the beach. He rolled his shoulders and stretched his neck from side to side, keeping his eyes straight ahead and focused on the clear, baby blue sky.
Blue like Maddie’s eyes. She’d look amazing in her bikini beside him on the beach. In the ocean. Laughing in the waves.
Shit. Maddie. Lobotomy.
“Doing okay?” Beck asked through the headphones.
“Fine.” As long as he wasn’t about to pass out, he guessed thinking about Maddie for an hour would be okay.
Even when she wasn’t around she could get inside him and calm him down.
And here he was running away with her ring. Not that he could find her to give it back since she ran too.
Fourteen
MJ could not believe his eyes. He stepped out of the helicopter straight into heaven.
Lush green palm trees and bright flowers lined immaculate, mosaic-paved walkways. Festive music played in the distance. Birds sang, invisible in the trees. The wind blew the humidity away with a soft breeze.
It was paradise.
And his dad had been living here with his perfect girlfriend while MJ was struggling to survive in misery with Old Man Rocha.
He couldn’t blame his dad for leaving him at the Rocha Estate when he didn’t know he was even alive. At least when he found out, he got him the hell out of there.
When they reached the hotel, a white, stucco hacienda, a curvy blonde came bustling down the walkway. “Beck! Thank God you’re back. Riley’s being insubordinate again.”
MJ wondered how she functioned in heels as high as the ones on her feet.
Beck laughed. “He can’t be insubordinate. You’re not his boss.”
MJ stepped off the pathway out of the blonde’s way as she pushed past him to get closer to Beck and Rachael—then she stopped and spun around to face him.
“Oh my God,” she said. “Merrick has a brother?”
Beck laughed loudly, stepping between them. “This is MJ,” he said. “Merrick Junior.” She gaped and Beck bent and kissed her. She seemed to relax a little. It made him think of Maddie’s body going slack under his while he pressed his lips to hers.
Shit.
Rachael shook her head, stepped around the pair kissing on the sidewalk and hooked her arm through MJ’s. “Come on. I’ll show you around.”
“You okay?” he asked. Her arm felt a little tense where it touched his.
She rolled her neck to one side, then the other. “Fine. Joan likes to get under my skin. It’s her favorite pastime. I try to be nice to her, but it’s pointless.”
“Why is she here then?” MJ glanced back to see Beck and Joan smiling and talking with their hands linked.
“She works for Beck,” Rachael pushed her hair back out of her face, “so I deal with it.” She laughed. “Funny thing. Beck used to call her Dragon Lady before they started going out. It’s a very fitting nickname.”
“Why is he with her? I mean, I don’t know either of them, but they seem a little mismatched.”
Rachael chuckled. “When you can tell me why men do anything they do, then you’ll have your answer.”
That was an easy one. Sex. Men did everything for sex. But he wasn’t going to tell Rachael that.
Approaching the hotel, the bright, early morning sunlight streamed through the palm fronds. MJ put his hand up to shade his eyes, wishing he’d remembered to bring his sunglasses, but he’d left them in his car. The hotel had long, narrow, black-shuttered windows sunk into the white stucco. They were propped open and reminded him of eyelids that would rather be closed until at least noon—like his own.
Orange-red tiles covered the roof and a black wrought-iron fence closed off a courtyard with a mosaic-paved patio to match the pathway. In the middle of the courtyard stood a fountain with a mermaid sitting on a rock in its center holding a conch shell with water spurting out of it. He had the childish urge to throw pennies in and make wishes.
He didn’t even know what he’d wish for at this point.
“Heidi and Roger are probably up by now with the kids,” Rachael said. “I bet they’ll be down for breakfast soon. I’ll get you settled in a room, and we can find them in a little while.”
“No hurry.” MJ’s eyes roamed as they walked through a gigantic, sliding wooden door into a lounge area. There was a fireplace built into the corner of the concrete wall. Dark brown leather sofas and chairs sat, scattered around the room, rustic wooden tables between them. Bright red, yellow and aqua blue Mexican rugs lay underneath.
He