Lisa (Beach Brides Book 6) Page 4

  What? Shawn floundered with confusion at the specific reference to the report. That wasn’t in the final draft I read before Dad emailed it to the council secretary.

  Sweat began to form on the back of his neck. He looked like a fool not knowing what facts his own proposal contained. Wyn must have made some last-minute edits, but neglected to tell him about them. Wyn’s failure to communicate the changes made him burn with anger over once again being left out of the planning and decision-making process, but he pushed the issue out of his mind for now. He had to find mutual ground with the Island Women’s Business League.

  “Ms. Kaye,” he said boldly, “I’m the project manager and I will make the final decision on who leases the spaces when they’re ready for occupancy. I assure you, I’ll make certain my shops don’t directly compete with yours, as that wouldn’t be in the best interests of anyone. You have my word on it.”

  He turned to his desk and pulled out the file with a freshly printed copy of the report, intending to study it thoroughly after the meeting to make sure Wyn hadn’t changed anything else.

  A server from the kitchen knocked on the door and entered, rolling in a stainless-steel cart with pitchers of chilled Switchta, the Bahamian version of lemonade, and a platter of coconut-mango cookies. Everyone took a break, indulging in cookies and chatter.

  Shawn stood next to Lisa, still holding the folder containing the proposal. He understood the reason for her cool attitude toward him, but it put him at a disadvantage. “You don’t approve of me, do you?”

  She gave him a sideways glance. “No, and to be perfectly honest, I don’t trust you, either.”

  Her directness didn’t surprise him, but the double accusation did. “You get right to the point, don’t you?”

  The server offered her a cookie. She raised her left palm and declined. She wore no rings on either hand. “At least I mean what I say.”

  “And you think I don’t?”

  She gestured toward the manila folder in his hand. As she moved, the sweet, floral scent of her perfume filled his nostrils, distracting him. Their gazes met and as he stared into her wide jade eyes, he found it impossible to pull away.

  Stick to business, he chided himself. The last thing you need is to become attracted to a woman on this island and get tangled up in a relationship. You’re not going to be here long so don’t complicate things by starting something you don’t intend to finish.

  “Everything you say is the opposite of what you have in writing,” Lisa retorted. “What guarantee do we have that you’ll follow through with the promises you’ve given lip service to today?”

  “I gave you my word that my shops won’t sell the same merchandise as yours. What else can I do?”

  She prefaced her reply with an impatient sigh. “Mr. Wells—”

  “Everyone just calls me Shawn.”

  “All I’m saying, Shawn, is that our group is composed of average citizens trying to make a decent living. You’re representing a corporation with money and a team of lawyers to fight your battles for you. We’re no match for your resources or apparent influence with the council, but we’re committed to fighting this all the way if you go with what’s in the report.”

  “Then meet me for lunch tomorrow and we’ll go over the plans together.” The words came out of his mouth before he realized what he’d said. Now that he’d spoken, he couldn’t take them back. “I want to have enough time to go over all the facts so you can report back to your association.”

  She started to object, her plump, rose-colored lips parting slightly, but then she paused. “All right,” she said slowly, as though weighing her options. “What time?”

  “I’ll meet you at noon in the Bayside Café.”

  The hotel’s open-air café was the island’s most popular venue with its seaside view of Azure Bay and the pink sand beach. He’d have to rearrange his schedule to make it on time, but he didn’t mind. He needed to form a relationship with the island business community and this was a good place to start. Or did this just happen to be a convenient excuse to get to know her better?

  Their gazes held again. “I’m looking forward to it,” Lisa said, though the skeptical look in her eyes indicated otherwise.

  Her phone chirped, interrupting them. “Excuse me.” She pulled out her phone and checked the screen. “I’m needed at the shop. I have to go.”

  She turned to the group. “Ladies, I’ve arranged to meet with Mr. Wells tomorrow to review his drawings for the mall and discuss the specifics so that I can report the information back to you. Is that acceptable to everyone?”

  The women briefly talked among themselves and unanimously agreed.

  She bid goodbye to everyone and left.

  The women began to file out behind her, a few at a time. Shawn sat at his desk and flipped open the folder. He’d begun to study the revised proposal when he looked up and saw Pete holding the door for Shakara.

  She sashayed to the doorway and stopped in front of him. “So, you’re an engineer? You know how to fix things, Pee-tah?”

  “You name it,” Pete said, puffing out his chest. “I can build it or fix it.”

  “H-m-m-m...” Shakara tapped her cheek with one finger tipped with an inch-long nail painted in sparkly maroon. “Are you for hire? What do you charge?”

  Pete burst into a boyish grin. “Whatever you need, I’d be happy to lend a hand. My price is an ice-cold beer.”

  She placed her finger under his chin. “You’re kind of cute, bey,” she cooed, her voice velvety smooth. She leaned closer. “Come to my shop. I’ll show you my plumbing.”

  Pete swallowed hard, his smile widening with fascination. “Any time...”

  “I’ll give you a call.” She waved goodbye and walked out.

  Pete leaned in the doorway and stared after her like a rock star groupie.

  “Earth to Pete,” Shawn said, grinning at his friend.

  “Huh?” Pete turned around.

  Shawn could almost see stars twinkling in his eyes. “It didn’t take her long to get you wrapped around her finger.”

  “Hey, what did you get at the gift shop,” Pete asked as he approached Shawn’s desk, obviously trying to divert the discussion away from his attraction to Shakara Allain.

  Shawn snatched the red bag off his credenza and pulled out the wad of tissue paper protecting his purchase. He tore away the paper. “Look,” he said and held up the blue bottle to the light to show Pete the folded note. “It’s a message in a bottle.”

  Pete squinted to check it out. “That’s cool. Are you going to open it?” He laughed. “It’s probably the message from someone’s fortune cookie.”

  Curious, Shawn pulled out the cork and shook the message onto his desk. He unfolded it and stared at the faded, handwritten words on the page. “It’s a poem.” As he scanned the lines he began to chuckle. Whoever wrote this had a cute sense of humor.

  To Whom it may concern,

  I’m an adventurous girl, who’d love to see the world, but I don’t have the money or the time.

  If I met someone, though, who liked to travel for fun, he’d become a best friend of mine.

  I love the mountains, the seas, the rocks and the trees, and the Cairo Museum of Antiquities.

  I’ve never seen a polar bear, visited The World’s Fair, or climbed the Eiffel Tower in France.

  I want to see pyramids, ride a tram atop a rainforest, and learn the Flamenco dance.

  Do you like pińa coladas and strolling in the rain? Is there a special place in the world you’d love to see again?

  If you’re a guy who loves to fly, or cruise on the mighty sea; then give me a shout, tell me what you’re all about, ‘cause you might be the one for me.

  IslandGirl#1@...

  He saw her email at the bottom of the page and opened up his laptop. “It’s probably a travel agent’s gimmick to sell vacation packages,” he murmured as he skimmed through it again. He really didn’t have time for this, but still, the message intrigued h
im so much he couldn’t resist. “There is an email address listed. I think I’ll write back and see what happens.”

  He wrote a quick poem and sent the message. Then he began to pour through Wyn’s revised proposal and forgot all about “Island Girl.”

  Chapter Four

  Lisa stared at the unopened email on her computer, surprised that after all this time someone had finally found the bottle and answered her message. She’d begun to think it had been lost at sea.

  She tapped her finger on the keyboard, undecided about whether or not she should open it. What if a crazy person, a man who stalked women online, had sent her the email? The men who tried to friend her on Facebook came to mind, the buff ones wearing military uniforms. The women in her Romantic Hearts Book Club online referred to them as trolls. With any luck, the man would be living on the other side of the world, but she had no way of knowing whether he lived fifteen minutes or fifteen thousand miles away. The possibility of someone actually traveling to this island to stalk her gave her the creeps. She shivered at the thought.

  The email address gave no indication of whether the sender was a woman or a man, but the blank subject line didn’t strike her as a woman’s way of replying to her message.

  “You’d better get moving if you’re going out for lunch. Those rooms don’t clean themselves!” Aunt Elsie’s stern voice echoed from the kitchen.

  Putting it off for now, Lisa exited out of the email account and closed the cover on her laptop. She had breakfast dishes to load into the dishwasher, rooms to clean and laundry to catch up on before meeting Shawn Wells for lunch. Aunt Elsie still handled most of the cooking for the six-bedroom bed and breakfast and managed her small gift shop on the premises, but she’d delegated all of the cleaning, maintenance and laundry to Lisa.

  She jumped up from the desk in the small alcove they had set up for Internet access. “I’ll be right there, Auntie,” she said, using the island version for “aunt.” Elsie didn’t purposely mean to sound gruff, but after years of raising four rambunctious children, she’d never outgrown her “strict mother” mode. Widowed at thirty, Elsie had been forced to be mother, father and provider to her family. Above all, she had a heart of gold, and Lisa considered Elsie her second mom.

  Lisa spent the morning doing chores and getting ready for her luncheon with Shawn. She chose a peach linen suit and a floral blouse with short sleeves and a jewel neckline.

  Shortly after eleven, she booted up her laptop again, hoping to skim the message before leaving for the Amaryllis. She nervously opened the email account.

  “Well, here I go.” Before she could change her mind, she clicked on it, opened it up and read the email.

  To Island Girl:

  Your message I have read, and “Wow!” is what I said.

  One thing I need to know, did you mean what you wrote? If so...

  You could be the one for me, but tell me the truth—are you married or are you free?

  I’ll keep the bottle if you don’t mind, it’s the only one I have of its kind.

  Every time I see the antique in blue, it’ll remind me of Island Girl—of you.

  City Boy

  She couldn’t stop laughing. Whoever wrote that email took the time to compose the poem with the same silly style to match her prose. He had not only a charming sense of humor, but an honest way with words as well. And he knew the bottle was an antique, definitely a point in his favor.

  She didn’t have time to compose a response, but she planned to make it a priority to send him a reply as soon as she got back from lunch.

  Lunch! Oh, my gosh. I’m going to be late!

  “I’m leaving, Auntie. I’ll be back by three o’clock for check-in.” Since Elsie had the gift shop to run, Lisa needed to be there in case their guests had any special requests or asked for assistance with their bags.

  Elsie stood in the kitchen doorway, wiping her hands on her flowered apron. The short, stout woman frowned with concern. “I’ve got a bad feeling about this new development at the Amaryllis Hotel. If it’s a success, it’s going to pull a lot of our business away and force us to close the gift shop.”

  “Don’t worry, Auntie. I’ll find out everything I can about the new shops and whether Mr. Wells plans to expand the hotel, too. We’ll find a way to keep our business going.”

  Elsie’s white hair glistened in a knot on the crown of her head. She shoved a stray tuft behind one ear. “I hope so. Somebody has to do something about this. The resorts have taken away so much of our business already, I don’t know if we can withstand much more.”

  Lisa tucked a long silk scarf in her purse and briskly walked two blocks under shady trees to the waterfront to catch a ride on a water taxi. She wore flat sandals for better footing on the uneven pavement. The last thing she needed was to trip and sprain her ankle or skin her knees.

  At the waterfront, she descended the stone steps leading down to the dock and sprinted toward the covered taxi stand to catch the next water taxi leaving the Morganville port at eleven-thirty. The small, canopied boat circled the island all day, dropping off passengers and picking up others at the Amaryllis hotel and the resorts, eventually making its way back to the main port in Morganville.

  Lisa paid the driver and stepped into the boat. She put on her sunglasses then secured the scarf on her head and around her neck to keep her long hair from whipping in the wind.

  Fifteen minutes later, she arrived at the Amaryllis with time to freshen up before meeting with Shawn.

  Why am I making such a fuss over my appearance, she thought as she pulled off her scarf and walked toward the ladies’ room to touch up her makeup and brush her hair. This is a casual business meeting, not a date. Somehow, though, it felt more like a first date than a professional appointment with another merchant.

  The Bayside Café provided a wide view of Azure Bay. A latticed railing served as a partition between the guests and the outer courtyard of tropical plants that buffered them from the incredible pink sand beach along the water’s edge.

  As she walked toward the waiting area, she saw a tall, broad-shouldered man with dark hair conversing with another man. It was Shawn, looking relaxed in khaki pants and a light green linen shirt. The moment he saw her, he shook hands with the man, excused himself and briskly walked toward her. His warm smile and the way he focused on her—as though they were the only two people in the busy restaurant—sent butterflies fluttering through her stomach.

  “Hello,” he said, his hazel eyes softening. “I hope you brought your appetite because I’ve taken the liberty of setting up a special dish for your lunch.”

  “That sounds wonderful,” Lisa said, wondering what prompted him to go to all that trouble. Did he have disappointing news and planned to get her in a good mood before breaking it to her?

  The hostess led them through the busy lunchtime crowd to a reserved table with a good view of the bay. Shawn pulled out a white lattice armchair to seat her.

  Such personal service, Lisa thought, taking in his charming manner and the beautiful view. Does he do this for every woman he meets or is he simply flattering me to make a good impression?

  As soon as he seated her, a female server appeared to take their drink orders. “Would you like a glass of wine before lunch?”

  “No, thank you.” Lisa smiled. “I would like a glass of water instead, please.”

  “Bring us a couple bottles of water and lime wedges,” Shawn said and eased into his chair.

  “Thank you for inviting me for lunch,” Lisa said, unfolding her napkin. “This is my first time at this restaurant, but I’ve heard many positive comments about the food from our guests at the B&B.”

  “Have you lived on the island all your life?”

  “No,” she said as she clasped her hands together in her lap. “I’ve only been a resident for about fifteen months. I moved here from Florida to help my aunt operate her bed and breakfast, Bella’s Enchanted B&B, in Morganville.”

  A serving assistant arrived at t
heir table and deposited a basket of warm rolls with butter.

  Shawn pulled back the cloth over the rolls and offered her one. “Why did you decide to leave Florida and move here? That’s quite a change of pace—from Disneyworld to Morganville.”

  Lisa laughed, finding it easy to talk to him in spite of her wariness. “As a kid, I used to come here for vacations with my family. I’ve always loved this place.” She selected a roll and pulled it apart. “I recently spent some time here on vacation with friends and came a couple of days early to visit with my aunt,” she said as she spread whipped butter on each half of her roll. “When Elsie asked me to help her manage the B&B, I initially turned her down but when I returned to the states, things unexpectedly fell into place, making it the right choice.”

  “Do you like being your own boss?”

  She thought about the day she returned to work after vacation to find out the company had shut down the office. Ten years of service—wiped out within moments. “Elsie is still the boss, but yes, I love the freedom I have now. I get up early because I want to. I work hard because I love what I do.”

  Their server appeared with the water and silently set it on the table.

  “Any regrets?”

  “Not one.” She sipped her water and decided to change the subject. Shawn had been asking all of the questions. It was her turn. “How about you? How do you like your job?”

  “I’m in a similar situation.” The tiny lines around his mouth tightened, indicating she may have touched upon a sensitive subject. “My father owns the corporation and he still calls the shots, but I like taking over a hotel and running my own show.”