Having Him: A New Adult International Romance Serial (Angelique's Greek Book 3) (3 page)

Her heart sank as she heard a familiar introduction rise into the room softly at first.

If I should stay
, came the voice of Whitney Houston, I would only be in your way.
So I’ll go, but I know, I’ll think of you every step of the way.

Angelique scrambled for the remote, desperate not to hear the chorus, but it was buried somewhere under her tangle of clothes and bedsheets.

So then it came.
And I-I-I will always love you.
 

And before she knew what was going on, she’d given up the search for the remote and buried her head in her pillow to sob.

*****

She was awakened some time later by a knock on the door. Blinking, she looked out the window. Dusk was beginning to set in.
 

“One second,” she called out.
 

She was still only in her swimwear, so she pulled a robe on before she slid the chain across and twisted the lock.
 

It had never occurred to her that Theo might be at the door, until now. She sighed deeply as she pulled the door open.

Theo stood there, with bright eyes and a ready smile. “Hey, baby,” he said. “I woke up wondering where the hell is my gorgeous girl?”
 

He chuckled a little and stepped forward like she was going to let him in.

She stood still, her arms folded across her chest, barely able to produce a smile. Her heart ached when she looked at him.

His face fell. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.” She tried to sound happy.
 

He turned away, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Aww, we’re not going to do this, are we? This stereotypical crap of holding back what we feel from each other?”

She twisted her mouth and raised her eyebrows.

“If there’s something wrong, you need to tell me,” he said. “I’m not a little boy, I can handle it.”

Angelique sighed deeply. Just as she thought, he was already over her and her games. This relationship would never last; they were too different.
 

He sighed right along with her. “I don’t like games; I
really
don’t like games. I thought you’d get that. I thought you didn’t like games either.” He paused, then looked at her with a totally different expression. “I really don’t want to do this. Why don’t we just go downstairs to the beach, have a drink under a tiki hut and forget any of this ever happened?”

All she could do was stare at him.

“There’s something really wrong, isn’t there?”

“Wait here,” she said.

She pulled a beach dress out of the closet and thrust it over her head, not even bothering with shoes.

“Let’s go,” she said as she returned to the hallway, letting the door slam behind her and stalking down to the elevator in front of him.

*****

Chapter 3

Theo’s face was clouded with concern as they sat on the beach. Angelique had said almost nothing to him the whole way down.
 

She was trying to figure out her next move. She needed to play nice in order to finish what she’d come to Hawaii for, but she knew she needed to scare him off enough that he would end it himself—she simply didn’t have the heart to break up with him.
 

“A piña colada, please,” she said, handing the menu to the waitress.

“Sparkling water,” Theo said barely taking his eyes off Angelique.

She avoided all eye contact and sank back into her wicker chair, looking out over the ocean as the sunset began its colorful descent.

“You know, I was thinking, I don’t really know much about your life or your past,” he said. “I’d love to know more about you.”

She pushed her foot into the sand.
 

“Like where you grew up,” he persisted. “What you liked to do when you were a kid, that kinda thing.”

Her whole chest ached. “There’s not much to tell.”

“Of course there is,” he said, his voice suddenly full of feeling. “There’s a whole world going on inside of you. I want to share in it.”

Tears glazed over her eyes and she had to turn away so he couldn’t see. She was so mad with herself that tears were even part of the equation. She didn’t want to seem petty and childish to him but she couldn’t stop herself. She didn’t want him babying her again.
 

“Are you crying?” he asked, his voice gentle.

“No.”

There was a short pause, after which he leaned across the table and touched her arm.

“You really need to tell me what’s going on ‘cause I’m totally in the dark here. Is it because you are homesick? If it is, we can leave right now. I want you to be happy.”

She didn’t know what to say, but she could feel her anger rising. She was not
homesick
; she was not a child.
 

At that exact moment, as her temper began to flare, her phone rang.
 

Saved by the bell.
 

She snatched her arm away, a little more forcefully then she meant to, and slid her phone out of her pocket. The screen read:
Kalani
.

“Hey, Kalani,” she said.

“Are you okay?” was the first thing he asked.

She tried to make her tone sound breezy and carefree. “Sure, I’m fine. You have some property for me to look at?”

“You bet,” he said. “I’ll come get you tomorrow morning?”

“Sure. 7 am okay?” She wanted to get this over with.

Kalani chuckled. “Whoa. How about 8?”

“All right.”

“See ya.”

“Okay, my boy,” she said.
 

She let the phone linger by her ear a little after he had hung up, just to buy time.

“Land to look at?” Theo asked.

“Yes, I’m going tomorrow morning.”

“Do you want me to come?”
 

She crossed her legs and flicked her foot repeatedly against the table. “You’re probably too busy with your book.”

“Oh, that’s what this is about,” he said, sounding relieved. “You think I spend too much time on my book? No problem, I’ll cut the time down. I’ve been known to get so passionate about things I get kinda blinded to other stuff. No problem.”

Of course that wasn’t it—if she was honest she loved his passion for his book—and she certainly didn’t want him to stop writing.
 

She was rescued again by the waitress bringing their drinks over.
 

“It looks so beautiful,” Theo said, nodding at the hotel staff who were traipsing around the beach, lighting the tiki torches that were dotted around and setting up a volleyball net. As the sun set, the fire blazed brighter. It was beautiful.

She sat, feeling almost frozen, like none of the emotions or words inside her would ever get out.
 

Theo sighed deeply. “If you’re not going to talk, I’m just going to go back to my room and work on the balcony. I really don’t want to pressure you or anything. I’ll be ready when you are.”

“Sure.”

He stood and stepped toward her, as if he were coming to embrace or kiss her, then turned to leave. As soon as he was gone she wanted to call him back, to pour her heart out, but somehow it felt wrong. He didn’t need her constantly dumping her feelings on him and the more she thought about him as a child living in the slums in a shack—and seeing what he had seen—the more her chest burned with pain.
 

She got up and went over to the group that gathered at the makeshift volleyball court.

“You here to sign up?” a young staff member asked. His bronzed, muscular arm dwarfed the clipboard he held and his light eyes were the kind of bright blue that reminded her of gazing into the afternoon sky. He was good looking, in an academic sense, but she felt nothing but numbness.

She shrugged. “I dunno. Maybe I’ll just watch.”

He shrugged back. “You played before?”

“Some.”

She turned away, not feeling like talking. She couldn’t decide whether a game of volleyball would do her good or not.
 

After a while she saw Theo on the balcony upstairs. He looked down and waved. She pretended not to notice and turned her back on him.
 

All she could do for the next few moments was push her dark toes into the light warm sand and wonder about life.

She felt a tap on her shoulder and turned to find the buff bronzed man there, tugging on the back of his neck, a nervous expression on his face. “Would you like to… get a drink sometime?” he said, as if he’d rehearsed it in his head a hundred times before.

Her stomach twisted and she thought of Theo. This was the type of man she had always fallen for in the past—attractive, muscular, athletic, tanned, and not so bright. Nothing like Theo. Where these the men she was destined to be with? Was she so superficial that she couldn’t form a real, deep relationship with a complicated man?
   

“Sorry. I’m taken,” she finally said.
 

Angelique walked back to her room in a daze, wondering about herself and her future. The volleyball man was perfectly formed and had a good vibe about him. He was the kind of guy she’d normally pursue in the Bahamas, but somehow she couldn’t rouse any enthusiasm for him. She could only think of Theo and his kind heart and his tender eyes.
 

*****

The next morning Angelique was up and waiting on a wicker couch in the hotel lobby by 7 am—even though she knew Kalani would not be there for another hour. She tapped her gold ballet plimsol against the shining marble floor and tried to think of something to do to pass the time.
 

Taking out her smartphone, she was about to log onto Facebook but found the WiFi was down. Her roaming charges were crazy high, so she headed over to Reception to ask what was going on with their connection, leaving her bag and smartphone on the couch.

“Is your Wi-Fi—”

“Yes, it’s down,” the Receptionist said, shaking her head. “I’m so sorry about that, ma’am, but we’re doing everything we can to fix it.”

“Oh, okay, no problem.”

Angelique was about to turn back when the Receptionist leaned over the desk. “Hey, I hope you don’t mind me asking,” she said, “but … is that man I’ve seen you with your boyfriend?”

Angelique’s heart skipped a beat. “Yes.” For now, she thought.
 

The Receptionist looked disappointed.
 

“Can I ask you why?” Angelique said.
 

“Oh, I knew it was!” She leaned back in her chair and pulled the door to a back room open. “Casey, Casey, it is her boyfriend”

Angelique stared, getting irritated.
 

The Receptionist picked up her irritation immediately. “Oh, sorry,” she said. “We all think he is so dreamy and were hoping one of us had a chance with him. No disrespect, ma’am, he’s just hot.”

Angelique heard her cell ring and turned away abruptly. She didn’t have time, or patience, for this right now.

As she walked back to her bag, she saw Theo sitting at the couch where she had just been. She ran over and grabbed her phone.
 

“Who’s this?” she said into it.
 

“Oh, hey, is that Angelique? It’s Kalani.”

She softened her tone, only just then realizing how harsh it had been.
 

“Hey, Kalani, sorry about that.”

“No problem,” he said. “I have some bad news, my Jeep’s given up on me. I know you guys mentioned you had a rental Jeep, so I was wondering if you could swing by and pick me up, if that’s all right?”

“Sure.”

“All right, I’ll text you my address. Just give me a call when you get here and I’ll come right out.”

“Okay,” she said. “See ya then.”

“See ya.”

“So are we going together?” Theo said softly as she brought her phone down to her side.

She shrugged and rummaged through her purse for the rental keys. “If you want.”

“I do want to come with you,” he said, jumping to his feet.

She stalked across the lobby toward the huge glass doors and the parking lot without saying another word.

Angelique got in the driver’s seat and waited for Theo to get into the car beside her. She cranked up the radio as loud as she could so she wouldn’t have to make small talk; she had never been very good at that.
 

Ukulele twanged all around them as they whizzed down the palm-fringed highway toward Kalani’s home.
 

She followed the directions onto a side street, then another, then another, until they were in a neighborhood that Angelique was sure all the guidebooks would advise tourists to avoid. Tiny clapboard houses, most in need of repair, rose up out of the dusty ground, perched on pylons or piles of concrete blocks. Shells of cars rusted along the street. Angelique locked her door and remained on high alert.