Two if by Sea (13 page)

He’d been thinking downsizing or change of focus. Something that wouldn’t be an insult to her. Something they could use to help her get a new job somewhere else.

If she was fired for what she did on the cruise…She’d never forgive them. Every time she looked at them she’d see a mistake.

He looked George in the eye. “If this all goes to shit; our deal is off. You’re looking at prison time, you ignorant prick.”

He let him go and George squawked in protest. “But you said! We had a deal!”

Tony threw open the door. “Not when it comes to Daphne, we don’t. The deal’s off.”

T
his is going
to be great.
Daphne pulled her hair back into a ponytail and tightened it before turning off the bathroom light. Swimsuit, shorts and a shirt, flip flops and a towel. She had everything.

All she needed now was the ship’s wave pool. She’d always wanted to learn how to surf, but with her job, she’d never found the time. Today was perfect. She could get out in the water, do something physical and try and figure out what to do the day after next.

The more she thought about it, the more it hurt too much to say goodbye. There would have to be a way. If she kept their relationship secret…if she downplayed it and called them friends…she’d have to be able to keep her job.

No matter how much she hated Mr. Hopkins for being a chauvinist ass, he was her ticket to partnership. She could leave after that and start her own firm or go somewhere else. If she left before then…she’d be starting over.

Daphne had worked too hard and sacrificed too much to do that. She wasn’t like her parents, just up and moving and rebooting her life because the seasons changed or she got some wild idea. No.

She was the practical one. The sensible girl who did the right things and checked the right boxes. She would make something of herself. Not constantly reinvent the wheel.

She turned off the kitchen light and bopped into the living room. One last check of email and she’d be set for the day. She opened the laptop as her phone rang.

“Hello?”

“Daphne, thank God.”

“Hi, Tony. Tell Damon thanks for suggesting surfing. I’m on my way there. I’m just checking—”

“No! Daphne, listen…”

Daphne opened her email as Tony started talking. Just a quick check was all she needed.

“Don’t open your email. Just stop.”

She laughed. “Don’t be silly. It’ll only take a second. I won’t be late.” She knew Damon had asked her to be squeezed in at the last minute. She wouldn’t miss the lesson. Daphne shifted her weight back and forth on her heels as the emails loaded.

“No. That’s not why. Look, you need to come meet us. Are you in your suite?”

“Mm-hmm.” A series of new emails came into her box. She scrolled through them.

“Great. Just walk down the hall to the elevators. Daphne? Please, honey. Do this for me.”

“Sure, just let me…” An email at the top caught her eye.
Open Immediately,
from Mr. Hopkins. Daphne sat down on the couch. “Just a second.”

“Daphne, what is it?”

She opened the email.
We regret to inform you…

“Oh, no…”

“Baby, talk to me. Daphne are you all right?”

She slid onto the couch as her eyes filled with tears.
Due to your recent pursuits, we are terminating your employment with Hopkins PR effective immediately…

“Daphne!” The phone slid from her hand and Tony’s shouts were muffled by the carpet.

Their footsteps echoed down the corridor. How could George be so selfish? How could he pick money over all they’d done for him. The years he’d worked for them. Didn’t he understand? Daphne wasn’t just another fling. She was their everything.

As soon as she stopped answering Tony on the phone, they’d raced out of their room. They couldn’t get to her fast enough.

Tony made it to Daphne’s door first and he pounded on the wood. “Daphne! Open up!” He rested his head on the frame and caught his breath. “Daphne!”

“Move over. I’ve got a key.” Damon waved the key card in front of the lock and the door clicked open.

Tony rushed in and stopped at the edge of the living room. Damon followed.
Oh, no.

Daphne sat on the floor in front of the couch, her computer open to a giant photo of the three of them dancing the other night. Tony’s hands were on her bare thighs; Damon was groping her breasts.

And Daphne.

Beautiful, sensual, sexy as hell Daphne was laughing in the photo. Her green eyes sparkled and she looked so happy. In love.

Damon glanced at her. Not anymore. Tears had streaked mascara down her face. Blotches on her cheeks said they’d been running like torrents. She was in pain. Shock.

He clenched his fist. “Who sent that to you?”

She wiped at her face. “My boss. I’ve been fired.”

Oh, God. Already?
“Because of one picture?”

She laughed, but it was empty. “No. Because of all of them.” She scrolled and Damon’s heart sank.

Photo after photo of the three of them. Dancing, rock climbing, her up on stage for a wet T-shirt contest. Even the three of them in the sex club.
Shit
. George had done his job all right. There were so many pictures. Out of context, without someone like her to spin it…they looked disgraceful and sordid. Nothing like the reality. Nothing like love.

Daphne cleared her throat. “Someone knows me. Someone here. They sent all these pictures to my boss. Why?”

Damon crouched beside her. He hated himself in that moment. “It looks like someone hired one of our employees to take the photos. He didn’t know what they were for.”

She blinked and a fresh wave of tears threatened to spill down her cheeks. “What?”

Tony stepped up. “A woman met with one of our bartenders before we left LA and offered him money to take photos of you. Lots of money.”

Daphne’s eyes went wide and unfocused. “I was set up? You mean…” Her hand went to her throat. “I only went on this cruise because my co-worker begged me to.” Her hand slid up to her forehead. “Rachel. She begged me to come and backed out at the last minute.”

“Does Rachel have a last name?”

“Kempster. Rachel Kempster. She’s an associate at Hopkins PR like me…like I was. But she makes as much as me. There’s no way…I mean…” Her voice faltered. “Why would she do this?”

Tony frowned. “Jealousy makes people do crazy things.”

Daphne laughed and it came out a bit unhinged. “Jealous? Of me? You’ve got it all wrong. Rachel’s got a boyfriend, she’s on track to make partner, there’s no reason she’d be jealous of me.”

Did she really not see what the rest of the world did? Daphne’s gorgeous hair would raise ire in hairdressers. Her calm composure would make politicians fume. Her sexy body and effortless grace would earn nasty looks from the sexiest actress.

She was everything anyone could ever hope to be. How didn’t she know?

Tony stood tall and brutal beside him. He could barely contain the rage. “We’ll look into it.” His tone said they’d do more than that.

Damon had to reach her. Get her to understand. He reached out and touched her knee. She jumped. “Tony’s right. We’ll come to the bottom of it. You can come home with us when the cruise is over. We’ll take care of you.”

Daphne clambered to her feet. “No. You’re not coming anywhere near me.”

Damon blinked and stood up. “I’m sorry?”

She held her hands up to keep them at bay. “You’re the reason I’ve been fired. It’s because of you. If I’d just gotten off this ship like I’d planned, then none of this would be happening. I’d still have my job, my chance at making it. I’d still be me, Daphne Meadows. Now, now…” Her voice trailed off and she wrapped her arms around herself.

Tony reached out. “Babe, it’s okay.”

“I’m not your babe. Not anymore.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. It’s just a misunderstanding. We’ll find out who did this, you can talk to your boss…”

She threw up her hands. “And what? Say,
yes, Mr. Hopkins, Sir, I am sleeping with two men, but please, give me my job back
. He’d laugh in my face. Tell me to go have my head examined.”

Daphne spun around and stared out at the ocean. “I’ve worked for
years
to get where I am. Do you know how hard it was to stay there? With a boss like that asshole who half the time couldn’t remember my name, only the color of my hair?”

This couldn’t be happening. Damon lowered his voice. “You could get a new job.”

Daphne laughed. “Right. Be just like my parents. Every six months they’d get some new idea, drop everything, and move hundreds of miles. Of course it wouldn’t turn out like they’d hoped, so we’d just do it again. I went to four different second grades. Twenty-one different schools.”

She spun around. “Try making friends when you’re only in one place for a few months at a time.”

Tony nodded. “It’s hard.”

“It’s impossible. I’ve kept that job at Hopkins for five years. Years! And look, one week with the two of you and it’s gone. Poof! I’m no better than my parents.”

Tony stalked up to her and grabbed her by the arms. “Stop it. Don’t do that to yourself. You are a million times better than your parents. You work hard, you focus, you think about other people.”

He kissed her, but even Damon could see she wouldn’t kiss him back. They were losing her. Everything they’d found. The future. The promise of forever.

He stepped forward. “We care about you, Daphne. Please don’t do this. Don’t shut us out.”

She pulled out of Tony’s arms and backed away. “I want you to leave.”

“No. We should talk.”

She shook her head. “I’m done talking. I want off of this ship and I want you out of my life. I don’t care where we are, there’s got to be a way I can get off this boat. Now.”

Damon swallowed. If they let her walk out of their lives like this, they would never see her again. How could they make her understand? How could she see past the hurt to what they could have together?

Tony spoke up. “We can speed up the return. Dock a few hours early.” He glanced at Damon. “It would be difficult, but we could make it work.”

What? No she can’t…
Tony shook his head at him. Was he planning something?

Damon turned as Daphne spoke up.

“Fine. Tell me when we’re there.”

“There’s got to be a way to get her job back. She can’t be fired. Not over us.” Damon strode down the hall beside Tony.

Tony didn’t share Damon’s optimism. “I wouldn’t be so hopeful. You heard what she said about the guy. He’s an asshole. Any excuse he has to fire someone, he will.”

Damon lashed out. “Wasn’t it you who said she should be fired? That we should do it?”

“I was wrong. I wasn’t thinking straight.” He couldn’t tell Damon how much he regretted even thinking it. The hurt on her face when she looked at them. The way she held herself together when inside she was falling apart. God. He never wanted to see her like that again.

They needed to fix it.

“If she doesn’t get her job back, she’ll never speak to us again.”

That couldn’t happen. Not now. Not after they’d both decided to go for it. He’d agreed to change everything and settle down for her. Tony couldn’t bear the thought of Daphne leaving.

Go back to his old life? The one full of throwaway sex and empty days? No. He needed to focus on solving the problem. Not thinking about what-ifs. This was their only shot.

He turned to Damon. “I’ll head to security and fire up the investigation. We need to know who sent the photos.”

Damon nodded. “Are we trusting Jenkins with this?”

Tony shook his head. “He’s good, but we’re limited on the ship. I’m calling Trent.”

“Good. I’ll get in touch with the PR firm.”

Tony clapped Damon on the back. “It’s good to be working together.”

Damon nodded. “I just hope it’s enough.”

“Me too.”

Damon turned toward their office as Tony headed to security. He dialed Trent on the way.

A few minutes later, Trent was on speaker, Jenkins was heading the briefing and they were one step closer to catching whoever tried to ruin Daphne’s life.

“What’s the motive?” Trent sounded as confused as Tony felt.

“No idea. Jealousy? Sabotage?” Tony scrubbed his face with his hand. “It could be a jealous co-worker or an unhappy client. Daphne mentioned the woman who stood her up for the cruise. Rachel Kempster. Check on her first. She didn’t have a motive, though.”

“If it’s her, we’ll find out.”

“Thanks.”

Tony ended the call and Jenkins hustled off to help Trent. Now it was up to Damon. Could he convince Hopkins to give her another chance? If not…

They only had one card left. One that might buy them a day or two, but without her job as a welcome gift…He shook his head.

He didn’t need to think about the what ifs. Trent would find the source of the photos. Damon would convince Hopkins to reinstate her. Daphne would see they could be together. It would work. It had to.

W
hy was
it always harder to get clothes in a suitcase at the end of a trip? Daphne squished down a stack of shirts and groaned. It didn’t help that she couldn’t see for all the crying.

Her eyes were puffy, her nose was bright red, and she’d lost her appetite somewhere between the shock of being fired and the realization Tony and Damon could never be hers.

She slumped on the bed and covered her face in her hands. That morning had been one of the best of her life. She’d woken up with a smile, laughed her way through breakfast, couldn’t believe how her life had changed in a matter of days.

I thought I was in love.

A tear leaked out from the corner of her eye and she wiped it away.
Too bad things like that don’t happen for me.
She still didn’t understand why someone would want to ruin her career. She thought about all the employees at Hopkins PR. Her clients. Did someone truly hate her that much?

She’d always tried to be nice. Accommodating. Why would someone do this to her? Daphne grabbed a pair of pants and stuffed them in her suitcase when the phone rang.

“Hello.” The word came out scratchy and quiet. She couldn’t pretend anymore.

“Hey, Daphne. How’s it going?”

She frowned. “Rachel? What’s going on?”

“Just thought I’d call and check in on you. The office has been all aflutter this morning.”

Daphne bit the inside of her cheek. “I was fired.” She wanted to scream.

“I know.” The sing-song lilt of Rachel’s voice made Daphne’s eyes bug out. It couldn’t be.

“Did you have something to do with it?”

The laugh turned Daphne’s stomach. “I had
everything
to do with it.”

She almost dropped the phone. “What?”

“Oh, honey, it was too easy. You’ve been man starved for how long? I knew once I got you on that cruise you’d end up doing something foolish. I paid some idiot bartender to take your picture. Little did I know I’d hit the jackpot. Two men? Really, Daphne.”

Daphne’s mouth opened and closed like a fish out of water. Rachel had been her friend. Her only friend at work since they’d started. They hadn’t been close, but that didn’t matter. She’d trusted her.

She tried to swallow, but her mouth was too dry. “So the break up?”

“Never happened.” She sounded so smug. So
superior
.

“Why?”

Rachel sighed. “Come on, you know why.”

Daphne closed her eyes. She wasn’t above begging. She had to know the reason. “Please, Rachel. Just spit it out.”

Rachel’s sigh carried over the line. “Because you’re perfect. You always say the right things, do the right things. You’re always acting the part. Hell, you don’t even wear white after Labor Day. How can I compete with that?”

Daphne reeled. “I’m not perfect.”

“Well, not now, you’re not!” Her former friend cackled. “Now everyone in that office can see you for exactly who you are.”

“And what’s that?”

“A has been. I’ll get your promotion, I’ll make partner, and you’ll be crawling back to your parents’ Winnebago. Where are they now? Chino?”

Daphne’s heart sank. “Oakland.”

“Same difference.”

“You’ll never get away with this. I’ll make sure they all know it was a set up.”

Rachel’s laugh turned dark. Wicked. “That’s what’s so great about it. Don’t you see? All I did was have the pictures taken. All the evidence? You did that yourself. It was nice working with you, Daphne. I hope you have fun starting over at the bottom.”

The line went dead and Daphne threw the phone across the room. It slammed into the armoire and clattered to the floor.

Damn her.
How could Rachel be so cold? Daphne had been her shoulder to cry on time and again. Every time she had a set back at work or she fought with her boyfriend, Daphne had been there.

She thought back to what Rachel said about her. Is that what everyone thought? That she was too perfect? Too staged? That wasn’t the real her. That was just the front she put out for the job. Wasn’t it?

She walked over to the window and looked out at the choppy waves. They crested and roiled in sync with the insides of her stomach.
I’m so much more than an empty shell.

I’m not some plastic person who does everything right.
She had emotions. Needs. Wants.

Oh, God. Did she have wants. The touch of Tony’s hand. The feel of Damon’s lips on hers. Their charm and caring. Their laughs. The way Tony mumbled in his sleep. The way Damon snored.

She reached out and touched the window. Too bad none of that mattered now. How could she keep seeing Damon and Tony? She’d already been fired from one firm because of them. If she kept it up, she’d never be accepted anywhere else.

She clutched at her chest. It was a mistake. That’s all.

Back in LA, she’d send out résumés and pound the pavement until something stuck. She’d done it before. She could do it again. It might not be the glamorous path to partnership Daphne had envisioned, but what choice did she have?

She turned away from the ocean and closed her eyes. A relationship with two men would never have worked. It didn’t matter that they lit her up with just a glance. Or that their touch spread happiness through her like a rocket.

Relationships weren’t built for three people. It’s what they had told her from the beginning.

The sooner she got off the cruise ship and forgot all about them, the better.

She shook her head and slumped down next to her suitcase. She might be able to fool her brain, but her heart was a different matter. The ache in her chest would take more than distance to heal.

“He won’t budge.” Damon paced the office, wearing a track into the wool carpet.

“Are you sure?”

“Of course I’m sure! I tried everything. Money, access to the ship, free publicity for their clients, anything I could think of. He just laughed.”

Damon ran his hands through his hair and stalked to the liquor cabinet. He poured himself a drink and gulped it down without a taste. He didn’t care if it was vodka or bourbon or rubbing alcohol. He needed to numb the pain and fear gnawing at him.

They were going to lose Daphne.

“So the job’s a dead end. We just need to come up with another way.”

“To what?” He spun around and faced Tony. “She’ll never forgive us. She told us from the very beginning how important that job was to her. Now it’s gone. All she worked for, Tony. All she’s sacrificed. And we ruined it.”

Tony stood up and came his way. He poured himself a drink and took a sip. “I spoke with Trent. He confirmed it was the co-worker who hired George.”

“Can we get her arrested?”

“Probably. He’s working on it.”

“At least that’s something.”

Tony took another sip. “I’ve been thinking about Midnight Cove.”

Damon snorted. “What about it?”

“People accept relationships like ours there, right?”

“I don’t see the point of dredging that up now, Tony. We’re not going to be in a relationship anymore.”

Tony set his drink down. “Hear me out. What if we took Daphne there? We could show her that there’s a place we would be accepted. Where she wouldn’t be at risk of losing her job.”

Damon shook his head. “If we had something to give her, I’d say yes. But now? She’s already lost her job. We can’t get it back.”

“What if we could get her another one?” Tony sat down on the arm of the couch. “I spoke with Ian earlier.”

“So?”

Tony shrugged. “He said he’d been looking for a full-time PR firm. Some other people in town need a good rep, too. Hell, so could we, Damon. Think about it.”

Tony wasn’t making any sense. “You want to offer Daphne a job?”

“No. I want to offer her a chance to build her own firm. In a town where we can live the way we want to live. Without judgment.”

Damon’s mouth fell open. He never thought Tony would be the one to offer hope of the future. “You’re really in love with her, aren’t you?”

He nodded. “Aren’t you?”

“More than I can say.”

Tony stood up. “Then what choice do we have? It’s either try this or watch her walk away.”

Damon nodded. “Can we route the ship to the Cove?”

“Already done. We can dock, escort her off the ship, and it can resume course. The cruise will end in LA just like usual and on time. No one will even know we had a detour.”

“We’ll need to pull out all the stops, Tony. She won’t agree without a fight.”

Tony smiled. “Believe me, I know. That woman’s more stubborn than anyone else I know.”

Damon had been riding a runaway rollercoaster all day. First they were going to tell Daphne they loved her, then she was fired and throwing them out of her suite. Now Tony had shown him a glimmer of hope.

Would it be enough? Would Daphne see that she could have a future with them in Midnight Cove or would she turn them down for good?

The knock jolted Daphne out of her self-induced fog. Could they be in LA already? She hustled to the door and pulled it open.

The employee she’d met her first few minutes on ship stood there, hands clasped in front of her. “Samantha, right?”

“Sam. Can I come in?”

Daphne frowned. “Is the boat pulling into port?”

“Not yet, but I need to speak with you about that.”

“Okay.” Daphne stepped back and held the door open. “Is there some issue?”

Sam walked into the suite and stopped at the edge of the kitchen. “I want you to reconsider.”

“Excuse me?”

“You shouldn’t run away from Tony and Damon just because you’re scared.”

Daphne crossed her arms over her chest. “I’m not scared. I’m angry. Disappointed in myself, too.”

“You don’t understand what you’ve done to them, do you?”

Daphne’s outrage was plain. “Done to
them
? They got me fired!”

Sam held up her hands. “Not what I meant.” She exhaled. “They’ve changed because of you.”

“What do you mean?”

Sam pressed her lips together. “Before you walked on this boat, they were going through the motions. Tony was a shell of a man. Damon was depressed. They’d lost the spark they used to have when I started with the company.”

“Why are you telling me this?”

“Because I think you feel the same way. I’ve seen the three of you together. You’re in love.”

Daphne rolled her eyes. “Not today.”

Sam reached out. “Yes, today. When they heard you were fired they sent the whole ship into a tizzy. Tony had every employee grilled over the photos. Damon hauled in everyone who knew anything about PR to see if they could pull any strings and get your job back. They’ve been frantic.”

Daphne’s grip on her arms loosened. “It doesn’t matter anymore. I can’t be with them.”

“But you can. You can make it work. Isn’t that what your job is all about? Finding a way to let people live their lives on their own terms?”

Daphne blinked. She’d never seen it that way. “I’m sorry, Sam. I know you mean well. But…” She trailed off. There wasn’t any way to spin what she’d done. The cat was out of the bag.

All she could do was pick up the pieces and start over. Without them.

Samantha exhaled. “Don’t give up. Not yet.” She patted Daphne on the arm and walked past her to the door. “If there’s a way it can all work out, Tony and Damon will figure it out.”

Daphne stood in the kitchen and watched Samantha walk out the door. She meant well, but good intentions didn’t change the facts. She was out of a job and out of a relationship before it even began. No amount of strategy would change that.