Read Barefoot Bay: Silhouettes on the Sand (Kindle Worlds Novella) for Free Online Page B

valet parking. Thousands of children were starving in the world, but the Ivorys couldn't walk ten feet to park their own car.
    Her door opened, and a good-looking guy held out his hand to her. She'd barely gotten one foot out the door when Chase handed off his keys and extended his arm to her. A crackle of electricity shot down her arm to rather embarrassing places, and she scolded herself. Only business.
    "I ate here on my last visit. You'll love the food."
    She didn't doubt it. Finding expensive food that was delicious shouldn't be tough. The trick was finding the special epicurean treat for the price of cheap hash. Like everyone else today, once inside, the hostess greeted Chase by name. Was there any place in this world where no one knew who he was? How would this guy handle being treated like an ordinary Joe? To have to wait for a table or search through sales racks in a crowded department store, unable to find a clerk to ring up the sale? How would he handle coming home from months of sleeping in tents fully dressed and armed—in case the need to spring awake struck in the middle of the night—to find he couldn't sleep in the quiet of his own house, the softness of his own bed? Or worse, coming home to no job, no wife, or a home he could no longer live in because it wasn’t handicap-friendly?
    "Where did you go?" Chase waved his fingers in front of her face.
    C.J. looked around. They were seated at a secluded corner table for two with sweeping views of the bay. Water had been served, and she held the menu in front of her, yet all she could see were the faces of the boys she'd sent home in less-than-perfect shape. "I'm sorry. I guess my mind wandered."
    "Give us a few more minutes," he instructed the waiter patiently standing beside the table then Chase skewered her with a questioning glare. "Wherever you wandered off to wasn't a pleasant place."
    "Why do you say that?"
    He lifted his chin and pointed at her menu. Her grip had tightened to the point of turning her knuckles a creamy white and creasing the plastic-coated menu beneath them. Setting aside the menu, she folded her hands in her lap. "Not every place in this world is pleasant."
    "I'm sorry." The intensity in his gaze shifted from curious concern to pained empathy. The sincerity in his gaze, his strength, his compassion, offered her a sliver of comfort she hadn't felt in a very long time.
    "Thank you." It wasn't fair of her to paint him with such a harsh brush for having the unique circumstances of being born more than a little wealthy and equally handsome and charming. There was definitely much more to this perceptive man with comfort and compassion in his eyes.
    ***
    Chase had hoped to learn more about C.J. over lunch, but, after losing her briefly to someplace dark, he feared the wrong question would send her back. Instead he kept the conversation light and breezy. He now knew she'd enjoyed her fish, liked her new slacks, that the khaki shorts were her favorite purchase, and she didn't drink wine in the middle of the day because it would put her to sleep. But he knew little else about who C. J. Lawson was.
    "Several packages have been delivered to your villa, Mr. Ivory." The young man at reception informed him as he handed over the card key.
    "Thank you, Jason." Chase made it a point to refer to the people who worked for him or did business with him by name. Unlike most companies whose CEOs only considered the bottom line, Chase ran the company the same way his grandfather had, with an iron fist, but the safety and morale of his employees always came first. The last time Chase had checked into the resort for Dylan's birthday celebration, Jason and he had held a lengthy conversation over the effects of the current economy on the hotel and travel trades. For a young man at the start of his career, the guy had a good head on his shoulders.
    Despite Chase's assurance to C.J. that the accommodations would be plenty spacious and with no strings attached, he could