Meant to Be (18 page)

The little man’s eyes darted from Joe to Beth and back to Joe, looking like a child trying to solve a puzzle. Beth understood the feeling since she was trying to solve one herself.

“This is that waitress chick?” Bloodshot eyes traveled the length of her body, giving Beth the sudden urge to shower. Then the eyes moved back to Joe. With a smirk, Wilson said, “I see now. You keeping her warm for your brother?”

Joe growled and took another step forward. Still unwilling to cause a scene, Beth put herself between the two. “This has gone far enough. As flattering as this is probably supposed to be, I’m not interested in watching anyone fight over my honor. Besides, we all three know how this would turn out, and I doubt you,” she said to the little Napoleon before her, “want to deal with the broken bones.”

Joe’s warm breath on her neck and coiled body pressed against her back made it difficult to focus on her goal of
deflating the situation. She hoped her face looked as impassive and unimpressed as she was trying to make it.

Wilson finally walked away with little more than a grunt. For the first time Beth realized she’d been holding her breath.

“You okay?” Joe asked, turning her to face him. His eyes burned with a combination of protectiveness and possession.

Beth’s temperature spiked and her head went a little fuzzy. “Yeah,” she said. “I’m fine.”

“You don’t look fine.”

“It was the smell,” she said, unable to think of another excuse. Telling him the truth wasn’t an option. “Does that man ever bathe?”

“Only if he falls off the boat.” Joe took her gently by the elbow. “Come on, let’s get out of here.”

The offer was the same as Wilson’s, but Beth’s reaction couldn’t have been more different. A puppet under Joe’s control, she followed his lead, moving through the crowd as if steered by his touch alone. He must have been really good with a boat.

They found Patty and Tom near the kitchenette at the back of the room. Joe snagged a bottle of water off the tiny counter and handed it to Beth. “I’m taking her back to the house. Do you need me at the restaurant after I drop her off?”

She wasn’t sure which bothered her more: the disappointment of him dropping her off and leaving or the desire to give him a reason to stay.

Patty and Tom spoke at the same time.

“We don’t need you,” from Patty.

“We definitely need you,” from Tom.

Patty looked up at Tom. “We’re fine. We already have three waitresses and two bussers, and the dinner crowd should have thinned out by now.” Turning to Beth and Joe she said, “You kids go on. I’m going to help clean up here and then we’ll be home shortly after midnight.”

Tom gave Joe a hard look Beth couldn’t have interpreted even if her wits hadn’t suddenly taken the night off. Joe just nodded. “Fine. We’re out of here.”

The steering began again, this time with his hand on the small of her back. She heard Tom cough, a noise that sounded more like a bark, and Joe’s hand fell away.

“Is something going on between you and your dad?” she asked as Joe pushed through the exit.

“Nothing I can’t ignore,” he said, closing the door and leaving the hum of the crowd behind them.

J
oe spent the drive to his parents’ house trying not to rip his steering wheel off the column. The moment he saw Wilson grab Beth, a primal instinct took over. The instinct to break the creep’s arm just for touching her.

His reaction to the “keeping her warm” comment bordered on homicidal.

The anger should have been aimed at himself since Joe wanted nothing more than to keep Beth warm. More than warm. He wanted her hot and moaning in his bed or wherever he could get her out of that damn skirt. To hell with his brother.

The growl escaped before he could catch it, breaking the silence in the vehicle. Neither of them had spoken since leaving the library, and the few times he threw a glance her way, Beth looked to be processing her own thoughts. Probably trying to get the stench of Buddy Wilson out of her brain.

“Are you okay?” she asked as he pulled into the drive and cut the engine.

He hadn’t been okay since he’d found her scared to death on that ferry, but he’d never tell her so. “I’m good.”
Resisting the urge to take her arm and check for himself, he said, “I should be asking you that question. Did he hurt you?”

She rubbed her wrist absently. When she didn’t answer, he looked to her face and saw green eyes staring back with the same sexual heat currently coursing through his veins.

Son of a bitch.

“You’d better get inside.” He rolled out of the Jeep, desperate for distance.

“I don’t have a key.” She remained in the Jeep as if intending to stay there. “I didn’t think to ask Patty for one. If you don’t have one, I’ll have to wait for them at your place.”

Oh, hell no. “I have a key. Come on.” Joe crossed in front of the vehicle and headed up the porch steps. By the time he’d opened the door, Beth stood close behind him, her arms crossed, giving him a glimpse of cleavage in the soft porch light.

A cold shower wouldn’t be enough tonight.

“You’d better go in.”
Before I carry you in and we find out how sturdy that kitchen island is.
“Thanks for coming to the meeting.” He kept his eyes focused on a moth hovering around the spiral bulb. “I guess this vacation isn’t turning out the way you thought it would.”

“No, it isn’t,” she said, her voice little more than a whisper. “Nothing seems to be what I thought it was.”

His eyes caught hers then dropped to her mouth. Sweet vanilla filled his senses and every nerve in his body vibrated with need. Her tongue darted out, leaving a sheen of moisture along her bottom lip, and he was lost. Leaning in, Joe
felt her breath mix with his own. So close now he could almost taste her.

But before he could breach the last centimeter between them, a shrill ring cut through the thick night air.

Beth jerked away, the screen door straining on its hinges as Joe jumped back in the opposite direction. A finger against her lips, Beth stepped into the house, looked at the ID on the phone, then turned her back as she answered. “Hello, Lucas.”

Joe let the screen door slam behind him. He’d thought the day Cassie’s engagement ring showed up in the mail had been the lowest he’d ever feel.

Not even close.

If the ringing of the phone had felt like a bucket of cold water, the slamming of the screen was a punch in the chest. A punch of guilt. She could still feel Joe’s breath on her lips. Her body still hummed with anticipation. For her fiancé’s brother. How had things gotten so out of control?

“Beth? Are you there?”

“Yes,” she said, working to keep her voice level. “I’m sorry. What did you say?”

“I asked how your week has been. I didn’t realize what day it was until our usual Friday night dinner reminder popped up on my calendar.” The fact Lucas kept reminders about her in his calendar had seemed endearing once upon a time. But not tonight. “How is the Cassandra situation?”

Beth shrugged, then remembered Lucas couldn’t see her. “I haven’t seen her for a few days, but we know she has eyes and ears on the inside.”

What sounded like a sporting event blasted over the line, then faded. “Sorry. Just turned on the television. What do you mean ‘on the inside’? You make this sound like some undercover assignment.”

His words were meant as a joke, but Beth wasn’t in the mood for joking. “We had a small meeting last night to get the initial group on the same page and somehow Wheeler found out. By the time the Merchants meeting started tonight, they’d doubled their offers to several business owners.”

“Doubled the offers? You mean she really is there trying to buy the island?”

Nice to know he hadn’t believed her the first time. “Yes, Lucas. This threat is real.”
And you should be here helping your family.

“What does Joe say about it? I can’t believe he’d let this happen.”

“What do you expect him to do, Lucas? Chase Cassandra away? Buy up the property himself? He spent an hour at that meeting tonight doing everything he could to persuade the others not to sell. It kills me to see him so worried.”

The words were out before she could stop them. She heard as much as felt Lucas’s tension traveling through the wires.

“You must be spending a lot of time together.” Beth held her breath, thinking of how she’d spent the last few moments before the phone rang. “I should have known if anyone could get him to come around, it would be you.
Even Joe’s pain-in-the-ass attitude can’t stand up to my sweet Elizabeth.”

The sensual lull in his voice was like a jagged stick poking at her conscience. “How is your case going? If you make it back down this weekend we’ll still have one more week.” Even as she spoke the words, Beth had no idea how she would handle being in the same room with both Lucas and Joe.

“The case isn’t good. Prosecution found an eyewitness that puts our client at the scene. We’ll be here all weekend trying to figure out how to discredit the testimony.” Part of her was relieved, which shot the guilt up another notch. “I might make the last few days. I’m trying my best. I promise.”

Beth sighed. “I know you are.”

The voice of reason told her to go back to Richmond. Pack her things and drive off first thing in the morning. But she’d made a promise to Sid. And there was the Wheeler issue. Somehow the people on this island felt more important than anything in her life before she’d landed on Anchor.

“Good luck with the case,” she said. “Call me when you can.”

“Hey,” he said. “Keep working on Joe. You might turn him into a decent human being before you leave there. The whole island will raise a statue in your honor.”

After what had almost happened, she was pretty sure neither of them felt like decent human beings at the moment.

“I’ll do my best,” she replied, then ended the call. Glancing out the window, she saw a dim light coming from Joe’s place.

Maybe she should go over. They were adults, after all. This attraction, or whatever it was, meant nothing. Bring it
into the light, deal with it, and move on. That’s what they needed to do.

She took one step away from the kitchen island when her conscience woke up.

Why are you really going over there? What if what almost happened happens again and this time there isn’t a well-timed interruption? Are you sure you can touch that flame and not catch fire?

Stupid brain. There was no fire between her and Joe. There couldn’t be. Lucas was her future husband, and she would not betray him. Ever.

Which is why she and Joe needed to deal with this now. Beth straightened her shoulders and headed for the door, ignoring the increase in her heart rate. She reached the bottom porch step when Joe’s house went dark.

“Well, hell.”

Maybe now wasn’t the time. Maybe there was nothing to talk about anyway. If Joe wasn’t going to lose sleep over a close encounter that amounted to nothing, neither was she.

Her heart slowed.

As she made her way back up the stairs, her rational side assured her irrational side that she had nothing to feel guilty about.

Regardless, all sides continued to feel guilty.

Less than an hour before Joe’s morning charter, the client called to say they’d gotten in late and would like to reschedule. Hanging around the house increased his chances of running into Beth, something he’d prefer not to do. In fact,
if he could avoid her completely for the rest of her time on the island, that would be fine with him.

So Joe headed to the gym. Physical exertion would do him good. If nothing else, he could burn off the frustration that had kept him up most of the night. Pumping iron wasn’t what his body wanted, but what his body wanted he couldn’t have. Ever.

The punching bag would be his first stop. Every time he thought of Buddy Wilson putting a hand on Beth, he wanted to punch something. Better to work out his anger on a bag than Buddy’s face. Not that the anger was for Buddy alone.

After what had happened on his parents’ porch, he should be kicking his own ass. What kind of a man tries to kiss his brother’s fiancée? A week ago he’d have said only an asshole, but today
he
was the asshole.