The Scandal (Billionaire's Beach Book 4) - Christie Ridgway Page 0,78

caused her to look up. He raised his head, frowning now.

“What the hell?” A small flying device was circling the deck.

“Oh, my,” Imogen said. “I’ve heard about this, yet not seen it before today. The paps, they have drones now.”

“Drones?” Sara stared up at the machine buzzing overhead. “Should we call the police? Get a broom?”

Then shouts from the water re-directed their attention. A pair of jet skis floated just outside the shore break, their riders pointing cameras in the direction of the deck.

“They can zoom in and take a photo of your freckles from there,” Imogen said on a sigh. “I suggest we go inside.”

Joaquin took hold of Sara’s chin, bringing it around so she stared into his wolfish eyes, now lit with something she’d never seen there before. Laughter? Happiness? Both, she decided, giddy at the notion.

“Or instead we make headlines,” he said now. “Care to make a new announcement to the world?”

Essie clapped her hands. “There are studies! They all say go bold or go home.”

“Oh, well…” Sara’s natural reserve balked at the idea.

“I can see it now.” Essie insisted. “‘Bodacious Butler Bags Bachelor Boss!’”

Sara didn’t know whether to laugh or cry at that. “I’m not sure…”

“I’ve got a better one.” The most handsome man in the world took up Sara’s left hand and kissed her ring finger, his gaze trained on hers. “How about ‘Malibu Butler Marries True Love’?”

At that, Sara did it all. She laughed, she cried, she kissed the man who had, despite the odds, given her confidence in forever.

He’s right, she thought, jumping up to wrap her legs around Joaquin’s waist in order to give the paps—and the whole world—an even bigger show. It must be the real thing.

At dawn on the last day of May, Joaquin stood on a paddle board, stroking out into the calm ocean waters with Essie sitting cross-legged on the nose. His sister had a plumeria blossom tucked behind her ear, and they both wore colorful leis around their necks. Another string of flowers was piled in Essie’s lap.

He breathed in the cool morning air, thanking George Weatherford for bringing him to this place. If the man hadn’t taken in the broken and grieving sixteen-year-old, who knew what dark paths Joaquin might have traveled to escape his tragic memories. Instead, George had given him a role model, an education, a business that he enjoyed running…and, ultimately, serendipitously, Nueva Vida.

Glancing over his shoulder, he looked back at the house, smiling when he saw Sara on the deck, watching him. Of course she would be there. He waved, and she waved back, and it was hard to take his next breath because his chest was filled with love for her. As he saw his mother and Martin stroll out to join Sara, he almost fell off the board. Renata was never an early riser.

“Our mom’s up,” he told Essie.

She glanced at him and then lifted the lei in her lap. It was mostly white, accented with blood-red blossoms. “This one is hers.”

“Should we do it then?”

The teenager looked around. “This seems good.”

Joaquin stopped paddling, and the board floated easily. “Go ahead, Es.”

“Okay.” She cleared her throat, then sent another swift glance at Joaquin.

“Go, sweets.” He gave her an encouraging nod.

“I…I didn’t get a chance to meet you, Felipe,” she began then, her words slow and measured. “I wish I had been able to know both my big brothers. And I also wish you peace and the knowledge that you’re still remembered.” With a graceful move of her arm, she tossed Renata’s lei into the water. “And loved.” She removed the circle of flowers from around her neck and let it follow the first. “Be at rest.”

Her gaze came to Joaquin again.

“You did great.” He smiled at her, then touched the petals of the flowers around his own neck. “Fifteen years, man. I’ve missed you so much for every single one of them. What adventures we might have had together.” It was hard to breathe again. “But I’m now remembering the ones we did have with joy, Brother. I’ve found a woman, I’m putting together a new life for us, and I know, I know you’d be happy for me.”

He slipped the lei free from his neck and held its light weight in his hand, feeling as if the heavy burden of his grief had been lifted with it. The ghostly regrets seemed permanently buried now, too.

“Love you, bro,” he said, tossing the circlet into the water.

Then he echoed Essie’s words.

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