Caught on Camera (20 page)

Vega sipped her wine and glanced around at the view from their table in the restaurant. Earlier, JP had made quick arrangements with an upscale boutique for a private appointment to find her just the right cocktail dress. She’d tried on a number of dresses, modeling each for JP, until they’d landed on one they both loved. They’d then headed to the suite for a quick shower and change of clothes, and they now sat in a secluded corner of the most exclusive restaurant on the island, picking over the end of a delicious meal and overlooking the setting sun.

The ocean breeze and the long blues and purples from the sunset created romance on a level Vega wasn’t accustomed to. Soft music drifted through the air, and having JP sitting across from her, power emanating from every hard angle of him, only added to the ambience.

It was a dream date. A once-in-a-lifetime event.

And one she’d discovered in the alley she hadn’t been quite ready to give up so easily.

Yes, she’d been furious when the boy had snapped their photo. With that camera, he was working for someone or, at the very least, had every intention of selling the picture once he found a buyer. He probably annoyed all tourists in the same way, hoping to catch a celebrity. Her only hope was that it would take the kid a while to figure out whom he’d captured.

She wet her lips as she took in the rectangular-framed glasses she’d talked JP into wearing to try to hide his identity. It didn’t go far as a disguise, but she found she liked the studious look on him.

“You’re wishing you’d never suggested we wear glasses tonight, aren’t you?” JP’s deep voice soothed her anxiety. He readjusted the frames over his eyes. “Unlike you with your sexy-librarian look, I probably look like the biggest dork you’ve ever seen.”

“Maybe I like dorks.” She shot him a look, unable to contain the flirting. He’d asked her to leave her hair down, but when she’d stepped out of the room with it in a French twist and rectangular-framed glasses settled over her nose, she’d caught his quick indrawn breath, and smiled.

“You don’t ever wear glasses now? I recall a few older pictures of you wearing them.”

“Haven’t since I entered college. Laser surgery my first semester.” He picked up her hand and turned it over to trace the length of each finger with his. She’d always thought her fingers too long, but he caressed them as if he found them the most amazing parts of her. “Any pictures of me with glasses would be at least twelve years old.” One corner of his mouth lifted. “You been Googling me, Vega?”

She ducked her head, her heart rate increasing with the embarrassment she’d just stepped into. Yes, she’d spent more than a few minutes since they’d met looking him up on the Internet. She’d told herself it was for the story, but even she hadn’t believed it. He was simply beautiful to look at, and she’d been unable to stop herself.

He chuckled softly and laced their fingers together. “I hope that means you’re as smitten as I am.”

A blush heated her cheeks. She glanced around as if someone would overhear, but strategically placed plants and lack of noise from other diners reminded her there was no one else within earshot. He’d paid good money for the seclusion they were currently enjoying. She met his gaze. “I’ve never denied the attraction I feel for you.”

“No?” He squeezed her hand. “Turning a man down over and over makes him wonder.”

She shook her head at him. “I don’t believe for a second your confidence was ever in question.”

“You’d be surprised.” He stood and pulled her hand with his, lifting her arm out to him. “Let’s dance while we wait on our dessert.”

“Dance?” She looked around once again, this time embarrassed at the thought of snuggling up next to him in a public restaurant. “This is a restaurant, JP. Not a dance floor.”

He tugged until she rose. “This is our corner of the world, and we can do with it what we choose.” His arm closed around her waist and pressed her torso to his. “I choose to dance with you before I do something embarrassing like beg you to touch me.”

“Oh.” The heat from his body kept her from saying more, because yes, she wanted to touch him in the worst possible way. She snuggled in, wiggling around until she found the perfect spot, and grinned when he growled in her ear.

Nothing about the day had been as she’d expected. He’d been fun and flirty, but not demanding. He’d romanced. He’d wined. And he’d dined. But he hadn’t once acted as if he was doing any of it for his own benefit or the outcome he was no doubt hoping for.

She’d honestly felt like the day had been about making her happy.

“You’re a bit different here,” she murmured, gazing up at him.

“Yeah?” He twirled her, then brought her back, clamping his arm hard around her. “How so?”

Man, he felt good. She let herself get lost in the motions of their bodies before answering. “Still just as charming, but…not quite as hard.”

He raised an eyebrow and she giggled.

Wrapping her arms around his neck, she connected her curves to his muscles and whispered, “That’s not what I mean.”

She rotated her hips against him, checking out his hardness in a little more detail, and couldn’t keep from licking her lips when his gaze fastened on her mouth. Before things got out of hand, she eased off and returned her hand to his grip.

He didn’t seem to be able to speak, so she continued, “What I mean is, you’re more
real
. More down-to-earth, like you’re less concerned about maintaining any sort of image.”

“Less of a cold, heartless bastard?”

She laughed and let him spin her again. “Something like that.”

The music swelled, and she began to softly sing along with it. JP grinned broadly, spun her in two quick turns, then dipped her low to the floor. Her world felt exactly like that. Turned upside down.

“You’re tone-deaf, you know.” He smiled down at her, his sheer handsomeness earning him forgiveness for the insult. “But the lipstick makes up for it.”

She rolled her lips in on each other, tasting what remained of the gloss she’d picked up at the boutique. Unlike the clothes, it hadn’t been his suggestion, but from the number of times she’d caught him staring at her mouth, she’d been glad for the purchase. “It seemed like the night for it.”

He brought her back upright and settled her to him. “Don’t get me wrong, I love it, but I’ve had the worst time not coming across the table to see how much I could remove without my hands.”

She laughed. He was good at flirting, that was for sure.

His hand kept firm pressure on her low back as he swept her around the floor, but even if he removed it, she wouldn’t put space between them. She was exactly where she wanted to be.

“When will our dessert arrive, do you think?” she murmured against the side of his throat, letting her lips move seductively across his skin as she spoke.

The fist gripping her palm tightened. “We can skip it if you’re in a hurry to leave.”

“I was thinking maybe we could get it to go.”

He stopped dancing and pulled back to study her, eyeing her in the waning light as if trying to figure out if she was saying exactly what she was saying. She wanted to strip off their clothes and move to the next course, no more waiting.

“Okay,” he nodded. “Let me get the server and pay.”

While waiting for him to return, she caught a glimpse of something sparkling at the edge of the ocean. Their table was sitting within thirty feet of the waves, and they’d enjoyed the sound of the water crashing against the beach throughout dinner.

She stepped to the perimeter of the open-air room and stared out into the night, trying to make out where the light had come from, praying it wasn’t a photographer. Then she saw it. A young boy, maybe eight or nine, had wandered out to the water and fallen. He wore something around his neck, and as the water swept over him and then back again, rolling him a few times toward the ocean, the necklace twisted and sparkled in the moonlight.

Air caught in her throat as he climbed from the receding water and began trudging up the beach once more. She scoured both directions for parents, but came up with none. What was this boy doing out there all by himself?

With no further thought, she kicked off her heels, stepped gingerly through the hedgerow, and hurried to make sure the boy didn’t get swept out with the incoming wave.

She reached him at the same time the water did, and clung to his arm to keep him from being dragged away from her.

“Are you okay?” She gentled her voice to make sure she didn’t sound panicked as she once again scoured the area for whoever should be watching him.

“I got water in my nose.” The child tried to pull away to wipe at his face, but she refused to let go.

She began moving them both away from the water. The beach wasn’t deserted, but no one seemed concerned with a missing child. Most stood in the distance, couples seeing nothing but each other. “Where are your parents?” she asked.

Without further provocation, the boy burst into tears and flung himself against her.

The force with which he hit her caught her off guard, knocking them both to their rears as yet again, the waves reached them, this time pulling her toward the ocean’s depths as well.

“I lost them,” the child wailed once the water had washed away and they both sat, soggy in the wet sand.

Oh, geez. She sputtered the saltwater from her own face and pulled the water-speckled glasses off.

Before she could do anything more than rise to her feet, a strong arm wrapped around her while at the same time hoisting the boy up off the ground. She looked up into JP’s hard features as she hurried to keep up with his long strides. She couldn’t keep the grin from covering her face. “You’re rescuing me?”

“What are you doing out here?” His tone was sharp enough to make her jump.

She couldn’t keep from giggling. Though it might have looked scary, the boy had been the only one in danger. She was a very strong swimmer. Plus, they’d barely been in the edge of the water. But the thought of JP being scared on her behalf thrilled her. “I was helping this young man find his parents.”

JP had them all on the grass now, and put the scared child down. She shrugged out of his arms and squatted down to the youth. Once they had him taken care of, she would properly swoon over the heroic measures of her date, but first things first.

The boy calmed, and she pieced together that he’d wandered away from his parents to chase a small school of shiny fish that had been swishing back and forth in the surf.

“I didn’t mean to get away from them,” he muttered as if knowing the trouble he would be in once they found his parents. His sobs had subsided now that the danger was past, and he turned a stubborn look up to the both of them as if daring either not to back him up when the time came.

“I’m sure you didn’t, sweetie,” Vega said. As she stroked the boy’s wet hair, she caught sight of frantically moving shadows heading their way.

Two adults rushed up from the beach, making a direct path to the boy.

“Oh my goodness,” the mother breathed a sigh of relief. “You scared us to death, Rickey. Don’t ever walk away from us again!”

“Sorry, Mom,” Rickey mumbled, his head down as he waited for his punishment.

Vega couldn’t help but smile at the mix of relief and fear crossing both adults’ faces. She stepped away from Rickey, and JP reached for her, planting her at his side.

He’d also pulled off the fake glasses, and since he wasn’t dripping wet, as she was, he was easily recognizable to anyone at all familiar with American politics or even popular celebrities.

Given that the family standing before them had a heavy New England accent, Vega wasn’t surprised when the mother’s mouth gaped with recognition. “Oh my goodness, you’re Jackson Davenport Jr., aren’t you?”

She looked from JP to Vega and then to her husband, her eyes round circles.

“My Rickey was just rescued by Jackson Davenport Jr.?” she continued. “I’m so honored, Mr. Davenport.”

“Please, call me JP, ma’am.” Always the Southern gentleman, JP nodded at the three of them. “But I can’t take any of the credit. It was this lovely lady here who was the rescuer, not me.”

Her husband reached a hand forward and shook Vega’s and then JP’s hand. “I do thank you both, whoever the hero. Rickey likes to explore, and we should have known better than to take our eyes off of him, even for a second. We’ll be forever in your debt.”

“No problem,” both Vega and JP murmured at the same time.

A crowd had formed at the edge of the restaurant, and a couple flashes went off as JP’s name was murmured throughout the group.

The arm around her tensed, but he didn’t release her. She didn’t know whether she more wanted to hide because he’d been recognized, or because her sodden hair was now clutching raggedly at her nape while her dress clung inappropriately, showing far more than she’d intended anyone but JP to see that night.

“We’re so grateful, Mr.…JP,” the mother gushed. Fear for her son had subsided and she was now enthralled with the man they’d found themselves enmeshed with. “And for you, too, Miss…”

“Thank you,” Vega said, but didn’t offer her name. “Really, it was no problem. I just hope Rickey is more careful next time.”