with his gaze. How she wished she could take off those glasses and see into his eyes.
“So, um, got to go.” She stood before she embarrassed herself further. “I’ll find pirate costumes for us. See you at seven.”
She started walking before realizing that she didn’t even know the pilot’s name. Man, how hard up for a date was she?
“I’ll be there, Julia,” he called out.
Her footsteps stuttered at the way he said her name, but she didn’t turn around. Familiar. Overpowering. Sexy. She fought the waves of desire and kept her feet moving away from the table. The pilot was not the boy she’d given her heart to, no matter how hard she wished he could be. Her one and only love had been shot down in battle ten years ago.
Matt Harper was dead.
Every nerve in his body was firing, demanding him to grab that sweet ass of hers and press her up against the wall. He wanted to kiss the breath out of her lungs and never stop. Hell, he was pathetic. The woman hadn’t even recognized him.
Way to crush a man’s ego, sweetheart.
She walked away and he was powerless to pull his gaze off her. Pathetic.
“Show her a good time, guapo. But don’t break her heart.” Maria waggled her finger at him.
“Won’t be here long enough for hearts to break.” He swallowed the last of his beer.
Linda winked at Maria. “Good. He’s exactly what she needs.”
“A hot pilot to sweep her off her feet and fly away before he gets possessive?”
Linda huffed. “Maria, either dump Jaime or learn to live with him.”
Maria raised her hands. “I was just saying we all could use a little no-strings fun, but Julia deserves it more. After what happened...” She looked at Matt. “Well, she’s been through some stuff.”
She deserved what exactly? Hell, he’d been agonizing over a chick who’d forgotten him the minute he’d left. She’d called him her mistake. He should charter a plane and fly out of Plunder Cove right now.
Even so, the “stuff” worried him.
I have intel, my boy, the kind that destroys an entire family. Is that what you want to happen to her?
Had his father’s threat come to fruition? Was Julia in trouble?
“I’m glad you’re taking her to the party. She needs a little fun in her life,” said Maria.
“Should be interesting.” He said it like Linda had. But instead of the dirty sex she’d implied, his word meant closure. If he got lucky, there’d be both.
Hell, yes, he was going to the party for answers. Why did RW want him to come back? Was it to torture him by waving a gorgeous ex-girlfriend under his nose? Was his father that twisted? If so, Matt would tell the old man off on his way out of Dodge. But not before he made sure Julia was safe.
Those were his reasons for taking her to the party tonight. It had nothing to do with how sexy she looked coming and going. Or all the hot things he wanted to do to her, with her. One no-strings night with her might be just the thing he needed, too.
He’d be her mistake one last time and then he’d leave for good.
* * *
Matt paid his bill and said goodbye to Julia’s cousins. On his way to the parking lot, he placed one phone call. “Bring the Batmobile, Alfred.”
There was no doubt that his father owned some uber-expensive sports car he could borrow because speed was the one thing Matt and RW agreed on.
Five minutes later he looked up when a silver Lamborghini Veneno pulled into the parking lot.
“Holy hell.”
Veneno was an Italian word that translated to “poison.” Lamborghini had sold only three of these bad boys for roughly 4.5 million smacks each. Barely able to believe his eyes, Matt hightailed it to the driver’s side.
The window went down and a droll voice from inside said, “You rang?”
Matt leaned his head in the window. “Hey, Alfred. Good to see you.”
His father’s driver, whose real name was Robert, was bald now and more wrinkled than Matt remembered. “You’re still calling me that? I thought you would’ve outgrown your Batman obsession by now.” The twinkle in his eye was a dead giveaway that he was pleased Matt had used the nickname.
“Bite your tongue. No one outgrows the Dark Knight.”
Matt and his little brother, Jeff, had pretended to be Batman and Robin for years. They’d christened the family driver “Alfred.” Robert had acted huffy at first but quickly warmed up to the game.
Alfred got out and took Matt’s pack and duffel. When the trunk opened, the new-car smell was close to orgasmic.
“Let me drive,” Matt said.
“Your father nearly killed me the last time I let you drive the Bugatti.”
Matt grinned. “Nearly killed me, too, but it was worth it.” Especially the joyride he’d taken with Julia. He held out his hand and wiggled his fingers. “Keys.”
“Fine. But if you dent this one, I quit.” He placed the key fob in Matt’s hand and climbed into the passenger’s side.
“Surprised you haven’t quit already.” Matt started the car and the engine roared to life.
“Eh, what would you Harpers do without your fantastic driver?”
Matt looked down at the odometer. “Seven miles? I wouldn’t call that driving. Is the old man just petting this car?” Matt saw the flinch before Alfred righted his face to neutral. Something was on the man’s mind. “What’s up? Has my father really become a hermit?”
The man just sighed. “He’s had a hard time, Matthew. I’m glad you kids have come home.”
“Jeff and Chloe are here, too? How the hell did he get them to come back?”
“It’s not for me to tell. Suffice it to say you and your siblings will hear about it tonight.”
“At the party.”
“Yes.”
“That’s not good enough. Spill. What’s he up to? Does it have anything to do with Julia?”
“I can’t say.”
Matt narrowed his eyes. “Can’t or won’t? This is me, Alfred. I won’t tell my father a word you say, I promise.”
Alfred’s
