Barefoot Bay: Just the Two of Us (Kindle Worlds) Page 18

  When she opened the door, Justin stood there with a bouquet of red roses. “I’m so sorry I didn’t believe you.”

  She opened her eyes wider. “So Dan didn’t find my fingerprints on the jewels?”

  Justin shrugged. “I don’t know what the tests revealed. I just realized you weren’t the kind of person who would steal jewelry from other women. I should have believed you right away.”

  Lisa frowned. “But you didn’t. You even insisted Dan fingerprint me.”

  “I wanted to have proof that you were not the thief. AT first, when I saw the jewels in your jewelry case. I didn’t know what to think. Can you ever forgive me?”

  “I don’t know. I felt betrayed again. It’s awful when the person you care about doesn’t trust you.”

  “But I trust you, I really do, and I care about you. I’m sorry I caused you such pain. That’s all I have to say. Please think about forgiving me. I want us to be together again, just the two of us.” He put his hands on her shoulders and kissed her forehead. “Call me when you’re ready to see me again. I hope it’s soon.” He turned and left, leaving Lisa feeling unsettled.

  After she and her sister got dressed, they walked to the Mexican restaurant. Once there, Melissa placed their order for Shrimp, Chicken and Beef Fajitas for Two and asked for extra guacamole. “This will be my treat.”

  Not far from their table, Chenille and Stevie sat in a booth, speaking in low tones. Lisa caught a glint of green as Stevie moved his arm. He wore a white shirt and cuff links. And a tie. He’d only worn sports shirts and long pants or shorts since he arrived. How did Chenille persuade him to get dressed up?

  Cuff links—she’d heard cuff links were now on the list of missing items. She rose and strolled to their booth. Those did look like emerald stones in the silver cuff links. And he had a matching tie-tack. She stared at his shirt sleeves. “Nice cuff links.”

  Stevie smiled. “Chenille gave them to me as a going away present, but she’s so modest. She asked me not to tell anyone about them.”

  Chenille looked perturbed. “That’s right. I’ve been dating Rocco Cardinale, and I don’t want this to get back to him. Please don’t tell anyone about them. You know how gossip gets around.”

  “I’ll be sure not to tell Rocco.” She hurried back to her seat and whispered to her sister. “I think Chenille’s the jewel thief. I’m going to call Lucas.” She headed for the ladies’ room.

  In the ladies’ room, she called him and explained about Chenille giving Stevie the cuff links and tie tack. He told her to try to keep them there.

  Chenille strolled into the restroom. Lisa laid her phone down, pulled out a paper towel and pretended to be drying her hands.

  Chenille stared at her. “You’ve been in here a long time. You didn’t call Justin and tell him about those cuff links, did you?”

  “No. Why would I?” She almost told Chenille she could have Justin, but couldn’t quite manage to give him up just yet. After all, he had apologized.

  Chenille shrugged. “I just thought you might since you two have become close. I envy you. It’s so nice to have a guy crazy about you. I miss it since I broke up with Joel.”

  Thinking Joel was the lucky one, Lisa only said, “Justin’s a great guy.”

  As Chenille left the ladies room, Lisa followed. Had she said anything to make Chenille suspicious? Lisa didn’t think so. Just to be sure, she followed Chenille to her booth. “So, Stevie, when are you leaving?”

  “Tomorrow night.” He grasped Chenille’s hand. “There’s a lot to do around here. She knows how to keep a guy having fun.”

  “So, do you believe your father will give you the new store to manage?”

  Stevie drew in a breath. “With him I never know. He threatened to give it to Justin if my store’s profits didn’t improve. He claims with all the people in higher income brackets living nearby, I should make more high end sales of Rolex’s and three-carat diamond rings. That’s what brings in the big money.”

  Hoping she’d kept them here long enough, Lisa returned to her table. The waiter brought their fajitas, sizzling in a hot iron pan on a piece of wood. The smell of beef, chicken, and shrimp wafted around her. Despite feeling down, she was hungry now. She piled strips of beef on a flour tortilla and slathered them with sour cream and guacamole. She stole a glance at Chenille and Stevie, reassured they didn’t appear to be leaving, then sunk her teeth into the tortilla- wrapped steak.

  The restaurant door opened. “Don’t anyone leave,” Lucas said in a loud voice. Justin and Dan stood beside him.

  Together the three men marched to Chenille and Stevie’s table. Chenille shoved her necklace down the front of her peasant blouse and tightened the drawstring to raise the neckline of the blouse.

  Lucas lifted Stevie’s hand and stared at the cuff link. “These were on the list of missing items.”

  Stevie jerked his arm away. “I didn’t steal these. They were a going away gift from Chenille.”

  “Can you swear she gave them to you?”

  “Yes. I swear she did.”

  “And the tie-tack?”

  Stevie let out a breath. “That too.” He turned to Chenille and frowned. “Did you stick me with stolen items?”

  Chenille shook her head. “Of course not. I’ve enjoyed your company. I wouldn’t do that to you.”

  Stevie frowned. “I promised to say you were with me last night., but ….”

  Lucas frowned. “That could make you an accessory to the crime.”

  “But, I didn’t know about anyone letting Lisa’s puppy out or anyone stashing jewels at Lisa’s cottage.” He glared at Lucas, then removed the cuff links and undid the tie-tack. He shoved them across the table. “Take them. I don’t want stolen items.” “I really thought she’d bought them. After all, she does have a trust fund. She’s not without money.”

  Justin glared at his brother. “The owner of the boat rental store finally got the boat towed in. He said there was nothing wrong with the motor, but someone must have put sugar in the gas tank.”

  Stevie shrugged. “It wasn’t me. You can’t prove anything,”

  “And what about the robbery of my jewelry store? Did you have anything to do with that?”

  “Robberies happen every day in Dallas. And jewelry stores are prime targets. You can’t blame me for that, either.”

  Lucas stared at Chenille. “Show me your necklace.”

  “No. This is mine, and I paid for it. Don’t you need a warrant or something?”

  Lucas shook his head. “Since your fingerprints were on the jewels we recovered from Lisa’s cottage and on her sliding glass door, you are under arrest for stealing those. It will go lighter on you if you give up the emerald pendant, which I think you’re hiding beneath your blouse.”

  Chenille scowled and unfastened the pendant. She shoved it across the table. “The chain is mine. The one it was attached to was tacky looking, so I only kept the stone.”

  With a sad expression, Lucas shoved the pendant, the cuff links, and tie tack into clear plastic bags. “I can’t understand why you took them. You could have saved up and bought similar ones, one at a time. Why did you need so many?’

  “For my trip to Europe with my sorority sisters. I never had any really nice jewels to wear in college so I wanted something to wow them.”

  “Why did you leave the jewels in Lisa’s cottage?”

  “Well, I was afraid they were getting too hot. I wanted to cast suspicion on someone else.”

  Lisa glared at her. “And did you let my puppy loose so he’d run away?”

  “I needed to be sure you’d be away from your cottage for a while.”

  “I hate to do this,” Lucas said as he fastened hand cuffs on Chenille’s wrists, “but you’re coming back to my office with me until I find out if the women you stole from will press charges.”

  “Why did you pick on Lisa?” Justin asked.

  “Because. She took what I wanted most—you.”

  Justin let
out a breath. “You’re an attractive woman, but you can’t hold a candle to her when it comes to personality or even looks. She’s the woman I want to be with. If only she’ll forgive me for not trusting her.”

  Justin took hold of Lisa’s hand. “I should have believed you. As much as I care about you, I should have trusted you. I’ll never doubt you again. Can you ever forgive me?”

  He looked into Lisa’s face with such longing. She really wanted to make him sweat longer, but since he’d brought her the roses and apologized, she’d had time to think about it and realized anyone could make a mistake. She couldn’t help but say, “I do. I forgive you.”

  He cradled her face in both hands. “I don’t know whether I’ll be able to establish a jewelry store here, but I love you and want to be with you, even if I have to fly to Dallas every weekend.”

  He focused his brown eyes on her face. “I appreciate your goal to get your master’s and teach in a better school, but would you consider moving here after your year of teaching in Dallas is up? You could finish your master’s degree in a nearby university and get a job teaching here or in Naples.”

  He clasped her hand in his and twisted his fingers with hers. “I’m not in a position to offer marriage, but when I can, I want it to be with you. Do you want to be with me for the rest of your life?”

  Yes,” she whispered. His lips moved closer, and then he was kissing her, hard and fast, as if she’d been away for ages, without appearing to care if anyone watched. Everyone and everything faded away.

  All she was conscious of was his dear face and his hands caressing her as if she were the most precious person in all the world.

  Dear Reader: If you enjoyed Just the Two of Us, a review on Amazon would be appreciated.

  Also by Carolyn Rae

  In Royal Wedding Cake, (The Royals of Monterra Amazon Kindle World) Reporter Danielle Dawson is excited to cover the wedding of Monterra’s Prince Dominic II and his bride. However, after a bomb derails the reception and two princesses are kidnapped, she helps Armando hunt them, but will the dashing Prince Armando ever settle for one woman?

  Available now at Amazon

  In Searching for Love (The Wild Rose Press) Valerie Trumbull reluctantly teams up with her ex-fiancé’s brother to hunt her missing sister in Mexico.

  Available now at Amazon and The Wild Rose Press.

  In Romancing the Gold (MuseItUp Publishing) Adventurous Megan McKinley finds searching for gold more exciting after hunky, bearded photographer, Joseph Logan, a man with a hidden past and a secret agenda, arrives at the dig.

  Available now at Amazon, Kobo, and Nook

  Other books by Carolyn Rae include:

  The Witness Protection Series.

  In Hiding from Love, (Book One) Laura Lee hides from a corrupt ex-boss, but can she hide her feelings for Alexander Brandon, ex-CIA agent.

  Available now at Amazon, Kobo, Nook & and iBooks.

  In Protected by Love (Book Two) Elizabeth wants to escape her ex and his criminal ring. U.S. Marshal Joe Berg yearns for her, but protocol requires he keep his hands off.

  Available now at Amazon, Kobo, Nook, and iBooks.

  In Tempted by Love (Book Three), U.S. Marshal Sheila Talbot struggles to tame her first witness, ex-cop Brent Broussard, but he pays more attention to her than the rules.

  Available now at Amazon, Kobo, Nook & and iBooks.

  Check my website at Carolynrae.com and Carolyn Rae Author / Facebook for an excerpt from Just the Two of Us, and sign up for my newsletter.

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  As a teenager, Carolyn Rae told stories to children she babysat and to her younger sister on a long road trip.

  She taught home economics in Michigan, Illinois, and Texas, earned a master’s degree and also taught English. In Illinois, she worked for a mincemeat company and met her neighbors with samples of mincemeat pie. She taught cooking, ironwork, painting, and carpentry to inmates at a Federal prison in Fort Worth, Texas, where she also wrote and directed videos on nutrition and fair fighting for married couples

  Carolyn Rae wrote the text and many recipes for There IS Life After Lettuce (Eakin Press, Fort Worth, Texas), a cookbook for heart patients and diabetics. Her articles have been published in the Romance Writer’s Report, Fort Worth Star Telegram, The Dallas Morning News, Positive Parenting, and AAA World, Hawaii and Alaska. She has worked as a paralegal and follows her passion, writing romantic suspense where bullets fly, people die, and lovers must resist attraction they are safe.