Ties That Bind Read online

  Trey shook is head. “How can any one person accumulate so much stuff?”

  “Beats me. I consider myself a pack rat but this is beyond my wildest imagination. And there’s just as many boxes that we have to pack for the South Carolina Historical Society. When Ma Mattie’s will said it would take two weeks she was right on the money.”

  Trey nodded. “What are you going to do for the rest of the day?”

  Haywood smiled. “I’m going swimming, what about you?”

  “I’m going to check my e-mail on my laptop, see if I can get some work done. I plan to stay in for the rest of the day taking care of a few business matters.”

  Haywood nodded. “All right then, I’ll see you in the morning, bright and early.”

  Breathtaking, Trey thought, when he came upon Haywood half an hour later near the water’s edge. She had changed out of her tank top and shorts into a two-piece bikini and looked simply breathtaking.

  He tried not to stare as he crossed the distance separating them but didn’t like the uneasy feeling hitting him. Okay, so he was attracted to her. Big deal. Such an attraction was normal since he was a virile male with an abundance of hormones and she was a good-looking woman with a nice set of body parts. And no matter how much he wanted to dislike her, that didn’t call for a sudden freezing of his blood. His blood was too hot for that.

  His blood grew hotter the closer he got to her. She was stretched out on a blanket and her pose was to die for. Laying flat on her back she had one gorgeous leg raised that was bent at the knee giving him a nice view of her thighs. This was the first time he’d seen a woman that he knew personally be bold enough to wear a thong bathing suit in public.

  “Do you mind company?”

  Haywood quickly sat up and looked at him in surprise. “I thought you were going back to the cottage to work to work on your laptop for the rest of the day.”

  “That had been the plan but I got bored.”

  Haywood could believe that. Who wanted to be stuck inside when they could be outside enjoying the beauty surrounding them? She watched as he sat down on the edge of her blanket, thinking had she known she would see him again that day she certainly wouldn’t have worn her two-piece, and definitely not this one. It was the one she had purchased last year with the deliberate intention of seducing Aaron. It had worked. At least for Aaron it had worked since he had enjoyed getting her out of the skimpy bathing suit. But it hadn’t gotten her any closer to the altar with him than before. Now that they were no longer together she could see her parents had been right. Over the past year she had been involved with a man who had no intention of ever marrying her no matter how good she’d looked to him and no matter how much she had pleased him. There was no way she would have ever gotten him to change the way he felt about getting married again, and now she was glad she no longer had any intention of trying.

  “I love it here,” she finally said to Trey by way of conversation.

  In an attempt not to stare at her body, Trey decided to look out over the water instead. A horde of birds was flying overhead searching the ocean for worthy prey. He glanced back over at her. “When was the last time you were here before Ma Mattie’s death?” he asked softly.

  Haywood lay back down on the blanket, instinctively reaching for a huge beach towel to cover her bottom area. Wearing such a provocative bathing suit around Aaron was one thing but around someone else entirely another. “I was here three months ago. I came to see her before I left to return to Paris.”

  “You’ve been in Paris long?”

  “I moved there a few years ago. My father lived there for a number of years and still had friends living there so I went to stay with them until I found my own place.”

  Trey lifted a brow. “Your father used to live in Paris?”

  “Yes. For a good fifteen years or more. In fact that’s where he and my mother met. They were married in Paris and I was born there as well. We didn’t move back to the States until after he got sick.”

  “And when was that?”

  “When I was five.”

  He nodded. “But your mother, she came back to the States for extended visits pretty frequently, didn’t she?”

  Haywood knew what Trey was getting at and did her best not to let her anger take over. Instead she decided to pretend she didn’t know where his line of questioning was leading. “No. She only made a trip back to the States once a year to visit her family and would stay for a couple of weeks. She never took extended trips back to the States, except for the year her father died. That was the year before she had married my father and two years before I was born.”

  She knew she had placed confusion into his mind as to when and how her mother and his father could have been having the ongoing affair as his mother claimed. There was no way his father and her mother could have had a long-distance romance like that. She was glad she had given him something to think about.

  She stood and wrapped the towel around her. “I think I’m going inside. Too much sun isn’t good for the skin. I’ll see you tomorrow.” Without saying anything else to him, Haywood started walking back toward the big house.

  Trey watched her leave thinking she had the best-looking backside of any woman he knew, even with a thick towel wrapped around it. He smiled. She had seemed uncomfortable around him in that two-piece suit, and she should have been. A pair of panties and bra covered more than that thing she had on. But he had to admit she’d looked pretty damn good in it.

  While talking to her he had tried not to notice a few things. Like the way her hair curled around her face and the way her eyes lit up with fire when she got bent out of shape about something. Then there were those lips she liked to moisten with the tip of her tongue. He could count the number of times she had stuck her tongue out to rub over her lips when they had been packing those boxes earlier that day.

  He sighed deeply, disgusted with his thoughts. His father had made a mistake by getting involved with Haywood’s mother but he had no intention of making a mistake by getting involved with the daughter. For the rest of his remaining days on the island he would do what he’d come here to do and keep his attraction to Haywood in check.

  Thirty-four

  Haywood stood back and looked at the boxes stacked in the room, feeling mighty proud of their accomplishment. “Hey, this isn’t bad for one week’s worth of work.”

  Trey also stood back but he thought what he’d experienced was one week’s worth of torture. And to think he had another week to go. He took a quick glance at Haywood and doubted he would make it. She was not a “drop-dead gorgeous woman” but was definitely a “you got to take a second look” one. And during the past week he hadn’t just taken a second look, he’d gotten an eyefull.

  They had worked well together, usually in silence. They’d known what they had to do and had done it. Besides, they had nothing to talk about and she had proven that like him, she was not into idle chatter. So she had scanned the list and had assisted him by making sure Ma Mattie’s wishes were carried out. The twelve packed boxes were ready to leave Glendale Shores by ferry for the Goodwill agency tomorrow.

  He couldn’t help but notice Haywood dressed each morning in a different tank top and a pair of shorts. It made him wonder just how many outfits she’d brought with her. It also had him wondering what sort of sleepwear she had brought along. He could visualize her being a silk and satin woman, all soft, cuddly, warm and—

  “This calls for a celebration, don’t you think?”

  Her words broke into his thoughts and considering where they’d been headed, that was a good thing. “A celebration for what?”

  “For completing one week of work. Don’t you feel good about it?” she asked smiling.

  He shrugged, thinking about his week of torture. “I suppose.”

  “Don’t you know?”

  Trey raised his eyes to the ceiling. One thing he did know was that she liked being specific. “Okay, I guess I do feel good about it, so how will we celebrate?”
/>
  Haywood stretched her body, and as he watched her he couldn’t help but stretch his mind with all sorts of things. None of it good.

  “Umm, I’m dying for seafood,” she finally said after he assumed she had worked the kinks out of her body. “I suggest throwing out the net and seeing what we come up with.”

  His brow lifted. “You want us to fish for our own food?”

  A smile touched her lips. “No, I want you to fish for our food. I’ll volunteer to cook whatever you catch, granted it’s something that can be cooked. I don’t do old shoes and beer bottles. So are you game?”

  Trey thought that at the moment, he would do just about anything to get away from her. “Yeah, I’m game.”

  “Good, Captain Trey, now go catch our dinner.”

  Trey caught more than enough for dinner—he caught enough for a feast. The net had been overflowing with an abundance of shrimp and blue crabs. Then, using the fishing pole once owned by his grandfather, he had caught a number of nice-sized fish.

  True to her word, Haywood cooked enough for their dinner and put the rest in the freezer for next week. There was no need to make pigs of themselves. They decided to eat outside on the porch and the warm air carried the scent of the ocean and the smell of the roses from Ma Mattie’s prized rose garden.

  Trey glanced down at Haywood’s plate and took note that like him she was a hearty eater. He liked that. A lot of the women he dated were too concerned about gaining weight. Evidently Haywood had no such fear. One thing he did know about her was that she was into physical fitness. He had noticed her jogging every morning while he sat at the kitchen table in the cottage enjoying his cup of morning coffee. He also saw her run occasionally in the afternoons. Other afternoons she’d walk around with a camera slung across her shoulders. She had taken enough photos of Glendale Shores to last a lifetime.

  “Well, what do you think?”

  For some reason his smile came easily. “About what?”

  “About the food. Can I cook or what?”

  With a half sigh he finished off the rest of his hush puppy. “Yes, you can cook and I find that amazing.”

  “Why?” she asked with a gleam in her eye. “Can’t the women you date cook?”

  “I don’t know. I don’t date them for their cooking abilities.”

  “What do you date them for?”

  Trey chuckled before saying, “Their minds.”

  Haywood’s smile widened. “And you really expect me to believe that?”

  “Yes.”

  Haywood studied him as she considered what he’d said. He was handsome, there was no doubt of that. He was also tall, dark and built. She had noticed just how built he was with the shorts and T-shirts he’d worn each day. He had a naturally athletic body, one a person didn’t get by lounging around all day but from hours spent at some spa or health club. She wouldn’t be surprised to discover that he worked out at least two to three times a week. He was a healthy man and no doubt had a healthy sexual appetite. Therefore, she couldn’t buy into his lie that he dated women for their minds. But if that’s the lie he wanted to tell then so be it. She could just imagine some woman openly flirting with him and then later going home with him. She could also imagine that he would know how to undress a woman in the right way. There was something about the way he had folded up a Ma Mattie’s things before placing them in a box. He had been neat and tidy, like he’d had all the time in the world. He hadn’t rushed. She’d also noticed his hands. They were large and firm. Hands that appeared capable of bringing pleasure.

  “What are you thinking, Haywood Malone?”

  Haywood shook her head in disbelief at what she had been thinking. She picked up her glass of wine and took a sip. Her eyes met Trey’s over the rim. “I was thinking how this place can spoil me if I’m not careful,” she lied, knowing that hadn’t been what she’d been thinking about. She quickly decided not to feel guilty about lying since he had a penchant for lying, too.

  He glanced around. “It is beautiful here, isn’t it? I always enjoyed coming here as a child with my father.”

  “What about your mother?”

  He took a sip of his wine and said, “I don’t ever remember her coming here with us. I don’t think she and Ma Mattie got along.”

  It was on the tip of Haywood’s tongue to say that Ma Mattie was the type of person who got along with everybody so that in itself should have told him something. “Do you remember Ma Mattie’s husband?”

  “Papa Murphy?” Trey asked smiling. “Yes, I remember him. He used to take me fishing as a little boy all the time. Do you remember him?”

  Haywood shook her head. “No, he died before I came on the scene. She used to talk about him all the time though. She always referred to him as ‘her Bush’. I gather they had a very close relationship.”

  Trey nodded. “They did. I could actually feel the love flowing between them. It was volatile enough for a child to pick up on.”

  Haywood smiled. That’s the way it was for her mother and Randolph. Anyone could clearly see just how much they loved each other. Even her friends used to comment on how well suited they were and how affectionately they treated each other. That’s the kind of relationship she wanted with a man. One that wasn’t reserved and fake.

  Suddenly realizing that Trey had been speaking, she looked up at him. “I’m sorry, what did you say?”

  “I asked if you wanted to take a walk around the island after we did the dishes?”

  Haywood lifted a brow in surprise. “You’re helping me do the dishes?”

  “Of course. I helped you eat didn’t I?”

  She nodded. Aaron had never offered to help her with the dishes no matter how many times he’d eaten at her place.

  “All right then. Let’s do the dishes then take a walk. What do you think about that idea?” Trey asked.

  Haywood smiled. “I think it’s a good one.”

  Later that night as she got into bed Haywood couldn’t help but think about the walk with Trey around the island. For the first thirty minutes or so they had walked side by side talking about a number of things. She had told him about her love for photography. He had shared with her his love for law and how much he enjoyed working as a corporate attorney for his stepfather’s company.

  At one point while walking he had reached out and held her arm as he guided her around a fallen tree limb, then automatically, like it was the most natural thing for him to do, he had taken her hand in his and held it. And they had continued their walk holding hands.

  Turning in bed she leaned back against the propped pillows, not feeling sleepy, although the clock indicated it was close to three in the morning. She wondered if Trey was still up. Getting out of bed she crossed the room to the window. From the second-floor window she could see the distance across the treetops to where the cottage sat. The lights were on which meant he was still up. She couldn’t help wondering what he was doing and if he too was having a restless night.

  Since tomorrow was Saturday they would rest. She didn’t know what his plans were but hers included sleeping late, especially since she wasn’t getting much sleep tonight. On Sunday she would explore the island and take more pictures. Then on Monday she and Trey would start packing the boxes that would go to the Historical Society.

  She crossed the room and got back into bed. Closing her eyes she imagined a pair of sexy eyes looking at her and a sensually ripe mouth coming toward hers.

  Haywood wondered why she was in such a bad mood Monday morning and tried convincing herself it had nothing to do with the fact that she hadn’t seen Trey all weekend. After all, she’d been free to do her thing like he’d been free to do his. At one point she’d even thought he had left the island for the weekend, but at night the light had come on inside the cottage as usual. So she could only assume he had decided to stay indoors and work on his laptop. But that didn’t help the nagging urgency she felt of wanting to see him, even a glimpse.

  And it sure didn’t help matters that ea
ch night he had somehow managed to creep into her dreams. For the first time in her life she had awakened in the middle of the night aroused.

  Her mood Tuesday wasn’t any better and Wednesday was even worse.

  “Are you going to help pack or are you going to stand there and daydream?”

  Trey’s sharp words broke into Haywood’s thoughts. “Don’t mess with me today, Trey. I’m not in the mood.”

  “That makes two of us. So how about we finish up here?”

  “Fine.”

  Trey frowned. It was fine with him as well. He didn’t want to be around her any more than he had to. Taking that walk together Friday had been a mistake. And because of it he had stayed inside all weekend trying to screw his head back on straight. And then to top things off, she’d been acting moody for the last three days and he was getting sick and tired of it. “Look, Haywood, if you’d rather not be doing this, I’d rather do it myself than put up with your bitchiness.”

  “My bitchiness!”

  “Yes!”

  Perhaps it was a direct result of the sleepless nights she’d been having lately. Perhaps it was the plain and simple fact that he’d had the nerve to say she’d been acting bitchy. Or perhaps it was just because. Whatever the reason, she acted on it and shoved hard against him, which sent them tumbling to the floor.

  Caught off-guard by her actions he cushioned their fall and landed flat on his back with her sprawled on top of him. “Are you nuts or something, Haywood!”

  “No, I’m not nuts! I’m bitchy, remember?”

  Oh, he remembered all right. But what he didn’t remember was her feeling this soft and cuddly atop him. Or her being nose-to-nose with him. Or eye-to-eye, hip-to-hip and thigh-to-thigh. She shifted her body to get up and immediately his arms latched around her waist. “Don’t move.”

  Haywood raised a brow at the same time her body began responding to the purely male body beneath it. Looking into his face she saw those same dark sexy eyes and sensually ripe mouth she had been dreaming about for the last five days, and a flash of arousal rushed through every bone in her body.