No Regrets Read online

  “You said you wanted to talk?” she asked.

  A soft roll of thunder echoed in the distance. How ominous, Aidan thought. “How about dinner?”

  “Dinner?” She seemed surprised. “You mean like a date?”

  “Just two people having dinner, discussing business, coming to a compromise on certain subjects. We can keep it strictly business,” he said, hoping to appease her concerns.

  “Oh,” she said softly.

  Did he detect disappointment in her voice?

  “We’re here now. Let’s discuss it now,” she said.

  The breeze was picking up and a chill filled the air. Aidan could smell a downpour coming. “I think it might-"

  Rain, sudden and piercing sluiced down on them.

  “Inside the cabana,” Aidan called through the rush of wind and water. He lifted Thorn in one arm and sheltered Jamie’s body with the other as they ran toward an open cabana.

  They laughed, huddling inside the small room that was about eight square feet, and each of them did their best at shaking off the rainwater. Thorn seemed to be the only one who was successful.

  The water came down in sheets, as though a dam in heaven had broken. Jamie was drenched from head to toe, her sandals were full of sand, and she'd lost her sunglasses somewhere on the dune. Aidan noticed her eyes were the color of the ocean on a sunny day, a warm, vital blue. Her flowery sundress, now soaked, clung to her slim figure and curved around her long legs. She shivered as she tried to wring the water from her dress.

  “Allow me” Aidan said, taking hold of her dress. He wrung out a good portion of the water from several angles.

  She watched him in silence, her face moist from the rain, her expression unmoving except for the slight quivering of her lips. Her hair was a soggy mess, soaked and tangled with rain. She twisted her dark strands to wring out the water and let it cascade down her back, knotted and damp.

  “You cold?”

  “We could have met at my house where it's warm and dry,” she said flatly.

  His smile was faint. He didn’t want to rouse her temper too much. “Yes, that would have been much nicer.”

  Aidan maddened Jamie to unbelievable heights. How she despised his arrogance, his gall, his stupid grin that made no sense in a man as jaded and solitary as Aidan Brice. The man was an enigma. But the more she detested him, the more things she found about him to dislike, the more she longed for him, the more she desired him. That certainly didn’t make any sense. Nothing made sense regarding Aidan.

  Maybe if they went to bed, he wouldn’t be so appealing anymore. Maybe it was the mystery of him. Or the fact she hadn’t had sex in so long she was hot for it, with any attractive guy.

  But, she didn’t want just anyone. She didn’t want the lethally powerful Conrad Malcolm who was so anxious to marry her. She didn’t want the handsome doctor whose house she'd designed two months ago and who'd been begging her for dates ever since. Or any of the stunning celebrities she knew, who had come on to her countless times. She didn’t want any man but Aidan Brice.

  Yet, he was the man who was robbing her of the one thing she really wanted and worked to reclaim her entire adult life. Her childhood home.

  Puddles were beginning to form in the indentations in the sand and there was no indication the downpour would stop any time soon. Jamie sighed, resigned. She was stuck with the beautiful enemy. Stuck in a box of a room with a wet dog, a hunk of a man and a hell of a dilemma.

  Aidan stood next to her at the edge of the cabana’s doorway and stared out onto the storm, watching the wrath of nature. Despite the early hour, the day had grown dim and dreary with gloom. A streak of lightening sliced through the air followed by a piercing crack and she jumped, startled by its ferocity.

  “I wonder how long it will last” she said finally.

  “It’s a bad storm,” he said. “Seems I remember there’s a hurricane in the Caribbean at the moment. I missed the weather update this morning though. I was too busy cleaning up after Thorn.”

  “Really?” She laughed at the idea of Aidan doing anything remotely domestic.

  “Why is that funny?”

  “I never know what to expect from you. Sometimes, you make me laugh. Other times-”

  “I like you much better laughing” Aidan said. “It’s much better than when you are raging at me.”

  “Don’t give me a reason to rage at you.”

  “I never have, at least not intentionally.”

  His face was beautifully handsome. Like her, he was drenched to the bone. While she felt like a drown cat, he was captivating in wet clothes that clung to his body like a glove. There were times he made it difficult for her to hate him.

  She tilted her face up at Aidan. “Why do you want Villa Milagros?”

  “Personal reasons.”

  His answer was unexpected. “You don’t seem like the sentimental type.”

  He shrugged. “There is a lot you don’t know about me, Jamie.” He turned to watch the horizon as bleakness dominated his face. His golden hair tossed in the wind, softly framing his austere expression.

  Kerrie had told her about the tragedy in Aidan’s life. The lost loved ones. Was there a connection to Villa Milagros? She had to know.

  “Does this have something to do with your former wife?”

  His dark glare made her instantly regret the question.

  “What do you know about my ex wife?” His tone was accusing.

  “Not much. I know you were married and you lost your wife. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to pry. I wanted to understand why you want my house.”

  She shouldn’t have asked. Her conscience gnawed at her, and she rested her hand on Aidan’s shoulder wanting to console him. She felt an inexplicable connection to him, a connection she had never felt with anyone before. She felt his pain.

  “I know what it’s like to lose someone. My mother died when I was a teenager and she was the only family I knew. I know how hard it is to be left alone.”

  He stared at her in the misty light, not uttering a single word. Her hand was still touching his shoulder, softly caressing him though the thin cotton. The air was hazy and damp, heavy with rain. Jamie shivered in her snug, wet dress. An overwhelming sense of tiredness overcame her. She wished she could go home and collapse in her bed, numb from all the chaos of her life.

  As long as the storm raged, she wasn’t going anywhere. She peered into Aidan’s face as he watched her through his grey, solemn eyes. His stare unnerved her. Tension flickered between them.

  “Please, say something,” she whispered.

  He grabbed her roughly, drawing her against his hard body. His skin touched hers, hard, slick, and hot. She didn't move.

  “You can't have Villa Milagros,” he said.

  Cursing under his breath he bent down and silenced her retaliations with his harsh, demanding mouth.

  Chapter Six

  There was fire in his kiss.

  This was not the slow, methodic kiss in her foyer. His lips claimed hers, warm, reckless, and unrelenting. He nudged her lips apart and swept his tongue into her mouth with soul shaking hunger. She should pull away, but she couldn’t fight him, couldn’t fight the craving, the longing, the passion he ignited in her.

  He ran his hand up her leg and under her sodden dress, pressing his hand firmly against her bottom. She tensed, pushing away from him despite her need to feel his touch. He wouldn’t let her go. He held her closer and tighter. Relentlessly, his tongue delved deeper and deeper, sweeping her up into a whirl of heat until she felt her body collapse and dissolve against him. She clung to him full of desire and contempt, fear and hope.

  He ran his hand along the elastic of her panties and found his object of desire between her parted legs. He pushed his fingers beneath the lacy fabric. She moaned incoherently and he coaxed her with soft, meaningless words until she relaxed and opened her body to him. She sighed softly against his mouth as he stroked her with insistent urgency.

  He kissed her
again, tasting her warmth, inflaming her body with his searing touch. She was close to losing control and he sensed it. He continued stroking her as he swept his wet lips across her throat, kissing, nibbling, tasting. When he reached her breasts, he suckled her nipples through the thin fabric of her sundress, leaving her aching for more.

  Effortlessly, he pulled the straps down from her sundress, freeing her breasts to the hot, humid air. He covered one breast and then the other with his mouth, licking, tasting, feeding ferociously upon them while his fingers plunged into her aching depths again and again until her body felt the upcoming-

  The shrill bark of a dog broke the still air.

  Startled, Jamie looked up to see a figure sheathed under an umbrella sprinting toward the cabanas. Aidan stepped away, his fingers sliding out of her, leaving her bereft, empty. He stood in front of her protectively while she pulled her dress up over her bare breasts. Thorn barked at the stranger, wagging his tail excitedly.

  She quickly pulled on the straps of her sundress and pushed the skirt down toward her knees. Her body throbbed with frustration, as the person with the umbrella ensconced himself directly in the cabana next to them.

  She braved a glance into Aidan's grey eyes, expecting a cool, arrogant look of conquest. Instead, he kissed away the frown that had crept across her face.

  “I owe you an apology," he said.

  He kissed her cheeks with tenderness. “I promised to keep my hands to myself, but you have the most destructible effect on my self control.”

  She offered him a small smile. Her breath had been sucked away leaving a dull, aching pain at her core.

  She drew away from Aidan and looked out onto the darkened horizon. The storm had nearly passed and the sun peaked shyly from beneath a spongy cloud. Thorn, who had relaxed in the corner, rose and stretched lazily.

  The rain stopped. There wasn’t time for talking, thank God. Both of them had to get back to work. She didn't want to think about what she'd done, what she might have done, back here at Sabina Beach. What was it about this place and Aidan Brice?

  After an awkward departure in front of Aidan’s workmen, Jamie and Thorn took off to Palm Beach to settle the paint problem with her client and to run a few errands.

  The drive was quick as her mind wandered about the morning. An ache still lingered in every crevice of her body Aidan had kissed. Palm Beach was quiet this morning, the warm, humid air fogged up her icy windows as she stepped out of her air-conditioned car. She snuck Thorn into her condo, wrapping him in left over fabric in her car trunk and left him in the guest room while she ran her errands.

  She was walking to her car in the parking garage of her Palm Beach hair salon when she ran into Reny, who looked perfectly dazzling in a white suit. Her flawless red nails flashed like flames on the tips of her fingers as she gave Jamie an enthusiastic wave.

  “Tell me every detail about the construction man,” Reny exclaimed, pressing her cheek against Jamie’s.

  “There isn’t much to tell,” Jamie lied. “He’s a dark, cynical man with a past and I decided he wasn’t going to be much fun.” Well, at least that part was true. Aidan was a dark, cynical man with a past and she could hardly say their relationship with him had been a picnic.

  Reny nearly purred with delight. “So, he is a free man then?” Reny asked, her greedy little mind working a mile a minute. “Sometimes those blue collar types are rolling in the dough. And they are so much better looking than these stodgy prep boys who inherit their money.” She paused and a wily smile widened across her face. “They’re better in bed too.”

  Jamie felt her cheeks flush and turned away from Reny, pretending to find a speck on her dress. The same thought had crossed her mind about Aidan more than once. She wondered, no fantasized about what he was like in bed. Today she had her first taste of it, and she wasn’t disappointed. She was hungry for more.

  She didn’t want to admit she felt uneasy about Reny’s interest in Aidan. She wasn't jealous. That would mean he meant something to her and he didn’t.

  “So, is our brawny builder rich or what?” Reny was insistent.

  Jamie had known Reny for years and had long accepted her rather base and artificial manner in choosing men, but it bothered her to hear her talk about Aidan so callously.

  “Oh, I don’t know Reny. I didn’t ask to see his check book,” she said with slight annoyance.

  “You're in a mood today,” Reny said, clearly ruffled. She flung her red hair across her shoulder, “Are you sure you aren’t interested in him?”

  Jamie didn’t want to incite Reny’s anger. She was too popular in their elite social circle, which included many of Jamie’s clients and charity supporters. Yet, she didn’t want to confide anything in the gossipy Reny either.

  “Reny dear,” Jamie said gravely, “I had an issue with a job for a difficult client. Nothing major, but you know how it is with some people, a scratch on the wood floors and they can’t hold their scheduled dinner party.”

  Reny was easily persuaded. Perhaps she preferred a convenient lie to the truth.

  “You run along now and take care of those mean old clients, and we’ll catch up later. I hear Conrad will be in town for the Cancer Society Gala. I assume you two will be going together? Maybe you could announce your engagement then. Wouldn’t that be splendid?”

  Jamie had completely forgotten about the Gala. And Conrad. Damn, it had been the first day in a long time she hadn’t given him a single thought. She suppressed a frown. Thanks, Reny.

  “I’ve got to run. Thorn’s in the guest room all alone. God only knows what he’s done to the bed.” Jamie said turning to go.

  With a gracious wave, she left the lovely Reny, whose jaw had nearly dropped to the pavement, puzzling over - just who was Thorn? No doubt the rumors would be flying soon.

  ˜

  Aidan wasn’t happy about the approaching hurricane. He was standing on a ladder, laboriously attaching hurricane shutters to his home. It was a tedious task, but he was glad to have something to occupy his hands and his mind. Since this morning he'd been far too preoccupied with the memory of Jamie’s soft, warm body and her delicate moans of pleasure.

  He hoped this hurricane wasn’t going to hit them. Seabrook had taken a bad hit two years ago and some of the old homes were destroyed. Just in case, Aidan planned to send Ross and Jo to a safe inland hotel and intended to join them as soon as he finished boarding up his home, which was perilously close to the ocean.

  Hurricane Dean had gone from a weak storm to a deadly category four hurricane in less than thirty hours the news said. A category four storm could seriously damage his house, and it would easily flatten Jamie’s aging cottage into a pancake. Staying in Seabrook was definitely out of the question.

  She wasn’t back yet. He’d called Jamie twice this afternoon. The weather was squally already and he worried about her driving on the blustery, wet highways. No doubt, traffic was terrible. The seaside inhabitants were certain to rush inland before the hurricane blasted Seabrook’s defenseless coastline.

  When Travis’s blue SUV pulled up in Aidan’s driveway he was mildly irritated. He'd tired of Travis’s incessant curiosity concerning Jamie. He knew Travis meant well, but if he asked him one more question about the vixen, he was going to have to slug him.

  “Need a hand, buddy?” Travis asked, walking up to Aidan’s house.

  “Wouldn’t mind one if you haven’t got anything else better to do with your time.”

  Travis grabbed a metal shutter from the stack next to the ladder Aidan stood on. “I have much better things to do. Unfortunately, this storm is getting in the way.”

  Aidan’s laugh was humorless. “I know what you mean.” He looked down at Travis and grabbed the shutter he handed him. “Did you help Kerrie board up her place?”

  “Yeah, of course. Why do you ask?”

  “Just wondering” Aidan said as he lined up the holes in the stucco and the shutter.

  “What about you? Making sure our pr
odigal daughter is prepared for this hurricane? Her house doesn’t look up to it. Nor does she. She’s a wispy thing,” Travis said. He smiled widely. “But very sweet."

  Aidan gave him a scornful look.

  Travis disregarded Aidan’s angry frown. “Maybe I should be protecting her from you.”

  “Where did you see her?” Aidan asked as he viciously screwed the bolts into the concrete.

  “With Kerrie at The Watering Hole. What a beauty! Yeah, what a beauty. She’s got to be a temptation. I don’t know how you do it… why the legs on her-“

  “Hand me that drill,” Aidan snapped.

  Travis snickered as he handed Aidan the tool. ”Exactly what I thought” he mused. “I knew eventually you’d have to crack.”

  Aidan ignored the taunt. “She’s an attractive woman I'll admit, but I’ve got Ross to think about. He needs a wholesome, motherly woman in his life. Not some lusty tigress,” Aidan said, thinking of Jamie’s rain drenched body that burned under his fingers earlier this morning.

  Travis eyes widened in pseudo shock. “She’s a lusty tigress?”

  Aidan gave him a fierce look. “I didn’t say that.”

  “Just because she’s attractive doesn’t mean she won’t be a good mother. Jeez Aidan, do they have to look like an Ogre to be a good mom?”

  The roar of the drill drowned Travis’s chuckle. After securing the shutter, Aidan stepped down from the ladder. “Of course not. Jamie’s a city girl. Ambitious, career driven…”

  “You’re ambitious and career driven. You’re also a great father. I don’t see the problem, buddy.”

  "She wants to buy Villa Milagros."

  "Oh," Travis shifted to let Aidan move the ladder to the next window. "Why?"

  "Hell, if I know."

  "It's a valuable piece of property, and she does work with the Palm Beach circle-"

  “And I don’t run with the Palm Beach crowd. Look at you for god’s sake!” Aidan gestured to Travis’s khaki shorts and muddied sneakers.