Chapter Three

Jack raised his arms above his head, feeling his shoulders tighten and release with the motion as he climbed out of bed. Surprisingly, he wasn't hung over. If nothing else, that made the day a good one.

Only a few more days, Jack thought as he threw on a t-shirt over his swim trunks. Only a few more days before Dad's company owns me.

He barked a bitter laugh. Who was he kidding? His father's company already owned him and he knew it. Next week would just make it official. His thoughts skittered away from the cause of the sudden increase in responsibility. He didn't want to think about how his father's gaunt frame no longer in his suits or how tired his once vivacious father became during even the simplest of meetings. Jack didn't have to read the doctor's reports to know the chemotherapy wasn't working. It was written all over his father's face.

Jack scrubbed his face with his hands and then ran them through his hair. This wasn't the time to be thinking such morbid, unhappy thoughts. This was vacation. He should be frolicking on the beach or out pestering Robbie on his boat, not using the last few days of freedom to dwell on things he couldn't change.

Jack shook his head, trying to free himself from the cobwebs of his thoughts. He needed breakfast.

He sauntered down the stairs, heading for the kitchen when he heard voices coming through the swinging door.

“I'm so sorry, ma'am. Jack didn't tell me anything about getting you any yogurt.” Jack recognized the voice as coming from one of his housekeepers, Janet. He smiled when he thought of her kindly face, even as she was apologizing for something that wasn't her fault.

“Well, you probably should start remembering what it is I like. The next time we come here, I'll be Mrs. Saunders, and the first thing I'm going to do is get rid of the dead weight around here.” Brandy paused for a moment, obviously evaluating the woman in front of her. “And it looks like you have plenty of dead weight to spare," Jack heard Brandi say.

Jack's jaw dropped as he leaned against the wall. Janet apologized again, promising to go and get some yogurt right away. Her keys jingled as she ran out of the kitchen to start her car. He knew how much Janet needed this job to feed her three kids.

“She better not get the cheap kind.” Brandy sighed and slammed the fridge door shut. “And she didn't even wait for me to tell her to get more celery. Fuck, I need another drink. I'm going to have to fire all of Jack's staff.”

Jack couldn't believe his ears. He thought about calling Janet back, but realized it was pretty futile. Besides, it wasn't Janet that was the problem. It was Brandy.

Jack didn't think. He just slammed open the kitchen door, ready to confront Brandy with what he had just heard. The woman thought that she was going to be Mrs. Saunders? What, one trip and they were suddenly engaged? The disrespect and pride of that woman burned in his veins. She had strung him along with her pretty blue eyes and soft giggles, but the way she spoke to Janet was unmistakable. She was a total bitch.

The kitchen door creaked on its hinges, still swinging from the Jack's charge. It was the only sound in the empty kitchen. Jack stomped to the window, still ready for a fight. Brandy was making her way to a chair next to someone sitting out on the porch. Jack shifted his position slightly and could see her smile widely at Paul.

Jack's stomach twisted with oily nausea as Brandy touched the scummy lawyer's arm and giggled before sitting down on a lounge chair next to him on the porch.

“Are you the pool boy?” she asked, letting her robe hang open, displaying her perfect bikini body as she sipped on a Bloody Mary. Jack had known her for long enough to know a Bloody Mary this early meant she was hung over. He didn't even want to know where she got drunk last night.

“I'm whatever you want, baby.” Paul's lecherous eyes gobbled her up.

Brandy laughed the giggle that Jack had thought was only for him. The one that had made him feel special.

“You look like the pool boy to me, handsome.” She fluttered her eyelashes and sipped demurely on her drink. Greed shone in her eyes at the possibility of another billionaire in her grasp.

He stepped back from the window fighting the urge to throw up. He wasn't even going to bother going out there now. If Brandy thought the dirt-bag lawyer was a rich friend of his, then she was welcome to him.

Pieces of their history were falling together in unpleasant ways. Like how Brandy always convinced him to buy her expensive things, her insistence at only staying at the best hotels, and even how she had asked him to fire the mail clerk after he remarked she was cute. He had been so blind.

“Morning, Jack” Rachel greeted him from behind, making him spin. She pulled a mug from a cabinet and then set it down without filling it as soon as she saw his face. “You okay?”

“Fine,” he growled.

The woman he considered somewhere between sister and mother raised her eyebrows. “You look pissed.”

He glared at her. She had been right about Brandy but damn her if he was ready to tell anyone that yet. “I want Paul gone.”

“Of course, sir,” she replied, picking up on his unhappy tone and slipping directly into business mode. “Anything else?”

“Give Janet a bonus.”

***

Jack slammed the door to the beach mansion behind him, hearing the windows rattle in their panes. He was furious: couldn't see straight, red vision, knuckles needing to punch something kind of furious.

“Damn her,” he growled under his breath as he stalked away from the mansion. He walked along the beach, kicking at the sand and clenching his fists.

Brandy. Just thinking her name made Jack's blood pressure rise. She was so fired. He had brought his secretary on vacation with him, thinking that he might have finally found someone, and then she betrayed him. She was only after his money. Just like everyone else, Jack thought with a sigh.

He kicked the sand, trying to calm himself down rather than rev himself up, but it wasn't easy. He had wanted to trust Brandy. She had been so easy to trust that he couldn't believe he hadn't seen her intentions before now. The fact that he had defended her to Owen and Rachel stung. They had been right about her all along. He knew he had just been seeing what he wanted to see.

Picking up a rock, he threw it into the ocean as hard and as fast as he could. And then another. He thought about going back and finding Noah for a boxing lesson. He wanted to hit something. To break something. He felt the need to destroy something.

He threw the last rock hard enough to make his shoulder pop. The rock dropped peacefully into the waves as though nothing had happened. The ocean was peace and tranquility.

Jack sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. Now that he had a moment to calm down, his rational business mind was kicking in. He couldn't fire her just because she had played him; as far as her job was concerned, she hadn't technically done anything wrong. As far as the company was concerned, they weren't even dating. He would have to be the good employer and just transfer her. He comforted himself with the thought that at least a department transfer would hurt her plans just as much as a pink slip.

He wished he had another rock, but the beach was just smooth white sand. He started walking, his mind going in hundreds of directions at once and none of them pleasant. Despite being on vacation, he was already mentally preparing for the incredible amount of work that was coming with taking over his father's company, with his father's illness weighing heavy as the cause. Throw in this mess with the secretary and how it just further proved that he was going to end up alone, and he was ready to run away and become an island hobo.

“Somebody, help! HELP!”

The scream cut through his thoughts like a hot knife. He didn't even have to think, his legs just took off in the direction of the cries. A woman jumped from her beach towel and sprinted out in front of him, heading directly into the water.

Jack reached in his pocket, grabbing his phone and dialing for help as he ran. The woman, who he immediately dubbed Beach-Girl, was already halfway out to a struggling couple in the water. The other woman was screaming while the man next to her bobbed lifelessly in the water.

“Get me an ambulance. NOW,” he commanded into the phone. He didn't even bother to wait for Rachel's reply before stuffing the phone back in his pocket and running into the water. He was glad Rachel had insisted upon the waterproof version of the phone this time.

Beach-Girl struggled to lift the man out of the water while the other woman splashed and screamed with panic, doing absolutely nothing to help. Jack grabbed the lifeless man's shoulders and hauled him out to the sand.

Beach-Girl pushed Jack to the side as soon as the man was clear of the water, dropping to her knees to check for a pulse. She paled slightly, but she didn't pause, going straight into CPR. She hummed to keep the beat for her compressions and he vaguely recognized a Bee Gee's song.

“Oh my God! Oh my God!” the woman from the water screamed, watching Beach-Girl press down on the man's chest. Jack needed to help. Beach-girl had the compressions under control, so he took the screaming woman to the side. She didn't need to watch this, and Beach-Girl would have more success without a crazy woman screaming at her.

“What's your name?” Jack asked, taking the panicking woman's shoulders in his hands and forcing her to look at him. She was shaking like a leaf.

“Jenna...” she whispered, trying to turn her head to look at the man she was with. “Oh, my God...”

“Jenna. Look at me.” Jack used his most authoritative voice, the one he reserved for board meetings or his little brother. “Does he have any heart conditions?”

"I don't know... wait, yes!” Jenna's eyes focused, responding to Jack's tone. Her hand gripped his arm like a vice. “He said it wasn't a problem though!"

“Is he on any medications? Even stuff that he wasn't prescribed?” Jack pressed. He hoped he was remembering the questions correctly. The mandatory staff CPR class had been a long time ago. He was going to have to remember to ask Rachel to schedule another one.

“No, no... Well, he took something today. A little blue pill- it's our first vacation together and we didn’t think it would cause any harm!” Jenna started to wail and shake even harder. Her grip on his arm was to the point of being painful. “Oh god, why did I let him take it?"

As if on cue, the man sputtered under Beach-Girl's hands, coughing and spewing up sea water. Jenna immediately released him and ran to the now breathing man. Beach-girl leaned back on her heels, looking dazed but still in control of herself. Jack was impressed at her calm.

It seemed like a strange time to notice, but Beach-Girl was stunning. Not in the way a model or actress was made up to be stunning, but in a wholesome, girl-next-door way that completely caught him off guard. Long, beautiful, brown hair fell across her face and she shook her head to clear it from her lovely green eyes. She stood slowly, her eyes on something behind him. She had luscious curves and hips that made him want to dance with her.

Two uniformed men ran past him with a stretcher, quickly taking control of the situation. Beach-Girl backed away as the two men quickly hurried their patient and Jenna into the waiting ambulance. Jack barely paid them any attention, his eyes focused solely on Beach-Girl as she turned to look for something in the water.

He had to talk to her. Not just because they had just saved someone's life together, but because he couldn't stop looking at her. If Jack had a type, she wasn't it. He usually went for the long, leggy blondes or even a spicy redhead, but never a curvy girl with no makeup on. Yet, he didn't think he had ever met anyone so naturally attractive.

“That was amazing,” Jack said, coming up to her. His voice sounded far too high to his own ears. She spun around to face him, her eyes going to his.

“Oh, um, thanks. I didn't even really have time to think about it to be honest. I just reacted,” she replied, a blush touching her already flushed cheeks. Jack's heart pounded in his chest and he felt blood rushing elsewhere as well. She was beautiful and sexy.

Jack ran a hand through his hair, feeling nervous. He hadn't felt nervous talking to a girl since high school, but somehow she was making his palms sweat. “Well, I think you saved his life. Not a bad thing to tell the folks at home about your vacation. You did really well.”

“Thank you,” she replied with gentle smile. “You helped-- you kept his girlfriend from completely freaking out.”

Jack grinned. “I think it was his wife. She had a big diamond on her finger,” he said, rubbing the spot on his arm where Jenna had most likely left a bruise. He wished he had something clever and charming to say that would sweep her off her feet. Instead he just held out his hand and said the next logical thing he could think of. “I'm Jack, by the way. Jack Saunders.”

He waited for the inevitable light-bulb to go off in her eyes as she recognized his name. He had seen it enough times to recognize the exact moment when either awe or greed took over.

“Emma.” She took his hand firmly in hers and shook. Her tiny hands were strong. “Emma LaRue.”

“Emma,” he repeated, watching her carefully. The look hadn't come yet. He held onto her hand, waiting for the other shoe to drop. People always recognized him. Always. “Well, it is very nice to meet you, Emma. Are you staying at the resort here?”

She held up her opposite hand to display a pink bracelet. “Yup. How about you?”

“No, I am staying at a house down a little further on the beach," he said, jerking his head back in the direction he had come from. She still hadn't recognized him.

“Oh, that must be nice. The houses I saw on the way in looked very nice,” she replied, obviously blushing slightly at her overuse of nice. He wondered for a moment if he was having the same effect on the beautiful girl as she was having on him.

Let go of her hand... let go of her hand... Let go or she'll think you're nuts... Jack thought to himself, forcing his hand to release hers. He immediately missed her touch.

“I'm actually trying to escape it right now,” he said, desperate to keep the conversation going. Brandy popped back into his head and he felt his eye twitch.

“It can't be that bad,” Emma said with a smile. God, she was beautiful with that smile.

“I came with someone,” he explained. “And I thought we were going to have a good time, but it has been miserable. I couldn't stay in the house with her a second longer." The words just tumbled out with thinking. If he had been thinking, he would have said something debonaire and sexy, not how awful his ex was. Way to impress a girl, Jack, he thought to himself.

“Girlfriend?” she asked with just enough disappointment to make his heart soar with hope. Maybe he hadn't completely ruined his shot with her.

“Secretary. I thought maybe the cliche would work, but it is no fun out of the office," he answered honestly. He couldn't have lied to her if he tried. Something about the way she looked at him with those green eyes completely made his brain go haywire in the best way possible.

“So you just left her?” She frowned slightly and Jack's heart stalled.

“She's out admiring the pool boy. And still hungover from last night,” he answered feeling the anger of the morning flash up again. “It hasn't been the best vacation of my life," he said. "This conversation has been the most civil one I've had all day.”

She frowned, her green eyes full of concern he didn't deserve. “That is no vacation. Vacations are supposed to be fun. You know, maybe even save a life or something.” She laughed, banishing her frown and his.

He stared at her smile, taking in her natural beauty and optimism. Just being around her positive energy was making him feel better. Plus, she still hadn't recognized him. It was thoroughly possible that she was just a very good actress, but something in her demeanor told him that she legitimately just thought he was a normal guy.

“You want a drink?” she asked, a pretty blush heating her cheeks.

Jack grinned. “A drink sounds great,” he answered. She grinned back before turning to lead him to a beach towel in the sand.

Jack followed, amazed at her. She had no idea who he was, yet she was offering him a drink. For the first time in months, Jack felt his shoulders relax and the smile come naturally. The possibility of a real vacation suddenly seemed within his grasp.