FRAUD: A Romantic Suspense Novel Read online

  “Pleasure to meet you,” he said, his eyes raking up and down my body. The heat level in my own body took on a new meaning. That accent was British and made my heart beat faster.

  I blinked twice. Think, Natalia . . . start talking. “Natalia, nice to meet you.” I smiled. What the hell was wrong with me? He looked young . . . and yes, there was the small fact I was married. My inner self gave me a scolding. Shit! Get your head on straight.

  His eyes took a quick sweep over my body, and his blue eyes darkened.

  Holy shit! Gulp.

  I grinned like a school girl. Someone really needed to whack me upside the head.

  “All ready for the beach?” Immy asked, pulling me from my fixation.

  “Yeees. I’m in desperate need of a beach fix.” My belly danced, my heart fluttered, and I smiled stupidly.

  “Me too.” She smiled.

  Damn! The kids! “We’re two minutes late,” I said, but it was more like I was reminding myself.

  “Relax.” Immy waved me off. I didn’t like to be late for Lily. Mom was always late picking me up from school because she was working or she had an employee from her office pick me up and it wasn’t part of their job description since she ran a successful advertising firm. Because of the way I grew up, I liked to be on time. Breathless from my brisk walk in the humid air or maybe the sight of Immy’s houseguest, I reached the line and asked the teacher to call Lily.

  “Hayes is here for a few weeks. He lives in New York, attending college there. Before that he was deployed in Afghanistan with the British Navy,” Immy explained, always one for providing details on everyone and everything.

  “Thank you, dear cousin, for that intro.” He chuckled, looking at Immy, his blue eyes bright and playful like a breath of fresh air. At a minimum of six foot three he was muscular but lean . . . Stop checking him out! I chided myself.

  “Whoa. Afghanistan . . .” My eyes widened. Remember to speak, Natalia, so you don’t look like a dumb idiot staring at him.

  “The military is intense. I’m glad to be out. I traveled through South America during break. Nice to be able to choose my own travel destination.” He smiled, and his sea blue eyes twinkled.

  Lily came barreling out of class with Lewis, Immy’s two-year-old son. He was born a week before Lily, and they had spent almost every day of their lives together. We hadn’t discussed getting pregnant at the same time. Mark had wanted a baby, but Immy was finishing school and had planned on waiting until she had a job first. Lewis was a surprise.

  Lily wrapped her hands around my legs, making me lose my balance.

  “Easy there.” I felt Hayes hand on my hip, catching me again. Jeez! What was wrong with me today?

  “Thanks.” I looked back to him with a grin.

  “Of course, Natalia.” He nodded, but he wasn’t smiling; he was just watching me.

  “Hi, sweet girl.” I bent down to pick up Lily, balancing her on my hip and gave her a kiss. She was exactly the distraction I needed to keep me from salivating over Hayes.

  Out of the corner of my eye, I watched Hayes pick up Lewis and prop him on his hip. “Hello, Lewis.” The child smiled. “Give me a high five.”

  “Should we meet there?”

  Hearing the sound of Immy’s voice caused my gaze to turn to her. “Hmm?”

  “At the beach. Are we still on for the beach?” Her brows creased together as she eyed me curiously. My best friend was too perceptive. That was for darn sure.

  “Yeah, uh . . . Mark just got back home, but he has a killer headache and he’s tired,” I mumbled. “So yeah, we’re coming to the beach.”

  “Usual spot then, near the showers?”

  “Yes,” I answered, still breathless and dazed and needing to get my wits about me before I made a fool of myself. I’d already almost fell on top of the guy—twice.

  Immy nodded. “See you there.” She walked across the parking lot, and I walked with Lily propped on my hip toward my SUV.

  I placed her in her car seat, but my attention was clearly elsewhere. “Mama.” Lily smiled touching my face and pulling my attention away from the hot and young Hayes. I kissed her nose and buckled her in.

  “My Lily.” I closed the door. Hayes looked like someone I would have dated when I was in high school. If I had a type, he was it. The irony being that my husband looked like no one I’d dated before with his tanned skin, dark hair, and dark eyes. I thought it meant the previous guys weren’t my type. Our relationship had consumed me from the start.

  We snagged a parking spot next to Immy, and I got out of my SUV.

  “Lily fell asleep.”

  “Lewis too. Two peas in a pod.”

  Hayes stood beside the car and my pulse quickened. This couldn’t be good. I spent a lot of time with Immy. Having an attraction to her husband’s younger cousin was an unwanted complication. Still I wondered how old he was. What? Shit. My mind was in the gutter. I couldn’t think this way. Six months of no sex and I was getting hot and bothered by someone who wasn’t my husband. I disgusted myself. I was not a cheater. My father cheated on my mother, and my relationship with him hadn’t been the same since. I had to get a grip here.

  “Let’s unload and set up,” she suggested.

  Hayes came around to the trunk, and I took in his scent of citrus and sandalwood. I held my breath, hoping his proximity would affect me less that way. “Let me unload you guys.”

  “Thanks.” Immy blew out a tired breath. She had recently found out she was pregnant with number two. I liked to keep things a secret the first three months, but Immy announced to all our friends she was expecting the day she found out.

  “Go ahead and choose a spot; I’ll bring everything,” he said, and it wasn’t an offer. The accent rolled off his tongue thick and sexy.

  “Thanks, sweets, I need the stroller, no way am I carrying Lewis that far in this heat,” Immy said, as he pulled it out of her trunk.

  “Not sure how to open this up.” He laughed, trying to force it open.

  “Yes, we all learn at some point.” She flipped the stroller open with the flick of her hand. I remembered the days I didn’t know how to open a stroller either. I opened my stroller and placed the diaper bag on the handle then set the beach bag and cooler on the ground.

  “I’ll grab your stuff too.” He winked at me, and my stomach betrayed me and made flips.

  “Oh, I’m fine. No worries.” I grinned, trying to prevent a blush crawling up my cheeks. I lost the battle.

  “Natalia, please,” he insisted, clearly a gentleman.

  “Okay, thanks.” I shrugged as if I wasn’t affected by him at all.

  “There’s a nice breeze today,” Immy said as we pushed our strollers with sleeping children along the boardwalk, looking for a place to squat for the late afternoon.

  “Yeah.” I looked out to the ocean, inhaling the fresh salty air. The beach had always been my happy place, but then it became the place I felt closest to my lost brother.

  “Is over there good?” She pointed.

  I nodded.

  It was going to be a bitch pushing the strollers through the sand.

  The hot sand burned the bottom of my feet through my flip-flops as we made our way closer to shore.

  “Here is good,” Immy said, and we stopped. We both turned around, and she waved at Hayes. He spotted us but couldn’t wave back with his hands full.

  I started to laugh. “We do bring a lot of stuff.” He had bags propped on each shoulder. An umbrella in each armpit and coolers in each hand.

  “Ah! He’s a strong guy. He can handle it.”

  “You didn’t mention you were having a houseguest,” I said since he was out of earshot.

  “He was traveling wanted to come to Florida to see Shay and meet Lewis. He called yesterday morning and was here by nightfall.”

  Hayes made his way over to us and set the two large umbrellas in the sand. I got to work opening a large sheet for us to sit on. We parked the strollers under the umbrellas so t
he kids were blocked from the sun, and I grabbed a cool bottle of water from the cooler and gulped it down.

  “Help yourselves,” I said to Immy and Hayes. “There is a bunch of fruit and some sandwiches.”

  “Thanks,” they replied together, and Immy passed him a bottle of water. Watching the veins in his neck move along with his Adam’s apple made my heart flutter. I didn’t know what was wrong with me. My husband was a fine looking man. He worked out, was muscular and handsome. I was used to women checking him out. I must be mad at Mark or something. That was all this was. I was angry he hadn’t contacted me about staying in LA the extra days. I brushed it off.

  Lily and Lewis were used to sleeping at the beach because Immy and I loved spending time here. We grew up in the same neighborhood, and we would meet at the beach while Matt surfed, and we would watch him and hang out. After we graduated from UCLA, we both came back to Florida. Immy attended grad school here and became a pharmacist. I married Mark and started to work. Originally my plan had been to become a veterinarian like my dad, since I loved animals and was always in awe that he took care of pets for a living. The only quality time I spent with my dad growing up was when I begged him to take me to work with him. When my parents divorced my senior year, I stopped going to his animal hospital because he was dating his assistant who he had cheated on Mom with, and I didn’t want to spend time with a woman who I blamed for ripping my family apart. Instead I spent time volunteering at the animal shelter. It was just as fulfilling, and I didn’t have to deal with my cheating father.

  Slipping off my cut-offs and tank top, I went straight for the water. After spending a full day in the lab, a swim relieved my stress. Immy was newly pregnant and preferred to stay in the shade and read since her energy was low and morning sickness was kicking her ass early this time. I, on the other hand, needed my daily fix of salt water.

  “Wait a sec.” She stopped me.

  “Yeah.”

  “What’s going on with Mark?” she whispered. I checked and Hayes was lying on a towel in the sand, sunbathing.

  “What do you mean?” I asked, knowing it was stupid to try and deflect her inquisition. “You expected him two days ago. Where was he? Why didn’t he call?” She was still whispering, thankfully. I didn’t want her hot cousin to hear my problems.

  “He said he stayed an extra couple of days in LA. He seems really upset and tired. I didn’t want to press him,” I explained. Immy nodded, accepting my answer. I knew she was being polite. It was more than weird that Mark didn’t want Lily and me around after being away for three weeks. His absence felt like eons to me, but he clearly didn’t feel the same. That coupled with no sex for six months made me feel like crap. I hadn’t confided in Immy about the no sex, it felt too intimate, personal, and I was embarrassed. I shook my head. I came here to relax not dig deep into my problems.

  “Is it okay if I take a quick swim?” I asked Immy. She knew how much I liked to swim laps against the tide.

  “Go, I’ve got the kiddies.” She waved me off.

  The cool ocean water was welcome against my heated skin. I walked in slowly, looking out for jelly fish. It was green flag at the beach today, which meant everything was pretty calm with minimal sea creatures, so I went in deeper and dunked my head. My eyes had been closed underwater, and when I came up for air I saw Hayes swimming in front of me, a bright smile on his face. I tried not to look at his broad chest, wide shoulders, or water rivulets on his skin. I tried keeping my gaze focused on his eyes and the way his wet caramel ringlets were slicked back off his face, showing me his strong jaw, his imperfect nose, and full lips. I wanted to look away, but my gaze lingered as I took in every inch of him. I was grateful my own body was immersed in water. I was fit, but I did have a few stretch marks along my hips that I wouldn’t mind remaining hidden.

  “You swim like a fish,” he said.

  “I love the ocean.” I beamed. “I’ve been swimming in it all my life.” I brushed my wet hair off my face and kept my body underwater.

  “Must have been nice. We didn’t have any beaches where I grew up.”

  “England. Right?”

  “Yes, in Brightside, it’s part of Sheffield. We have lots of hills and rivers but no ocean,” he explained.

  “I’ve always wanted to go, I mean to London at least.”

  He squinted against the sun, his blue eyes translucent in the water. “Why didn’t you? Travel I mean,” he asked.

  My lips pursed. “Hmm, I don’t really know. I married young and started working. There was no time for travel.” I swirled my hands in the water as waves slowly lapped up and down my body. And when I was younger my parents traveled but left Matt and me at home.

  “I didn’t do much traveling as a lad either. I went to Belize for Royal Navy training.” His lips turned down when he said the word Navy. “I’m glad I got the chance to go through South America as a tourist; it was pretty amazing.”

  “Immy said you deployed to Afghanistan?” I asked then thought better of it. There had been horror stories from American soldiers who had been deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq.

  “Yes,” he said and that was it. I understood not to ask any more questions on the matter.

  “Tell me about your adventures. I like to hear about trips since I don’t get to take them.” I smiled, hoping to pull him from any bad thoughts he may have from my stupid questions.

  He gave me a strange look then chuckled. “All right. I get it. You want to live vicariously through me.”

  “Ha, yes, something like that.” I giggled; Hayes was charming.

  “I just got back from Brazil, Costa Rica, and Chile. Brazil has the most magnificent beaches. I learned how to surf and wind surf there,” he said, and his eyes gleamed.

  “I love surfing. The waves must have been good there.”

  “I didn’t have a whole lot to compare to, but it was quite brilliant.” He smiled and a wet curl fell on his face. “You surf?” His brows bunched together.

  “I love surfing. My older brother was an international competitive surfer to my parents’ dismay. He took me out to the beach all the time and taught me what he knew.” My gut twisted at the memory of my brother.

  “Does he not compete anymore?” Hayes asked, and I swallowed hard.

  My teeth dug into my lower lip so hard I tasted blood. “He passed away.”

  “Oh, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have pried.” He held a hand up to his chest and looked truly remorseful.

  “It’s fine.” I waved him off. “He died a decade ago,” I said, my words bitter on my tongue. My brother had been everything to me. My parents were self-involved workaholics. Matt was like my best friend and parent, wrapped into one, since he was five years older.

  “That doesn’t change how much it hurts though, does it?” He squinted. “My mum died four years ago. Just before I enlisted,” he said, and my stomach sank.

  “Hayes, I’m so sorry,” I gasped.

  “Yes, well, I know the feeling,” he said. I wanted to tell him he didn’t because we are pretty sure my brother took his own life.

  “I’m sorry.” I shook my head, my good mood from earlier sinking with each wave that rolled by.

  “Let me tell you about Costa Rica. I can’t be responsible for the frown on your face.” He grinned.

  “Sure.” His optimism and charisma got under my skin, and I smiled.

  “I toured the rainforest. Saw some monkeys and these ridiculously huge spiders,” he said, and I cringed. “You don’t like tarantulas?” He raised both brows.

  “Don’t mock me. Arachnophobia is a real thing,” I mock whined.

  He laughed. “Don’t I know it. Mum would scream at the sight of a spider. I had to kill them in fear of her melting down,” he said, and I wondered if he didn’t have a father.

  “That’s like me, only in Florida big black cockroaches seem to be the culprits. They scare the bejesus out of me,” I said, and Hayes threw his head back laughing.

  “And the ocean? Y
ou aren’t frightened to be in here? I heard there are vicious sharks in Florida,” he said, turning to look around him, his gorgeous blue eyes round.

  “You have to be careful for sure, but I grew up in the water. I love the ocean. Thankfully I haven’t come face to face with a shark.”

  “Bloody hell. Bite your tongue, woman,” he said with all seriousness, looking around him a little frantically.

  I couldn’t help but laugh. The sound of my own laughter seemed foreign. When did that happen?

  “How were you surfing in Brazil? If you’re scared of the water, I don’t get it,” I asked, playing with him.

  “The beaches in Brazil were amazing, a surfer’s dream. It was such a rush. I forgot about sea creatures.” He chortled.

  “Like the Loch Ness monster,” I said jokingly.

  “Exactly, Natalia.” He grinned, and the way his eyes drank me in and the lilt of his tongue when he said my name, made me feel things I should not be feeling.

  “I used to surf a lot with my brother before he died, and Immy and I spent our weekends surfing when we were at UCLA.” It was the only time I didn’t spend with Mark, but I wasn’t going to give up on the one thing that made me feel close to my brother.

  I turned my head to check on Lily and saw Immy waving at us on the beach. Shoot! Had we been talking so long that Lily woke up from her nap?

  “Sorry, I better get out. Lily’s awake.”

  “Sure.” He nodded.

  I waded my way back to shore, and when the water became shallow I walked on my hands not wanting to stand upright and have him see my body. I wasn’t always self-conscious. I kept in shape by swimming and riding my bike some evenings, but I began to question the way I looked since my husband lost interest in me sexually.

  When I got back to the blanket I grabbed a towel and wrapped it around me then picked Lily up. She placed her head on my shoulder. It sometimes took her a little time to truly wake up when she had a good nap.

  “I see you and Hayes hit it off.” Immy waggled her brows.

  “He’s nice. He has some interesting stories,” I said.

  “Yeah.” She frowned. “He’s an open book. He’s had a tough go of things these last few years.”