Their gazes automatically went to David, who was still wrapped around his bride. Yeah, the man had caused them a major setback when he pulled the plug on the Moon Island venture, but it was hard for Matt to get up in arms about it when David looked so damn happy.
Matt's pocket vibrated, and he reached down to pull his phone out. He was about to hit the ignore button when he saw who was calling. He frowned.
“Excuse me, I need to take this.” he said.
Stefan and Dash waved him off and returned to their bantering as Matt hurried out of the building. As soon as he stepped outside, the sea breeze ruffled his hair and the tang of salt filled his nose. The weather was seasonable but by no means hot. It was about as perfect a day as you could ask for, especially for a wedding on the beach. He turned to look at the distant waves and brought the phone to his ear.
“Bradford,” he said by way of a terse greeting.
“I think I’ve found her,” his lead investigator said with no preamble.
Matt tensed, his hand gripping the phone until his fingers went numb. “Where?” he asked.
“I haven’t had time to send a man to get a visual confirmation yet. I only just got the information in a few minutes ago. I felt strongly enough about her identity to give you a heads-up. I should know more by tomorrow.” the man on the other line said.
“Where?” Matt demanded again.
“Right here in town. I think she just moved back into town. She’s working in a diner here. Logan's to be exact. I will check it out to be sure and then I will have photos and a full report for you by tomorrow afternoon.”
She was right here. Matt couldn't believe it. The irony wasn’t lost on him. He’d been close to her all this time and never known it. How long had she been around? When did she get back.
“No,” Matt interjected. “I’ll go. I will go see her. I’m already here... Not far away. I can be at the diner tomorrow.”
There was a long silence over the phone. “Sir, it might not be her. I prefer to get confirmation before you take a needless trip.”
“You said it was most likely her,” Matt said impatiently. “If it turns out not to be, I won’t hold you responsible. And there's no point since I'm very close to the place where she is supposed to be”
“Should I hold off my man then?”
Matt paused, his lips tight, his grip on the phone even tighter. “If it’s Savannah, I’ll know. If it’s not, I’ll inform you so you can continue your search. There’s no need for you to send anyone down. I’ll go myself.” he said.
-----------------------------
"Will you guys please just stop and find some other place and some other time to..... Do what ever it is that you guys are doing?" Savannah Carson asked.
She dropped the dishes she was carrying on a table and turned to look at her friend Victoria Ryan, who was standing with her boyfriend, Bruce Wesley.
Victoria pulled herself away from Bruce's embrace and turned to look at Savannah. A mischievous smile on her her face.
"Relax babe" she said. "You are so uptight"
"I'm not uptight" Savannah said. "I just don't think that" she shifted her gaze to Bruce. " he should be back here"
Victoria simply smiled.
"I mean, no offense, Bruce" Savannah continued, ignoring Victoria's smile, "But I don't think being back here is a good idea. What if our boss, Lamar comes back here suddenly? You know how annoying he can be. He seems to always be in a bad mood and I don't want anyone yelling at me. Today was a good day and I definitely want it to stay that way"
From the corner of her eyes, Savannah could see Victoria moving her eyes, head and mouth in a mocking way as she spoke. She inhaled deeply and turned her attention to Victoria.
"Vicky, you know that I can see you right?" she asked.
"You know I don't care right?" Victoria retorted.
Savannah dropped the towel in her hands on the table as well. "That's it" she said, pointing her index finger at her friend. "I'm teaching you a lesson"
She moved forward to grab Vicky, and she would be have succeeded, if Bruce didn't step between them, blocking her access to Vicky.
"Okay. Okay" he said, laughing. Vicky stood behind him laughing.
"There is no need for this." Bruce continued. "Savannah, I understand your concern about me being here, and you are are right. I shouldn't be. I will be leaving now. Wouldnt want to put you girls in trouble".
"Thank you, Bruce" Savannah said. "For being so understanding"
Bruce smiled and her, and after he kissed Vicky goodbye, he was gone.
"Jeez, girl" Vicky said. "You say Lamar is uptight. But sometimes, you are too. Learn to loosen up a bit, girl. Since you got back, you seem different. I let you have your one year... One year of doing God knows what in God knows where. But you're back now, and I want my friend back""Yeah I'm back" Savannah said. "But it doesn't mean I want to watch you shack up with your boyfriend"Victoria laughed. "Jealous much?" she asked."Nope I'm not jealous" Savannah replied. "I'm happy for you actually. Not easy finding true, undying love" She remembered hers which had ended a year ago and shook her head to get the thought of her head. She had promised herself she was finally going to move on."Just don't rub your happiness in my face" she said jokingly, grinning at Victoria. "And definitely not in here where Lamar can just walk i
That might leave her frustrated, but that was a state of being Savannah could take care of on her own.She shivered, and then, pulling herself together, out of her day dream and began to clear the tables on the side of the diner assigned to her.-------------------Matt drove through town in the blinding rain. His destination was Logan's diner where Savannah was waitressing. It shouldn’t surprise him. It was the place she was working before she had left. She’d been waitressing there when they’d met. And during their relationship, he had offered to get her a job in his company but she had refused, insisting that she would be uncomfortable working for him while they were sleeping together.He had insisted but had given up when he realized that he couldn't change her mind about her decision. But he had tried
The honey blond hair was longer and pulled into a ponytail, but it was her. He felt, more than visualized her, and his body quickened in response even after all these months.Then she turned and presented her profile, and he felt every ounce of blood drain from his face.What the everloving hell?She was beautiful. Maybe even more beautiful than she was when they were together. Okay, maybe it was because he hadn't seen her for so damn long. But hell, she was stunning.She looked simple, as she always liked to look, but somehow that simplicity made her stand out always. She was wearing her uniform, a short blue skirt and fitted white shirt, with a white apron tied around her waist.He had always hated that skirt. Not because she didn't look good in it. It was actually because she
Tears pricked her eyelids and it only made her more furious that she was actually upset over seeing Matt Bradford again. So much for getting over him.No, she didn’t want to face him. She never wanted to see him again. Never did she want anyone to have the kind of power he had to hurt her. Never again.She buried her head in her hands, trying to comfort herself.“I was a fool to love him,” she whispered. “I was a fool to think I could ever fit in and that his family would accept me. I was so wrong and so stupid.”She jumped when the door behind her vibrated with a knock. Her heart leaped into her throat, and she put a shaky hand to her chest. She stared at the door as if she could see through it.“Savvie, open the damn door. I know you’re in there.”
He didn’t move. “Why are you living this way, Savvie?" he asked. "I can’t wrap my head around why you did what you did. I would have given you everything. Hell, I still gave you a hefty amount of money when we broke up because I didn’t like to think of you being without. But now I find you still living in squalor working a job that is far beneath your abilities.” he said.A wave of hatred hit her hard. In this moment she realized that she truly loved and hated him in equal measure. Her chest hurt so bad that she couldn’t breathe. Her mind went back to the day when she’d stood in front of him, devastated, completely and utterly broken, while he scribbled his signature on a bank draft and disdainfully shoved it toward her.The look in his eyes had told her that he didn’t love her, had never loved her. He didn’t trust her. He didn’t have faith in her.When she’d needed him the absolute
What the hell? He scolded himself. You’re not some horny teenager. He reminded himself. No staring down her blouse."What would you like me to get for you?" she repeated in that sexy voice of hers.Damn, that mouth.He dragged his fascinated gaze away from it with a strength that deserved a gold medal. But nothing, not even God Himself, could cleanse his mind of the acts those curves and lips elicited. Acts that left him throbbing and greedy."The usual" he said stupidly."Oh ermmm... I'm kinda new here." she said. "So I don't really know what your usual is""I know" he said, and grinned at her. He didn't know exactly what he expected from her, but he certainly wasn't prepared for her shy smile.
"Okay," Matt said. "Let me start over then. Hi, my name is Matt Bradford, and I didn't really want to go to the bathroom" He said it like he was in one of those "talk about your feelings classes" and Savannah smiled."Yeah I figured" Savannah said, the laughter had reached her eyes now, it shone and all Matt could think about was how beautiful her smile was. She laughed again, a rich, throaty, uninhibited sound.He smiled. Screw it. He thought..When was the last time he'd had sex? Jeez, he couldn't remember. It had been a while. While women threw themselves at him, especially because of his financial status, it would be really easy to pick up any woman he wanted. But that just wasn't the way he was wired. But right now, as he stared at this woman, he was having thoughts. Really wild thoughts. When was the last time he m
When she had come to his table, Savannah was conscious of her pulse leaping into a gallop as she met his steady gaze when he looked up from his phone.There was a riveting quality about his dark eyes, giving her the weird sensation of a laser probe straight to her heart.Her skin tingled as though hit by an electric charge. She’d met a lot of different men in her waitressing, career. Not one of them had made this kind of impact on her. She wanted to say, "Don’t walk out of my life," but such a plea seemed too embarrassingly presumptuous. Given that she didn't know the guy and he wasn't even in her life. They were simply passersby, not occupying the same world, only this bit of serving him on a cool evening.He smiled a lot, she observed, showing off the flash of perfect white teeth. He was just trying to be friendly with the waitress. Some people were like