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Chapter Thirty-six
After a restless night, Rylee still didn’t understand what had happened when Jake had left her at her door. She’d stood with her back leaning against it for some time, trying to understand his decision, his sudden rejection.
Not sure what had gone wrong, aware they’d been in complete accord until the moment he’d stepped away from her, she agonized that questionable move all night, only dropping off for a few hours toward morning.
His call woke her from a dead sleep. “Hello,” she croaked.
“Hi, beautiful, did I wake you?” Jake’s voice slid into her consciousness, and she didn’t know whether to slam the phone down as punishment for her restless, questioning night, or to tell him what she thought of his decision.
Sarcasm evident, “No, I’ve been up for hours.” Half the truth, anyway. She’d let him say his piece but following her decision from the early hours of a fretful night spent tossing and turning, she wouldn’t be too nice about it.
He hesitated and then spoke, “Did you want to have breakfast together and then go hit the beach at one of the resorts?”
“Aruba!” She’d forgotten. “We’re here…?” Carrying the phone, she bounded out of bed and flew to the balcony. Sure enough, there was the vision she’d pretended to be blasé about, except that when it came to actually seeing the place, excitement kicked in and she was stoked.
He laughed. “How could you have missed our landing if you’ve been up for hours?”
“Oh, shut up. I’ll need forty-five minutes, and then I’m all yours.”
Silence reigned. Her words had affected them both. Finally, Jake’s gentle voice answered, his words carefully chosen, “If there is a God, then one day that will be true. See you soon.”
Nothing could have brightened her day as much as those beautiful, softly spoken words. He did care.
Swiftly, she made herself ready, contacted Carl and waited for him to appear.
“So, what happened last night with the stunned idiot you had in front of your gun?”
Carl grinned at her. “Nothing very exciting. Like I told cranky-pants last night when you called, I took him to the jail and let the captain’s men deal with him. Did you forget?”
She had, but she’d be damned if she’d admit it. “No, just reaffirming what happened.”
“Okay. Once I explained he was a known criminal wanted by the FBI, they were happy enough to hold him until he could be dropped off here in Aruba where the authorities will be waiting to escort him and Madelaine back to the States.”
“So, as far as we know, Hakim is now down to three men. Good. Just to update you, Jake wants to go look around Aruba today, and I’ll be with him. He’ll be asking you to watch over Miguel and Boo.”
“He already has. No problem. Did you want me to get backup arranged for you on the island?”
“I don’t think that’ll be necessary. We’ll take a driver and act as tourists. If I see something that’s a worry, I’ll contact you, and you can make arrangements. Otherwise, we should be okay.”
“Fine. Behave yourself. I’ll see you this evening.”
Hours later, after a fun beach day at Aruba’s best resort, then walking hand in hand around famous old buildings painted pretty colors, light pinks and pale blues, with gingerbread facades, she had to admit that she’d loved every minute spent with this man.
Swimming and sunning, building sand castles and talking, they’d acted like all lovers do – touching and stealing kisses, laughing and hugging. It was mostly Jake who instigated the closeness, as it wasn’t easy for Rylee. Never had been. In most cases, she wouldn’t even allow such familiarity, with Jake it was different.
Now, checking out the various shops in the town, Rylee kept watch over the wanderer. It was her pleasure to keep her eyes on the man. What woman wouldn’t consider it so, the man was beautiful.
And not just his looks, his care for others, for the older woman who needed a seat on their bus trip to the downtown area, to the child who’d dropped her belongings and he’d helped gather them, he cared about others around him and that made him pretty darn precious.
Their whole day had been idyllic, even his questioning her about her life. Earlier, while lying side by side under a wooden slatted shade roof on thick yellow and white beach beds, the ocean shimmering with various shades of blue to turquoise magic, she’d managed to tell the truth in most cases or shuffle aside the question when he got too close to her discomfort zone.
She turned the tables as often as possible and asked him to share. “What do you do now, Jake. I know you’ve sold your business, you mentioned as much, and you were working on something special, but what’s your next phase? Do you run a company?”
“Kind of. With very few employees. My partner, Leo takes care of a lot of the day-to-day operations.”
“And what do you do with your time?”
“Now – I’m on vacation. Well-deserved time off I might add. I’ve had a few grueling years being a workaholic and my health deteriorated enough that I was forced to cut it out. I needed to take much better care of myself or there’d be consequences.”
