looking at Conrad Dane as they sat on the extremely puffy white couch and watched some sort of bad movie that Conrad told her was so terrible it eventually turned out to be hilarious. She played along with his little promise, but truthfully, it was just a horrible movie and she didn’t understand for a second what could possibly be hilarious about it at all. But while he watched the movie, chewing on the trail mix that they found in the cupboard when they raided the kitchen, she stared at him and watched his face with extreme fascination.

She couldn’t get over how freakin’ handsome Conrad was. It was impossible for her to comprehend how someone could look that good. Sure, he had people who were madly intent on making sure that he was the prettiest hot guy around, but still. He’d been here with no crew following him around and he was damn hot. There was some serious natural handsome gene pool foundation at work there and it was driving her wild. His lips for example, there had never been lips that looked that good and she was certain of it.

She was dying to know how they would feel against hers. What he would taste like.

He watched the movie, she watched him. The man was flawless. Perfect. Rock hard body, sexy chest and abs—she knew that because of the show she’d seen him shirtless on—not one inch of him wasn’t delicious.

She loved Michael, his body and everything. But Conrad…

The thought was horrible for sure.

Not that this is a bad thing
, Leslie thought as she stared at perfection in human form sitting next to her on the sofa, eating trail mix while he watched a terrible movie and laughed at the bad acting. She had been madly in love with Michael for most of her adult life, and she had been sexually attracted to him. They’d had pretty fantastic sex as far as she was concerned. But being in the presence of this real, extremely attractive man was driving her crazy with desire. She wanted to have sex with him. Not make love. Just fuck. She couldn’t remember what that raw need felt like. It had been too damn long.

“You’re staring again,” Conrad said, casually popping some candy and nuts into his mouth as he looked at her. He took a swig of gin directly from the bottle and offered it to her.

“You’re very pretty,” Leslie said casually, grabbing the bottle for a sip and then turning back to the TV as she hugged her knees. There was an internal heat pressing deep inside her that was begging to be satisfied.

“You’re very pretty, too,” Conrad chuckled as he looked at the television screen and watched the movie for a moment. He turned back and stared at her, furrowing his perfect brow. “No, you’re like crazy beautiful, Leslie. How the hell are you here alone? And why did you get a suite if you’re only going to be hanging out here alone? Why not just get a single room?” He held his hand up. “I know why you’re here, but damn, woman, you could have any guy on this resort. You said you came here to see how the other half lives. Why aren’t you dancing and partying?”

“Why aren’t you?” Leslie whispered, running her fingers through her hair. There was no knowing where Josie and Amber were right now, but sitting in the dark and watching a movie with Conrad Dane seemed to be a pretty great way to end the night. “Can’t two pretty people hang out, non-sexually?” she asked in a sarcastic voice. “And I don’t mean that to sound as terrible as it does.”

Conrad burst out laughing. He gave her a playful shove, and Leslie knew that it was anything but playful. It felt wrong that she was probably taking advantage of him. There was no way that she was going to do anything sexual with him as long as he was anywhere near the break-up point that he was with his ex.
Fuck that
. She wanted him naked on the couch with the stupid movie playing.

“Damn, you can hold a grudge,” Conrad chuckled and reached for the bottle again.

“Your words,” Leslie said with a moody shrug, and let him take the gin from her. “Not mine.”

Taking control of the remote, she shut off the terrible movie and started searching through the channels until she found exactly what it was that she was looking for. A smile spread across her lips as she looked at the images on the screen and saw that she was sitting next to a practical clone of the man that was on the screen.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Conrad dropped back against the couch and spread his arms across the back part of it. “Okay, don’t judge me for anything that you see on this show.”

“What? Like you?” Leslie giggled. “Stop it, I like this show.”

“What could you possibly like about this show?” Conrad shook his head in shame. “There is absolutely nothing on this show that is of any quality of any kind.”

“I watch it because you’re on it,” Leslie confessed after a moment, but she refused to let the moment hang in the air. “Get on a better show and I’ll watch that show. Can’t you do something artsy or meaningful, with some actual decent writing? And why are you always punching werewolves?”

“Because the werewolves are bad,” Conrad shrugged like it was the common thing for every human to do in their life. “What would you do if you ever saw a werewolf?”

“Kill it,” Leslie shrugged.

“Seriously?” Conrad raised his eyebrows. “Dark.” He took a swig and offered her the gin again.

“Whatever; you’re the one punching them.” Leslie shook her head, refusing to apologize for her stance as being completely anti-werewolf.

They both froze, their heads swinging to the front door of the suite as they heard the door unlocking. Someone was coming. Leslie felt a knot in her throat as she looked at the door. Someone was coming home and she was going to have to explain to them everything that had happened. Of course, they were going to freak out first and scare Conrad away, and then she was going to have to explain how a famous celebrity ended up in their suite without any of them knowing.

“You have roommates?” Conrad asked her, definitely terrified by the whole situation.

“Yeah, two of them,” Leslie whispered, realizing she hadn’t gotten to the point to explain that to him. Too late for that now. She grimaced as the door opened and two figures appeared in the light of the corridor, a silhouette of two beings definitely in the process of becoming one. In fact, they were so hot and heavy with each other that they didn’t even notice there were two other people in the room watching them.

It was clearly Amber who had come back for the night, and the man was in the process of getting his shirt ripped off by her as they headed for her room. “It’s this way,” she said between wet kisses, the man’s hands exploring every inch of her body.

Conrad stared, watching the scene like anyone would. It was an incredibly sexy train-wreck. Her roommate was about to have wild and unbridled sex with some guy she had met just a few hours ago. They both watched until the door closed on the room and they were left in the sudden, heated silence.

She leaned close to him, smelling his musky scent. She had to inhale twice before she could speak. “That’s my friend, Amber,” she whispered. “Yeah, she’s kind of slutty, but she’s also an extremely good person. Don’t judge her for what you just saw.” Leslie quietly stood up from the couch and motioned for him to follow her. “How about we let them, uh, finish?” The squeal of excitement that came from behind the closed door had Conrad and Leslie both chuckling.

She tiptoed to her room and motioned for him to follow. Conrad glanced back at Amber’s room as a pair of shoes hit the door and a belt was ripped off really fast. He turned back, swallowing hard, grabbed the gin and trail mix, and followed Leslie.

“Sorry about that.”

“Nothing to be sorry about.” Conrad cleared his throat before taking a long drink from the bottle.

“I meant to tell you that I have two friends with me.”

“Two?”

“I’m not sure where Josie is.”

“Hopefully in Amber’s bed. For that guy’s sake.” Conrad grinned, clearly teasing her.

Leslie, suddenly warm from what she had just witnessed and the fact that this sexy hunk of man was now in her room, turned on the fan above the bed. “You want to watch more TV?” She didn’t know what else to say or where to look. When Conrad didn’t reply, she finally looked over to him and realized he was watching her.

“What?” she asked, leaning away from him.

“Who was that again?” Conrad laughed.

“Amber,” Leslie said. “She’s definitely into guys. Works at a high class bar back in New York. I thought I was going to have to go hunt her down tomorrow morning. She’s kind of out there in the dangerously exciting area of life.”

“I’ll bet,” Conrad laughed. “Did she know that guy?”

“They just met tonight when we were at the Mexican restaurant.”

“Damn! Tacos sound good now.” Conrad groaned as he leaned back, fluffing Leslie’s pillows and staring at the TV that was still on.

Leslie watched him for a moment and noticed his eyes didn’t linger very long on the screen. In fact, his eyes landed on her just a few seconds after she hugged her knees again and pretended like she was watching the show. Reaching over to her nightstand, she grabbed her glasses and put them on, wondering if the thought of dating someone who wore glasses might put him off. It was a stupid thought but she was tired and hardly wore them.

Instead of looking away, Conrad kept looking at her. His eyes darted to the TV whenever she would look over her shoulder at him very obviously. It was kind of cute and she found it hard to resist. She moved back against the pillows beside him and watched the TV, handing him the remote while they both tried to ignore the very obvious sounds of Amber getting the best sex she’d probably ever had. Between the moaning, screaming, and the thumping of the bed posts, Leslie felt like they’d been thrown into a porno. She looked at Conrad, who was having a hard time controlling his laughter as he shook his head at the absurdity of it all. She gave him a shove, trying to get him to be a little mature, just for the sake of the fact that it was her friend over there getting pleasured.

They both heard when Josie came home, walking through the suite with heavy feet. Clearly intoxicated, she went into the kitchen, rummaging around. She was looking to score some food that Leslie had no doubt taken and called her own during their initial raiding party. Her footsteps trailed away from the kitchen before she started heading closer and closer to the room where Leslie and Conrad were hiding out. Something told Leslie that Josie hadn’t caught on to the fact that the erotic noises in her head weren’t actually in her head, and that it was actually Amber making the noises in the next room.

Conrad and Leslie watched as the doorknob turned and slowly pushed open, like some horrific scene out of Jurassic Park before Josie waddled into the room, rubbing her eyes and looking like she’d definitely partied most of the night away. Without saying a word, she walked up to the trail mix, glancing at Conrad and Leslie before she turned and looked at the TV.

“Leslie, you’re so lame,” Josie chuckled, shaking her head at the sight of their beloved, cheesy show on the screen. “We’re in freaking paradise and you’re watching that show we watch at home. What’s up with that?” She turned and looked at Leslie again before she turned and looked at Conrad, staring at him for a moment. “Anyone tell you that you look like Conrad Dane?”

“All the time.” Conrad grinned. He offered her the gin.

“Cool. Leslie has this hot crush on the guy.” She drank the last remains of the bottle and then tilted her head. “Damn! Amber’s getting fucked like a jack hammer.” She yawned and stood up. “Tomorrow, I’m taking you out, Leslie. I met a really cool guy who I think you’re going to like.” She shuffled to the door and hollered out, “Fuck, Amber, do you always have to scream?”

Leslie burst out laughing. “I’m so sorry, Conrad.” She was burning with embarrassment at Josie’s comment, but pretending she hadn’t heard it seemed a lot easier. “Josie and Amber are roommates. They live across the hall from me. I seriously didn’t know they were this crazy.”

Conrad looked at her for a moment, clearly not sure what to say. “Your friends are awesome,” he said, chuckling.

Leslie smiled. “Kinda crazy. At least they got me out of my apartment.”

“You live in an apartment?” He raised his eye brows. “High end NYC?”

“Not really.”

“But you’re here. This place isn’t…” His eyes drifted back to the TV, not wanting to finish what he was thinking.

Leslie was fine not getting into that conversation either. She turned back to the TV as well, resigned to the fact that they were literally going to be just hanging out here. It was fine with her. She had no clue how to out play Amber’s screams and moans. On the screen, Conrad was once again punching werewolves for the sake of the woman that he loved. Leslie hated the woman and she watched her struggle over the thought of whether or not she wanted to be with Conrad. It seemed like such a stupid problem, like why would you ever choose to have mud when you could have crystalline water? When she glanced over at the real Conrad beside her, she saw he was staring at her, not looking away this time.

She looked at him. “What’s up?”

“You’re really stunning. Not just pretty, but really, really beautiful,” he said in a casual, nonchalant way, but like it held the secret of the world in it as well. Like, fish can’t live outside of water. North is opposite of South. It was something so simple and true that it caught her completely by surprise when she looked at him, listening to the words as they fell from his lips, and it hit her like a boulder smashing down from the top of Mount Everest and shattering her tiny little glass house.