Silence fell over the table as Sid moved a bite of the cupcake around her plate. Even Opal’s chocolate buttercream couldn’t coax her past this feeling. Confusion mixed with fear mixed with hope.
“It started in high school,” she said, keeping her eyes on the dessert. “Dad died when I was fourteen and Randy brought me here. He didn’t own the businesses yet, but knew this would be a safe place to raise a teenager. Safer than Miami.”
“So that’s where you’re from? Miami?”
“Yeah.” Thinking of Miami brought memories and images, good times and bad. She didn’t want to think about those right now. “Anyway, I saw Lucas the first day of my freshman year. He was a sophomore and smart and gorgeous. Even then he had that hint of polish. Like he belonged in a display case, not buried in a heap of sand where no one could appreciate him.”
Sid looked up to see Will nodding. “I can see that. He is pretty.” She smiled with understanding. “Go on.”
“Of course I never had the guts to talk to him. These boobs everyone keeps yapping about hadn’t shown up at that point. But when they did, junior year, shit got crazy.”
“What do you mean?” Will asked, leaning forward again.
“I wasn’t invisible anymore, and at first I liked the attention. But one guy coaxed me out to the football field during a dance. I was so stupid.” Sid shook her head at the memory, then crossed her arms until she was practically hugging herself. “I thought he just wanted to talk and hang out, but he wanted more. We were too far away for anyone to hear me yell, but I kept fighting.”
Cold washed over her and her heart rate sped up. Stupid reaction to have more than ten years later. This is why Sid never talked about that night.
Will reached out and laid a hand on her arm. “Did he …?”
“No,” Sid said, shaking her head. “Lucas showed up. He never threw a punch, but he didn’t have to. The kid acted like it was no big deal and headed back to the gym. I was so embarrassed, I ran to my truck and drove home like a maniac.”
“Had Lucas followed you two? How did he know you were out there?”
Sid shrugged. “I don’t know. I didn’t stick around to ask. He’d looked really concerned, like he cared, and tried to offer me a ride home.” She looked up and met Will’s eyes. “But I ran.”
“Honey,” Will said. “Did you ever tell anyone?”
“Nah.” She forced herself to take a bite. The sugary confection helped to block the taste of humiliation on her tongue.
They ate in silence, Sid figuring she’d said enough, and Will presumably processing what she’d just heard. Once she’d finished her pie, Will pushed the plate aside and sat back with her lemonade.
“He was your knight in shining armor. He slayed the dragon, which still counts, even if your dragon was a seventeen-year-old jackass.”
Sid snorted, picturing Lucas on a white steed, lance in hand, and another of her romance covers came to mind.
“We need to do something about this,” Will said, propping one foot beneath her and leaning on the table. “We have to let him know how you feel.”
“No,” Sid said, any sense of the power to which Maggie had referred long gone. “That is not going to happen.”
“Oh, come on. This is your shot.”
“You’ve seen the type of girl Lucas likes. Do you see a single similarity between me and Curly?”
Will pursed her lips to one side. “Well, you’re both beautiful. But personality-wise, not so much.”
“Exactly.” Sid scooped up her last bite of cupcake. “He likes dainty and sweet. The girl next door.”
“And you’re more the boy next door trapped in a porn star’s body.”
Sid threw her napkin at Will. “Har har har. Besides, he’s only here for five more weeks.”
“So?” Will asked. “Give him a reason not to leave.”
Another snort. Sid had never seen a man more determined than Lucas Dempsey to get off Anchor Island. There was nothing she or anyone could do that would make him stay.
“Then have a fling. Maybe he’s not all that and a box of bonbons.” Will threw the napkin back. “Try him out. Take him for a test-drive. Make the man see Jesus, then leave him wanting more while you get him out of your system.”
The idea had merit. Not that Sid had ever made a man see Jesus. In her limited experience, she was pretty sure sex with her had never been a religious experience for anyone. Forgettable, yes. Spirit moving, no.
“I don’t know.”
“And you won’t know until you try.” Will lowered her leg and collected the dishes. “You turn on the charm and that man doesn’t stand a chance. Remember, the bigger they are, the harder they fall.” With a wicked grin she added, “You might as well be under him when he goes.”
Less than a week. That’s how long it took Sid Navarro to drive him up a wall. When not insulting him or making him look like a talentless chump, she was setting him on fire with a body that could fuel a man’s fantasies for decades. Half the time he wanted to throttle her, and the other he longed to drag her into the back room and have wild sex on the office desk.
The woman was a menace. Challenging him at every turn. Turning him on without any effort whatsoever. And somewhere in the back of his mind, he liked it. Another indication he’d gone completely freaking whacko.
“Look up, son, before you hurt yourself,” came a voice from Lucas’s left. His eyes shot up in time to see the tree less than a foot in front of him.
That damn woman.
He glanced over and spotted Artie sitting on a bench next to a mountain of a man. Lucas sighed and moved around to the front of the bench.
“Thanks for that,” he said, gesturing toward the tree. “I was distracted.”
“I’d say you were. What’s got your tail in a twist?” Artie asked. Before Lucas could answer, the old lawyer added, “You remember Randy Navarro?”
“Sure.” Lucas extended a hand and took the opportunity to avoid Artie’s first question. “How’s it going?”
Randy took the offered hand with an easier grip than expected for a guy with arms the size of Lucas’s thighs. “It’s good,” he said with a genuine smile. “I hear you’re working with my sister?”
So much for avoiding the subject. “Yeah. She’s helping out while Dad recovers.”
“That heart attack stuff is no joke,” Randy said. “Our dad had the same thing, but didn’t make it. I was relieved when I heard Tom had pulled through.”
Sid had never mentioned her dad died of a heart attack. “We were relieved too. He’s coming home tomorrow, but recovery will take another five weeks or so. You run a gym, right?”
“I do,” Randy said with a nod. “Island Fitness. You looking for a place to work out?”
“I’ve been keeping up my running, but missing the free weights I have at home,” Lucas said. “You offer any kind of temporary membership?”
“We could work something out. Where are you running?”
Strange question on an island so small. Lucas shrugged. “Around the village is about the only option, isn’t it?”
Randy shook his head. “Sid runs along the beach next to Highway 12. You should run up there with her.”
“Sid runs?” He was learning all kinds of things about his little coworker today.
“Every morning like clockwork.” Randy pointed east. “Show up at mile marker ten at seven fifteen in the morning and you’ll catch her. No sense in running alone if you don’t have to.”
Running with Sid gave Lucas an idea. Maybe it was time for another one of their challenges. Only this time, he’d be the one to come out on top.