Crash Landing (16 page)

All at once, the situation tickled his funny bone.

Gibb threw back his head and laughed, laughed until fat tears rolled down his face. Laughed until the receptionist behind the desk gave him a strange look. Two years’ worth of work and hundreds of millions of dollars down the tubes and he didn’t even care.

“Thank you, Stacy,” he told the screen. “You just let me out of a prison of my own making.”

Free. For the first time since he’d sold his Zimdiggy game app, he felt free.

15

“W
HY
ARE
you so mopey,
mi hija?
” Her father kissed Sophia’s head as she sat at the kitchen table staring out the window.

She reached up to touch her father’s face, felt uneven patches of beard mixed with smooth skin. Since he’d been losing his sight, he did a patchwork job of shaving himself, but he was fiercely independent and refused to let anyone else shave him. “How do you know I’m mopey, Poppy?”

“I need eyes to know when my youngest
niña
is sad? How blind do you think I am? You do not sing. There is no smile in your voice. You have been like this since you returned from your failed trip to Key West. What is wrong,
mi hija?
”

How could she tell her father that ever since she left Gibb three days ago in the bungalow at Island de Providencia, she felt as if she’d been slogging through a fog thicker than the daily mist surrounding Bosque de Los Dioses?

She had discovered firsthand that the downside of great passion was a shattered heart if things did not work out. Passion was not all it was cracked up to be.

But as tempting as it might have been to act as if nothing had happened on that island and slip back into her easy relationship with Emilio, she simply could not bring herself to do it. Once she had tasted real passion, she could never settle for little more than pleasant companionship, even if she and Gibb were not destined to be together.

The day she’d gotten home, she went to see Emilio and told him that while she valued their friendship, she could not in good conscience keep dating him. It turned out that he had been feeling the same way.

“You can still patch things up with Emilio,” her father murmured. “It is not too late.”

“But, Poppy, I do not love him.”

“Ah,” her father said, “I understand. You love another.”

“Yes,” she whispered, “I do, but he doesn’t love me back.”

“Then he is a very stupid man.”

“I think he’s just afraid to let himself love.”

“Then he is very, very stupid. Love is nothing to be afraid of.”

She drew her knees to her chest, hugged herself. “It hurts so much, Poppy.”

“I know,
mi hija.
” He squeezed her hand tightly and shuffled off to the living room, leaving her alone with her thoughts.

Sophia dropped her head into her hands. She had been such a fool, hoping against all hope that somehow she had a chance with Gibb. Loco. She was loco. She knew that, but she could not stop thinking about him.

Misery rolled around inside her like a boulder, crashing and smashing, doing irreparable damage. She closed her eyes and tried to take a deep breath, but the pain was so big she could barely do more than suck in a whistle of air through her teeth.

The previous evening, Josie had come over with a weak smile and a big box of tissues. She’d cried and talked and it had helped a little, but the sadness that seeped into her bones was there to stay. After her sister left, she watched her mother’s old VHS tape of
To Have and Have Not,
and bawled her eyes out when the crucial line came. Did you ever really get over a broken heart?

She reached for the tissues Josie had left on the table the night before and considered whether to go for the beer in the fridge or the ice cream in the freezer, when her cell phone rang.

For one idiotic second, she thought,
Gibb!

She snatched her phone from her pocket, looked at the caller ID and her hopes vanished. It was her aunt Kristi from Ventura.

“Hello?” she mumbled, barely able to hold the sniffles at bay.

“Sophia, honey, Josie told me you’ve just had your first broken heart.”

“Oh, Auntie,” she said and the sobs overtook her.

“Sweetheart,” Kristi said. “You just need to get away and I want to give you a giant hug. Come on up and stay with us for as long as you need to. Your cousins and I will meet you at the airport.”

She’d seen her mother’s family every couple of years and the invitation couldn’t have come at a better time. Gibb would be returning to the mountain soon to work on his secret project. It would be so hard to be near him and not give in to the attraction. Much better to leave the country and give herself some distance to get over him. Besides, once his project was complete, she would be out of a job. Maybe now was the time to look into other opportunities for employment. Who knew what the future might hold?

After all, she was lucky. She had something Gibb did not have, a large supportive family who loved her enough to rally around her when she was suffering. She was richer than he would ever be.

“Are you coming?” her aunt asked.

“Yes, Auntie,” she said firmly before she had a chance to talk herself out of it. “Yes, thank you for inviting me. I’m on my way.”

* * *

T
HE
MINUTE
G
IBB
’
S
plane touched down in Libera in the wee hours on Wednesday morning, four days after he’d last seen Sophia, he realized he had no idea where she lived. He had her cell phone number, but he didn’t want to do this over the phone. He had to see her face-to-face.

After the Fisby Corp announcement, he’d had some things to take care of, but once business was out of the way, he’d come back to Cordillera of Tilarán as quickly as he could.

He stalked up to the operations center that he knew she flew out of, but the doors were locked and he did not see El Diablo on the tarmac behind the ten-foot chain fence. For a second, he panicked, worrying that she had not made it home from Island de Providencia and he cursed himself for not calling sooner to make sure she was safe. But he’d wanted to surprise her.

Calm down. Her plane is probably in a hanger.

Now what? He couldn’t wait until the operations center opened. He had to see her right now. What to do? He paced back and forth.

Maybe he should just call her? But what if she refused his call? Or worse, answered the phone only to tell him that she did not want to see him.

An old white Ford pickup truck drove up to the center and a man got out.

“Hola!”
Gibb greeted him forcefully. “I am looking for Señorita Sophia Cruz. Do you know where I can find her?”

The man shrugged. “Not here.”

Well, clearly not, since the place was closed up. Frustrated, Gibb ran a hand through his hair. “Do you know where I can find her?”

“Are you a customer? If you want to hire a plane to Bosque de Los Dioses, give me thirty minutes and I can take you.”

He grasped the man’s arm, stared at him hard. “No, I want Sophia. Sophia is the one I need. The only one.”

The man raised an eyebrow. “I’m sorry,
señor.
She has moved to California.”

* * *

S
OPHIA
WAS
WALKING
along Ventura beach
at sunset. Overhead, seagulls cried. It was better here than at home. Here, she did not keep imagining she saw Gibb every time she turned a corner.

Except there was a tall muscular blond man approaching her. Her pulse leaped.

Don’t be silly. It’s not him. He’s in Bosque de Los Dioses working on his precious project.

Still, her ridiculous imagination couldn’t help pointing out that he had a beach home in Santa Barbara and Ventura wasn’t all that far south of it.

A kid was running along the sand with a bright purple bat-wing kite. The wind caught it, lifted it high. Sophia stopped to watch the boy, appreciating the child’s love of a simple activity like kite flying.

“I haven’t flown a kite since I was that age,” said a voice behind her, a very familiar voice.

Sophia turned to see that the blond man she’d caught a glimpse of earlier was indeed Gibb.

“Hello, Sophia,” he said softly.

“What...what are you doing here?”

“Looking for you.”

She swallowed hard. “Me?”

He stepped closer. Tension hung heavily in the air. “You.”

“Why are you looking for me?”

“I found out you left Bosque de Los Dioses. I chased you away from your home.”

“If the invention you are investing in takes off, I won’t have a job there anyway. It’s better that I start a new life now. Begin adjusting.”

“So you’re not running away to avoid seeing me?”

Unable to hold his gaze, she turned to look out at the ocean. “I...it’s less painful not being near you.”

“I came to tell you something.” Gibb reached for her. Lightly, gently, he cupped her elbow in one hand, cradled her chin in the other and guided her face back to his.

Hope. So much darn hope crowded her chest. “And what is that?”

“That you were right.”

“What about?” A million emotions jolted through Sophia like tiny shocks of electricity.

“Everything.” He stared at her, into her. “About me having to be in control. About there being more to life than money.”

“What caused you to realize that?”

“Well, for one thing, the corporate spies caught me again. They got a patent for the green transportation technology I’d invested in before we did.”

“I’m sorry to hear that. How do these spies keep stealing your secrets when you are so careful?”

Gibb snorted. “Because I was sleeping with the enemy.”

Sophia cocked her head. “I do not understand.”

“Stacy. She was the corporate spy. How do you like them apples?”

“She betrayed you!”

“And ran up quite a bill on my credit card while doing it.”

“Good thing she is not here right now.” Sophia scowled. “Or I would have to call her out for hurting you.”

Gibb smiled. “I have no doubt that you would. You could take her, too.” He winked. “I’ve seen you in action. You are a woman to be reckoned with.”

She notched her chin up. “When something or someone I love is threatened, you bet I am.”

Suddenly, it occurred to her that she’d inadvertently told him she loved him. She slapped her fingers over her mouth, tried to figure out how to backtrack without making things worse.

His smile widened.

“And the other thing?”

He drew her to him. “What other thing?”

“That made you realize I was right?”

“Losing you, Sophia. I love you. And it broke my heart when you walked out on me.”

“It broke mine, too,” she murmured.

His gray eyes searched her face. “I missed you fiercely.”

“I missed you, too.”

He kissed her then, running one hand up the nape of her neck, spearing his fingers through her hair. A gust of wind blew against them. The sun was sinking fast. The kid with the kite was hauling it in for the night.

“Did you get to Key West in time to stop your friend from getting married?” she asked.

“I did.”

“You must be very happy. You got what you wanted.”

He moved closer to her. “I didn’t try to break Scott and Jackie up.”

“No?”

“No,” he lowered his voice.

“Why not?”

“For one thing, I saw how happy she made him and for another...”

“What?” Sophia prodded.

“I realized how completely happy you make me.”

“But we hardly know each other.”

“Oh,” Gibb said. “That’s where you’re wrong. I know you have the cutest little birthmark on your left hip and that you can fix a broken rudder cable with a platinum bracelet. I know that I always want you on my side whether it’s a passion-fruit fight with spider monkeys or stopping orchid thieves with snare nooses.”

“That was fun, wasn’t it?”

“I know that I can’t get enough of you.” He dipped his head to kiss her again. “And that I want to wake up every morning of my life to find you lying next to me.”

“That sounds very nice.” She plucked at the collar of his shirt.

“There’s a reason I didn’t come looking for you sooner,” he said.

“And what reason is that?”

“I had business to take care of since the project at Bosque de Los Dioses is a no go.”

“What are you going to do now?” She planted a kiss on his neck at the V of his collar.

“I thought I’d take your advice, stop worrying about making money and instead worry about having fun and doing what pleases me.”

“Mmm,” she said. “That sounds very fun.”

“And I want to start by making love to you.”

“I definitely like the sound of that.”

He bent and swept her off her feet, scooping her into his arms and carrying her down the beach. She wrapped her arms around his neck, never once took her gaze off him. Her heart was overflowing with joy and a hundred other wonderful feelings.

“I have an idea,” he said.

“About what?”

“A new game app.”

Sophia smiled. “You’re going back to creating games?”

“My first love,” he said, staring deeply into her eyes.

“What will you call this one?” she murmured, snuggling her face against his chest.

“Sophia and the Orchid Thieves.”

She laughed. Would this man always surprise her so? “Terrific. Tell me about the game.”

“Well,” he said, “there’s this amazing girl named Sophia and she flies her own airplane and she goes on exciting adventures.”

“Sounds like a superhero.”

“Oh, Sophia is much tougher than a superhero.”

“So does Sophia go on these adventures all on her own?”

“No. She’s got a handsome sidekick.”

“What’s his name?”

“I don’t know yet. You can name him if you want.”

“Gibb will do,” she said. “And he’s a savvy, charming billionaire, with a hint of international intrigue.”

“Are you sure? Is that the man you really want for Sophia?”

“Darling,” she told him. “I love you. There is no other.”