About the Authors

TARYN BELLE is the pen name of Cea Person, a bestselling Canadian author who wrote about her unconventional childhood in two memoirs, North of Normal and Nearly Normal, both published by HarperCollins. She is a former international model and a businesswoman, who runs a swimwear company with merchandise popularised by celebrities such as Jessica Alba and Kate Hudson. She loves playing board games with her husband and three children, hosting dinner parties in her Vancouver home and crafting out.

KELLI IRELAND spent a decade as a name on a door in corporate America. Unexpectedly liberated by fate’s sense of humour, she chose to carpe the diem and pursue her passion for writing. A fan of happily-ever-afters, she found she loved being puppetmaster for the most unlikely couples. Seeing them through the best and worst of each other while helping them survive the joys and disasters of falling in love… Best. Thing. Ever. Visit Kelli’s website at kelliireland.com.

In Too Deep & Matched

Taryn Belle and Kelli Ireland

www.millsandboon.co.uk

ISBN: 978-0-008-90111-0

IN TOO DEEP & MATCHED

In Too Deep © 2019 Cea Sunrise Person Matched © 2019 Denise Tomkins

Published in Great Britain 2019

by Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF

All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, locations and incidents are purely fictional and bear no relationship to any real life individuals, living or dead, or to any actual places, business establishments, locations, events or incidents. Any resemblance is entirely coincidental.

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www.millsandboon.co.uk

Version: 2020-03-02

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Table of Contents

Cover

About the Authors

Title Page

Copyright

Note to Readers

In Too Deep

Back Cover Text

Dedication

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Matched

Back Cover Text

Dedication

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

About the Publisher

In Too Deep

Taryn Belle

Welcome to the Caribbean’s secret playground for the rich and famous

Where your wickedest sexy deeds are almost a secret…

On a tiny tropical island teeming with the rich and famous, Nicola Metcalfe is an unrecognizable nobody. Which is just about perfect. Her life in LA—including her teaching career and the sleazy tabloid scandal that capsized it—has been replaced by sun-kissed beaches, deep blue waters and a new job as a scuba instructor. Hell, Nicola could even forget about her nonexistent sex life…until she saves Alex Stone’s life.

Alex might be the worst scuba diver in the ocean, but every inch of him is beautiful, firm-bodied perfection. The kind that jolts about a zillion megawatts of pure, crackling sexual tension straight to Nicola’s naughty bits. Maybe it’s something. Maybe it’s just for tonight. But whatever it is, Nicola wants it. Badly.

After all, Alex isn’t staying long enough to discover who she really is—or what she did.

Not long enough to do anything other than give in to the intense, insatiable craving that threatens to drown them both.

And definitely not long enough for Nicola to discover that the guy she’s falling for might just be responsible for ruining her life…

Harlequin DARE publishes sexy romances featuring powerful alpha heroes and bold, fearless heroines exploring their deepest fantasies.

Four new Harlequin DARE titles are available each month, wherever ebooks are sold!

For Heather, whose laughter I still hear every day.

CHAPTER ONE

CRASHING WAVES. SUNLIGHT streaming onto his face. A light breeze blowing through the open floor-to-ceiling windows. And a pounding headache.

Alex Stone reached his hand out to the bedside table and groped for his phone, then brought it to life to read the time. 8:37. Shit.

He sat up in bed and swung his legs to the floor, cursing his brother as he grabbed a pair of swimming trunks from his suitcase. Ditching his boxer shorts, he slid the trunks over his bare hips and bent forward to dig around for a T-shirt. His head protested.

Alex may not have minded his headache so much if it was the price for an evening of fun, but the case was anything but. After arriving in Moretta from LA last night, tired and jet-lagged—naturally, Alex had refused his brother’s offer of a private jet to neighboring Barbados in favor of three leg-cramping commercial flights—his considerate rock-star brother had driven him straight to his place, where a raucous party was in full swing. No amount of sleeping pills or pillows over his head could block out the noise and music pounding through the walls of his brother’s home, which lasted until, by Alex’s estimation, about four hours ago.

He glanced at his phone again: 8:40. His scuba-diving lesson was due to start in twenty minutes. He’d taken all the preliminary lessons back in LA, and today was to be his first open-water dive. But right now he was exhausted and feeling anything but mentally prepared for it. It was probably dangerous to dive with so little sleep. He was staying on the island for a week; there was no rush. He should cancel…

Screw that. This was something he needed to do. He’d promised himself he would, and Alex Stone was a man who always kept his promises.

Alex opened his bedroom door. It had been dark when he arrived last night, so between the lack of light and the throngs of bodies crowding the space, he hadn’t gotten a good feel for its layout. Now Alex could see how breathtaking both the house and its setting were. Each of the eight bedroom doors opened onto an expansive piazza with the beach just beyond it. Between a stand of palms on his right and a rocky outcrop to his left, the turquoise ocean lapped gently. As he watched, a tortoise slowly made its way along the sand in his direction.

Alex turned and walked toward the main house, noting that there wasn’t an empty glass or a cushion out of place to be seen, thanks to his brother’s twenty-four-hour housekeeping staff. Passing through the enormous living room, he admired a trio of white sofas the size of queen beds and the tasteful, original artwork on the whitewashed walls. By the time he got to the stainless-steel-and-polished-concrete kitchen with coffee on his mind, his walk from one end of the house to the other felt more like a quest.

“Hey, little brother,” Dev said with a grin as Alex entered the room. Lounging against the counter with a cup of tea in his tanned hand, Dev was the picture of health. For the life of him, Alex would never understand how his brother could party as hard as he did and never look the worse for wear. “Sleep well?”

Alex glared at him as he hit the button on the Starbucks-size espresso machine. “Glad to hear you haven’t lost your sense of humor.”

“What happened to you, anyway? You missed your own party.”

Alex stared at him in disbelief. “My party?”

Dev shrugged. “Yeah, man. I haven’t seen you in what, four years? My brother comes to visit me—I pull out all the stops.”

“And I always thought the guest of honor was supposed to get a little attention at his own party. My mistake.”

Dev appeared oblivious to Alex’s barb. “Plenty of people there would have loved to give you a little attention,” he said with a wink, turning his head toward the window. Through the glass, Alex could see Dev’s entourage—including several silicone-breasted groupies—lounging by the infinity pool. Alex gave his head a hopeless shake. There was no denying that he and his brother looked alike—same tall build, dark hair and unusual aqua eyes. The eyes were courtesy of their mother, and, Alex thought, looked devastating on Dev’s somewhat prettier face but didn’t quite work with Alex’s more masculine features. But the similarities ended with their appearance; in every other way the brothers were about as different as guitars and boardrooms, much like their respective careers. “I have to get going,” Alex said, downing the last of his coffee.

“Going?”

“Scuba diving. I told you last night.”

“Oh. Right,” Dev replied, but Alex knew better than to think his brother had been paying attention. It had always been like this between the two of them, even when they were kids—Dev busy entertaining his adoring audiences while Alex hurried along behind in his shadow, just hoping for a shred of his attention. “So, scuba diving, huh? That’s kind of unlike you, considering…” Dev trailed off, leaving the thing they’d never talked about hanging in the air.

Alex placed his coffee cup down with a thud. He wouldn’t give his brother the satisfaction of seeing that he wasn’t quite over his fear yet. “Scuba’s been on my radar for a while. And what better time to tackle a water sport than when you’re surrounded by water?” He started to walk away, and then turned back and gave his brother a cool smile. “You should come with me.”

Dev busied himself with fishing his tea bag out of his mug. “Can’t risk the old ears, brother. Be the death of my career.”

“Of course.” Alex left the kitchen, his mood unimproved.

“Take a golf cart,” Dev shouted after him.

Nicola Metcalfe was going to be late for work—again. Turning the key in the ignition a second time, she made a frustrated noise in her throat when it gave a dry click…and then nothing. Running an agitated hand through her hair, she jumped off the golf cart and made a beeline back to the tiny staff bungalow she shared with her roommate.

“Kiki!” she shouted furiously as she flung the front door open and strode toward her roommate’s bedroom. “You forgot to fill up the cart again! How am I supposed to get to work?”

On her bed Kiki rolled onto her side, her strawberry blond hair spilling over her pillow, and opened one eye. “Oh, God, I’m sorry. I finished work so late last night, and the station was already closed…”

“It’s called planning, Kiki.”

“Planning. Right,” she agreed but was already rolling away again and pulling her pillow over her head.

Nicola sighed, knowing it was hopeless. She loved Kiki—they’d been friends since Nicola had first moved to LA to finish her teaching degree nearly a decade ago, and Kiki was the whole reason she’d moved to Moretta four months earlier, acting as a soft landing for Nicola when she needed it most. After the messy end of Kiki’s marriage two years ago, she’d traded in her crazed career as an executive assistant for a bartending job on Moretta. It still amazed Nicola that her friend had had the organizational skills to orchestrate such a dramatic move—unlike Nicola, Kiki was hopelessly scattered.

Nicola left the house again, then she snatched her satchel off the seat of the golf cart and started a slow jog toward the beach along the island’s main road. In truth it was Moretta’s only road, a meandering loop around the entire island with a crisscross running through the center to allow access to its hillside homes, which traded beachfront property for breathtaking panoramic views of the Caribbean Sea. But on a three-square-mile chunk of land sprinkled with only one boutique hotel, one restaurant, ninety-two estates and a few staff cottages, the beach was only minutes away for each and every resident. Seventy years ago it had been a handful of Barbadian and American judges who first recognized the beauty of the tiny island, flocking in to build majestic homes on inexpensive land that soon skyrocketed in value. The influx had earned the island the temporary nickname of “Judgment Isle,” ironic considering that it had now grown into a destination known for its privacy and lack of judgment.

By the time Nicola was halfway to the scuba shack, she was breathing heavily and the thin white tank covering her bikini top was soaked through between her breasts. In mid-August it was already ninety degrees before 9 a.m., but having grown up in Hawaii she was used to heat like this. She stopped to catch her breath, placing her hands on her knees as she leaned forward. All was quiet aside from her ragged breathing and the sound of a light breeze riffling through the palm leaves. Gathering her hair off her neck as she straightened again, she found herself wishing for one of the elastics she kept in a drawer at the scuba shack.

In the distance she could hear the whine of an engine approaching. She recognized the sound as another golf cart, the chief mode of transportation around the island. Every home boasted at least two of them—except, of course, her home.

Nicola started walking in the direction of the beach again as she heard the cart draw nearer to her. She cast a glance over her shoulder, hoping the driver might be someone she knew—Juan from the restaurant maybe, or Stella from the hotel—but one look told her this was not someone she was going to be bumming a ride from.

The driver was a lone female. Her signature dark wavy hair was wrapped in a pink scarf, and large sunglasses covered half her face. Nicola recognized the woman immediately: Lauren Hayes, just one of the many celebrities who owned a home on the island.

No, Nicola would not be asking Lauren Hayes for a lift to her lowly scuba instructor job.

Nicola lifted a hand briefly in greeting, but the star cruised by with perfectly averted eyes. Nicola shook her head with a small grin. She had no right to complain—this was exactly why she had moved here. On an island overflowing with celebrities, Nicola was an unrecognizable nobody—and that was exactly who she wanted to be.

It was only after Alex had started driving that he realized he wasn’t entirely sure if he was going in the right direction. There were no signs, as Moretta wasn’t exactly welcoming to tourists—apparently, you either belonged here or you didn’t. Even the scuba shack’s website was obtuse—We’re located at the beach, of course!

As Alex drove on, half hoping he was traveling in the wrong direction so he would miss the boat after all, he tried to calm his nerves by bringing his mind back to the whole reason he was here in the first place: John Brissoli. The self-made entrepreneur and ex-lawyer was known to be a recluse, especially since his most successful website had reached stratospheric heights two years ago. The site had spawned a spate of copycats, but Alex was only interested in acquiring the real deal. Never mind that a quick internet search revealed the true scope of Brissoli’s work—he had his fingers in many pies, including the porn industry. But Alex didn’t see that as his concern. He’d learned a long time ago to separate his own ethics from those he did business with, as there probably wasn’t a deal to be made under the sun that didn’t have a little dirt on it.

The idea to acquire the website had come from Alex’s father, the cofounder of the family media empire along with Alex’s mother. Devin Sr. had made it clear to Alex that he was to pay whatever was necessary in order to add Brissoli’s site to their company’s roster. But of course, it was rarely that simple. Mr. Brissoli had ignored Alex’s many emails and calls until a week ago, when he’d sent Alex a one-line response: on moretta if you want to talk.

Moretta. It figured. The same island his rock-star only sibling spent a third of his time on; the same island Alex had been avoiding for that very reason ever since his brother had bought a home here several years ago. Knowing the size of Moretta, Alex had had no choice but to tell his brother he was coming, which maddened him all the more because he didn’t actually have a clue what he was going to do once he reached the island. Alex’s follow-up messages to Brissoli had once more gone unanswered, so now here he was—four thousand miles away from home with no cell phone number for his contact, no meeting time or place, staying with a brother he’d stopped trying to forge a relationship with years ago. Even the stunning views of the island as he drove weren’t enough to cheer him up.

Alex sighed deeply as he rounded a corner in the road, swerving slightly to avoid a crossing tortoise. Beautiful island or not, he couldn’t wait to track Brissoli down, get the meeting over with and hightail it out of here.

That was what Alex was thinking when he saw her.

Behind her, Nicola heard another golf cart approaching. She broke her jog, slowing to a walk as the cart pulled up beside her.

“Excuse me,” said a deep male voice. When she turned to face him, her breath, which was coming out fast from her run, literally caught in her throat. The man who had spoken the words to her was drop-dead gorgeous. Square jaw, dark mussed hair, and his eyes—they were the exact same color as her own. No one had the same shade of eyes as her. When she was little, her mother used to tell her they were proof that she was born with the ocean in her.

“Yes?” Nicola managed to get out.

“Am I going in the right direction? I’m looking for the beach.”

The beach? Hot or not, it was an obvious pickup line, and a bad one at that. Nicola had heard plenty of those since she’d moved here. This guy was obviously some C-list celebrity staying with an A-list friend and thinking that moved him up two letters in the alphabet. What was it about celebrities that made them think you were supposed to fall at their feet if they deigned to talk to you?

Nicola started walking again, looking straight ahead. In her peripheral vision, she saw the cart crawling along beside her. “Keep driving in any direction. You can’t really miss it.”

“Of course. The, uh—the main beach, I guess I meant. In the town center.”

“Not much of a town, but keep going straight and you’ll be there in about a minute.”

“Thanks.” He paused, and then, “You looked like you were in a bit of a hurry. Can I offer you a lift?”

Nicola turned to look at him again, setting her face in a firm expression of disinterest that belied the flutter she felt in her belly.

God, he was beautiful.

He was wearing swimming trunks and an old gray T-shirt with a rip in the neckline, a flaw in his clothing that only served to highlight the perfection of the body beneath it. She couldn’t help herself—she followed the line of his smooth biceps down to his large hands to check for a ring. Now more than ever, married men were a definite deal breaker for Nicola. But his fingers were bare, allowing her to imagine them sliding up her thighs, tugging on the ties of her bikini bottom and…

Stop it.

But she couldn’t. Judging from the length of his bent muscular legs, he was at least six foot three—perfect for her, as at five foot nine, she felt too tall around many men. One last look between his legs revealed an impressive bulge that she could imagine undressing, stroking, until he was rock-hard, and then…

Enough!

She was thinking like a sex-crazed teenager, probably because she hadn’t actually had sex since long before she moved here. Everything that had gone down in LA hadn’t exactly worked wonders for her libido.

“I’m happy walking,” she lied, and then started doing just that to prove it. She could feel his eyes burning into the side of her face.

“Suit yourself,” he said, shrugged and then drove away.

Really, it was a good thing she hadn’t accepted the ride, because Alex was pretty sure there was no way she wouldn’t have noticed the swelling under his swimming trunks. Jesus, she was fucking beautiful. Trim, toned figure, long blond hair and those eyes…the same shade as his. Though if she’d noticed that, she certainly hadn’t let on. He wasn’t sure why she’d been so standoffish with him when he was just asking innocent questions, but he figured it might have something to do with the fact that she looked familiar. Like almost everyone else on this island, she was a someone, and she wanted to be sure to send the message that she was way out of his civilian league. Not to mention that a woman as hot as her was most likely off the market.

Alex shook his head, trying to clear it of the image of the glistening sweat between her breasts, the tanned slice of tummy he’d spied between her tank top and shorts, the heavy breathing that had made him think of only one thing. He wanted to hear her breathe like that again, but this time because of his cock driving into her again and again, her nipples thrusting upward to meet his hungry mouth…

Get yourself together. You’re about to be sixty feet beneath the surface with nothing between you and a lungful of killer water but a couple of rubber tubes.

Right. He needed to focus. He had come here for two reasons—to close a deal and to once and for all conquer his childhood fear of the ocean, and he wasn’t about to be distracted from either of those goals by any woman.

No matter how fucking hot she was.

CHAPTER TWO

TWO INSTRUCTORS, EIGHT STUDENTS. At the dock Nicola did a quick final head count before zipping her dive skin up to her neck. Much to her annoyance, her mind was still on the chiseled god she’d encountered on the road—and the furtive, hopeful glances she kept throwing at arriving students irked her even more. She really did need to get out more.

“Tanks are ready to go,” said Zach, her fellow instructor, reaching past Nicola to set the last two metal cylinders on the boat. Nicola smiled her thanks to him. As far as she knew, Zach was one of only a handful of island staff members who had actually been born on Moretta. Raised the son of one of the estate’s chefs, Zach had grown up in the tiny staff quarters behind the house and been homeschooled by his mother—just the inspiration Nicola had needed to start tutoring some of the island kids once per week. She didn’t think she’d ever become accustomed to the huge class chasm that separated the island natives from the residents who’d taken it over.

“Hi, Miss Nicola,” said a quiet voice. Nicola turned to see one of her students, Raia, peeking out at her shyly from around the corner of the shack.

Nicola smiled at her. “Back to school this week,” she reminded Raia with a mix of anticipation and longing. It wasn’t lost on Nicola that if she were back in LA right now—back in her old, normal life before it all went crazy—she would be welcoming her first-grade class to their first day of school today. The memory of the children she’d been forced to leave behind two months before the end of the school year still stung.

After Zach and her students had piled onto the boat, Nicola stepped onto the boat herself and started to mentally prepare for the upcoming dive. The fact that she’d been scuba diving since she was thirteen and instructing since she was nineteen, when she’d used it as a part-time job to put herself through college, did nothing to make her take the sport less seriously. It only served to heighten her awareness of its dangers, because with the rising popularity of scuba diving, people tended to lose sight that it was an extreme sport. If done properly it was almost always safe, but there were many things that could potentially go catastrophically wrong.

She ran the upcoming dive through her head, planning the traverse around the reef she would lead her students on. Then she ran through her four students’ abilities, assessing each one for potential weaknesses or panic triggers. By the time the boat geared down, pulled up alongside another dive boat and dropped anchor at Sinkhole Reef, Nicola was feeling ready.

“Okay, everyone,” she said, pulling her mask and snorkel over her head and letting it rest around her neck. “This will be an easy one. We should have excellent visibility, and we’re going for a max depth of seventy feet. You’ll see lobsters, stingrays, moray eels, possibly a few nurse or reef sharks. Lobsters hang out in pods, so don’t be freaked out if you come across a den of fifty or so. Just keep your fingers to yourselves! Remember to practice neutral buoyancy and keep your fins off the reef. Stay with your buddy at all times, and ascend—slowly, remember—before you have no less than 200 PSI left in your tank.”

She walked around to her students to be sure their tanks had been turned to the open position, getting each of them to test their regulators in turn. Then she put on her fins, weight belt and buoyancy control device. Shuffling backward on her fins toward the edge of the boat, she put her regulator in her mouth. Then she held her mask on her face and fell backward to demonstrate a back fall-in. “Now your turn. One at a time,” she called to her students once she’d resurfaced.

Focused solely on the safety of the four people under her charge, Nicola was barely aware of the sound of bodies splashing into the water as divers from the neighboring boat began to drop in at the same time.

Alex had thought he was doing okay. On the boat ride he’d run through his entire lesson book in his head, followed by everything he’d learned on the eight pool dives he’d completed back in LA.

He could do this. People did it every day. Hell, there were teenagers on his boat who didn’t look the least bit concerned that they may very well be taking their last-ever breaths.

Quit it. Not every kid who goes into the ocean has a near-death experience.

After he’d talked himself somewhat off the ledge, he took a deep, calming breath and followed his instructor’s orders—tank open, regulator in, mask on. He was standing up, ready to walk backward to the edge of the boat when his instructor pointed at his waist. “Forgot your weight belt,” Rusty said. “You won’t get far down without that.”

Alex groaned. His weight belt—of course. Shit, he was a mess, and his persisting thoughts of that Sienna Miller look-alike on the road this morning weren’t helping matters.

Focus.

As he sat down again and unfastened his BCD, Rusty walked over to inspect Alex’s belt. The man was huge, which gave Alex a small measure of reassurance—even though his brain told him he’d be practically weightless underwater, if anything went wrong it was comforting to know this guy could probably carry him to the surface on one finger.

Rusty picked his belt up and gave it a heft. “Twenty-two pounds? You’re a big guy. I think you’ll want another fiver on there.”

“You sure?” Alex asked as a vision of himself sinking to the ocean floor like a rock flashed through his head.

“Yep.” The instructor grabbed a weight from the crate near his feet and handed it to Alex. “Just thread it through your belt and you’re good to go.”

Alex did so, then hefted the belt around his waist and fastened the airline-seatbelt-like closing. It slipped down a little when he stood up, so he tightened it. It slipped down again. Was it supposed to feel this loose? Probably—what the hell did he know? All he was certain of was that he was used to being in control, being the one to show others how things were done, and he was tired of looking like a rookie fool. It was this departure from his comfort zone as much as the ocean he was about to jump into that was causing his anxiety.

In any case, it was go-time. There was no backing out now. Alex got himself ready and fell backward into the open water.

The surface was crowded, as it looked like another group of divers had just dropped in at the same time. It took Alex a minute to locate his buddy, because everyone was unrecognizable to him with their masks and snorkels on. After they inserted their regulators into their mouths, his buddy counted down with his fingers. Holding their inflator controls above their heads, they slowly released air from their BCDs to start the descent to the reef. Alex felt the water close over his head, and then he saw bubbles rise in front of his mask as he exhaled.

He was doing it! He was under the surface of the ocean, and he was okay! Ridiculously, he felt an urge to let out a whoop, then quickly reminded himself of how stupid that would be.

When Alex’s feet hit the ocean floor, he spun around in a slow semicircle toward the reef. Then it was right in front of him, and all he could do was blink in amazement. The reef was so much more incredible than any photograph could capture. It was covered in every imaginable shape and color of plant and animal life—waving pink sea fans, purple and yellow tubes of coral—all forming a backdrop for the many animals that called it home. Sea stars of purple, orange and yellow shared space with spiky sea urchins on the coral. A spotted moray eel poked its head from its den, a turtle nipped at a plant, a grouper the size of a coffee table cruised by and a school of tiny blue fish flashed in synchronicity. Beyond it an underwater meadow of seagrass spread into the distance.

Alex turned to look to his left. There, much too close for Alex’s comfort, the ocean floor fell sharply away to create a cavernous, eerie-looking dark blue space: the sinkhole the reef was named after. Alex shivered, imagining himself stepping off the edge and falling down, down, gathering speed as the air in his BCD compressed, struggling to swim upward…slipping beneath the surface and sinking while his brother laughed onshore—

Stop it.

He was doing so well; the last thing he needed to do right now was send himself into a panic over something that had happened nearly two decades ago. He tore his eyes away from the sinkhole.

Alex’s group was starting to move along, so, remembering his pool dives, he put a little air into his BCD until his fins lifted from the ocean floor. Then he did his best to get himself horizontal—he could only imagine what a newbie he must look like, but at this point he was almost beyond caring—and started swimming after his buddy.

Of all the incredible things to see underwater, Nicola’s favorite was probably the very common trunkfish. With their clown-like faces, boxy spotted bodies and you-don’t-scare-me attitudes, they practically made her laugh into her regulator every time. She was pointing one out to a student when she noticed another diver swimming past her.

Many divers had trouble identifying people when they were suited up underwater, especially if they were in matching equipment, but Nicola had a knack for it. She could tell this diver wasn’t from her group, or even from her boat, and that he was very inexperienced. That was fine—everyone had to start somewhere—but what wasn’t fine was that he was on his own with no buddy or instructor in sight, and worse, headed directly for the sinkhole.

What the hell? What was he doing, and why was he on his own?

Checking quickly to make sure her students were all fine, she started going after him. This diver may not have been experienced, but he was very tall, making for a fast swimmer. When he reached the sinkhole, he didn’t slow down but cruised right over it, staring down into it as if mesmerized. Then he suddenly stopped, suspended above it.

Nicola was still about fifty feet away from him. She swam harder, not letting him out of her sight. Judging from this diver’s behavior, she had a suspicion of what was going on. It was unusual for it to happen at this depth, but certainly not unheard of: nitrogen narcosis. She’d seen it several times in her diving career—a state of euphoria and invincibility, much like that caused by narcotics, induced by breathing air at a higher pressure than the atmosphere. It was imperative that she get to him before he got any bad ideas—like letting all the air out of his BCD so he could swim to the bottom of the sinkhole, for example.

Forty feet away…thirty-five—

Nicola saw something from around the diver’s waist drop into the abyss. Her heart stopped.

The diver’s weight belt had slipped off, she realized, and now one of two things could happen. Either he would rocket straight for the surface and get a life-threatening case of the bends, or he could panic and very likely spit out his regulator. She hoped upon hope it would be option number two, because then at least she’d have a chance to get her spare air supply into his mouth before he drowned. Muscles burning and heart galloping, she put on a burst of speed, knowing that she still had to keep her breathing under control. If she sucked in too much air, she wouldn’t have enough left in her tank to get both of them safely to the surface.

Twenty feet—

Nicola watched the diver’s body language as he registered surprise, confusion—he was starting to rise upward—but then the best thing possible happened. She saw his arm shoot out to grab his inflator control, which meant he was doing what he was supposed to—removing the air from his BCD to keep himself from rocketing up to the surface.

Ten feet—

But oh, God, no—he’d hit the wrong button. This, too, was something she’d seen happen before—the buttons were different shapes but close together, so sometimes in a panic a diver would hit the fill button instead of the expel button.

Fifteen feet now as he floated up and away from her—

Adrenaline kicked in, but Nicola’s muscles still screamed. Her breath tore out of her lungs—not much chance of giving him air now, but she had to do something—and finally she was close enough to take a lunge at him. Reaching her hands up, she used her fins to propel herself upward and managed to close one hand around the tip of his fin. Her other hand closed around the edge of his second fin, then she clawed her way up until she could grab his ankles. She had a hold of him now, but it could still mean both of their deaths if she didn’t get to his inflator control to let his air out. She used the same arm she had locked around his legs to let the air out of her own vest by its built-in button, then used her other hand to take a slow-motion whack at the diver’s forearm. He dropped the inflator control and it floated slowly down toward her. Nicola snatched it up and pressed the expel button, doing a strong reverse frog kick with her legs to try to pull them downward.

And then she prayed.

Long, slow, deep breaths to conserve what little air she had left. Pretty much impossible at this point, but Nicola focused on it all the same to try to quell the adrenaline pumping through her veins. She still had her arm wrapped around the man’s waist with her head near his hip. She reached for her dive computer to read her oxygen level, though she already knew from her increasingly labored breaths that it was dangerously low. The number flashed at her in urgent red digits—80 PSI. Just enough to get her to the surface if she started her ascent in about one minute, but that didn’t help him any. At least they weren’t rising anymore—they seemed to have leveled out at around forty feet. Nicola employed a few more reverse frog kicks to pull them down a little farther, calculating that they’d now have to stay at this depth for about three more minutes to compensate for their initial rapid ascent. Going up any sooner put them both at serious risk for decompression sickness, a potentially lethal condition where gaseous bubbles formed in the bloodstream.

Sliding her hand up the diver’s chest, Nicola reached behind his left shoulder and pulled her arm forward to catch the tube attached to his dive computer. She caught the device in her hand and looked down at his oxygen: 50 PSI.

It was decision time—release him to his possible death but save herself, take both of them up now come what may, or try to share what little oxygen she had left with him.

There was no question. She swept her arm backward to catch her spare air supply, then pulled his regulator out of his mouth, replaced it with hers and hit the purge button.

CHAPTER THREE

WHEN ALEX’S HEAD broke the surface of the water, cold fear was still pumping through his veins. Just moments ago he had been quite certain he was about to draw his last breath. Ripping his mask off with shaking hands, the only thought in his mind was: he’d been a fucking fool to ever think he could do this. Quick on its heels, fueled by his extremely damaged ego, was the thought that he never wanted to face the person who’d been stuck with saving him. Given the choice between terror and humiliation, he chose a third option—outrage.

“What the hell happened down there?” he sputtered to Rusty after he’d yanked his regulator from his mouth. No, not his regulator, not even his rescuer’s—the device he’d just pulled from his mouth was the spare air supply that his own instructor had had to save him with. After Rusty finally got the memo that things had gone south with one of his students, he’d taken over the job and relieved Alex’s real rescuer so he or she could surface and save their own life. “You let me lose the group on my first dive? My fucking belt falls off?”

Beside him, Rusty yanked his mask down around his neck. “The important thing is that you’re all right,” he said soothingly, waving to his driver to pick them up. “Let’s get on the boat and I will explain.” The driver spun the boat in a semicircle and then backed up toward them, expertly placing the ladder within Alex’s reach. He grabbed on to it and heaved himself out of the ocean, feeling water gush down his legs as his wet suit drained. Four pairs of eyes—those of his fellow divers, comfortably seated on the benches—turned to look at him as he stumbled on deck. Great. Now he had an audience, as if he didn’t feel stupid enough. And he knew very well how he’d just sounded—like one of those pompous assholes that Alex himself hated, the ones who tried to blame everyone else for their failings. Still breathing heavily with exertion and adrenaline, Alex sat down on the bench and leaned his head forward with his elbows on his knees, trying to get himself together.

Rusty dropped down beside him. “Another diver got caught in fishing line, so I had to stop and cut him out. It happens sometimes.” When Alex didn’t respond, Rusty calmly went on. “You swam away from your buddy. Your belt slipping off was a piece of bad luck. I came for you as soon as I realized you were missing, but thankfully someone else got to you first.”

Alex shook his head with his eyes focused between his feet. He still didn’t understand what the hell he’d been thinking. He remembered gazing out at the sinkhole from the reef, and then an overwhelmingly optimistic feeling bubbling up in his chest. He would do more than get over his fear, he remembered thinking—he’d fucking obliterate it. And then he’d started swimming toward the sinkhole like he was under some goddamn spell or something. To say he was furious with himself was an understatement. He’d thought he could handle this, could conquer his lifelong fear, and instead he’d only succeeded in making it worse than ever.

“Nitrogen narcosis,” called out a female voice from behind him. “At least I’m pretty sure that’s what it was. Did you feel giddy and invincible?”

That voice—it was vaguely familiar. Alex lifted his head and slowly turned it to see a woman standing on the other dive boat, bobbing up and down with the waves in an opposing motion to his craft.

No.

It was her. Looking completely different from this morning—wet hair askance, a red rim around her eyes where her mask had imprinted on her now-pale skin, but those aqua irises—he could see them all the way from where he sat. There was no mistaking it: the goddess he had encountered on the road this morning, the hottest woman he’d laid eyes on since forever, was his rescuer.

Alex’s pulse kicked into high gear, making his ears ring. Now he truly wanted to die of humiliation. Everyone on both boats was staring at him now, including another large, protective-looking instructor at the woman’s side. As Alex looked at them, his memory of the recent events fell away, leaving only an intense visceral feeling in his body that was all too familiar. He felt the warm gush of water rushing out of his mouth, saw the crowd of kids staring at him, and his father’s furious face as he strode toward him. And then later—the sharp sting of his father’s slap across his five-year-old cheek. His father, the person who was supposed to care about him, had only enforced to Alex how badly he’d messed up.

Alex’s hands curled into fists on his thighs. He’d learned about nitrogen narcosis in his scuba lessons, but his understanding was that it only happened at depths below a hundred feet. Was she trying to help him save face? Or making fun of him? He knew he owed her his thanks for saving his life, but with his emotions running riot, he feared doing so might reduce him to tears. So instead, he jumped up and strode to the end of his boat, getting as far away from his rescuer as possible.

“Whoa,” Kiki said to Nicola as she watched her friend down her second tequila shot in five minutes. “That bad, huh?”

“That bad,” Nicola confirmed, sliding her glass across the bar for a refill.

“Care to talk about it?”

Nicola shrugged. “What can I say? I saved some Z-list celebrity today—risking my own life while I was at it, I might add—and he doesn’t even have the decency to thank me. I mean, sure, it’s part of my job description, but really? The way he was looking at me, it was like the whole thing was all my fault or something.”

Hands on her hips, Kiki shook her head in disbelief. It was one of the many things Nicola loved about her roommate—that she could always count on Kiki for a big validating reaction to her stories. “Jesus. Where does someone even get off?”

“I know, right?” Nicola said, lifting her third shot to her lips. “Maybe it’s a Moretta thing.” She threw the tequila back with a quick toss of her head, and then clunked her glass down on the counter. “Like as in, maybe I’m just not cut out for this place.”

“Oh, no, you don’t,” Kiki said, slinging her dish towel over her shoulder and leaning her elbows onto the bar to get in her friend’s face. Her pretty green eyes narrowed at Nicola. “You’ve only been here for four months. It’s been good for you. You are not bailing on this like…” She stopped.

“Like I usually do? It’s okay, Kiki, I know.”

“Okay. Good,” Kiki said, plucking a wineglass from the rack above her to fill an order.

Nicola watched her friend, thinking how grateful she was to have her in her life. When Nicola first came to Moretta, it hadn’t been with the intention of staying here. After she’d been fired, she’d known exactly who to call in a fit of tears. Kiki had convinced her that a break from it all would do her good, so Nicola had packed a suitcase and flown to Moretta the following week. It wasn’t hard to fall in love with the place, and when she’d gone for a dive and mentioned to Rusty that she was an instructor herself, everything had started falling into place. Kiki needed a roommate, Nicola needed a place away from the spotlight where she could regain her sanity and still earn a living, and they both needed a friend. A few phone calls back to LA was all it took to wrap up her life there. She’d been sharing an apartment with a colleague back at home, and as luck would have it, her colleague had recently started making noise about wanting her boyfriend to move in. Whether her roommate was sincere or just using it as an excuse to kick Nicola out after the scandal, she wasn’t sure, but it didn’t matter—Nicola asked her to put the remainder of her clothing and few personal items into storage, which she’d happily done. Nicola tried not to think too hard about the fact that it had taken less than a day to put an end to a ten-year chapter of her life, because something about it was downright depressing.

Nicola watched Kiki’s eyes following someone behind her. “Dev Stone just walked in,” Kiki said under her breath. “Just another day at the office.”

Nicola could have cared less, but she caught a glimpse of him in the reflection of the bar’s mirror all the same. Hair raked back, careless swagger, a gaggle of groupies in tow. Vomit-inducing. She was just about to say so when she caught sight of another face among the entourage: the diver she’d rescued.

Nicola groaned. This island was much too small, and the scene was so fucking typical that it made her stomach turn. “Don’t look now, but it’s Mr. Z-lister himself,” Nicola told Kiki. “I guess we’ve unearthed whose star he’s hitched his ride to. I have to get out of here.” She slid a twenty across the counter and stood up.

“Total asshole,” Kiki agreed, crossing her arms over her chest. “Never mind that he’s a hot asshole.”

Nicola rolled her eyes, but she couldn’t deny the twinge she felt in her nether regions at the memory of their brief encounter this morning. After everything that had happened, how was that even possible?

“Love you,” Nicola said to her friend, and then she was gone.

“You should try the lobster,” the woman beside Alex urged him, not even attempting to be subtle about pressing her breast against his arm as she leaned toward the dish. “It’s unreal.”

“Thanks, I’m good,” Alex responded dully, leaning away from her just as unsubtly.

Lobster. He’d seen a whole pod of them today on the dive. It had been amazing to see them all piled together with their antennae waving at him in slow motion—before it all went to shit and he decided he was Poseidon, king of the goddamn sea.

“Hey,” Dev said from across the table, the first word he’d spoken to Alex since they’d been seated. As he watched, the woman on Dev’s left reached for a platter of plantains and started refilling her master’s plate. Alex refrained from rolling his eyes. “How was the dive?”

“Fantastic!” Alex forced a smile, then glanced over his brother’s shoulder toward the adjacent bar to check for any new arrivals. He’d been doing this since they sat down in the restaurant an hour ago, just hoping she might walk in. Just hoping he’d have the chance to apologize and thank her the way he should have in the first place. But there was no one new—just the same lineup of bodies seated at the strawberry blonde’s bar that had been there since they arrived.

A sharp knife of regret twisted in Alex’s gut. He’d acted like a fool. Sure, he’d been furious and terrified, but how could he have let his pride get the best of him like that? He rubbed a hand over his stubbly face. “Hey, you know what?” he said to Dev, pushing his chair away from the table. “It’s been a long day, and I need to get some sleep. I’ll see you back at the house, okay?”

Dev looked taken aback. “Sure, man, whatever you want.”

Alex excused himself and looked around for their waiter. He knew his gazillionaire brother was accustomed to paying—even expected to pay—for everything all the time. Dev wouldn’t even check the bill when it arrived. But it was the principle of it that mattered to Alex. Just as he’d refused Dev’s offer of the private jet, he would pay for his own meals and any other expenses that arose when they were together. Letting his brother give him a free ride only enforced the shadow Alex had lived in his whole life—especially after Dev’s first album took over the charts when he was just twenty years old.

The waiter was nowhere to be seen. Sighing deeply, Alex made his way over to the bar and leaned forward on his elbows. The strawberry blonde bartender was inches away from him, but instead of offering him a drink, she picked up a bar mop and started slowly wiping down the already clean countertop.

Alex cleared his throat. “Excuse me.”

“Oh.” She rocked back coolly on her heels. “Did you need something?”

“Just hoping to pay my bill. I can’t find my waiter.”

She tapped a button on the iPad that was sitting on the bar. “Table twelve? Mr. Stone has a credit card on file.”

Alex reached into the back pocket of his shorts and pulled out his wallet, then took out a hundred and laid it on the counter. “Then please just put this toward it,” he said. He was about to walk away when he caught himself and spun back toward her. “Hey,” he said, giving his fists two quick raps on the bar. “There’s a dive instructor that works at the scuba shack…blond hair, greenish eyes—”

“Male or female?” the bartender interrupted with a lift of her eyebrow.

“Female.” And hot as hell, he wanted to add.

“Sorry, doesn’t ring a bell,” she replied with an exaggerated upturn of her palms, then returned to her cleaning.

Alex stared at her. It was so obvious she was lying that it was almost funny—she wasn’t even trying to hide it. Which could only mean one thing: that she and his rescuer were friends, that his rescuer had already spilled the story and that somehow the bartender had figured out that he was the guy who’d made it all go down. God only knew what an asshole this woman must think he was.

“Listen,” he said. “I did something really stupid today, and I owe that woman a serious apology. I get it if you’re protecting her. But as her friend, think about this—would you rather she went to bed tonight feeling shitty, or feeling like a hero? Because she was my hero today, and I really need to tell her that.”

Her eyes widened. “Wow. You’re good.” She reached under the bar and slid a piece of paper across to him. “I’ll give her a note.”

CHAPTER FOUR

WEDNESDAY MORNING. NICOLA awoke around five thirty to the sound of tropical birds chirping loudly outside her window. Above her bed, her skylight was a dark orange square of light streaked with purple. She tossed and turned for a while, considered getting up—someone still had to walk to the gas station for a jug of gas, and she guessed it wasn’t going to be Kiki—but then she fell back into a light sleep filled with strange, twisted dreams. An hour later she woke up feeling foggy and out of sorts.

Today would have been Nicola’s second day back at school. She imagined another teacher in her old classroom, organized exactly how Nicola had liked it with her hand-lettered alphabet cards circling the dry board. She thought about twenty faceless children sitting before her, those little sponges who, for eight years, she’d taken so much joy in helping discover their worlds. Then she pictured the faces of her students from last year, stopping to hug her as they bravely made their way to their second-grade classroom.

And Oliver. Sweet Oliver who talked a mile a minute, whose imagination was more intense and whose curiosity was more boundless than any child she’d ever known, the kid who’d stolen her heart from day one with his earnest questions and spontaneous hugs. And the same kid who’d start digging his pencil into his skin when he became bored, who’d physically lash out at his schoolmates and at Nicola herself when he felt overwhelmed.

A severe case of ADHD. Nicola knew the symptoms, had grown up seeing them in her own mother every single day. Her mother hadn’t known it because times were different then. But now that Nicola had encouraged her to get treatment, she couldn’t help but wonder at how different things might be if her mother’s condition had been managed earlier. Not just the instability and poverty that marked her childhood because her mom had had trouble holding down a job, but the calling Nicola felt as an adult to help others in similar circumstances. Would she have still stepped outside her professional boundaries to help Oliver? If not, everything that happened stemming from that one decision—the first photo with Matthew released by Celebrity Life, the paparazzi camped on her doorstep, the one piece of dirt the press was able to dig up on her, and the hurtful accusations from parents and coworkers—might never have happened. But it had, and as a result Nicola had had to leave behind everything she knew and loved.

A month ago Nicola had turned thirty. Teaching scuba diving on an island of celebrities, no matter how idyllic it might appear, was not the life she’d planned for herself at this point.

You have to stop this line of thinking, Nicola scolded herself. Such thoughts could only lead to one thing, and she never wanted to go back to the place they brought her to again. She simply couldn’t afford to exist in a world that dark.

Determined to get her day off to a better start, Nicola rolled over in bed—and came face-to-face with her open laptop on her nightstand. Three tequila shots in quick succession were never a good idea, but when combined with Google they could be downright regrettable. A little drunk and still reeling from the dive mishap—and him—she’d broken down and searched Matthew’s name last night for the first time since she’d moved here. What she’d found hadn’t helped her mood. Her screen had filled with the latest news—that his wife had filed for divorce because “their marriage hadn’t been able to take the strain of Matthew’s alleged affair with elite private-school teacher Nicola Metcalfe.” That his wife was asking for spousal support and full custody of their only child, Oliver.

Nicola had felt like she’d been punched in the stomach. She understood why celebrities flocked to this island. There were no tabloids or newspapers for sale at the gift shop, and here you could choose, if you wished, to exist without the internet and TV. The very famous were trapped in a hell of their own making that elicited zero sympathy from the public. Only by association, Nicola had lived that hell for six endless months, and it had nearly destroyed her. She couldn’t imagine what it must be to have the world judging her every word, move and decision—to fuel the voracious appetites of the masses for failure and hope and mistakes—simply by existing.

Heavy thoughts for a beautiful day. Trying to shake off her mood, Nicola tied her emerald robe around her and went into the bathroom to shower and brush her teeth. Her phone was sitting on the vanity. Since moving to Moretta, Nicola had become decreasingly reliant on it, sometimes leaving it at home for an entire day without even noticing it missing—something inconceivable back in her old life. But really, who was going to call her? She’d been shocked at how many of her friends had jumped ship when the scandal went down. Which was another reason she loved Kiki, loyal to the end.

Nicola brought her screen to life to see a text from Kiki. It had come in at around ten thirty last night, long after Nicola was fast asleep.

Z-lister just left you a note. Want me to take a picture of it?

Great—just what she didn’t need to improve her mood.

So what was up with that little flutter in her belly?

After showering and getting dressed in her usual work uniform—today it was a white bikini, pink terry shorts and a gray tank top—Nicola went into the kitchen with coffee on her mind. There was a piece of folded paper on the counter next to the coffee maker.

The note.

What could he possibly have to say for himself?

Nicola unfolded it and read: You saved my life. I acted like a complete moron. Would you accept an apology drink? Alex 555 873 9921

It was tempting. Nicola could still see his aqua eyes, the lines of his muscular shoulders, how he’d looked at her on the road yesterday morning…but no. Anything beyond a drink would prompt her conscience to reveal the truth about why she was here—or rather what she’d run away from to land here—and that was a complication Nicola didn’t need.

She crumpled up the note and tossed it into the recycle bin.

From the back pocket of Alex’s swimming trunks, his phone signaled an incoming text message. He made a grab for it, but it was just another work message from back home—still nothing from one of the two people he really wanted to hear from right now.

Fuck. It was only day two of his trip, and the whole thing was already off the rails. He’d managed to get John Brissoli’s cell phone number last night from a contact of his brother’s, who’d made Alex swear on his life he wouldn’t reveal his source. The contact said he’d heard Brissoli was staying at the Palms Inn, the island’s one hotel, and Dev said he’d never even heard of him. The guy was like some mafia hitman instead of a dude who’d started a website. In any case, Alex’s voice mail and text messages to him had both so far gone unacknowledged.

Shoving his phone back into his pocket, Alex strode from the scuba shack toward the tiny gravel lot where several golf carts were parked. He didn’t want to wait for her by the shack because this was a conversation that needed to happen in private, but there was nowhere else to wait without looking like a goddamn loitering creep. He was silently weighing his options when he saw her coming toward him.

She was in a golf cart this time, her hair blowing in the wind as she navigated the bumpy road. Beneath her gray tank top her breasts bounced gently. Seeing her like this, still unaware of his presence, relaxed and completely unconcerned about her looks, Alex thought she was more beautiful than ever. She looked strong and capable, and yet there was something about her that made him want to protect her from harm. Which was of course completely ridiculous, given that she’d had to rescue his ass yesterday.

The moment was too good to last. The second she laid eyes on him, her expression turned to one of flat indifference. She parked the cart, grabbed her satchel off the seat and strode toward the beach to avoid him.

“I acted like an asshole. You have every right to hate me.”

She stopped in her tracks, then turned to look at him over her shoulder. “Why would I hate you? I don’t even know you. I’m sure that underneath it all, you’re no worse than any other hotshot with a bruised ego.” She resumed walking, so Alex had no choice but to hurry after her. He got in front of her but she wouldn’t stop, so he started walking backward. He still had the lingering sense that she was familiar, but that wasn’t possible. Though she was as beautiful as any actress, she was quite obviously a scuba instructor and not a celebrity.

“I’m sorry. It was unforgivable of me to not at least thank you. You got a really bad cross section of the worst part of my personality. Under other circumstances, you might even like me. My name is Alex, by the way. Like I said in my note, I was hoping I could take you for a drink. Unless you’re, uh…otherwise attached.” He tried a smile, but she wasn’t biting.

“You’re about to hit a tree,” she said, brushing past him.

He turned and came face-to-face with the bark of a palm tree. They were almost at the shack now, and he sighed as he watched her disappear into it.

Okay—she gave him no choice.

Alex walked over to the pile of gear he’d assembled earlier and stepped into his wet suit, leaving the top hanging down around his waist. Then he picked up his gear and started carrying it over to her boat.

He was on her boat. She saw him when she started walking toward it with a tank in each hand. To her annoyance, she felt a happy little lift in her chest. She squashed it down and scowled at him.

“I think you’re on the wrong boat,” she said, swinging the tanks onboard.

“I’m afraid I requested you. You’re the best instructor here, and if there’s anyone who needs help, it’s pretty obvious it’s me. I promise you can let me drown this time if I misbehave.”

She couldn’t help the tiny grin that came to her lips. He was self-deprecating and funny; she had to give him that. And courageous for going back in the water after an experience that would scare many off diving for life. Not to mention that the way his wet suit clung to his impressive build—and the bulge between his legs—wasn’t lost on her.

So was that all it took for her? A few cute throwaway lines and all was forgiven?

“Fine. But stay above fifty feet to keep from narcing again. And you’re with Zach.” She nodded toward her colleague, who was busy casting dark looks at Alex from the stern of the boat.

“You’re the boss.”

On the ride out to their destination of Camel Rock, Nicola occupied herself with checking the oxygen levels on the dive tanks and checking their O-rings, a job that she knew would have already been done by whoever filled them this morning. It wasn’t just that it was awkward having him on the boat—being around him made her feel like a nervous teenager. She couldn’t stop the flutter in her belly and the heat she felt in her cheeks when she caught him watching her from his seat on the bench. Those eyes—he was looking at her like she was a freaking ice-cream cone, and the truth was she’d like nothing more than for him to put his tongue in all her sweetest places. It was a weird reaction to have to someone who’d made her life hell twenty-four hours ago.

But then again, nothing had really felt normal since he’d shown up.

“Have a drink with me tonight,” Alex said to Nicola as they got off the boat. This was his last try. If she refused him now, he’d have to accept defeat gracefully if he didn’t want to risk coming across as a groveling stalker.

She looked at him dubiously, but she didn’t shut him down—at least not immediately. She knelt down and started disconnecting her first stage from her tank.

Having just completed his first successful open-water dive, Alex realized that he owed this woman for more than just saving his life the day before. After what happened, he was quite certain he never would have gotten in the water again if he hadn’t been driven to go after her—and he’d done it. He’d fought against his fear and won. The reef they’d explored today was possibly even more beautiful than the one he’d seen yesterday, but Alex had been more intrigued by his view of her than of the fish. He couldn’t help it—the way that dive suit stretched over her figure made her look like the hottest Bond girl ever. Alex didn’t get it. He’d always kept a cool head around women, but somehow one whose name he didn’t even know had gotten under his skin.

“Listen. I don’t even know your name, and that’s going to make for a very bad story when I tell it back home. I’m Alex. Did I mention that already?”

“I believe you did. Nicola,” she said, swinging two more tanks onto the dock.

Alex was impressed—the things weighed a ton, and even though she was slender and feminine she lifted them with ease. He reached out for one of them, his fingers brushing against hers. “Can I give you a hand with those?”

“I’m good.” She paused, finally turning to face him. Her eyes pierced through him, sending a charge through his body. “It’s okay. You’re forgiven, all right? I get that you were under a lot of stress. But I really don’t—”

“I almost drowned when I was five,” Alex blurted out. Her eyes widened, and he shook his head. He’d never told this story to anyone, and here he was about to lay it on a practical stranger. “In the ocean. My mother told my brother to watch me, but he got distracted.”

“That sounds awful,” she said carefully. “How old was your brother?”

“Ten. And already a rock star—in his own mind, anyway.”

Her brow furrowed and then cleared. “Rock star.” She grinned. “Dev Stone is your brother.”

He shrugged. “I guess someone had to get stuck with the job.”

She nodded slowly. “I’m tutoring tonight. Eight o’clock at Pablo’s.”

“Great! I’ll see you…”

But she was already walking away, her long, tanned legs making him ache with every move.

CHAPTER FIVE

“AND IF YOU take the seven away, you get nine. See that?” Nicola flicked her hair behind her ear as she scribbled on her notepad.

Raia smiled slowly in the way she always did when she was starting to comprehend something big, and Nicola grinned with her. Then she stole a glance at her watch. She loved tutoring her students more than anything, but tonight she felt jittery. It was just a drink, she kept reminding herself—not even a date. For all she knew, he could be leaving the island tomorrow. She didn’t have to tell him a single thing about herself—least of all the thing that had brought her to Moretta. They’d have their drink, maybe share a few laughs, and then go their separate ways feeling better about what had gone down yesterday.

Except she knew that she was lying to herself. She wanted him, and she could tell he wanted her. Just standing close to him on the dock this morning had made her insides turn to gelatin. When his fingers had brushed against hers, she’d felt a jolt that fired directly to the spot she desired him most.

Nicola closed her workbook and gathered up her pencils. “You did great tonight, Raia. Keep working on your subtraction, and next week we’ll do some reading.” As she stood and reached for her handbag, she noticed Raia staring at her.

“Are you getting married?”

Nicola couldn’t help it—her eyes widened. “Am I what?”

The girl shrugged. “Getting married. In Winx, the girls always look fancy when they’re getting married. And you look so pretty.”

Nicola placed her hand on the girl’s head. “Thank you, Raia. That’s very kind of you.”

Pretty.

Nicola was about as into false modesty as she was into inflated celebrity egos; she knew she had the ability to turn some heads. But as she walked toward her golf cart, she realized how little she’d actually thought about her looks since arriving on Moretta. In LA she’d had a closetful of cute clothes that she wore to work, and had fun experimenting with different hair and makeup styles. But here it was a bikini every day, her hair seemed almost constantly wet and she’d had to actually search for her makeup bag this evening. Out of the four stylish dresses she’d brought to Moretta, she’d chosen a soft gray bamboo one that clung to her figure without being too obvious, paired with strappy silver sandals.

As she fired up her cart and started driving toward Pablo’s, she wasn’t sure if she was afraid she’d dressed too sexy or not sexy enough.

Alex drummed his fingers against the table and checked his watch. 8:06. He’d give it another four minutes before he started worrying she was going to be a no-show.

He glanced around the restaurant, taking in the open-air bar—free of the strawberry blonde bartender tonight, he was relieved to see—the casual island decor and the perfectly clear water surrounding the pier his table sat upon. Behind him the indigo sky was streaked with shades of orange and pink. Everything about the atmosphere screamed, relax, you’re in paradise! But Alex felt anything but relaxed.

He turned back to his table to check his phone, and his breath stopped.

She was standing right in front of him, waiting for him to acknowledge her. He was quite certain he’d never seen anything so beautiful in his life. Her dress, though anything but showy, revealed the perfection of her curves. Her blond hair lay in soft waves against her shoulders, and the small amount of makeup she wore intensified the color of her eyes. Her heart-shaped lips, free of lipstick, shone with a slick of gloss that made him want to bite and kiss them for hours.

“You look incredible,” he finally breathed, getting to his feet. He had meant to pull her chair out, but she beat him to it and sat herself down.

“Thanks,” she said with what seemed to be a touch of self-consciousness. She gave him a small smile that made the blood rush straight to his groin, and then she lowered her eyes again.

“Thank you for coming,” he started, feeling suddenly tongue-tied. When it came to women, they came to him. He wasn’t used to pursuing them, and even though he’d had a couple of longer relationships, they’d always been underlain by a feeling of temporariness. A mere distraction from a career that took nearly all of his time and energy to maintain. The woman sitting across from him was giving him the closest thing to a case of full-blown nerves that he’d ever experienced. “Like I said today, I never meant—”

“Forget it. Seriously. The lengths you’ve gone to to apologize have shown me you’re sincere. I’m ready to move on.” Nicola met his eyes again briefly, then she plucked the cocktail menu from between the salt and pepper shakers and started studying it. She replaced it and used her hands to sweep her hair off her neck and to one side. As he watched her, he imagined kissing the skin at her throat, trailing his mouth downward—“What is it?”

“Hmm? Oh, just…”

Fuck. He needed to pull himself together.

Thankfully, their waiter appeared just then, so they placed their order. After he left Nicola sat back in her seat, making no move to converse. Alex cleared his throat. “Can I ask you a rather obvious question?”

“Sure.”

“Why Moretta?”

Her expression changed immediately into one of…what? Retreat? “What do you mean?”

“I just mean that you’re obviously not from here. So what made you choose this island in particular?”

“A few reasons,” she replied, ripping the edge of her cocktail napkin into vertical, evenly spaced lines. “I moved here from LA, but I’m from Hawaii. I guess it reminded me of home.”

“Hawaii. What was it like growing up there?”

She seemed pleased by his question. “Do you know you might be the first person ever who didn’t react to that with, ‘Hawaii? Wow, nice!’”

“I try to stay unpredictable.” He raised an eyebrow. “But since you brought it up…was it?”

She laughed. “Yes and no. Mostly no.”

He waited. There was a story there, and if there was anything she wanted to share, then he very much wanted to hear it. But she smoothly changed the focus to him. “How about you?”

He shrugged. “LA born and raised. Westwood. I’ve tried to fight my way out a few times, but it seems to have its claws in me pretty deep. My brother escaped to London a decade ago, and he takes a lot of joy in reporting how much better it is.”

“A rock-star brother. What’s that like?”

Alex shrugged. “Weird. Normal. Mostly all I’ve ever known—I was fifteen when he first hit it big.”

“I can’t imagine what it must be like to go through life in someone’s shadow like that.”

Alex looked at her in surprise. Nicola had just voiced what everyone else seemed afraid to, as if his ego couldn’t take such a frank observation. And it was true, of course—he had grown up in Dev’s shadow, and however successful he may have become in his own right, it could never compare to the brightness of his brother’s rare and phenomenal star. His parents had never tried to pretend otherwise. “Rarely fun,” Alex admitted. “I guess the only blessing is that I didn’t try to follow in his footsteps. I mean, have you ever heard of the younger brother of a rock star hitting it big?”

Nicola grinned. “Can’t say as I have. So what career path did you take instead?”

“I headed an import business until four years ago, when I took over the family company. It wasn’t really on my radar, but…my mother died unexpectedly and my father needed help.” Of course, this was only the abbreviated version of his father’s path to ruthless ambition. Alex’s parents started Echelon Media thirty-five years ago, and with a few failed businesses already under their belt, they worked their asses off to make it successful. Eventually, they expanded and gained momentum, even adding print media to their holdings. Then, right after his mother died, the company almost fell victim to a hostile takeover. Losing his wife and then nearly his company had lit a fire in Devin Sr. to buy up everything they could to ensure Echelon’s legacy…regardless of the constant strain on Alex to keep up. “My father wasn’t dealing well with his grief, so he basically put me at the helm and watched to see if I’d sink or swim.”

“Kind of the way you learned to swim?” Nicola’s voice was gentle.

“Yeah. Kind of like that.”

The waiter arrived with their drinks, so they both stopped talking. Nicola picked up her margarita and took a sip, then she laid her hand down on the table inches from Alex’s. He stared at it. Her nails were unpolished, but still long enough to taper to five perfect points. He watched as she bit her lower lip and released it again. Beneath her dress, he could see her nipples straining against the fabric. Had they been that hard before? No—he definitely would have noticed. He felt the blood in his extremities rushing toward the center of his body, creating an unmistakable heat there that only one thing could possibly quell.

Her.

God, he wanted her, and he wanted her right fucking now.

Nicola’s eyes met his and didn’t waver.

An electric jolt shot through Alex’s body. Then she lifted her fingers and lightly trailed them along the top of his hand. He shivered.

“I was just wondering,” she said, lowering her voice as she leaned in toward him. “If you felt like getting out of here.”

He was on his feet and signaling the waiter for the bill before the last word was out of her mouth.

CHAPTER SIX

OUTSIDE THE RESTAURANT there were a few people lingering at the entrance as they chatted or smoked a cigarette. Nicola still couldn’t believe she’d been as forward as she had been two minutes ago, but any possible regrets she might have paled in comparison to the urgency she felt to be alone with this man. To put her mouth on that spot right under his jaw she’d been watching all night, to take those fingers she’d finally gotten the nerve to touch and put them on the part of her that was already aching for him.

And he hadn’t even touched her yet.

“Over here,” Nicola said, taking Alex’s hand and pulling him around the side of the building toward the beach. He happily obeyed, falling in step beside her as they hurried along the wooden walkway until their feet hit sand. Once on the beach she tugged him up the shore a ways until they were concealed from view of the restaurant by a stand of palm trees. By that time they were both breathing hard, and it was only partly because of their brisk walk.

Alex turned to face her. It was almost dark out, but still light enough for Nicola to see her own eyes mirrored back to her. He reached out and brushed his hand against her cheek. Just a simple touch, but to Nicola it felt electric.

“I’ve been wanting to do that since the moment I saw you on the road,” Alex said softly. “And so much more.”

His hand slid to the back of her head, tangling into her hair. Nicola’s pulse raced with the anticipation of the unknown. Would his kiss alight her as much as his touch had?

Alex tipped her face upward and brought his mouth down on hers.

Oh, yes.

A helpless little moan escaped Nicola’s throat as she felt his tongue find hers. Slowly, their kiss deepened until it wasn’t enough anymore. Nicola wrapped her arms around Alex’s hips and pressed into them, feeling his cock stiffen. The rush of wetness she felt made her own feelings obvious. She wanted nothing more than to back up into a tree, have Alex lift her up and fuck her against it right then and there, but was she really doing this?

Quickly, before her brain got so addled by lust that she reached the point of no return, she ticked through all the reasons this was a bad idea.

He was a visitor to the island, which ruled out any possibility of a relationship.

But she didn’t necessarily want one. In fact, given her current situation, that was probably a bonus.

She’d never been a one-nighter kind of girl, and she’d certainly never slept with a guy within an hour of their first date.

But she’d never been overcome by such an intense craving for a man before.

She didn’t have a condom.

Okay, so that one was ironclad. But maybe he did.

Her hands were inside his shorts—on top of his boxers, grabbing his beautiful ass. Meanwhile, one of his hands had found its way inside the top of her dress. She arched her back as he held her tightly by the waist with one arm and scooped her breast from its bra cup with his other hand.

“Fucking beautiful,” he whispered hoarsely before taking her nipple into his mouth. Nicola moaned, desire pumping through every cell of her body.

But then Alex released her breast and kissed her again, still passionately but with more control. When he pulled away, Nicola could just make out his face in the moonlight.

“You’re in charge,” Alex said to her. “I won’t make you cross any lines you’re not comfortable with. No guilt, no regrets, okay? Just me. If you want me.”

Nicola tightened her grip on him. “I do—oh, God, I do. Not…not everything right now, but soon. Right now I just want to feel your tongue on me. All over me.”

“Your wish is my command.” Alex smiled, making Nicola’s insides melt.

Quite simply, this was a fantasy come true. The sound of the waves lapping gently on the shore reminded her that she was on one of the most beautiful beaches in the world. And this gorgeous man was looking at her like he wanted to devour her, like nothing else in the world existed except the two of them. And it didn’t, even though Nicola knew they could be discovered at any second. She hardly cared—all she cared about was the intoxicating smell of Alex’s skin, his hands in her hair, his body pressed to hers…

Alex ran his hands down her sides, and when he got to the bottom of her dress he ran them back up again, this time sliding them against her skin.

“Back,” he whispered, and she obeyed, bending her knees until she was sitting on the sand. He pushed her gently until she was lying down, then he slowly moved the straps of her dress down her shoulders and pulled her bra down. His mouth was on her, teasing and flicking her nipples until she wanted to scream.

“That feels…so good,” she said between breaths. “But I need more.”

“All in time, I promise. First, I want to discover every inch of you.”

“What about you?”

“What about me?” He took her hand and pressed it to his still-clothed cock, which felt about twice as big—if that was possible—as it had the last time she’d felt it. “I’m doing just great. Right now I want to feel you come.”

Hearing those words from his mouth caused a new wave of heat to sweep through her body. “Please,” she moaned, moving his hand to her pussy. “Lick me here.”

His hand slid inside her panties, maddeningly close but not quite touching her clit. “I wish I could see them. What color are they?” he whispered.

“Blue.”

“Blue like your eyes?” he asked, cupping his hand around her pussy. She moaned and pushed her hips into his hand.

“My eyes are green,” she gasped.

“Aqua, actually. Exactly like mine, in case you hadn’t noticed.”

“I guess I was too busy noticing your incredible body. Now shut up and make me come.”

She didn’t have to ask twice. Before she could take another breath, his fingers had hooked around the sides of her panties and yanked them down. She moaned as his finger lightly traced her clit and then slid inside her.

He groaned. “You are so. Fucking. Wet.”

“All your fault. Now, please make me come, or I’ll make you fuck me right here.”

He nuzzled his face into her neck. “Much too tempting,” he said softly into her ear.

And then he was working his way down her body again, trailing kisses down her chest and tummy, then finally—finally—pressing his mouth to her most secret spot. She moaned as his tongue took its first sweep across her, and then he was latched on to her, licking and sucking while the heat in her groin built and built…she was already so close…

But then he stopped, transferring his mouth to the inside of her thigh while he pushed it up toward her chest. Nicola made a frustrated sound in her throat. Alex gave a low chuckle, and then slid two fingers inside her. “You’re so warm and sweet. My cock is aching for you. But don’t worry—plenty of time for that later.”

Keeping his fingers inside her, he slid his other hand under her to cup her ass. Nicola felt like she was going to combust. She wrapped her hands around the back of Alex’s head and pulled it down toward her again, and that was it—a few more sweeps of his tongue across her clit was all it took. Her entire body tensed as she finally fell over the edge with a frantic moan. Her orgasm exploded out of her so fast and hard it took her breath away, leaving her writhing helplessly on her back while he held her in his mouth.

At last, the final delicious pulse escaped her body and she collapsed onto the sand.

Nicola could only say this: “Oh, my God. Did that really just happen?”

Alex’s cock was so hard it hurt. Having Nicola come under his tongue, with his fingers inside her to feel every sweet contraction, had been almost too much for him to take. He moved up and buried his face in her neck.

“We need a bed,” Nicola said, reaching out to stroke him through his shorts. “I really, really want to take care of this for you.”

“Thank fuck. There’s just one problem.” He felt her tense beside him, so he pulled away from her so she could see his face in the dark. “I’m staying with my brother. Not exactly the place I feel like bringing you right now.”

“Ohhh…” She relaxed again. “Then we really do have a problem, because tonight is my roommate’s night off. Nine out of ten says she’s at home on the sofa, and my place isn’t exactly super private.”

Alex groaned, then got to his feet and extended a hand down to her. Nicola took it and stood up beside him. “The hotel,” he said, snapping his fingers.

“Sure, if they have a room available. They only have twenty-four of them, though, so the place is usually full.”

“I’ll take my chances.” Grabbing her hand, Alex started pulling her back toward the entrance of the restaurant, but Nicola stayed rooted to the spot. “Are you—?”

Her mouth cut him off, closing over his, and then she gave his lower lip a quick nip. “I’m sorry, but I just can’t have you walking around like this,” she said, slipping her hand into the back of his shorts and then working it forward. She cupped his tight balls through his boxers, and then ran her fingers up the length of his aching cock. Oh, God, yes… “There are other women on this island, in case you hadn’t noticed—”

“I hadn’t—”

“And what would they think if they saw this? They’d think it was for them, and I haven’t even had a proper look at it yet.” She pushed him firmly backward until his ass hit the trunk of a palm tree.

“Then please be my guest,” he managed to get out, and then she was unzipping his shorts and dropping them to his ankles. His boxers came next, her hands sliding into them at his hips and slowly pulling them down. He felt his cock spring free. He was dying for her to wrap her hand around it, but he was also so turned on that he was afraid a few strokes would be all it took—

Be cool.

No chance. Nicola was dropping to her knees now, palming his head in a smooth, agonizing circle. A groan escaped his chest as he leaned his head back against the tree, focusing on control.

“Very, very nice,” she said softly. He could feel her breath on him now, and then her tongue flicked out and gave the underside of his shaft a quick lick.

“Oh, God…” Alex wanted to drive himself between her lips, feel her sweet mouth suck him until he exploded, but he stopped himself. No. He was under her control, and he had no doubt she would take him to a place he may have never been before.

But then she moved away from him and gave his boxer shorts an upward tug. “And now that I’ve seen it…”

“No!” He gave a tortured groan as he pushed his hands into her hair.

“Just kidding,” she said, and then his boxers were yanked down again and he was inside her mouth as she sucked him down. He gasped, keeping his head thrown back. He didn’t dare look down at her—even though it was dark, he knew the dim sight of her beautiful lips wrapped around him would be the end of him. Instead, he tightened his grip on her hair, but then she released him from her mouth and flicked her tongue up and down the underside of his shaft.

It felt so good, he could hardly take it anymore. His balls pulled in even tighter, ready to explode—

She had him in her mouth again. He felt his head sliding along her tongue, then his shaft, and then her hand was on his balls as he hit the back of her throat. But then her throat opened and he was sliding in even farther…sweet Jesus—

Sensing the exact moment he was ready, as if they’d done this a hundred times instead of just one, Nicola released him into her hand and gripped him firmly. Alex came with a groan, his entire body trembling as wave after wave of heat pulsed from his center to the ends of his toes and his fingertips. He couldn’t think, except to know in some deep place that he was experiencing the most intense orgasm he’d ever had in his life. Nicola held him in her hand until he was finished and his legs sagged beneath him, and then she gave his cock one final kiss.

“Now let’s go find a room,” she said.

The Palms Inn had no doubt seen more than its share of lust-filled encounters during its sixty-four years in business, but Nicola was quite certain that no two people had come close to matching the urgent desire she and Alex were feeling right now. Their time on the beach had only served to fuel their consuming need for each other, made evident by the generous hard-on she felt growing in Alex’s pants just minutes after she’d finished him off.

Taking a steadying breath, Nicola passed through the front doors with Alex behind her. The lobby featured dark wood walls and large overstuffed canvas sofas, and she found herself praying they’d have a room available as they stepped toward the reception desk.

“Good evening,” the man at the counter greeted them, and Nicola was faintly embarrassed to realize she recognized him. Not that it was surprising—on an island this small, the few staff members who worked in the town center saw each other often.

“Hi, Everly,” she said with a smile. Alex’s arm snaked around her back and dropped down to her ass, where he gave it a gentle squeeze out of eyeshot. She managed to keep a straight face. “My friend was hoping for a room for the night. Any chance you have any openings?”

Everly gave her a nod that oozed of discreet professionalism. “Would that be a king bed or two queens?”

“Preferably a king,” Alex chimed in. “But I’ll take whatever you have.”

“Let me see if we can accommodate you.”

As Everly tapped away on his computer, Alex looked down at Nicola and gave her a wink. Her belly fluttered. God, what was happening to her? Within one hour she’d suddenly become a wanton woman. But she couldn’t help it—that chiseled face, those eyes…she just wanted to lose herself in them. In him.

“It appears that we have only one room left. It is the honeymoon suite, so perhaps too spacious for your needs?” He was good—there wasn’t a trace of irony on his face.

“That will do just fine,” Alex replied, plucking his wallet from his back pocket and producing a credit card.

“As you wish.” Everly hit a button on the computer, and a sheet of paper spit out of the printer. He slid it across the counter toward Alex along with a pen. “Just sign here, please.”

Nicola blinked at the price tag printed at the bottom of the page. For one night, the room cost about as much as she made in a month. But Alex barely seemed to notice. “Thank you,” he said, scooping up the folder that contained their key card.

“Enjoy your stay,” Everly called after them.

“I most certainly will,” Alex replied, and then he had Nicola around the corner and heading up the stairs with his arm wrapped tightly around her waist. They located their room on the top floor—the only one there—and Alex tapped the key on the lock.

Though they were undeniably here with one purpose in mind, Nicola couldn’t help but take a moment to stare when Alex opened the door. It was the most gorgeous space she’d ever set foot in. The floor was polished mahogany, which matched the single beam running along the vaulted ceiling—the only dark contrast to the whitewashed walls and ceiling. Soft faux-fur rugs flanked either side of the bed, and a zebra-print one lay at the foot of the floor-to-ceiling rock fireplace. With a fireplace being wholly impractical in this climate, a giant vase of pink-and-white tropical flowers had been placed where the logs would go. Through a door on Nicola’s right, she could see a sitting room arranged with soft pink-and-white armchairs, and to her left a black-and-white-tiled bathroom that was bigger than her kitchen featured a claw-foot tub at center stage.

And directly in front of her was the bed. Four iron posts that were taller than her tapered to points, where they supported a gauzy white canopy that swept down into two graceful curtains. The bed was made up with white linens, on which rested a wooden tray holding a champagne bottle, two glasses and a vase of pink roses. And behind it all, like a picture postcard blown up to life-size, was a flawless, expansive view of the beach and ocean.

“I feel like I’m dreaming,” Nicola said, bringing her hand to her chest. “Is this for real?”

“I’ll tell you in a minute,” Alex replied, leaving her side to cross the room. Walking to the bedside table, he opened its drawer and pulled something out. Pressing it to his chest with an exaggerated sigh of relief, he slowly held it out to her. “It’s actually a dream come true,” he said with a sinful smile, holding out a box of condoms.

Nicola smiled back at him, but the physical distance between them had given her just enough time to escape the fantasy for a moment. Because that was what this was—pure fantasy, something that didn’t happen to ex-schoolteachers who’d lost their job because the world had accused her of wrecking the home of the world’s third-highest-paid actor. It didn’t happen to women whose best childhood memories were of a fourth-grade teacher who saw an underfed, grungy little girl and decided to take her under her wing for one precious, life-changing year.

Who it might happen to was someone who’d grown up being told by her father that all she was good for was attracting a man, who had believed him and then gone out and done something to prove just that—something that the press had dug up to haunt her.

What if Alex found out? What if he already recognized her but was just keeping it mum so he could have a little fun with her?

Alex was in front of her again, pushing a strand of hair off her face as he stroked her cheek. “You okay?”

Nicola gave herself a shake. “Yeah, just… I don’t know.” She shook her head. “This is crazy. I don’t do this sort of thing.”

Alex placed a finger under her chin. “Neither do I,” he replied.

“Really?”

“Really.” Nicola was relieved when, as if sensing exactly what she needed, Alex ran a hand lightly down her back instead of kissing her. “Talk to me,” he said softly.

Nicola took a deep breath and locked her hands around his waist. “I’m having an amazing time. But…do you know me?”

He blinked at her. “Not nearly well enough. But I sure like what I know of you so far.”

“So you don’t…” recognize me?

But she couldn’t say the words—too dramatic, too vain-sounding. And if his answer was no she’d have a lot of explaining to do, which was the last thing she wanted to do right now.

He tilted his head at her. “Don’t what?”

She shook her head. “Nothing.”

“Hey.” Alex ran his hands down her shoulders to grip her upper arms lightly. “If this is feeling weird to you, I totally get it. We don’t have to do anything. But even if that’s the case, I still want to spend time with you. I think you’re amazing—in so many ways.”

His eyes were pulling her in, making all her fears melt away. He was perfect…too perfect.

He swept his arm out toward the room. “There are more ways than one to enjoy a beautiful hotel room. I see a bottle of champagne over there with our name on it. Can I tempt you?”

Nicola relaxed a bit. “Sure.” After following him over to the bed, she sat down on the edge while he connected his phone to the speaker system on the nightstand. The smooth sound of R&B filled the space.

“This okay?” he asked.

She smiled. “My favorite.”

Alex popped the cork on the bottle and poured them two glasses. “To underwater rescues,” he said with a self-deprecating grin, holding his glass up. “May I never put you through that hell again.”

Nicola laughed and took a small sip. “It wasn’t that bad.”

“So you’ve seen worse?”

“I didn’t say that. But you’re not the first person I’ve had to…lend a hand to.”

“So kindly put. Well, I’m glad I went through with it. There were some incredible creatures down there, and the fish weren’t bad, either.”

Nicola smiled, drawing a leg up on the bed so she could face him. Even though the sexual tension between them had eased a bit since their time together on the beach, she could still feel an electric jolt shoot through her body every time their eyes met.

“Have you always taught diving?” Alex asked her.

She shook her head. “No. I was a real teacher in my previous life. First and second grade.”

“Previous life? That sounds—”

“Just an expression,” she said quickly. “I became a scuba instructor when I was nineteen and used it to put myself through college. I first went snorkeling when I was ten, after a teacher got me enrolled in a summer camp. I loved it right away. We lived fairly close to the beach, so I used to go off and escape to my underwater world every chance I got.” She smiled at the memory. “It’s still my go-to stress release. And then a few years later I discovered diving—a whole new world. My family couldn’t afford the equipment, but I found a program that allowed teenagers to borrow it free of charge.”

“Sounds like you were very self-motivated.”

“I had to be.” She took a quick sip of her drink as Ariana Grande started singing. The tone of Nicola’s response, sharper than she’d meant for it to come out, echoed regrettably in her head. She’d never been a big fan of talking about herself, but since the scandal it had become almost unbearable. “Will your brother be wondering where you are?” she asked to change the subject.

“I doubt it,” Alex replied. “He keeps himself pretty well occupied.”

Nicola nodded. “I gather you’re not that close.”

Alex placed his glass on the bedside table and leaned back against the mountain of pillows behind him. “You could say that. We were when we were younger, I guess, but…it got harder later. When his first album went platinum, it was kind of like I lost both him and my parents. He was away touring all the time, and suddenly my parents were completely wrapped up in his success. Nothing I did seemed to matter to them anymore. And now…” He shrugged. “I stopped trying to have a real relationship with him a long time ago. It’s like he just stopped trying. Like his fame made him into something so great that it validates every part of who he is, and that’s all he needs to define himself. He talks about wanting to live a normal life sometimes, but I don’t think he could actually handle it. Being adored by the world puts you in a position that’s terrifying to step away from. I get that.”

Nicola squirmed a little under Alex’s intense gaze. His words made her slightly uncomfortable, because though she’d never have admitted it, there was a tiny, ugly part of herself that hadn’t hated being in the spotlight for those six months. Having the power to attract such attention from the press and public, to have the world looking at her and wondering what it was that was so special about her, Nicola Metcalfe, to snag such a shining star—part of that had been intoxicating, even if she hated what it was doing to all of the lives involved and ultimately made the decision to escape it. “The ego is a powerful thing,” she said. “Can you imagine how different the world would be without it? No war, no corrupt politicians. No Kanye West.”

Alex laughed.

Hesitantly, Nicola reached out and placed a hand on Alex’s shin. “You’re here, though, right? That must mean something to him—that you made the trip to see him.”

Alex looked slightly sheepish. “I actually came here for business reasons. My brother living here—well, I couldn’t put off seeing him forever.” Placing his hand over Nicola’s, he slowly entangled his fingers with hers. “But I never imagined what else was lying in wait for me.”

Nicola’s breath caught in her throat. She wasn’t new to the language and subtle games of courtship—she knew better than to place any weight in casually uttered words this early on. But she’d never met a man she wanted to get to know so completely after such a short time. She thought about the many things she didn’t know about Alex—what he liked for breakfast, what he did for fun, even what he did for a living—and the history he carried with him that she knew nothing about. She wanted to immerse herself in him, to learn every nuance of what made him who he was. Maybe this would be something, or maybe it would just be tonight—but she wanted it, whatever it was. Very badly.

The song changed to Ellie Goulding’s latest hit.

“Are you hungry?” Alex asked her.

“Extremely,” Nicola said softly. She moved toward him slowly until she was between his legs, and then lying on his chest. She looked down at him, and he stared up at her with an expression that could only be described as amazement.

“You are so beautiful,” he said softly.

She brought her lips to his and kissed him passionately. He kissed her back, but she felt restraint behind it.

“It’s okay,” she whispered when they broke apart. His eyes fixed on her face as she licked her lower lip, watching her every move like he wanted to pounce on her. “I want you. I’m ready.”

“Are you—”

She cut him off with her lips, and this time he kissed her back with everything he had, a small groan escaping the back of his throat. Then he gripped her arms and rolled her onto her back, pressing the full length of his body against hers. She could already feel the heat building inside her, her heartbeat quickening—oh, God, she wanted him so badly. “Yes, I’m sure.” She reached for his phone and tapped the stop button on the music. “I want to see you, taste you, hear you. Undress me,” she commanded breathlessly. “And then you. I want to see all of you.”

Lying on top of Nicola, Alex felt intoxicated. It was the only way to describe it—as if someone had opened him up and filled him to the brim with pure desire. And someone had—she had. The vanilla scent of her, the softness of her lips and skin—he wanted to lose himself completely in her.

She sat forward and he pulled her dress over her head. Then he reached around her back and removed her bra, exposing her perfect, tan-lined breasts. “Gorgeous,” he whispered, spiraling around each nipple with a fingertip. She raised a breast toward his mouth, and he obliged her with a long, slow suck. She moaned. “Alex…”

Slowly. There’s no rush.

It was true. This moment only came once in a relationship, no matter how long or short. The first time, that wild collision of anticipation and reality—and he wanted to enjoy it to its fullest. But his cock, already rock-hard, was dictating something quite different.

Her panties were next. He hooked his fingers over the sides and slowly slid them down, revealing a perfect, trim triangle. “I finally get to really see you,” he breathed. “As beautiful as every other part of you.”

Lowering his tongue, he teased her clit with a few quick licks. Like he was the conductor and she the symphony, her hips curved upward to meet him. Slowly, he parted her lips and slid two fingers inside. “You’re ready for me.”

“So ready,” she gasped.

“And I’m more than ready for you.”

“Prove it,” she said, reaching for the button on his shorts, but he caught her wrists and gently pushed them over her head.

“Now, now, no touching.”

Straddling her waist, he pulled his T-shirt over his head and dropped it on the floor. Then he unbuttoned and unzipped his shorts and pulled them down so they rested across her tummy. His large cock, rock-hard and aching for her, sprang out above her breasts. “You see? I told you,” he said.

“You’re fucking perfect,” she breathed, reaching for him, but he pushed her arms up again.

“You’ll have me in a minute,” he whispered, bringing his mouth down to her ear and giving her earlobe a quick nip. “Once I’m inside you, you can touch me all you want. Oh, and by the way?”

“Yes?” she managed.

“Get ready, because I’m going to make you come harder than you’ve ever come in your life.”

Her eyes opened wide—pupils dilated, face flushed, she was the picture of lust personified. Alex rose up again, tossed his shorts and boxers aside and got the condom on. Then he lowered himself onto his hands and poised his hips over hers. She opened for him, drawing her knees up. “I need you now…”

“I’ll be there soon, I promise. Guess how wet you are?” he teased, dipping his cock down just enough to bury his head inside her.

“The wettest I’ve ever been.”

“I certainly hope so,” he said hoarsely. “Because I don’t think I’ve ever been this hard.” And with that he slowly pushed himself inside her, a small moan escaping both their lips. He buried himself to the hilt, feeling her warm wetness close around him. It was heaven—the feeling of her, her head thrown back in ecstasy with her eyes locked on his.

He started to move, thrusting slowly at first but quickly gaining speed.

“You feel so good. So good,” she gasped.

He wanted it to last forever, but it felt so fucking amazing, he just wanted to drive it into her over and over again, faster and faster until—

He forced himself to slow down, and Nicola took the opportunity to wrap her arms around his back and push him sideways. A half roll and she was on top of him, her long hair brushing her nipples as she rocked back and forth. Seeing her eyes closed, completely consumed with her arousal, was maybe the biggest turn-on of all. He caught her arms and slid one hand down to hers to catch it, then he brought it to her pussy. “Touch yourself. Let me see how you do it,” he said.

She obliged, using her middle finger to tease herself as she continued to ride on top of him. “Ohhh…” She threw her head back, lost in the moment, and then she pitched forward and braced her hands on either side of his shoulders. Hooking her feet around the inside of his knees to open herself wider, she rocked herself against his pubic bone with his cock buried inside her. That she knew her body well enough to take charge of her own pleasure—a fresh wave of heat flooded Alex’s groin.

“Oh, God,” she said, inhaling sharply. “Oh, God, here I come…”

“Yes—”

He felt her contractions squeeze his cock at the same time her mouth opened to let out a delicious moan. Alex grabbed her around the hips, anchoring her onto him as she rode wave after wave of her orgasm. It was all he could do to control himself as he watched her beautiful face contort with ecstasy, but he was aching to thrust into her one last time. When she finally let out a long exhale, he held on to her ass tightly and started moving again, building speed as he fucked her upward. The sound of their breathing and flesh slapping against flesh filled the room. Nicola’s mouth fell open and her eyelids lowered as she gasped, taking every stroke with a tiny moan of rapture.

That did it. Alex fell over the edge, letting out a massive breath as he drove himself up one last time to empty himself deep inside her. His orgasm ripped from his body almost violently—long, intense pulses of the hottest kind of pleasure that he never wanted to end.

At last his hips dropped down, leaving only the sound of their ragged breathing in the room. Nicola collapsed on top of him, and he rolled her sideways so he was still inside her with his arms and legs wrapped around her. “Was I right?” he asked as he caught his breath.

“What, you couldn’t tell?” she replied coyly.

“I don’t know. I don’t have much to compare it to.”

She caught his hand in hers as it trailed up her hip. “Then I guess we’ll need to change that.”

“I hope so,” Alex said softly. “So…no regrets?”

When Nicola didn’t immediately answer, Alex began to wish he hadn’t asked. He certainly didn’t have any. In fact, their union had only made him want every part of this woman—her body, her mind, even her heart—even more. But then she spoke again. “No regrets. And the weird thing is that I knew I wouldn’t have any, even though I’ve never done anything like this before. I just feel… I don’t know—comfortable with you, I guess.”

Alex smiled. “Me, too.”

Nicola gave a short giggle. “Really? I think you feel more than comfortable right now.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Meaning you just fucked me. Aren’t you supposed to be getting soft?”

“I guess my cock missed the memo,” Alex said, wrapping a strand of her hair around his hand and giving it a gentle tug.

“I’m not complaining.”

“Oh, no?” He rolled her under him. It was unbelievable but true—just minutes after coming, he was ready to go again. What was with this woman?

“You’re going to be sore tomorrow,” he warned her.

“Then you better make it worth my while.”

“Oh, I plan to,” Alex replied, taking her nipple in his mouth as he positioned himself between her thighs.

CHAPTER SEVEN

NICOLA AWOKE TO the sound of running water in the bathroom. She rolled over to see that Alex’s side of the bed was empty, but a tray of food sat on the desk—coffee and orange juice, a basket of pastries and a plate of cut fruit covered with plastic wrap.

“Hello, beautiful,” Alex said. Nicola turned to see him coming out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around his hips.

“Hello yourself. How long have you been up?”

“Long enough to order breakfast. I thought you might have worked up an appetite.” He gave her a devilish grin.

“As a matter of fact, I did,” she said, smiling back and sitting up in bed. How many times had they awoken in the night to satisfy their insatiable appetite for each other? Two or three—she’d lost count at some point as the need for sleep finally overcame her body.

Alex came over to her and leaned down to kiss her.

“You’ve already brushed your teeth. No fair,” she said self-consciously, but by the way he was devouring her lips, it was pretty obvious he didn’t care. She put her arms around his neck, and he settled down beside her in bed.

“How are you feeling?” he asked, tracing her cheek with a fingertip.

“A little sore. More than a little, actually.”

He grinned. “Me, too. But I meant…”

“Oh! Good. Great!” she added brightly, but this wasn’t the whole truth. A part of her did feel great—better than great. She’d just spent the night with the hottest man alive and had had—she may as well admit it—the best sex of her life. And she had to admit to herself that what she felt when she was with Alex reached beyond the physical; how could it be that after less than twenty-four hours together, she already wanted to spend every moment possible with him? But Nicola also felt a creeping anxiety that had stolen her sleep last night despite her exhaustion. Alex didn’t live here. He would be leaving. And if they spent any more time together before he left, not telling him the truth about herself would start to be weird. And after she told him, the fantasy would be over—and she really, really liked the fantasy.

“I have some work to do today,” Alex said, tapping the tip of her nose. “But I’d love to see you later. In fact…” He pressed a palm to his forehead. “I just remembered. It’s my brother’s birthday today, so he has a party planned tonight. Would you like to come with me?”

She blinked in surprise. “Oh, I… Are you sure I won’t be crashing it?”

“Are you kidding? The whole island will probably be there. You’ll be the only person I know besides him and his outrageously amazing chef, Rosie, so you’d be doing me a huge favor.”

The whole island. If someone recognized her and said something…but then again, there was safety in numbers.

“Well, then, sure. I’d love to.” Nicola smiled over the butterflies of unease in her belly.

“Perfect.” He pulled her close. “Just make sure my brother knows you’re with me. If he lays eyes on you…”

“Oh, please.” She rolled her eyes, and then glanced out the window at the white sky. “I wonder if he knows there’s supposed to be a storm tonight. They can get pretty fierce around here.”

Alex grinned. “I’m sure he has his people on it. He’s got people for everything.”

“Hmm. Sounds weird,” Nicola commented with a furrowed brow. Then she pushed her hands into Alex’s hair. “You know, there’s a very basic question I haven’t asked you yet.”

He ran his fingers up her arm and clasped her hand in his. “Am I gay? I don’t mind you asking, but I thought I answered that pretty well last night.”

She laughed. Alex was funny and charming, that was for sure, and he seemed intent on easing all of her concerns. The problem was that only she had the power to put her real worry to rest, and the only way to do that was to have a conversation she really didn’t want to have. “No. How long are you staying on Moretta?”

He trailed his hand down her side. “How long do you want me to stay?”

“That’s a dangerous question.”

“Is it?”

“Yes. You might not like my answer.”

“Try me.”

She caught his trailing fingers in her own. “Maybe later. Give me your answer first.”

He sighed. “Sadly, I’m due to return to the rat race on Tuesday. Five days from now. But I’ll need to extend my ticket if I can’t nail down a meeting with the contact I’m here for.”

“Wait. You mean you came here on business, but you don’t even have a meeting lined up?”

“Yeah, I know. Long story. I won’t leave without talking to him, though, whatever it takes.”

“Sounds important.”

“It is. I’ve been trying to track him down for months. We want to add his company to our roster, but he’s pretty elusive. I won’t bore you with the details of mergers and acquisitions—I’ve yet to see your eyes glaze over, but that would be a surefire way to make it happen.”

She nodded slowly. “Okay, so…five days.”

“At the least. When I ordered breakfast, I also took the liberty of asking the hotel to extend my stay here.” He pushed her hair back from her face and lowered his voice. “And I want to spend every minute of it that I can with you. Staring into the mirror of these beautiful eyes—not that I’m vain or anything.”

Nicola laughed again. “Do you ever stop?”

“I try not to.” He slid his hand under the sheet to caress her breast. “God, you’re beautiful,” he said, his voice thick. “Too good to be true. So what’s wrong with you? What am I going to find out if I Google you?”

Nicola’s heart stopped.

Shit.

She wasn’t ready for this.

“You know what I love about Moretta?” she answered smoothly. “It’s so close to paradise that you can almost imagine a world without the internet. I kind of love that idea—getting to know someone without the influence of Google. Can you believe the world was actually like that once upon a time?”

Alex grinned. “Can you believe I remember what that world was like?”

She smiled back at him, waiting. It will be better if it’s his idea.

“Okay, so no Google,” he said. “Let’s shake on it.”

Relief flooded through Nicola’s body. She hadn’t solved the problem, but at least she’d dodged the bullet for now. She’d spend today planning out how she was going to tell him. Anxiety subsiding, she snaked her arms around his neck. “Isn’t there another way we can seal the deal?”

“There sure is,” Alex said.

“Just one problem,” she said, glancing at the alarm clock. “I have to be at work in twenty minutes.”

“So that gives us…?”

“About five minutes.” Luckily, she kept a bikini in her locker at the scuba shack and could change at work.

“More than enough time.”

Alex kissed her deeply, and Nicola felt her body respond immediately. God, what was it about this man? In an alarmingly short time, he’d already become like a drug to her. Dangerous.

She reached out and tugged at his towel, exposing his already stiffening cock.

“See how much I want you?” he said softly.

She moved closer to him, closing the gap between them. “Take me any way you want,” she whispered into his chin. “Just make sure you fuck me hard. I need this one to last me for the next ten hours.”

“You’re sure you’re up for that?” he asked, but she could tell by how his body was reacting that he liked the idea—a lot. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

“I’m up for it,” she replied. “And I can see that you are, too.”

“You better believe it,” Alex responded, sliding a hand down to her pussy. “You’re already wet for me.”

How could that have happened so fast? But it had—her whole body was already on fire. “Because you make me crazy.”

Alex made a growling noise in his throat and grabbed her by the waist, effortlessly flipping her over onto all fours. Then his head was beneath her and his hands were on her ass, pulling her down to his mouth. Nicola moaned, pushing herself into his mouth as his tongue swept at her clit. “Oh, God, I need more—your beautiful cock—”

The words were barely out of her mouth before he was behind her and pulling her hips toward him. And then he was sliding into her, filling her deeper and deeper. It hurt but it felt so good, the most exquisite kind of pain.

“Nicola. You are so fucking amazing.” Alex punctuated each word with a thrust of his cock, harder and harder, each stroke building the heat within her. Then he reached his hand beneath her and found her clit, massaging it relentlessly until—

Until she was there with him, both of them cresting and falling together, their moans of pleasure intermingled until finally he collapsed forward onto her back.

“Now, that’s what I call a deal sealer,” Alex said.

“Okay, spill,” Kiki said to Nicola the moment she walked in the front door. She closed it gratefully behind her—a brisk wind had picked up, an early sign of the promised storm—and smiled at her roommate. Kiki was sitting on the sofa with one leg bent up, polishing her toes in two contrasting shades of pink.

“What are you talking about?” Nicola said, trying to look innocent. But it was pointless—within two seconds she burst out laughing. “Fine,” she said, tossing her satchel onto the tiny entrance table. “I may or may not have been having the time of my life.”

“Assuming you were. Would it happen to be with a Z-list celebrity?”

Nicola could only laugh again. Only a day and a half had passed since she’d sat across from Kiki whining about her Hollywood-wannabe rescuee, but so much had changed since then that she’d nearly forgotten she’d once thought of Alex that way.

“Big misunderstanding on my part,” Nicola said, taking a seat next to Kiki on the sofa. “He’s Dev Stone’s little brother. He’s not trying to be famous at all. He’s just here for some business deal. We went for drinks, and then… Anyway, he explained to me that the reason he got so upset on the dive was because he almost drowned as a kid. Kind of dramatic, but there you go.”

Kiki’s jaw dropped. “Dev Stone’s brother?”

“Wait. Out of everything I just told you, that’s your takeaway?” Nicola stared at her friend as she flopped onto the sofa beside her. “You don’t have a thing for Dev Stone, do you?”

Kiki stretched her foot in front of her to admire her toenails, then she reached for the nail polish bottle on the coffee table. “Doesn’t every woman on earth? I mean, God, look at him! Those eyes…” She shook her head. “But we’re talking about you, not me. So tell me. Hot and heavy?”

Nicola felt her cheeks redden. “Wrong color. You’re about to put the brush in the wrong bottle.”

Kiki stared at the bottle and then corrected her mistake. “You’re avoiding the question.”

“We had a good time. He’s…well, amazing, if you want to know the truth. But he doesn’t live here. And he’s leaving in five days. And…” She looked away. “He doesn’t know the truth about me.”

Kiki placed her hand on her friend’s shoulder and gave it a squeeze. “The truth about you? What, that you’re smart and kind and brave and beautiful? That you’re a kick-ass scuba diver who wouldn’t hesitate to put her life at risk for someone else’s? That you’re an amazing schoolteacher whose kids made you pictures of themselves bawling their eyes out when you had to leave them? That you just happened to get caught up in a big, fat mess that wasn’t even close to being your fault?”

Nicola dropped her gaze again. “You know that’s not true. Not the whole truth, anyway.” Suddenly, her eyes were filling with tears. She shook her head as she tried to stem the flow with the edges of her fingers. As surreally wonderful as the events of the past twenty-four hours had been, they’d also put her on an emotional roller coaster that she hadn’t been prepared to ride.

Kiki moved closer to Nicola so she could put an arm around her shoulders. “It’s okay. You’ve been so strong about this for so long, I think it’s good for you to have a cry about it. What happened to you was fucking bullshit.”

“Sure, it might have been, but—” Nicola took a deep breath, trying to get her emotions under control. She wiped at her tears and looked at her friend squarely. “Even if Matthew and I never acted on our feelings, we still had them. I can’t deny that. Sure, the press blew it into so much more—all that stuff about secret meetings and family outings with his son was bullshit—but that day after our meeting about Oliver… Well, that photo didn’t lie. Matthew told me how he felt about me, and I didn’t brush him off or tell him to go away or remind him that he was a married father. I let him kiss me. I wanted him to! And after that, I started dreaming about him leaving his wife, about a future with him and Oliver. It was an affair of the heart if not the body—”

“But you did the right thing,” Kiki reminded her. “You never touched him again after that. And in the end you left your whole life behind to do the right thing! You need to give yourself a break, sweetie.”

“I’d like to, but the guilt is still there.” Nicola sniffed. “I can’t help it. When I think of Oliver now, wondering what happened to his family… I just can’t take it. I still feel like it’s all my fault.”

“But it’s not. If a marriage is strong, it’s like an airtight room—nothing can get in to destroy it. But when there are big problems, the walls start to wear away, leaving an opening for someone else to enter the relationship. If it hadn’t been you, it would have been another woman.”

Nicola stayed quiet, but her friend’s words made sense. Despite Kiki’s scatterbrained ways, Nicola had a lot of respect for her. With her light red hair, freckles and tiny-but-perfect figure, she had the look of an innocent china doll, but Nicola knew that her appearance belied a tough inner strength. She’d come from a childhood that had been traumatic in a completely different way from Nicola’s, but she’d prevailed and created the life she wanted on her own terms. And it wasn’t like Kiki didn’t know a thing or two about relationships—though only thirty, she already had a four-year marriage behind her.

“Okay,” Nicola said, taking a deep breath. “Okay, so maybe you’re right. But that still doesn’t solve my problem. What about Alex? How do I tell him my big claim to fame is being the 10 Things to Know About Matthew Beck’s Mistress girl—not to mention point number ten? Remember that one?”

Kiki shook her head. “Just tell him, sweetie. He’ll understand—everyone makes mistakes. I’m betting he’s got a few under his belt.”

Nicola nodded slowly. “You’re right. I know—I just have to look him in the eye and do it.” She took another deep breath, already feeling a little better. Screw it if he couldn’t accept who she was—her past wasn’t going away, and it was better to know now if this was a deal breaker for him or not. She glanced at her watch. “Speaking of which, I’m supposed to be meeting him in an hour. Hey!” she said, snapping her fingers. “Guess where I’m going tonight? To Dev Stone’s birthday party.”

Kiki’s eyes widened. “Are you freaking kidding me?”

“Seriously. Actually… Alex said the whole island would be there.” Said aloud, this statement suddenly gave her pause. The party was bound to have more than a few LA residents attending, and what if one of them recognized her? But then again, compared to Dev Stone’s friends and acquaintances, she was hardly considered noteworthy. She added, “I’m sure Alex was exaggerating a tiny bit, but I bet he wouldn’t mind if you came along. I mean, if you want to?”

Kiki jumped up from the sofa. “Want to? Are you joking?” She brought her hands to her head. “Shit—what am I going to wear?” But then her excited expression was erased by a thundercloud. “What am I saying? I have to work tonight! Fuck!”

“Maybe you could get off early?” Nicola suggested.

Kiki snorted. “With Juan managing tonight? Not freaking likely. But, hey—stranger things have happened.”

“Yes,” Nicola agreed with a smile. “They certainly have.”

By the time Alex turned into Nicola’s driveway on his golf cart, he was good and ready to leave his day behind. With still no word back from Brissoli, this morning Alex had both left a message at the hotel for him and written him a curt email calling his bluff: leaving tomorrow. get in touch if you’re interested.

One of the things Alex had learned in business was that matching someone else’s communication style could be an excellent way to get results. He’d spent the rest of the day on the phone putting out fires back home, followed by a brief conversation with his father, who had of course wanted to know only one thing: Had Alex done the deal? Well, that wasn’t entirely true—Devin Sr. had also wanted to hear all about Dev Jr.’s latest successes and achievements. “He just continues to amaze, doesn’t he?” had been his father’s concluding observation before Alex hung up the phone, feeling the old sense of inferiority take hold that he’d left behind years ago—or so he’d told himself. Alex was a grown man, and the fact that he was still seeking his father’s admiration, or at least his approval, made him furious with himself.

And now, eight hours after Alex had left his message at the hotel and sent his email to Brissoli, the man still hadn’t taken the bait.

It was enough to make Alex regret, not for the first time, that he’d allowed his desire for his dad’s acknowledgment to sway him into taking over the family business rather than sticking with his import company, which had been really taking off when he’d sold off his half to his partner. But after his mother’s untimely death, his father undeniably needed his help. While Devin Sr. was the more creative partner, his mother had been more business-minded and less emotional—the true head of the company. Alex didn’t think it was any coincidence that his mother had died of a heart attack. She worked harder than anyone he’d ever known, and he knew she’d have expected the same from him if she were still alive. And one thing Alex Stone did not do was underachieve or disappoint. So when his dad asked for his help, he had to give it. If he’d walked away, more than the family business would fall apart—his relationship with his father would. And Alex didn’t have a lot of other family relationships to fall back on.

Alex parked his golf cart in front of Nicola’s tiny bungalow and walked to the front door, trying to shake off his bad mood. Even if his day had gone to shit, he couldn’t deny the low-grade buzz of excitement that had stuck around in his mind and body as he went about his work. Nicola. He didn’t want to analyze it too much, but she was different from any other woman he’d ever met. Sexier and red-fucking-hot in bed, but it was much more than that. She was also kind and courageous and humble. He knew she wasn’t perfect—no one was—but he trusted her to reveal her flaws to him in her own time. Alex couldn’t imagine her messing with his head, and he had no desire to mess with hers. He just wanted her, straight up, even if it was only for five more days. Right now he couldn’t allow himself to think beyond that, because the reality of their situation left him with an empty feeling in the pit of his gut that he just didn’t want to deal with.

One look at Nicola was all it took to bring Alex out of his funk. She smiled at him when she opened the door, and it was all he could do not to barge into the room, rip her clothes off and fuck her right there on the floor like a wild animal.

She was wearing some sort of romper thing with shorts that showed off her tanned legs to perfection. The outfit was black with subtle sparkles in it that caught the light when she turned. It was held on to her body by a single skinny strap that looped behind her neck, allowing the fabric to drape between her breasts in a way that was unbelievably sexy without being the least bit cheap. Her hair was done in loose waves with a single skinny braid running along one side of her face, all the better to showcase her heart-stopping beauty.

“Even more amazing than the picture I’ve had in my head all day,” Alex breathed, taking her hand and pulling her close to him.

Nicola reached up to kiss him lightly, but it quickly turned into a long, heated embrace. Pressed up against her, Alex willed his cock to behave itself. “I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you,” he said when they finally broke apart.

“Me, neither,” Nicola said, her eyes sparkling. She took both of his hands and gazed at him as if she was about to say something more, but then she broke eye contact to look over his shoulder. “Looks like that storm’s on its way. Shall we go?”

“If we must,” Alex said with mock sulkiness. He held his elbow out to her and swept his other arm out toward the golf cart. “Your horse and carriage awaits.”

Nicola giggled and took his arm, and they stepped out into the windy darkness.

“I hope you don’t mind, but I invited Kiki to come,” Nicola said. “She has to work, but she might drop by later. She’s…a big fan of your brother’s.”

Alex laughed. “Who isn’t?”

Nicola shrugged as she took her place in the cart. “Me.”

Alex turned to face her from the driver’s seat. “Really? Don’t worry, you can tell me. You didn’t dance around your bedroom to ‘All the Girls’? Write ‘Nicola Stone’ all over your three-ring math binder?”

“Maybe that part,” Nicola said, looking at Alex with over-the-top coyness, and he burst out laughing.

“Well, I guess I walked right into that one!” he said as he started up the golf cart.

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