“Down time?” Gina asked, confused by Wade’s uncharacteristic light mood.
“Yeah, you know…relax, soak up some sun, enjoy the beach.”
Gina stared at Wade. “That sounds nice,” she fibbed. The last place she could relax was staring out at the fathomless ocean. “But I’m afraid I didn’t bring ‘down time’ clothes with me. Sorry, you’ll have to go it alone.” She sent him a small smile.
Wade lifted up the bag. “That’s why I brought this.”
Gina watched him set the bag on her king-size bed. “Oh, I was hoping that was lunch.”
Wade shot her a sweeping glance, his eyes raking in her body from top to bottom. “Depends on how you look at it.”
“What? What did you bring me?” Gina walked over to the white bag and tossed the contents onto the bed. Swimsuits, sarongs and fancy rhinestone flip-flops scattered. Gina lifted up a pure-white dazzling bikini. “A thong?” She turned to face him. “Not on your life.”
Wade laughed. “I had to try.” He gestured to the others. “What about the black one?”
Gina eyed him cautiously, before picking it up and scanning it over. The bikini had a tad more material than the thong, she noted. She shook her head. “You don’t know my size.”
Wade stepped closer to her and looked into her eyes. He spoke softly, with confidence. “I know your body, Gina. They’ll fit.”
Heat rushed up, warming her throat and blistering her face. Once again she thanked the Almighty for her olive complexion. At least she could hide her blush from Wade, if nothing else. She set the suit down. “I’d really rather stay in.”
Wade folded his arms across his middle. “Okay, we’ll stay in.” He glanced at her then the bed. “What do you suppose we can do in here all afternoon?”
Gina flinched. “I wasn’t inviting you.”
Wade took a seat on the sofa, his arm spread along the top cushion. “Gina, what are you afraid of? We’ll go down, have lunch at a café, then relax on the beach for a few hours.”
“You know I don’t like the water.”
“You traveled twenty-two miles over that water to get here.”
“I know. I’m dreading the trip back.” Just the thought brought shivers.
Wade pointed to the clothes on the bed. “Try the red one, Gina. It’s a one-piece.”
Gina glanced at it and frowned. “With more cutouts than Swiss cheese.”
“You noticed that, too?”
Wade didn’t even try to hide his amusement. “Come on, Gina. You must be starving by now.”
Gina’s stomach rumbled quietly. Thankfully, Wade didn’t seem to hear. She was hungry and it seemed the only way to get Wade out of her hotel room was to leave with him. “Okay, fine. I’ll wear the red one.”
Gina grabbed the swimsuit, a multicolored sarong and sparkling rhinestone flip-flops and stomped into the bathroom, ignoring Wade’s satisfied chuckle from the sitting area.
She knew he’d be right. Everything he bought would fit her.
Perfectly.
Gina sipped her piña colada, the coconut-and-rum tropical drink sliding cold and smooth down her throat. Wearing the cherry-red swimsuit underneath the sarong cover-up, she faced Wade from her seat at the beachfront café, surprised at his casual demeanor. He’d dominated the conversation, opening up to her about his time at Triple B working with his father, learning the business, then taking over after his father died and Sam remarried and started a new life at Belle Star Stables. He’d filled her in on his life from the time he left El Paso to the present. Of course, she was certain that he’d left out choice bits about his love life and he’d skirted the issue about their onetime hot and steamy relationship.
If he’d wanted her to relax, he’d succeeded. The two empty piña colada glasses in front of her might have had something do with it as well, but Gina wouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth.
“So what about you? What did you do once you landed in Los Angeles?” he asked, his tone light, his eyes holding nothing but curiosity.
Gina had always wanted Wade to understand what her life had been like before and after she met him. There had been so many things left unsaid. Perhaps now was the time, after all this time, to come clean, at least partly. She’d always wanted Wade’s trust and maybe this was the first step in gaining it back.
“I’d always liked Los Angeles. Sarah and I roomed at UCLA for four years together. We were girls from two different worlds. Though I was raised in Austin, my parents were city folks. They owned a small Italian restaurant. My mother was a terrific cook.”
“As I recall, so were you.”
“Thank you. It was a family-run operation. I worked there until I left for college.”
“And after college, when you left El Paso, what did you do?”
Gina peered at Wade. He’d just polished off a sandwich and was working on the fries and his second beer. Because she didn’t find any sign of resentment, any hint of a trap, she continued. “I looked for work and did some odd jobs here and there. Nothing too stimulating, but all the while I’d been working on clothing designs. That’s when I realized I’d probably wasted four years of my life in college. I should have been following my heart. I entered the Fashion Institute and loved every minute of it. When I got out, I ventured into my own business. Or at least, I tried.”
“What do you mean, you tried?” Wade asked. “What happened?” He plucked another fry up and shoved it into his mouth.
Gina took a deep breath and surged on. “I didn’t have any money, so I took on a partner. A man. He seemed to have more business sense than me, some really good ideas. We took out loan after loan to fund our venture. I…trusted him.”
Wade took a pull from his beer. “Mistake?”
“Big, big—huge—mistake.”
Wade set his beer down and leaned in, his elbows braced on the table now. “I’m listening.”
“He stole my designs and every bit of money we’d borrowed. I have no idea where he is or what happened to him.”
Wade studied her a moment as if sorting something out in his mind. “Were you involved with him?”
Gina paused, hating to admit this to Wade. She’d been such a fool. “Yes. He was charming and so easy to be with…a charming con man.”
Wade sat back in his seat, looking at her. “I get it now. Why you took the job working for me.”
“I’m in debt, Wade. I owe a lot of people a lot of money.”
“You shouldn’t have to pay it all back.”
Gina
