AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“It’s boring,” he said.
“Hey, boring jobs make the world go round.”
He chuckled, and, deciding his shoulders were done for now, I started moving lower.
“That’s not too far off in my case,” Deacon murmured.
“What you mean?”
“My company acts as a middleman for international shipments. Basically, we facilitate high-value freight between companies,” he said. “So yeah. It’s very dry but we literally help transfer goods around the world, so I guess in a way we do help the world go round. Or at least, the stuff in it.”
I felt my mouth go dry, and a pulse of adrenaline lit through me. “That’s…”
“I know. Boring. I’ve heard it all before.” I could hear the smile in Deacon’s voice. “My mother wanted me to be a lawyer. Truth be told, I wanted to go into environmental research when I was younger, but international shipping had been in my family’s business for a long time. And after… Well, after my family’s business hit a rough patch, I had to step in.”
I realized that my hands had stilled. Quickly, I started working again although my mind was going a mile a minute.
No… No, this was too much of a coincidence. But Deacon was the right age. The world couldn’t be that small, could it?
“A rough patch?” I breathed.
“Well, it was more than that,” he admitted. “My father’s business was doing well. We were at the top of the game. But we had one partner, Stephen Langston who was cooking the books on the side. He was in charge of employee pensions, bonuses, and a good chunk of reinvesting the profits. He embezzled and siphoned off a little bit at a time, apparently to cover up a gambling habit. By the time we found out, the company was nearly bankrupt. It destroyed my father,” he said in a lower tone.
My mind was reeling. If my knees hadn’t been locked, I might have fallen down.
It took everything, absolutely everything to keep my hands working. I had never been so glad that Deacon was lying face down, so he couldn’t see my face. He would have surely seen the guilt in my expression.
Deacon was wrong. Yes, Stephen Langston had gambling debts, and, yes, he had gotten neck deep in a stupid Ponzi scheme by trusting the wrong person. But the majority of the money he had siphoned off had gone to his family; on lavish vacations, one huge house, and two additional vacation homes in the Hamptons and Florida.
He had spoiled his family, and when his house of cards fell apart, his wife and son were left penniless.
And his son had fled the country in disgrace to become a masseuse in a small island resort.
* * *
I don’t even know how I finished the massage, much less how Deacon didn’t realize something was wrong. Credit to my skills, I guess. Even admitting such a terrible facet of his history, he seemed to be so relaxed that he didn’t notice how quiet I was.
On the inside, I was a total mess. I had once thought that the universe either hated me or loved me for assigning me such a handsome guest for the week. And then after Deacon had admitted his attraction for me… well, icing on the cake was an understatement.
But now I realized it must be some sort of punishment for the sins of my father.
Stop being so dramatic, I told myself sharply. It’s a coincidence. A terrible, terrible coincidence.
I wrapped up the massage in record time. Pressing my spread hand on his back, I murmured, “Do you want me to help you to your bed, or do you want to take a nap on this table?”
“The bed,” he said in a thick, sleepy voice. But he had enough energy to turn his head and cocked an eyebrow at me. “Come with me?”
My heart lurched in my chest, and not in the usual lovestruck way.
“Sorry, Deacon,” I said. “I have a couple more chores I need to complete. Can’t have Andy thinking that I’m spending all my time with you.”
His eyebrows knit. “But aren’t you my relaxation consultant?”
In answer, I bent and kissed his brow. “I’ll be back soon.”
It was a mark of how sleepy he was that he didn’t seem to notice the lie.
I helped him to his bed, ignored another request to stay, and made my escape as fast as I could.
