He realized Xavier had a valid point, but he really, really didn’t have the time or energy to deal with this right now. Saving money wasn’t always the most important objective. Something Marcy had a difficult time understanding.
It appeared that Xavier might reside in that camp, as well. Maybe putting them together was a good idea.
The elevator dinged their arrival on the lowest floor. The doors slid open silently and Simon reached to hold them back.
“I’m heading to Marcy’s office right now. Why don’t you follow me and discuss this with her?”
Xavier entered the long hallway, glancing back over his shoulder. “I would, but she said she no longer works here and that I’d need to deal directly with you.”
Simon stopped in his tracks. “What did you say?”
“Marcy said I should deal directly with you.”
“No, before that.”
“Marcy said she quit or you fired her. Or maybe it was both? I didn’t quite understand why she was still on the island, but I didn’t figure it was my business to ask.”
Simon knew exactly why she was still here. Because he wouldn’t let her leave. But he hadn’t thought she was serious about quitting. His threat of firing her had been a bluff. She’d known it, right? Why would he fire her and then continue to keep her prisoner here? It sort of defeated the purpose.
“Crap!” The single word exploded from Simon’s mouth.
Pushing past Xavier, he headed for the offices at a sprint.
“She isn’t there.”
Even before Simon skidded around the corner he knew Xavier was right and the office would be vacant. First, no light shone from the small space. Second, there was no noise. Every other time he’d ventured into Marcy’s territory—and he admitted exhausting all other options before giving in to that last resort—there was a flurry of activity. Phones ringing, keys being rhythmically tapped, printers whirring. Today there was nothing. The only sounds were from the construction crew outside.
A huge knot of dread tightened in the pit of his stomach. What had he done?
Backing out of her empty office, he almost barreled into Xavier, who was waiting in the hallway, his rather large arms crossed over his chest.
“Where is she?” he asked.
Xavier shrugged. “The last time I saw her she was by the pool.”
With a few strides Simon crossed the lobby and headed out the front door, Xavier a few steps behind him.
“Look, we’ll talk later. After I’ve straightened this out. In the meantime, why don’t you go unpack or something?” The man had just moved his entire life to their tiny island. Didn’t he have something better to do?
Raising his hands, Xavier backed away slowly. “I’ve already unpacked, but I suppose I can find something else to pass the time.”
Bright sunlight blinded Simon, spearing straight into his already gritty eyes and making him wish he’d stopped long enough to pick up his sunglasses. And some aspirin.
The construction noise was even louder without the barrier of walls to muffle it. It almost made him want to look at the six-foot-long list Marcy had plopped onto his desk, to figure out what the hell the crew could be working on. But that was the first step down a slippery slope. Looking at the list would lead to having an opinion about what they were doing, which would lead to getting involved and the entire project would become a distraction he didn’t need.
It wasn’t that he didn’t care what went on around the resort, but he couldn’t afford to take time away from his writing. Not if he wanted to keep his career from completely tanking.
By the time he rounded the corner into the pool complex he’d built up a healthy head of steam. Unfortunately, it didn’t stand a chance when faced with the vision of Marcy in one of the smallest bikinis he’d ever seen, stretched out on a lounge chair beside the pool.
He almost swallowed his tongue.
Where the hell had that body come from?
He had seen the woman every single day for the better part of two years. Simon knew that he would have remembered the firm swell of those breasts and the delicate flare of those hips if he’d ever seen them before.
He had the sudden urge to take every single power suit out of her closet and burn them all. They were doing her a grave disservice and he thought it might be his duty to men everywhere to rectify the situation.
Marcy was tiny. But she’d definitely taught him not to judge a book by its cover. That little body packed a punch … he just hadn’t realized the punch was aimed straight for his gut.
Simon couldn’t help himself; he had to look at her. As his eyes traveled up the length of her body the heavy weight of arousal settled at the base of his spine. With nothing more than a view of her gleaming skin, his cock turned semi-hard. It had been a long time since he’d been embarrassed by an erection—he did not like revisiting the sensation.
But this was Marcy.
And he was supposed to be upset with her.
“You’re blocking my light. Could you move?” The soft, lazy tone of her voice was so out of place that it honestly took him several seconds to realize Marcy was the one who’d spoken. Although it wasn’t as if there was anyone else around.
Clearing his throat, Simon managed to surreptitiously adjust his fly and desperately tried to dredge up the irritation he’d stomped out here with.
It was damn hard. Along with the rest of him. Especially when she turned to look at him, pulling down her dark tinted sunglasses just far enough to glare at him over the rims. She looked like a pissed-off pixie and he suddenly had the urge to kiss her until she forgot why she was angry.
He bit down onto the inside of his cheek, asking, “What are you doing?” instead.
“I’d think that would be obvious. Sunbathing.”
“Sunbathing,” he parroted like an idiot. As if the condescending tone of her voice hadn’t been bad enough. Shaking his head, and hopefully reawakening his brain, he said, “I mean, why are you out here and not in your office?”
“You fired me, remember?”
“I most certainly did not. I threatened to fire you. Big difference.”
“Great, well then, I quit.”
“You can’t.”
“Oh, I can.” With a wicked smile on her lips that he’d never seen before, Marcy pushed her glasses back up, pillowed her arms behind her head and leaned back against the lounge chair. The pose stretched her body, pushing the round swell of her breasts against the tiny squares of material covering them. Her stomach muscles pulled tight, drawing his gaze to the tempting little dimple of her belly button.
She was entirely too pleased with herself.
“What’s
