I hear the sound of leaves crunching and I hold my breath as I wait to see her appear. When she walks through into the sunlight I’m so angry with myself that I’ve caused the sadness on her face. There are dark circles under eyes and it looks like she’s lost weight. I don’t imagine I’m any better, but her light has gone out and I can’t stand the sight of it.
She walks to the water but doesn’t look up and notice me yet. The sand muffles my steps as I approach her, and my arms yearn to reach out and pull her against me. But I clench my fists at my side to keep myself from reaching for her and step closer.
“Nicole?” I say softly, and she spins around so fast that she trips over her own feet.
I dart out and catch her just before she falls, but the momentum pushes us both off-balance and into the warm water. I come to the surface with her cradled in my arms and shake the water out of my face.
“Are you okay?” I ask, looking over her body to make sure she didn’t somehow hurt herself.
She looks into my eyes and for a second the clouds that were there moments ago have lifted. Her arms are around my neck and she squeeze me until her mind catches up with what’s happening.
“Put me down,” she says as her arms drop and she looks away.
“No,” I reply, and she looks back at me in shock.
“I said put me down, Liam. You don’t get to make me do anything anymore. What are you even doing out here? This was my secret place.”
“It’s our secret place, blondie.” Her eyebrows furrow in anger at the nickname. “You’re going to listen to me. And I’m not going to let you out of my arms until you damn well do it.”
“Fine. Say whatever it is you’ve got to say and then get out of here. There are enough painful memories of you in this special place. I don’t need another one.”
“It’s not like that,” I say, and she crosses her arms like a defiant child. “You can be angry at me, but you’re going to hear me out. And if you still don’t like what I’ve got to say, I’ll swim back to the mainland and never come back here again.”
She doesn’t answer, only shrugs like she could care less.
“I’m sorry,” I begin, and she rolls her eyes. “I am, Nicole. I never meant for it to get so out of control so fast. I came to the Mermaid the night I met you to talk to the owner and convince them to sell it to me. I never knew who you were when I met you at the Red Din. And then I got so swept away by you and how I felt that I forgot all about taking over your hotel and began trying to figure out how to make you fall in love with me.”
She won’t look at me, but I can see the anger in her face begin to soften.
“I don’t know how else I can convince you that it’s the truth, but it is. Kathy was my secretary and she helped me schedule the deals and acquisitions.” Nicole grinds her teeth at the mention of Kathy’s name, so I rush to put her mind at ease. “I never, not even in a friendly way, touched her. She was only ever my employee, but now she’s nothing to me. She disrespected you and overstepped her place. I fired her the second we left the Mermaid.”
Nicole bites her lip like she’s thinking it over.
“So, with her gone I had a lot of work ahead of me, but with Sammy’s help it’s all done.”
That gets her attention. “You’ve seen Sammy? What did she do?” Her eyes narrow.
“I’ve sold my controlling shares in all my hotels. I’ve kept my stocks and investments, but I got rid of my condo on the mainland and sold pretty much everything I owned. Except for some camping equipment,” I say, nodding over to the waterfall.
“You’ve been living out here? For how long?”
“Since the second I was forced out of here by Sheriff Cyrus.”
That causes the edge of her lips to twitch, but she immediately realizes it and straightens up. “What do I care if you sold everything and have been camping out here for a week? It doesn’t change anything.”
“I’ve sold all my hotels except one. The Luxury Resort is still here and still operating as usual, but now its new owner is you,” I say, and her eyes widen in shock.
“Me? Why would I want your hotel? I can’t even handle the one I have that’s being foreclosed on.”
“That’s where I come in handy,” I say and run my hand down her back. “If you’ll hire me, I’d like to manage the Luxury Resort for you. And I’d also like to manage the Mermaid. I’ve paid off all the debt you had and transferred everything into your name. Now you’ve got the collateral of both hotels and you can choose to do with them whatever you want. But what I was hoping for is that you and I could run them together.”