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Stallion Bay, a beach side town a few hours up the coast, had started out as a small, quiet residential beach. Just like Holiday Cove. However, a year or so ago, thanks to a feature in a prominent lifestyle magazine, the entire area had been bit by the tourist bug and blew up overnight.
What had once been a collection of small, beach bungalows, had been bulldozed over and a five star, luxury resort was built in their place. In no time at all the place was crawling with hoity-toity rich people with their million dollar yachts, highbrow wine, designer everything—including their dogs—and outrageously expensive sports cars clogged up the 101.
If a similar effort was completed in Holiday Cove it would mean a huge jump in the museum’s revenue, but it would also destroy the quiet, serene atmosphere of the quiet town. It had been nearly two years since I’d taken up ownership of the museum, and with the improvements and advancements I’d made, the business had grown into a lucrative endeavor.
I was floored by how far things had come along. Although I wouldn’t turn down a spike in visitors and revenue, I found it hard to get excited about a bunch of tourists invading the town I called home.
Luckily, the other citizens of Holiday Cove had taken up the fight and protested to keep the resort from being approved. However, if O’Keefe was really the guy behind the project, and he was here now—did that mean something had changed?
“Fuck.” I sighed and got out of my chair. I guessed it was time to go and find out for myself.
I took another hit from my lukewarm energy drink and stalked out of my office.
When I reached the front desk, it wasn’t the cold, taunting eyes of the pompous billionaire that I encountered…
They were the dark, mocha brown eyes of Talia.
What the fuck was going on? Was this some kind of prank?
“There you are,” Lana stepped between Talia and me, smiling as though nothing out of the ordinary was happening. “This is Talia Soto, she’s Mr. O’Keefe’s…”
Lana looked to the dark haired beauty, floundering for a title. “Girlfriend,” Talia filled in, not so much of a waver to the word. She took a smooth step toward me, as though the ground beneath her was made of ice, rather than pockmarked cement. “Nice to meet you, Mr. Rosen,” she purred, her voice dripping with seduction.
I couldn’t unlock my eyes from hers, but heard Lana clear her throat. “Um, anyway, Miss Soto would like to go on the tour as scheduled.”
“Henry had to go make a business call,” Talia explained, not breaking her hold on me to acknowledge Lana’s comment. “So, it looks like I’m all yours for the afternoon.”
It was hard to get a full breath when her eyes wandered down to my lips. If I was the player, then this woman was the game master. Every glance, purse of her lips, syllable of her words, was laced with sex.
And I was more than willing to fall right into her hands.
“Excellent,” I reached for her hand, keeping up the pretense that we’d only just met, and hadn’t been together, tangled in hotel sheets less than twenty-four hours before. “Well, I’ll be more than happy to entertain you.”
Talia raised a brow and her smile deepened.
Lana, as though finally picking up that she was out of the loop, gave another disgruntled throat clearing sound. I turned to her and flashed a smile. “Thank you, Lana. Could you call the transport company and see where the F-4 is? It’s scheduled to arrive tomorrow morning and I need the precise time.”
She jerked a nod, still unsmiling, and stalked away.
Talia watched her go and then dragged her eyes back to me. “I don’t think she likes me very much…”
I shrugged. “You ready to fly?”
She answered me with a wide grin. “Absolutely.”
I started to lead the way, placing a hand at the small of her back as I guided her through the warehouse. She was wrapped in a black dress made from some kind of clingy fabric that displayed her ass to perfection. I also had a feeling it would be no problem to push it up and out of the way.
If the occasion allowed—and I was sure it would.
“So, I feel a little out of the loop here,” I said as we entered the hangar where the planes I kept flight worthy were housed. I flicked on the overhead lights and paused as the rows came alive, one after the other, to brighten the space. “Last night, you didn’t mention anything about a boyfriend. And I got the feeling, from my brief encounter with him, that Henry isn’t exactly open to sharing.”
Talia smiled down at her feet, her dark hair falling to partially hide her face. She glanced back up at me and tossed the loose strands back. “Henry has his fun, and I have mine. I didn’t mention him because he wasn’t important at the time.”
