Somewhere With You (Windswept Bay Book 2) Read online

  Shar placed her hand in his and shook. “No, the pleasure is mine. I’m excited about this renovation. Glad to have you on board.” She placed her hands on her hips and her thoughts went to the feel of the sexy man’s touch earlier on the beach. Abe was a striking man, rugged, with an engaging smile that she was sure turned most women’s hearts to jelly. Not hers. Nope, nothing—especially next to the fireworks that had exploded at the sexy man’s touch. And the eyes—oh wow, just a look from them—

  “Shar, are you okay?” Cali’s question cut through her thoughts.

  “Um, yes, sorry. Sure.” She focused on Abe. “So, whatcha think about our plans?”

  “I think it’s very doable. Ripping out this wall and enlarging the bathrooms will steal space from the bedrooms but it’ll still give you room for everything and make it more to the liking of people today. Nothing says outdated like a tiny bathroom.”

  “That’s true,” she said. “Windswept Bay Resort is about forty years old.”

  “And no major remodeling ever done,” Cali added.

  “Exactly,” Shar agreed. “So it sounds good to me. What about you, Jillian?”

  “Please let’s do this. Knock it out,” she laughed.

  “It’s a go, Abe,” Cali said. “Let’s do this. You have a green light.”

  “Then I’ll have my crew start setting up in three weeks.”

  “That sounds perfect,” Shar said. “We have a wedding happening soon and a honeymoon to be taken by Cali and she needs to be here when you get started.”

  “Congratulations. I read that in the papers,” Abe said.

  Cali blushed. “Thank you.”

  Jillian nodded at Abe and gave a small smile. “Yes, thank you.”

  “You’re welcome,” he said and Shar thought she caught interest in his gaze when he looked at Jillian.

  Interesting.

  A few minutes later, he left and Shar stared at her sisters. “He seems like he’ll be good. And he’s cute, don’t you think, Jillian?”

  Jillian looked perplexed. “Yes, are you interested?”

  “I just thought I saw interest coming from you.”

  “Not my type,” Jillian said—a little too quickly, Shar thought. “But, Levi recommended him, so our big brother must trust him.”

  “And if the chief recommends him, then I think we’re probably doing okay,” Shar added.

  Their brother Levi, the chief of police on Windswept Bay, had given his friend rave reviews. “Don’t you agree, Cali?”

  “Hmm, oh, yes I think so,” Cali said, all smiles. “I’m sorry. My mind went to wedding plans.”

  Of course they did. She had been floating on cloud nine and distracted ever since she and Grant had decided to get married.

  Shar laughed. “We’ve got to get you through this wedding and back from your honeymoon so you’ll get your mind back on the job.”

  “Sorry, I can’t help it.”

  “And that is just the way it should be,” Jillian said softly.

  “So true.” Shar could only imagine how her sister was feeling and to her this should be normal. “Now that we have that settled, you can completely focus on the wedding.”

  “That is what I plan to do. I never thought it was possible for me to want this again, but I am so very ready to become Grant’s wife.”

  Shar saw the love there and was happy for her older sister. She had even been part of pushing Cali to step out and take a chance on love. “It’s going to be a great night.”

  “It’s going to be a very busy week,” Jillian said. “I am so ready. You two just make me smile watching you. And I’m so happy for you both.”

  Cali was all smiles. “It’ll be good to have us all together on Friday night too.”

  “I can’t wait,” Jillian said. “I think Olivia is arriving Friday morning. It will be so good seeing her.”

  Olivia hadn’t been home in a few months.

  “Now that we’ve gotten that all settled, if it’s not a problem, I’m going to run home and take a shower and put on a smidge of makeup. I’m going to drop by the hospital to check on Don Juan and then I’ll be back.”

  “Wait.” Cali laughed. “You named him Don Juan? Is he one great-looking turtle or something?”

  “You know the person who finds an injured sea turtle gets the honor of naming it,” Shar pointed out with a laugh. She had named it on a whim; she just hadn’t thought about the consequences of naming the turtle after the sexy guy.

  “So,” Cali urged. “Why did you name it Don Juan?”

  “Yes—we all want to know,” Jillian joined in.

  “It was the guy helping me rescue him.”

  “Really?” the sisters both asked in unison.

  “Okay, so if you must know, I had help rescuing the turtle this morning and he was this amazingly gorgeous guy who came jogging from the surf to help me. I couldn’t even think when I first saw him, so when it came time to name the turtle, Don Juan is what came out.”

  “Now that sounds interesting,” Cali said.

  “But what is his name?” Jillian smiled curiously.

  “I was busy with the turtle. I don’t know what his name is.”

  “But,” Cali gasped. “You know where to find him, right?”

  Shar didn’t add that he was staying right down the beach from her. “I think I can.”

  Cali was all smiles. “Do you want to?”

  “Maybe. Just to thank him for what he did, you know.”

  “Right, certainly,” Jillian agreed. “That would be the right thing to do, to thank him.”

  “Were you on the beach near your house?” Cali asked, her expression hopeful.

  “Yes, actually. Why?”

  “That’s a little bit of a secluded area. I wonder where he came from?” Jillian looked thoughtful.

  “Oh,” Cali gasped. “I think I heard the Glass Castle had been rented out. Do you think he came from there?”

  Shar thought about it. The Glass Castle was the island’s nickname for the large beach house at the end of the beach. It had so many windows it almost appeared from the beach to be all glass. And from the other beaches that curved along the coastline, the house, while not visible during the day, became a glowing gold flash as the settling sun reflected off all the glass.

  “You know, he went in that direction when he went for a knife. I was busy working with the turtle and didn’t watch where he went. Maybe he’s renting the place or works for someone who rented it.”

  “You should go by there and find out. He’s your neighbor.” Cali looked mischievous. “I’m going to enjoy this if you find him. With all the pushing and teasing you do to me and Jillian about finding a guy, this sounds like our time to push.”

  Shar frowned at her. “Do not get your hopes up on paying me back for pushing you toward Grant. You know you love me for it. Besides, you have a wedding to get ready for. No time for matchmaking.”

  “Ha, like you listened when I said that to you,” Cali pointed out. “Right, Jillian?”

  “Oh, so true.” Jillian chuckled. “You like the guy, Shar. What’s the problem?”

  Now she wished she hadn’t mentioned him. “I’m too busy for a relationship. With the resort and all my volunteer work—I don’t want to be tied down and you both know it.”

  “Ha! You like him,” Cali exclaimed.

  “You’re hedging.” Jillian chuckled. “That’s a gardener’s joke, if you didn’t get it. But it works here.”

  “I am not trimming bushes nor am I about to jump off into some relationship with a guy I just met on the beach. Even if he is tempting.” Why had she added the last part?

  “Then maybe there’s hope,” Jillian added, her eyes bright.

  “Hope for what?” Grant asked from the doorway.

  “Of Shar falling for a tall, dark, and handsome stranger.”

  Shar shook her head at McDreamboat. “They are just teasing. Ignore them and take my sister to lunch so she’ll have something more exciting than me
to yap about.”

  Grant wrapped his arm around Cali when she crossed to give him a hug. He bent his head and kissed her soundly. “Your sister is right,” he murmured after a moment. “I came to sweep you off your feet for lunch.”

  Shar watched the love in Cali’s eyes and in Grant’s for Cali. For a brief moment, she wished for that…but no, for her it would cost too much. But, as she headed back out to her car a few minutes later, she could not deny that she wanted to find out more about the sexy stranger.

  His name, for starters.

  Chapter Three

  The following morning, after having helped save the sea turtle and meeting the woman he hadn’t been able to get off his mind, Gage was not enjoying the moment as he stood on the deck and listened to his assistant talking on the other end of the phone line.

  He rubbed the tension between his eyebrows as she talked. He hadn’t slept well, and had given himself every argument he could find for why pursuing Shar was a bad idea. But he kept coming up short on how to stop himself from going after something…someone…he wanted.

  And he wanted her—wanted to get to know her.

  He was supposed to be reevaluating his life. He was taking account of his life, trying to figure out why, after losing his dad, he felt suddenly like a ship lost at sea. He was not here to get involved with a woman. But at the moment, that was exactly what he was planning to do.

  At last, he broke in on Kym’s lengthy dialogue of all the things that were waiting on him to handle back in his and his father’s office. His office now. His alone.

  “Kym,” he said. “I’m just taking some time off. If the new acquisition can’t wait a few weeks, then it’s their loss. I’m fine without it. Tell them that. Do not tell them where I am and we’ll go from there. And that goes for everything else. Keep the place running. I’m putting everything on autopilot and into your capable hands.”

  “But they’re calling—”

  Irritation coiled and snapped. “Tell them I just lost my father and they’re just going to have to wait. Can you do that?” He was instantly sorry, but Kym had been with him long enough that she sometimes pushed more than she should. She forgot that he was the one in charge and she was there to do what he wanted her to do.

  There was a pause. “Yes, I can do that,” she said, all business now.

  “Good. No one is to know where I am. And I don’t know how you found this place but I like it here.”

  “I won’t tell anyone. You know you can trust me, Benjamin.” She used Gage’s first name, the name his father had insisted he use in the business world.

  He sighed. “I know. I didn’t mean it that way. I’ll talk to you later,” he added and hit End. He refrained from tossing it out into the ocean; instead, he pocketed his phone and then walked around to his car. Moments later, he was driving down the winding road along the coast toward town. The top was down; the salt air whipped through his hair and helped relax him just a bit. That air smelled like freedom. And escape…and both were what he was looking for right now.

  From an early age, he’d been taught by his father how to acquire businesses and industries that were in trouble. He’d been doing it most of his life. But, recently he’d lost his father and suddenly he was very aware of how short life could be. Milton Lancaster had been in the prime of his life at the age of fifty-nine when he’d died of a sudden and fatal heart attack. Gage had felt numb since it had happened.

  But keeping to the pace his father had instilled in him, Gage had continued with business up until the funeral and then, immediately after he buried his dad, he left the funeral on his private jet for London and a contract negotiation waiting there for the company. It was just as Milton Lancaster would have wanted it…

  But then, he’d not been able to go through with the meeting and had headed home. Something had come over him and he’d known he needed some time alone. So he’d made the call and had Kym find him a place to disappear for a few days. And now, here he was, staring at the outside of the Windswept Bay Sea Turtle Hospital and feeling fairly rebellious in his attitude. He’d do what he wanted and forget the rest, at least for a while.

  Standing there, it happened, like it had yesterday morning while meeting Shar and helping rescue the sea turtle: his adrenaline kicked in. It felt good as it hummed through him. He grabbed the door handle and then strode inside, hoping he’d find Shar on the other side of the door.

  The room he entered held several rows of chairs that were set up in front of a large-screen TV. Pictures of turtles hung on the wall, as well as a huge shell.

  “Hey man, good to see you.” One of the guys from yesterday morning came into the room from the back.

  Gage remembered his name was John and he held out his hand. “John, right? I thought I’d drop by and check on the patient. How’s he doing?”

  John grinned. “Great, considering how sick he was. Come on back and see for yourself.”

  Gage followed John through the door and into an open area with exam rooms on one side with glass windows much like those in an intensive care unit at the hospital. There was also one room that, guessing from the equipment in the room, was for surgery. He spotted the large turtle on a gurney in the room across from the operating room. IVs were hooked up to him and his flipper was wrapped in bandages.

  “Ole Don Juan is making it but he’s one lucky turtle to have been found by Shar when he was. We had to amputate much of his flipper to save him from the infection spreading further. And he’s on massive amounts of antibiotics right now.”

  “Will he be able to survive? And with just a partial flipper?”

  “He will, but more than likely he’ll be a permanent resident here.” John checked the monitors and then turned back to Gage. “You did good. Shar said you saved the day by coming along, then going and getting a knife to help her. The woman thinks she’s Superwoman and if you hadn’t come along when you did, she might have chewed the line off the turtle.”

  Gage chuckled at that. “Yeah, I got the impression that she’s really passionate about saving turtles.”

  “Oh, that’s the understatement of the year. Yes, she is. But then, we all are. You want to see the place?”

  “Sure. It looks like you have a real operation going on here.” Gage had never been in a place like this. Then again, he’d never really given sea turtles any thought at all other than that they were an interesting part of marine life.

  John looked around. “We do. We rescue a lot of turtles up and down the coastline. Many of them have injuries and digestive issues that make them vulnerable to danger if put back into open water; therefore, they remain with us here. We have generous benefactors who help us keep our doors open. If not for them, we’d be in big trouble.”

  He led the way out the door and down a handicap accessible ramp. There were several large containers that looked like permanent above-ground pools.

  “These are where we keep the turtles depending on the varying stages of their injury or illness.”

  “There are several different kinds, it looks like.” Gage counted five different types in the first pool.

  “Yeah, there are seven species of sea turtles and we see six of those in these waters. Loggerheads, Hawksbill, Kemp’s Ridley, Green—you name them, there’s a great chance we’ve got them. Usually by the dozen. And six of the species are on the endangered species list.”

  “That’s terrible.”

  “No kidding. We save as many as we can.”

  Gage looked around, taking in the facility and seeing the importance of it. “So where will Don Juan go after he’s able to be moved into the water?”

  “Back here.” John led the way past several small buildings and into an area that had ten small cement above-ground holding tanks. Each one had a single turtle inside. Several were huge turtles and some were mid-sized.

  Alex was there, studying one of the turtles. He said something to the young woman beside him and she left, giving Gage a smile as she passed him.

  “
So, you came to check us out.” Alex held a clipboard, looked back at it and made a note and then looked back at the turtle again. He made another notation on the clipboard and asked without looking up, “So what do you think?”

  “This is a great operation.” Gage was really impressed with what they were doing. He saw several people working in different areas during his tour, looking as though they enjoyed the work.

  “We’re always looking for volunteers,” John offered.

  Alex moved to another turtle and started to examine it. “He’s right. Anytime you have some free time, we’ll put you to work.”

  The idea appealed to Gage. “I might take you up on that when I can. Does Shar work here?”

  “Volunteers,” John offered.

  Alex focused on Gage, and he saw something flicker in Alex’s eyes. His words were measured when he spoke. “She’s a very important part of our program.”

  John nodded agreement. “That’s the understatement of the year. That woman is passionate about saving as many sea turtles as she can. You saw her yesterday, making her morning jog along the coast. More than likely she was looking for new nests to mark. We try to protect the clutches.”

  “Clutches?”

  “That’s the egg group. We want the clutch of eggs to get to the hatching stage so there will be babies. Shar is obsessed with saving baby turtles too.”

  Gage liked that. When had he ever been obsessed with anything other than work? Something meaningful? “She was really something,” he murmured, and then realized he’d spoken out loud.

  “Yes, she is.” Alex asked, “I didn’t catch your name yesterday—what is it? Are you living here or passing through?”

  Gage wondered what her relationship was with Alex. There had been no ring on her finger; he’d taken note of that almost from the first moment he saw her. “I’m Gage.” He caught himself before he said Benjamin Lancaster. “I’m Gage Lancaster. I’m staying on the island for a few days…maybe weeks. I’m finding it suddenly very…interesting,” he finished, feeling suddenly territorial. From the appraising look he was getting from Alex, Gage was pretty sure the man had his sights set on the beautiful Shar. Smart man. But if there was no ring, then that meant at the moment there was an open door. And Gage’s dad had taught him early on that an open door was made for walking through. In business, that meant if a company got sloppy and in over their head in debt, they left a door open and were ripe for a takeover. Not that in business he’d ever liked that part of Lancaster Industries, but it had been the part that got his dad out of bed, ready to go every morning. His dad had a killer instinct when it came to business. Gage hadn’t and he’d known that most disappointed Milton. That being said, Gage knew how to get what he wanted when he wanted it…and today he wanted the beautiful, passionate Shar.