Seven Nights (18 page)

She collapsed back on his lap to rest her head against his shoulder. He wrapped his arms around her waist and for a little while neither one spoke. But Sean didn’t feel uneasiness. In fact, the silence seemed natural and comfortable.

Finally, she turned her head slightly to give him a kiss along his jaw. “Tell me the express elevator is also soundproofed.”

Sean laughed as he hugged her closer. “Sorry. That’s one feature I really should have demanded, but I didn’t. Maybe for my next resort.”

“So anyone in the other cars probably heard that performance, eh?” She ran her fingernails up and down his arm in a gentle rhythm.

He nodded against her shoulder. “Do you mind? I doubt anyone heard, but it is possible.”

With a smile, she glanced up at him. “If anyone has the audacity to say something, I’ll just tell them that the rest of the show will be in an hour.” She paused and Sean could see her worry before she spoke again. “I’ll tell them we’ll be continuing this… in my villa?”

He froze. She was asking him if he wanted to come to her room. If they could do what he’d dreamed of for five long years: spend the night in each other’s arms.

“Get your dress,” he said as he released her. “And I’ll race you.”

She giggled as she leapt up and grabbed for her wrinkled sundress. As she tugged it over her head, she turned back and gave him a wicked grin.

“Whoever wins gets to be on top.”

***

The steady whir of the ceiling fan was the first thing Leah noticed. Even before she opened her eyes, the breeze it created danced across her bare skin and whap, whap, whap of the blades buzzed in her ears as they spun round and round above her. Other than that, the room was silent.

Too silent.

Keeping her eyes closed, Leah strained to hear any other noise. The sound of Sean breathing. Maybe the faint clatter of him making breakfast in the kitchenette. Or water splashing in the shower. But there was nothing but the sound of her own breathing and the constant whir of the damned fan.

Sean was gone.

Slowly, Leah let one eye open. She was lying on her stomach, the sheet covering just the lower half of her body, and the only view she had was that of the tile floor. With a groan, she rolled on her side. The bed was empty except for a folded note on Sean’s pillow.

Leah flinched. A note. He hadn’t even bothered to wake her to say goodbye. There was only one reason he’d steal away from the bed where they’d made love for so many hours the night before.

She unfolded the paper and read the two words he’d hurriedly scribbled before sneaking out into the night.

“Sorry, business.”

Just as she’d suspected. Business.

Leah struggled into a seated position as a flood of memories came rushing back. Sean struggling to work two jobs and finishing his MBA so many years ago. No matter how many times she’d offered her help, he’d pushed her off. He’d never even allowed her to proofread his papers.

Things had only gotten worse after he’d met her parents. Seeing the wealth Leah had grown up in had only seemed to push Sean further. And in the process, a wedge had come between them. Sometimes she’d wondered if he only saw her as the little rich girl, a society airhead with nothing to contribute to his life or his work except to be a pretty appendage he took to parties.

Leah fingered the scrawl of Sean’s handwriting as she stared at his note. All the emotions came back to her with as much power as they’d possessed those many years ago. All the hurt. The anger. The betrayal.

How could he put her off like this again? Now, when they seemed to be rebuilding what they’d lost?

With a growl, she threw off the covers and stormed to the shower.

“I won’t let you, Sean,” she muttered as hot water hit her in a blast. “I ran away the last time you pushed me, but no one intimidates me now. I won’t let you force me out of your life. Not again.”

***

Sean pinched his temples as he tried to maintain calm. Taking a deep breath, he said, “Yes, Mr. Midler, I understand that. No, sir. No, sir.”

He heard his voice go up and struggled to rein in his spiraling emotions. “Look, you can’t just back out. We had a deal. You can’t do something like this on such short notice.”

He wanted to scream through the phone at the man. To ask him how he could destroy what Sean had worked so hard to build. Didn’t this man know this was his life? Will’s life?

Not that he cared. A guy like Midler wasn’t out to finance a dream. He hadn’t had dreams for decades. Had no respect for them. Just like Leah’s father hadn’t given a damn about Sean’s dreams or ambitions.

Sean winced. Where had that come from? He hadn’t thought about Roger Prescott and his condescending tones for years. Why now?

“Yes, sir, I’m listening to every word,” he sighed into the receiver. “You’ve made your decision then, have you? You’re backing out of the project and there’s nothing I can say to change your mind? Well, good day, sir.”

He slammed the phone down and nearly flipped over the chair as he stormed to the window.

“Good day, you sanctimonious, snobby, son of a bitch prick!” he bellowed as he slammed a palm against the glass. He enjoyed the way it shivered beneath his touch. If only if was Joshua Midler’s face. Or Roger Prescott’s. Or any other establishment suit who had told Sean that a kid from the wrong side of the tracks couldn’t make it in the ultra-cliquish world of travel.

“You’re losing a backer?”

Sean spun from the window to find Leah standing in his office door. She wore a black tank top and cream-colored shorts. Her blonde hair was down around her shoulders, curling around her skin just the way he liked it. But her presence did nothing to calm the beast inside of him. If anything, having her intrude on this moment only made things so much worse.

“It’s none of your concern, Leah.”

He turned back to the window in order to regain some semblance of control. He didn’t want her to see him like this. Didn’t want her to see just how much he had to lose.

She sighed heavily. “That was what you always said, Sean. And you never understood just how much of my concern it was and is.”

“Why?” he snapped as he turned back on her. “Because if I fail, you look like a failure to your friends? If you come back into my life and I somehow don’t make the grade, will your Mommy and Daddy be ashamed of you and cut you out of the will?”

Leah reeled back as if he’d hit her. He supposed, in a way, he had. Below the belt. Hard.

“You know me better than that,” she said, so soft and low that he almost couldn’t hear her. “At least, I thought you did. I never cared about that stuff.”

Sean clenched a fist. He shouldn’t take his problems out on her. But his need to succeed was tied so firmly to his need to please her. To deserve her.

Even after all these years, he felt no closer to deserving her than he had when she’d left.

 
“You say you don’t care,” he said softly. “But when you left, you went back to that family who didn’t think I was good enough. You took a job your Dad approved of. You moved in circles that made your Mom swoon with pleasure. And now you’re here with me, slumming again. Will you report back to your parents about just how close I came to being good enough? Will you tell them that I couldn’t make it, just like they said I wouldn’t?”

Leah’s face crumbled, but she didn’t cry. In fact, she came closer to him, something he never would have expected after the cruel things he’d said to her. When she stood just a few inches from him, she looked up at him. In her eyes, he saw a myriad of emotion. Anger. Fear. Pain.

“How dare you?” she whispered. “That’s
your
voice in your head, Sean Dalton, not mine. If you fear failure, that isn’t coming from me. And if you see yourself as a failure, that definitely isn’t because of my voice in your ear. I look at this place and I see nothing but success. I see a beautiful resort built in record time. I see a great staff that’s loyal to you. I see you in your element. Doing the things you were born to do. Just as I always knew you would.”

She turned away. As she struggled to regain breath, her shoulders lifted and fell.

“Leah-” he began. Shame stopped him. What could he say to take back the blame he’d heaped at her feet? Nothing.

“Don’t.” She turned back. “You’re upset about your business. And all I’m telling you is that I want to help. Let me help you.”

Sean sighed. Why couldn’t she understand that he had to do this himself? That by taking her help, he was admitting those suits had been right all along? That he couldn’t make it on his own. He needed a rich insider if he hoped to have any kind of long-term success.

“Leah, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry,” he said. “But I’m fine. I’ll work this out on my own.”

Her face fell and she worked to harden it. “Okay.”

He reached out to take her hand. She didn’t pull away, but when he squeezed it, she didn’t respond in kind. “If you want to leave the island, I wouldn’t blame you a bit. But I hope you’ll stay. I hope you’ll have dinner with me tonight, as we planned.”

She nodded robotically. “Yes. Dinner. Tonight. I’ll be there.”

He was concerned by the blank expression on her face, but couldn’t think of anything to say to her that wouldn’t do more damage than he’d already done with his careless cruelty. “Good.”

“And now you obviously have work to do,” she said softly. “I’ll just leave you to it.”

With that, she turned and left the room without a backward glance. Sean watched her until his office door shut and blocked out the image of her standing at the elevator.

“Damn.”

Chapter Twelve

“Fuck!” Leah bellowed into the tropical breeze as she stumbled up the beach.

Sean’s harsh accusations still echoed in her head. The way he’d talked to her, it was as if he thought she was a terrible snob. No better than her parents. There was no doubt he’d said those ugly things out of frustration, but she had to wonder just how much he actually believed.

A lot of his anger went back to her family. Her mother had been nothing short of rude when he’d met them and her father? Well, apparently he’d said some hurtful things.

Of course, she’d never heard any of that from Sean himself. Oh no. That was just one more thing he’d kept from her. She’d had to find out all of it herself.

“Why? Why couldn’t you just talk to me?” she muttered as she sank down on her haunches in the sand and stared out at the calm ocean. The water totally mocked her mood, so still when she was torn apart by regrets and frustrations.

“I know I’m intruding.”

Leah scrambled to her feet as she turned to find Will Todd standing behind her, a mixture of understanding and pity softening his expression.

“Will,” she said and knew her surprise was as evident on her face as it was in her voice. “I didn’t know you were out here. I thought you’d be inside dealing with this business issue with Sean.”

The older man smiled. “I was. In fact, I was just returning to my desk when I heard raised voices.” He held her stare evenly.

“You heard us fighting,” Leah breathed as blood heated her cheeks with embarrassment.

“I did.” He shifted uncomfortably before he spoke again. “Normally I’d stay out of Sean’s personal affairs, but I don’t think he’ll defend himself in this situation. Someone has to.”

She expelled her breath in one loud burst. “Well, it’s obvious you think very little of me after what you heard. But you have to understand there’s a lot of history between Sean and me. A lot of unresolved problems.”

Will shook his head. “You’re wrong. I think very highly of you, actually. But that doesn’t change the fact that you don’t fully understand what Sean is doing and why he’s doing it.”

She balked. Who was this man to try and explain Sean to her of all people? She’d been through hell with him. She’d done the hardest thing in her life by leaving him. And William Todd thought he could wave some kind of wand and make her understand Sean’s motives?

“You know, Will-” she began curtly, but he cut her off.

“Sean doesn’t just say he loves you. He shows it.”

Leah blinked. “What?”

Will motioned to a large piece of driftwood down the beach. Still confused, she followed him there and took a place beside him.

“Okay, how can I explain this?”

She shook her head. “You don’t need to explain anything. I think I, of all people, get Sean.”

“No, I don’t think you do.” He ran a hand through his hair. “Sean came to me five years ago with a crazy plan to build a resort island. He didn’t care that we didn’t have money or he didn’t have any experience. He thought he could make a go of it and he was so enthusiastic that I got on board and followed him for the ride. Don’t think for one minute, though, that I’m not utterly aware of my real position here.”

“Your position?” Leah repeated blankly. How had they gone from talking about Sean’s love for her to this topic about the island and Will’s job?