Free His Bahamas Affair (The Albury Affairs) by Christina OW Page A

her chin and pushed her head up. “But tomorrow Lori, there
will be no more of this. One way or another, we are going to disparate that man
out of your mind because he holds no power over you. As long as I’m alive, he
is never going to hurt you again.”
    Loraine launched
herself at him and openly cried. He lifted her into bed and laid with her,
holding her tightly against his chest as she bawled. It felt like hours before
she finally fell asleep. Reno watched her for a few minutes, wondering how many
nights would end like this before she finally healed.

 
    * * * *

 
    “Hey, bro.” Ruiz
slapped Reno’s back as he took a seat next to him at the dining table.
    Reno grunted his reply,
rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. It had taken a while before he fell asleep.
He kept on waiting for Loraine to wake up screaming again but she slept
peacefully, her body wrapped around his just like the first time they’d shared
a bed. And that time too he had kept a vigil watch over her.
    “How’s Loraine?”
    Reno rubbed the back of
his neck wishing he didn’t have to go to work that morning. He needed a few
hours of sleep, but he couldn’t do that. It wasn’t in him to miss work and the
only time he had was the three days he was in Rome for Riana’s wedding. The
fear of going back to the life he had was enough to keep him working from sun
up to sun up. And his studiousness had paid off because La Paraiso was now the most sought after
resort at the Cable beaches.
    When he had inherited
it, it had been in the red with no prospects of ever recovering but he had done
everything in his power to build it into what it was today. He’d been a waiter,
a driver, a janitor. Every job that needed doing in his short staffed resort he
had taken it on himself. He had applied for a loan to refurbish and promote the
resort three times and every time it had been denied. Then he devised a plan to
have the bank manager visit the place and had waited on him hand and foot,
taking every opportunity to explain his vision to his guest. The least he could
do was listen in exchange for a free weekend stay. Then early the next Monday
morning, his efforts had paid off.
    Yes, that fear of
failure and going back to the life of struggle and poverty was what was keeping
him up that morning.
    Reno pushed away from
the table and stood. “She’s still asleep. Would you please wait for her to wake
up before you come in? I don’t want her to be alone.”
    “Why don’t you stay,
take a nap and I’ll handle the resort. You are no good to anyone half asleep.”
    Reno’s immediate
reaction was to say no but the thought of a few hours in his bed next to
Loraine was very tempting. And Ruiz was quite capable of handling the running
of the place.
    “Are you sure?”
    Ruiz chuckled, standing
up. “It’s time you let someone else take care of you big brother. In fact, why
don’t you take a few days off and take Loraine on a tour of the islands?”
    Reno shook his head.
“No way. I’m only taking the morning off.”
    “You could take Loraine
with you.”
    Both men turned to the
sound of Melody’s voice as she walked into the room. Reno could see the concern
in her eyes and he knew it was for Loraine.
    “Allan used to have
nightmares like those and they scared me to death.” She tried to laugh it off
but the tears in her eyes betrayed her. “We need to do something fast before
she gets as bad as he did. I can’t handle that so soon after Allan.”
    Ruiz went to her and
wrapped her in a hug. “Hey, everything is going to be alright, right Reno?”
    Reno just stared at
them, speechless. He had no idea what to say. His own experience with Riana had
frightened him as much as Melody’s and he had been powerless to do anything
then too. Aurora had saved her, and years after Allan had brought his sister
back.
    What exactly could he
possibly do for Loraine?
    “Right. Everything will
be fine.”

 
    * * * *

 
    Loraine slowly woke up
feeling more rested