“Interesting. Thanks, Tyler.”
I hang up, slide out of my heels, take off my suit jacket and join Dawson at a shaded table by the pool just as our drinks arrive.
“To new beginnings,” I say, carefully clinking my full martini glass with his.
“To new beginnings,” he repeats. “So, back to the question that brought us here. Why does someone like you need confidence? Your confidence was one of the first things I noticed about you. You were almost cocky.”
“Oh, come on, I wasn’t that bad.”
“I never thought it was bad. I liked it.” He smiles at me again. “And your taste in scotch.”
I laugh. “I did think I was the shit in high school.”
“So what happened after that?”
“I graduated, went to college, then law school. I was secretly married at nineteen to a guy I had known since we were young.”
“Secretly married?”
“Yeah, our parents would not have approved, but we didn’t care. Bam was . . .”
“Bam? That was his name? Like on the Flintstones, Bam Bam? I can’t picture you with a Bam Bam.”
I laugh, picturing Bam in a loincloth during the Stone Age. No fast cars. No servants. He wouldn’t have survived. If ever there was a boy who grew up with a silver spoon in his mouth, it was Bam.
“Juan Fabio Martinez is his real name. He’s a professional polo player from Argentina. His family’s quite wealthy and he grew up with the best of everything. I met him when I was fifteen at a weekend party on his yacht. We hooked up for the first time that weekend and whenever he was in town. By the time I was nineteen, we were crazy in love and got married on a whim. Afterwards, he freaked out because his mother would’ve been crushed he didn’t get married in the church. We never told anyone we were married, but we lived together while I went to college and when I graduated law school, we did it up big. Proposal in front of his family. Married in the church he grew up in. Three lavish receptions in three different countries. An amazing three week honeymoon.”
“Sounds nice. What happened?”
“The short answer is he cheated on me. I’m not sure if it was often. He traveled a lot and I worked.”
“Did you need to work?”
“No, but I wanted to. I didn’t spend all those years getting through school just to be a polo player’s wife. I suppose that should have been enough, but I wanted more. For me.”
Dawson’s eyes smile at me.
Yeah, I meant that. Not only does his mouth smile but his eyes too. They have such warmth and depth.
I could get lost in them.
“What about you?” I ask.
“I took it pretty hard when my wife, uh, left.”
“When was that?”
“Two years ago,” he says. I realize that’s when he quit working. He must have taken it really hard.
Is that why Keatyn is going so overboard with him?
Does he have a drinking problem? Drugs? Is he mentally unstable?
I notice that half his drink is left, while mine is completely gone. I was sucking it down while telling him about Bam.
Probably not an alcoholic.
“How long were you married?”
“Whitney and I were married for eight years.”
“Did you get married while you were still in college?”
“Yeah, we did.”
“Is there anything else you want to tell me?” I ask, hoping he’ll just spill the story instead of me having to pry it out of him. He’s barely answering my questions.
“No, I don’t think so. I’m looking forward to working with you.”
Working with me? Shit. Here I am flirting with him and he wants to work with me.
But if he’s not interested, why the comment about my lips?
Maybe his wife leaving is a touchy subject and I should stop babbling on about it.
“So what do you hope to do at Captive?”
“Mostly, make an impact. Keatyn is a good friend and I don’t want to let her down.”
“Just how well do you know her?”
“We dated briefly in high school. Have been friends ever since. She’s a good friend.”
“When I found out Bam was cheating on me, I went through a lot. My business suffered. I lost most of my clients. Keatyn stuck by me. Shit, speaking of that, I need to get her press release out. And our swimwear should be here by now. Why don’t you order another round of drinks and bring them inside.”
I quickly send out the press release about Keatyn and Aiden’s engagement and follow it up with a few well-placed phone calls.
My bikini has arrived along with a sinful black dress for tonight and matching slinky undergarments.
You know, just in case.
I change into my bikini and as I come out of the bathroom, he’s just coming back inside with our drinks.
He stops in his track and stares at me. His gaze feels like fire as it feasts on my skin.
My insides react. I’m ready to throw this man on the bed and have my way with him. And I can’t for the life of me figure out what’s stopping me from doing just that.
“I have swim trunks for you to put on.” I thrust them in his direction as he sets our drinks on the desk.