Crash Landing. Lori Wilde
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a serial monogamist,” his best friend Coast Guard Lieutenant Scott Everly often teased. It was true, he never dated more than one woman at a time.
Gibb’s cell phone rang.
He stepped back from the window, pulled the phone from his pocket and looked at the caller ID.
Speak of the devil.
Scott had been dodging his calls of late and Gibb wondered if it was because his buddy was having second thoughts about leaving the Coast Guard. He and Scott were going into business together on this clandestine, environmentally green project that promised to revolutionize the way people traveled.
That was what Gibb was doing here in Cordillera of Tilarán. The planning stage was finally complete. And although the patent was still pending, it was only a matter of time until it was granted. He had complete confidence in that. The inventor would be arriving next week. It was time to start building the prototype track for the breakthrough monorail system that would extend the thirty miles from Bosque de Los Dioses to Monteverde.
Building the prototype track here would serve two purposes. One, it would eventually make Bosque de Los Dioses accessible by some other mode of transportation besides bush plane. And two, the remote location and thick vegetation discouraged the corporate spies that had dogged him. Twice in the last two years, spies from Fisby Corp had burned him by stealing the ideas he’d invested in and getting them to market before he did. He wasn’t going to allow that to happen again.
That’s where Scott was to come in. He was the only one Gibb trusted to handle his private security. They’d been talking about partnering up for the past two years, ever since Gibb had first invested in this project. They’d just been waiting for Scott’s commission with the Coast Guard to be over to get started on it. Waiting, however, was making Gibb antsy. The longer it took, the more likely it was that someone would rip off the idea before the patent was granted.
Gibb hit the talk button. “Guy, where have you been?”
“Falling in love,” Scott replied.
Gibb laughed. “So when are you getting out of the Coast Guard? How long before you can get to Costa Rica? I need you here.”
“I’m serious,” Scott said. “I’ve fallen in love with the most amazing woman. She’s smart and sexy and—”
Gibb snorted. “Stop pulling my leg. We’re ready to hit the ground running. I have to tell you that arranging to have supplies delivered up here, while trying to keep things tightly under wraps has been nothing short of a logistical nightmare.”
“You’re not listening to me.”
“Sure I am, you’re madly in love. Good. Great. Congrats. Now when can I expect you?”
“She’s the daughter of Jack Birchard, the renowned oceanographer, but Jackie is a damn fine oceanographer in her own right,” Scott went on as if he hadn’t said a thing.
Gibb scratched his head. “You’re serious?”
“I’m stone cold in love, buddy.”
“Okay.” Gibb plowed fingers through his hair, tried not to fret. “What does Jackie think about you living in Costa Rica for a couple of years?”
“I’m not leaving the Coast Guard.”
“C’mon. We’ve talked about this forever. I can’t do it without you.”
“Sure you can.”
“All right, I don’t want to do it without you. This project has the potential to make us billionaires.”
“You’re already a billionaire, Gibb.”
“Not now I’m not. Not after all I’ve got invested in this technology.”
“Aw, so now you’re only a multi-millionaire? How will you ever survive?”
“Scott, I can’t believe you’re doing this to me. Remember when we were kids, camping out in a tent in your parents’ backyard? Even then we talked about working together someday, but you had to go off and join the Coast Guard.”
“You were supposed to join with me,” Scott reminded him.
“Is it my fault that I get seasick?”
Joining the Coast Guard was the best thing Gibb had never done. If he had joined the Coast Guard, he wouldn’t have invented a popular gaming app that had made him a multi-millionaire and started him on the road to becoming a venture capitalist, investing in other people’s ideas.
He had a knack for spotting trends before they took off and it paid big dividends. Charismatic forward thinker, Wealth Maker Magazine had called him. Unfortunately, that had made him a target for the unscrupulous looking to get in on his action. Forcing Gibb to become even more secretive and suspicious of others than he already was. Scott was the one person in the whole wide world that he trusted with his life.
“No, just like it’s not my fault that I fell in love.”
“You’re leaving me hanging?”
“I’m sorry, Gibb, but I’ve found something more. I don’t want to end up like you.”
Two whips of hurt and anger lashed through him. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“I don’t want to be consumed by work the way you are.”
An accusing silence stretched over the miles between them.
“If I wasn’t consumed by work, I wouldn’t be where I am today,” he said.
“Where are you, Gibb?”
“At the top of the freaking world.”
“Alone.”
“I’m not alone. I have a cover model girlfriend and my Bentley and my beach house and—”
“I’m getting married on Saturday in Key West on the Fourth of July, aboard the Sea Anemone, Wharf 16 at 4:00 p.m. I hope you’ll be there.”
It wasn’t until this very moment that Gibb understood exactly how much he’d been looking forward to not only working with Scott, but bringing him in on this deal. It was Gibb’s way of paying his buddy back for the time Scott had literally saved his life.
Gibb pushed the platinum bracelet up on his wrist. Scott had a matching bracelet. They’d bought the man jewelry together, a symbol of their brotherhood and undying friendship after that crazy diving trip to the Great Barrier Reef where Gibb had been barbed in the chest by a stingray. Only Scott’s quick action and first aid training had prevented Gibb from removing the barb. He’d come within seconds of ending up like the famous crocodile hunter, Steve Irwin.
Reflexively, Gibb rubbed his chest. “This Saturday?”
“This Saturday.”
“But it’s Wednesday!”
“I know.”
“Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”
“Because Jackie and I just got engaged.”
“What? Why so fast?”
“When it’s right, it’s right. We can’t wait any longer to be together.”
“So she’s pregnant.”
“No, she’s not pregnant.” Scott sounded irritated.
“Whoa, back up the truck. I talked to you six weeks ago and you didn’t say a word about this Jackie woman. How long have you known her?”
“A month,” Scott confessed, not sounding the least bit sheepish.
“A month! You’re marrying someone you’ve only known a month?”
“Don’t rain on my parade. She’s the love of my life,” Scott growled.