Finding Home Again Page 13
“Oh, I see. Anyone know you own it?”
“I’ve told Sawyer and Ray, and I’m sure Sawyer has told Vashti. Other than that, very few people know. Most people in the cove assume Reid is still the owner, which is probably why the locals—the ones who don’t buy all those wild tales about the island—are reluctant to go there and do anything that would result in his anger. It’s mostly the outsiders, who like fishing there, I have to worry about. Thanks to Isaac, that’s been taken care of.”
“How?”
“I had him install security devices.” Isaac once owned a high-tech computer company in Boston before he’d returned to the cove. He had installed a number of state-of-the-art security features on the inlet. At any point in time, Kaegan was alerted whenever humans trespassed on certain areas of his property.
“I’d like to see it.”
He glanced over at her. “See what?”
“The island.”
He quirked an eyebrow. “You would?”
“Yes.”
A part of him was questioning why she would want to go to a place that had once been their lovers’ hideaway. Deciding not to question her about it now, he said, “Okay.” He steered the boat westward.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
BRYCE STUDIED KAEGAN as he straightened to his full height while maneuvering the boat around the bend. She knew this smaller boat was just one of several he owned. When his yacht had been docked at the pier one day she’d gotten a good look at it and thought it was a beauty. Her brothers had joined him for one of his midnight fishing excursions and had come back bragging about how nice and roomy it had been. Even when she’d not been on good terms with him, she’d been proud of his success.
Years ago Kaegan had told her that his father had taught him to operate a boat before he could walk, and watching him now made a believer out of her. He was definitely a man made for the sea.
“We’re almost there. Here, spray this on your arms,” he said, handing her a can of mosquito repellent.
She knew why. The swamp had mosquitoes that were almost as big as humans. “Thanks.”
She removed the can’s top and sprayed her arms. She then glanced over at him. He was wearing a pair of jeans and a T-shirt. She doubted Kaegan knew how good he looked or how he had the ability to fuel women’s fantasies. Earlier he had removed his shirt and at first she’d shivered when she’d seen him shirtless. After all, October wasn’t exactly a good time to walk around half-naked with a chill in the air. But he’d done so as if it hadn’t bothered him.
“What about you?” she asked him.
“I’m good.”
She forced her gaze from scanning over his body, while also thinking, he was most certainly good...and immediately regretted those thoughts. Deciding to focus on something other than him, she glanced around and saw that the beautiful blue waters of the ocean had gotten replaced by the dark, murky waters of the swamp.
The first time she’d come through here she’d been afraid. It had been storming and she’d been convinced their boat would turn over and they would be eaten by alligators. However, Kaegan had calmed her fears by telling her how important the swamp and bayou were to the habitat and inland areas, mainly against coastal erosion.
He’d helped her to understand the environmentalists who fought to keep out developers from invading the inlands—developers who didn’t understand and appreciate the swamp’s and bayou’s contributions. And then he’d held her while singing to her. They’d made it through the swamp to the inlet and they’d spent the night in the bunker out of the rain. It was the first time he’d shared the bunker with anyone. That night they’d made love for the first time.
Bringing her thoughts back to the present, she saw the marker alerting trespassers to keep out. She looked at Kaegan. “Do you get many trespassers?”
He smiled. “Not anymore. Those who ignore the sign usually are greeted by Sawyer when they return to the docks. Even if they try to deny they’d been on my land, thanks to modern technology I can prove otherwise. Unknown to them, I have video cameras installed in several areas. By the time they pay a hefty fine they figure it’s not worth the risk to come back.”
He steered the boat out of the swamp. They passed by several low-hanging trees while heading toward the inland, where the water became a beautiful blue again. She heard the chirping sounds of several birds, the splashing of otters and the croaking of frogs. After passing through the trees, she saw it. Like Kaegan, she’d always thought it was a beautiful place. To her it had always been a sort of paradise.
“We’re here.”
As she gazed upon the beauty of Eagle Bend Inlet, she tried wrapping her head around the fact it now belonged to Kaegan. He had to be proud of that and was probably wondering why she’d asked to come here. The reason was simple. For closure. More than anything, she needed it, totally and completely. Hopefully then she could finally move her life forward. She’d honestly thought that she had, but a recent self-evaluation of her life was a good indication that she hadn’t.
She was in awe of all she saw. Regardless of all the horror stories she’d heard about the island, not to mention her fear the first time she’d come here, she could now admit it was a picturesque wonderland.
“I’ll help you out, Bryce.”
She watched as Kaegan tossed his long legs over the side of the boat to stand on shore. It was on the tip of her tongue to tell him that she didn’t need his help, but it was too late—he reached out and took her hand. The moment their hands touched, sensations swept through her, invigorating her senses.
At times she found it difficult to digest that even after all the hurt and pain he’d caused her, there was still sexual chemistry between them. And she’d discovered just how potent it was the night of his party, when he’d caught her from falling off that ladder. She’d hoped the incident had been a fluke but had been proved wrong the night of the charity dance. That night when he’d held her in his arms, she’d realized he was no longer the boy she’d danced with at the prom, but a full-grown muscular man. And she’d allowed herself to get caught up in the moment.
It had taken Vashti telling her a few days later just how caught up she’d gotten. According to her best friend, she and Kaegan had danced together like the dance floor had belonged to only them. Vashti further claimed that people had stared at how in sync their bodies had moved to the slow music, and how wrapped up in each other’s arms they’d been.
“You okay?” he asked her in that deep, throaty voice that could be drugging to any woman’s senses.
“Why wouldn’t I be?” she asked, looking up at him.
“No reason, other than the obvious.”
She wondered what he thought was the obvious. “Which is?”
He just shook his head and said, “Nothing.”
He lifted her up in his arms like she was weightless and placed her on solid ground. Being in his arms caused all kinds of sensations to rush through her. At that moment, she knew she’d made a mistake in coming here.
* * *
KAEGAN DIDN’T SAY anything as he watched Bryce take in the island. He knew what she was doing, which was the same thing he was doing—using that time to compose themselves. She had responded to his touch. He’d felt it. He’d also felt the way his stomach had tightened when he’d responded to her touch. He wondered if she was now regretting asking him to bring her here.
While she was trying to make up her mind on her next move, he couldn’t help but stand there and study her. Her jeans were slightly damp from being out of the ship,
mainly caused by the spray of the waves. He’d tried to persuade her to put on rain gear but she’d refused, saying she liked the feel of the misty waters touching her. That might have been good for her, but now seeing her in a pair of damp jeans wasn’t good for him. Especially how those jeans now clung to her perfectly shaped ass.
Kaegan felt sizzling heat shimmer all through him as he remembered that part of her anatomy well. Too well. He recalled how much he liked to touch it, mold his hands all over it when they would dance privately, and press the front of his body to it whenever he’d come up behind her...and those times whenever he had it naked and kissed it all over.
In his mind, that perfectly shaped ass had always belonged to him. It even had his name on it. The initial K. She’d had the tattoo done in New Orleans her senior year of high school. He wondered if it was still there, or if she’d hated him so much she’d since had it removed.
When she glanced back at him, he waited for her to tell him she’d changed her mind about coming here and was ready to go back to the dock. He was surprised when she said, “I’m ready to see the changes now.”
He decided to be honest with her. “There weren’t many changes made to the island per se, Bryce, because I tried keeping everything in its natural state. The last thing I wanted to do was disturb the environment.”
She nodded. “What about the bunker?”
His breath seemed to stall with her question. “The bunker?”
“Yes. Does it look the same?”
He shook his head. “No.”
She broke eye contact with him to look away and he wondered what was going on with her. “Why did you ask me to bring you here, Bryce?”
Weeks ago she’d said that she had forgiven him, but there were times he wondered if she truly had. Then last night she’d said they could be friends, yet today, when he, Vashti and she had done a group hug like old times, she’d been the one to break away.
When she’d asked to come here, he thought it was the last place she would want to be...and with him, of all people. She met his gaze and said, “I wanted to come here for closure.”
He raised an eyebrow. “For closure?”
“Yes. More than anything, I need that.”
“And you believe coming here with me, to a place that used to be special to us, will help you find closure?” he asked, trying to understand.
“Yes. It’s hard to explain.”
“Please try,” he said, sincerely wanting to know. He watched her nibble on her bottom lip a minute and could tell she was gathering her thoughts.
“I need to say goodbye to my past with you, Kaegan. I need to close that chapter of my life once and for all. I’ve forgiven you and last night I agreed to allow you back into my life as a friend. A part of me knows that’s all we can ever be. I’ve accepted that fact on several levels but one.”
“And what level is that?”
She dropped her gaze from his for a moment, and then when she looked back at him, she said, “The level that started here on Eagle Bend Inlet.”
* * *
BRYCE DIDN’T EXPECT Kaegan to understand. How could she explain that for years she’d thought he was her soul mate, the one man created for her? Finding out he hadn’t been had been hard. But at least she’d found out. And she’d moved on. Or she’d tried. Seeing him on a constant basis whenever he would come into the café had been a dent in those forward movements. Tying things up with Kaegan in a neat tidy bow was essential to her.
“How will that help you find closure?”
She’d expected the question. “Our situation is different than most, Kaegan. We went from friends to lovers and now we’re trying to be friends again. I wish I could delete from my mind our years as lovers, but I can’t until I make sure they don’t mean anything to me anymore. Coming here will help me do that.”
“You think so?” he asked her, studying her intently.
“Yes.” She figured that if she could get through being here with him, then she could get through anything. “So, let’s go.”
He nodded and began walking, and she fell in step beside him. His watch began beeping. “It’s the alert for when someone is on my island,” he said. After turning off the alert, he asked her, “Do you remember this area?”
She glanced around. “It’s changed with all the undergrowth and added trees, but, yes, I remember it.”
They had walked around for about ten minutes and several of the trees that were once small were now so huge they seemed to touch the sky. One tree she recognized immediately because there was a marking on the side, one you could barely make out if you didn’t know it was there. K & B. She recalled the day Kaegan had carved it there with his pocketknife. “The bunker is around here,” she said.
“Yes. Think you can find it on your own?” he asked her.
She glanced around. “Yes, I think so.”
Walking ahead of him, she headed toward the right, which was an area totally covered with trees that were larger than the ones they’d passed earlier. They were trees that looked to be hundreds of years old and large enough to rival the California redwoods.
She knew that few people would detect a panel of grassy moss and thick vines that covered the entrance to the bunker. Because New Orleans was a city below sea level, most people assumed Catalina Cove was below sea level, too. That was not the case. It sat on higher ground. That was why several of the historical homes contained secret underground passages. The rooms had been deliberately built by the pirates as an escape route to their ships, if and when the need arose. Bryce’s parents’ home had one such passage.
Walking behind the trees, she pushed back the mossy vines. One of the reasons no one would dare come near the tree was because the thicket covering the trunk resembled poison ivy. “I found it!”
Kaegan’s watch went off again and she figured he’d been sent another alert. He glanced over at her. “Yes, you found it,” he said.
No one would detect a secret door was here, of all places, inside one of these two huge trees. She hadn’t believed it, either, until that day Kaegan had shown it to her. Proud of herself, she pushed a hand through her hair and looked up at him when he reached her side. “It was just where I remembered,” she said.
He nodded and leaned against the huge oak and stared at her. “Now tell me again why you wanted me to bring you here, Bryce.”
His stare was bold—too bold. His gaze roamed all over her body. She had to be imagining things because she was certain she looked a mess. Knowing she would be out on the boat, she hadn’t bothered with makeup. At some point the band holding her ponytail had popped off, causing unruly strands to flow around her shoulders.
“I told you, Kaegan. I’m here for closure.”
He nodded. “Okay. Then let’s go inside.”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
KAEGAN STOOD ASIDE and let Bryce go down the stairs first. He read the question in her eyes and said, “Yes, I had new stairs installed when it became too hazardous to use that old rusty ladder.”
“Do others know about this bunker now?”
Was she wondering if he’d brought another woman here? Not only had this been a secret place for them, but it had also been one for him. It had been his refuge from the wrath of his father when sleeping outside on the boat at night or walking to town to sneak underground through the passageway into Bryce’s parents’ house became too risky. Especially after that night when one of Sheriff Phillips’s officers had stopped him and asked why he was out so late and off the reservation.
He’d been only fourteen and full of anger at the way his father had been treating his mother yet again. That night Kaegan hadn’t been able to contain his anger and told the police officer he’d asked a stupid question because Native Americans in Catalina Cove didn’t live on reservations. They lived on the bayou, but only because they chose to do so. He was certain the red-faced angry cop
would have hauled in his ass if Bryce’s parents, who’d been returning from the movies, had not seen the police with him on the side of the road.
Chester Witherspoon, like Reid LaCroix, demanded respect. Everybody knew him and when he spoke everybody listened, even one of Sheriff Phillips’s men. He had demanded to know why Kaegan had been stopped. When the officer gave some lame-assed excuse, Mr. Chester had called it just that and accused the man of harassing Kaegan. He’d further stated if he heard about it happening again, he would have him fired from the police force. The man knew not to test Mr. Chester’s threat and had even given Kaegan some flimsy apology before he got into his police cruiser and took off. The Witherspoons had taken him to their home...as if they’d known he’d been headed there anyway. He discovered later that they had.
Bryce and her brothers had been up watching television, and when her parents had walked into the house with him in tow, a twelve-year-old Bryce had run to him and hugged him. She had always been his safe haven from whatever storm that had been in his life. That night the Witherspoons told him and Bryce they were fully aware that he’d been using the secret passageway under their home and would sleep there on occasion. They had no problem with that, but preferred that he knocked on their front door because they would always have a guest room for him to use that was better than one of those drafty rooms underground. He had never taken them up on their offer because he feared being stopped by another cop on the streets of Catalina Cove. So he’d risked going through the swamp instead to Eagle Bend Inlet.
“No. For the longest time only Reid, Sawyer and Ray. I told Isaac last year when he installed all the security equipment.”
“What about the builder who made all the changes?”
He knew she was trying to see if he’d missed naming anyone; specifically, a woman. “There wasn’t a builder. Sawyer and Ray helped me with the stairs and everything else. Ray even knew how to hook up a generator so I could have lights in here. No more candles. I discovered Ray and Sawyer were pretty useful with their hands and a hammer.” During that time his friendship with the two men had grown even closer.