Something to Believe In Read online

  He hoped this wasn’t an omen for his life now that the senator was in control.

  He had one month left of life as he knew it.

  He wasn’t about to waste it.

  CHAPTER THREE

  LILAH LIFTED HER FACE to the clean, sweet night air as she walked into the Rush Tide bar and restaurant and smiled as the faint breeze caressed her cheek. The waves lapped at the beach a mere fifteen feet away as she took a seat at the bar.

  Donna, a longtime waitress at the Tide, came over with a smile. “What can I get you tonight?” she asked.

  “My usual,” Lilah answered. “Who’s playing tonight?”

  “Local band, Shiver Me Timbers. You heard of them?” Donna asked as she slid a virgin mojito Lilah’s way.

  Lilah shook her head. “No, but I’m sure they’re good, if you booked them.”

  Donna nodded, leaning across the bar to share information with Lilah. “They play a number of places in St. Thomas. Got a pretty good fan base, actually. They’ve got a rockabilly funk sound. I think you’ll like them.”

  “Cool,” Lilah said as she sipped her drink, feeling only slightly guilty for lying to Lora about the band playing reggae but she could only take so much of her family’s babying at this point. Out of habit, she took a pen from her purse and started idly doodling on a napkin.

  Donna sighed as she cocked her head, watching Lilah do a quick sketch of an iguana sunning itself on a palm tree. “You make that look so easy when I know it’s not. I wish I had your talent, girl.”

  Lilah smiled briefly. “Well, napkin drawing is hardly what I’d call a talent,” she said. “Besides, slinging drinks is a far more marketable skill. It’s not like I can put this stuff on my résumé.”

  Donna shook her head, plainly disagreeing with Lilah’s assessment. “You have a gift. I know good stuff when I see it, even if I can’t do it myself. Trust me.”

  Lilah accepted the compliment but otherwise let it drop. She hated talking about her art. It was one of those private things that she preferred to keep in the background of her life because although she lived and breathed art, her supposed talent hadn’t gotten her very far.

  “So what’s new?” Lilah asked, making general conversation until she realized Donna’s attention was riveted elsewhere. She swiveled on her stool and found Larimar’s newest guest sauntering into the Tide, looking sharp, edgy and completely take-your-breath-away hot.

  “Who is that?” Donna asked, her eyes lighting up with obvious interest. “He is definitely not local.”

  “His name is Justin Cales,” Lilah answered, toying with her straw, watching him. “He’s staying at Larimar.”

  “Very nice. If only all the tourists were as hot as him.”

  Lilah chuckled and swiveled back around. Lora would jump all over her if she started flirting with a guest. No matter how cute he was, it wasn’t worth the hassle.

  “Don’t look now but you’ve been spotted,” Donna whispered before pulling back with a wide grin.

  Lilah turned to see Justin heading straight for her. Her cheeks heated and an inexplicable moment of panic colored her thoughts, almost prompting her to make a hasty exit. But she wasn’t fast enough and within seconds, he was sliding into the seat beside her just as she crumpled the napkin in her hand and surreptitiously dropped it into her purse.

  “Welcome to Rush Tide,” Donna said. “What can I get you?”

  He glanced at Lilah with a playful grin. “Any recommendations?”

  “Anything with the local rum,” Lilah answered, smiling as she leaned in to add, “It’s kind of our thing. You can’t leave the island without having something with rum in it.”

  “Sounds serious,” Justin said.

  Lilah nodded with mock gravity. “Oh, it is. Donna, can you please set our new guest up with the house special?”

  “One, one-horned butt fish, coming right up.”

  Justin mouthed the drink special with a dubious expression. “Am I going to regret this?”

  “Depends on how many you drink and what actions qualify as regretful.”

  His grin widened. “I think I’m going to have fun here.” He gestured at her drink. “What’s your poison?”

  She hesitated but then shrugged and answered. “Virgin mojito.”

  His raised brow said it all but she didn’t feel the need to explain that alcohol messed with her meds. She certainly didn’t feel like sharing all her dirty secrets in one sitting. A girl had to hold on to a little mystery, right?

  “So, let me get this straight, you’re pushing rum concoctions my way, yet you’re drinking slushies? Are you trying to take advantage of me?” he asked playfully.

  His grin did funny things to her stomach. He was either very dangerous or just what she needed—and it was too early to tell which it was going to be. “Something tells me the idea doesn’t bother you too much,” she countered with a sly smile.

  “Guilty. I’m a sucker for a beautiful woman. Take advantage all you want.”

  “Duly noted.” She sipped her drink, smiling as his gaze fastened on her lips with interest. The sparks kindling between them were difficult to ignore, and even so, she couldn’t think of a single reason why she would want to.

  She imagined taking him home, stripping his clothes and climbing him like a tree; a thought that nearly took her breath away at the reckless abandon. She wasn’t generally a spontaneous person—that was Lindy’s department. But there was no denying the fact that Justin made her feel alive for the first time in a year.

  “What brings you to St. John?” she asked.

  “Ahh, small talk. I should warn you, I excel at small talk. Practically majored in it in college.”

  “You have the look of an educated man,” she agreed, regarding him speculatively. “Probably some expensive Ivy League school, if my intuition is correct.”

  He waited to answer until he’d taken an exploratory sip of the rum drink, then said, “If I tell you that I went to Yale for my undergraduate degree, then went on to Harvard Business School would that make me completely pretentious and untenable to be around? I mean, I don’t want to be that guy, you know, the one who throws around his education like it means more than it does. An education is an education, right?”

  She shrugged. “I wouldn’t know. I never went to college.”

  “No? Why not?”

  Lilah held her smile in place but inside she froze. She should’ve known this line of questioning would end up in bad territory. She’d planned to go to art school in Florida, but she hadn’t been accepted. The blow to her ego and her fragile sense of talent had been fatal. College after that had seemed pointless. “Just not my thing,” she answered blithely. “So...Mr. Highly Educated...business or pleasure?”

  “Definitely pleasure,” he answered with a mischievous look. “I have a month to do what I want and I plan to make the most of it.”

  “Why one month? You have a deadline for the end of your fun?”

  His smile remained, but there was something about his expression that seemed hard as he said, “Life can’t always be about fun and games, or so I’m told. But a man can do a lot in a month, right? So, what do locals do around here for fun?”

  She lifted her drink. “You’re looking at it.” At his laughter, she added with a chuckle, “Well, that, and sail, scuba dive, snorkel, parasail... Oh, and if you have your passport you can take a charter to St. Croix and Jost van Dyke.”

  “I’ll put them all on my
to-do list.”

  Could you put me on your to-do list? The thought jumped in her brain before she could stop it but she didn’t mind. He was only staying for a month. Plus, he wasn’t from around here so he didn’t know anything about her. She could be anyone—such as a girl who hadn’t tried to kill herself a few months ago. The freedom to start fresh created a brighter smile for Lilah. Yes...Justin Cales could be just what she needed.

  In all sorts of ways.

  * * *

  IT COULD’VE BEEN THE RUM, but Justin found Lilah irresistibly sexy. Her long blond hair drifted down her back in a waterfall of gold that made him want to twine his fingers in the soft strands, and her sweet, playful smiles made his gut tighten with the need to know more about her.

  Oh, and did he mention she was sexy? Her white shorts hugged her pert rear end like a second skin and her loose gauzy shirt covered a bikini top over those perfect palm-sized breasts that he was dying to get to know better.

  He was torn between spending more time with her or just staking his claim and then moving on. The island was probably filled with Caribbean cuties. Why should he get locked in with only one?

  Besides, he wasn’t looking for a relationship—good God, no—but then again, it didn’t seem that Lilah was in the market for a boyfriend, either. Maybe she was game for a little fun.

  “So...attached?” he asked courteously, though it wouldn’t have mattered. If she had a boyfriend, he certainly wasn’t around, so she was fair game in his mind.

  “No attachments,” she answered in a husky voice that sent shivers of awareness down his spine. “You?”

  “I wouldn’t be imagining all the things I’d like to do to you if I were,” he said in an equally low and seductive tone. He wasn’t lying—when he was attached, he didn’t stray, which was why he made it a point not to get attached. He liked variety in his carnal diet.

  “Oh, really?” Her brow raised slightly. “Such as?”

  He moved closer and whispered in her ear, “Come back to my room and I’ll show you. All. Night. Long.”

  Her light laughter warmed him as if a ray of sunshine had just bathed his insides, and he suddenly hoped his cheesy pick-up line would work.

  “Does that line work where you’re from?” she asked.

  Damn. He should’ve known Lilah wouldn’t fall for something so crass. “Well, not always, but sometimes...and I’m an opportunist. Can’t fault a guy for trying, right?”

  She laughed again and sipped her drink, her eyes dancing. “Well, keep trying. I think you’re closer to success than you know.”

  “Is that so?” he asked, surprised and delighted. His forced vacation was off to a great start. His dad would be so pissed. No doubt, the senator had hoped without his friends he’d spend an entire month moping and moldering on this humid speck of land. Well, sorry to disappoint you, Dad. I’m hooking up with the hottest chick on the island.

  An almost coy smile played on Lilah’s lips and he was irresistibly drawn to her soft, sweet mouth. His palms moistened and he blamed the humidity, but as he locked stares with the enigmatic woman, he felt something shift inside him. He’d never been accused of being a romantic at heart, but for a wild second he wondered if this was what it was like to fall in love at first sight. If Keenan had heard him say something so girly, he’d keel over laughing and between gasps ask him if his subscription to the Lifetime Movie channel had expired. But how else was he supposed to explain how his heart rate had sped up at the thought of taking her to his room? He pulled back, putting some distance between them by reaching for his drink. God, he was overthinking things. She was hot. He was available. End of story.

  “You want to get out of here?” she asked.

  “Where?” he asked.

  “How about the beach?”

  A vision of the infamous scene in From Here to Eternity flashed in his mind and he hopped from his stool with a ready grin. “Show me the way and I’ll follow wherever you go.”

  Lilah’s small hand slipped into his and he instinctively squeezed, liking the feel of her hand in his. He imagined he was going to like the feel of Lilah—period.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  LILAH TOOK HIM TO A BEATUP Jeep and they climbed in. “This yours?” he asked, buckling up.

  “It belongs to Larimar, but Pops and Grams always said we could use the resort vehicles to get around as long as we didn’t do anything too stupid. They were pretty laid-back about certain things.”

  Justin thought of his father and how he wasn’t laid-back about anything. Even though he’d bought Justin a BMW Roadster for his sixteenth birthday, the man had dictated where and when he drove it. Limits were fine—hell, he’d been a spoiled rich kid up to no good most times—but the senator had taken it to extremes. It’d gotten to the point where Justin had just said screw it and found alternate transportation. In the end, he’d been happier, if not as stylish. To this day, that Roadster sat in the garage, collecting dust.

  Lilah drove like a native, taking the sharp curves with ease, as the Jeep rumbled past the resort and up a steep incline.

  “So where we going?” he asked, reaching up to hold on as she shifted the Jeep into a lower gear to climb the hill.

  “My favorite beach,” she answered with a smile. “Hawksnest.”

  “Sounds exotic.” He grinned. “You’re not taking me up here to have your wicked way with me are you? I’m not that kind of boy, you know.” Her light laughter teased a wider grin from him. “Not buying that, huh? Which part?”

  “We’re almost there,” she said by way of answer, and he chuckled, happy to be there with her.

  Justin leaned his head against the headrest and breathed deep the lush scent of the tropical foliage that flanked either side of the road as they drove out of town. It smelled fertile and ripe, almost sweet.

  “Smells good, doesn’t it?” she asked.

  He nodded, his eyes still closed. “Yeah...it does. Better than New York on a hot summer day that’s for sure.”

  “That where you’re from?”

  “You mean my accent didn’t give it away?”

  “Well, it did but I didn’t want to assume.”

  “No worries. I’m a proud New Yorker. I’m a moderately fanatical Yankees fan, my favorite food is a dirty water dog, and I knew my way around the subway before I was ten. So yeah, New York, baby, all the way. Greatest city on earth. Have you ever been?”

  She shook her head, almost shyly, and he nearly offered to take her sometime. Thankfully, he reined in that errant thought before it popped from his mouth and ruined an otherwise fabulous night with promises he didn’t intend to keep. “So, tell me what it’s like to grow up in paradise?” he asked.

  “See for yourself.” Lilah chuckled and pulled off the main road. The beach was only ten to twenty feet from the road. The soft lapping of waves against the sand combined with sounds in the sweet, redolent night air that he’d never be able to identify and he found himself struck by the sense of peace that followed.

  Bright moonlight bathed the darkness with milky light, giving the water a silvery sheen, and he momentarily worried about the things in the water they wouldn’t be able to see. But his worry was soon eclipsed by the realization that Lilah wasn’t waiting for him as she grabbed a large beach bag stuffed in the back of the Jeep and then struck off toward the beach.

  She pulled a large blanket from the bag and spread it out, and then she shocked him when she simply stripped, shimmying out of he
r white shorts and gauzy top. His eyes bugged at the tiny bikini clinging to her lean curves but she didn’t stop there. She cast him a sweetly provocative smile before untying her bikini top and letting it drop to the sand.

  All he could do was stare. Words dried up in his mouth and she took his shocked silence as proof that he liked what he saw. Then, she wiggled out of her bottoms and walked into the ocean. Her perfect, heart-shaped ass was the last thing he saw before she dove into the dark water.

  Holy hell! Was she some island goddess? Was he awake or dreaming? He struggled out of his shorts and nearly tripped and fell on his face in his haste to join her. Get a hold of yourself, he chastised himself as he splashed into the water. This wasn’t his first rodeo with a gorgeous naked woman, but one would never know it from the fumbling awkwardness he was displaying.

  The warm water closed over his head and he was grateful for the split second to compose himself. When he reemerged, she was floating not far from him, pleased that he’d joined her so readily.

  “If you are trying to have your way with me, you’re off to a good start,” he warned playfully. He reached for her and she glided just out of reach. “Where you going?” he asked, grinning. “Because I’ll follow wherever you go. Now that I’ve seen the goods...you’ll never be rid of me.”

  It was a playful statement but there was a chord of truth that clanged inside him that gave him a second’s pause. But his libido quickly pushed away anything that even remotely resembled serious thought.

  She responded with a small giggle. “You’ll have to catch me first,” she said, and dove under the water.

  * * *

  LILAH DARTED AWAY FROM Justin, kicking with quick, strong strokes but the New Yorker must’ve put in some serious time on the swim team because she nearly swallowed a lungful of water when his arms wrapped around her waist. He’d caught her easily and pulled her into his chest. Her arms wound automatically around his neck and her legs around his torso. He swam until his feet could touch the bottom and then they simply drifted together. Lilah sighed as the tepid water swirled around them like a liquid blanket of security and warmth, almost drunk with her own abandon.