She was nearly irresistible.
“Hey, Pete,” Nick greeted his cousin on the other end when he found a quieter spot to talk. “I’ve been trying to reach you. What happened to you earlier? I thought you were meeting me at the bar. After all, this weekend getaway was your idea.”
“There was a problem on the boat and it’s taking longer than expected.” Nick and Pete had flown to San Juan, Puerto Rico, using Pete’s airline miles. Then Pete had borrowed a friend’s boat for them to come to Isla de la Blanca. Nick probably wouldn’t have let himself be talked into coming if most of the trip hadn’t been free.
“You need me to come back to the marina?” Pete had told Nick to go to the lodge without him so he could take a quick shower first.
“No, I’ve got it,” Pete said. “There’s a guy here who’s helping me out. Shouldn’t be too long now.”
“Get here as soon as you can. You’ll be happy to know that I met a group of really fun women.”
“Excellent. Be there soon.”
By the time he made it back to the table, he was second-guessing what he’d told Pete. The other three women were still nowhere in sight. Bree was alone—her head was on her folded arms and her eyes shut.
BREE LIFTED HER HEAD when she heard Nick move his chair as he returned from taking his phone call. She was tired and would have preferred to go to bed, but she’d promised the girls that she’d let her hair down while they were on vacation. She didn’t think she’d had that much to drink. After all, how much alcohol could there be in those sweet drinks? Still, she felt a little wobbly when she stood up.
“Maybe some fresh air is a good idea,” she told Nick. Afterward, she could go to bed with a clearer head.
“Let’s go.” He offered her his arm and she didn’t refuse.
They stepped through the automatic doors and Bree drew in a deep breath, trying to counter the effects of the alcohol.
The air was humid, but the continuous breeze off the ocean was refreshing.
They followed a masonry walkway that led to a narrow boardwalk, and from there they walked down the few steps onto the sandy beach.
“Hold on a sec,” Bree said, stopping abruptly. “I need to take my shoes off if we’re going to walk on the sand.”
They both slipped off their shoes and left them next to the stairs before heading to the water’s edge.
The sky was clear and Bree saw more stars than she could count, wondering what constellations she was admiring.
“That’s Orion, the Hunter,” Nick said as if reading her mind. “Those three stars together make up his belt.” He pointed to another cluster of stars and took a step to the side as if trying to keep his balance. So she wasn’t the only one who was feeling the alcohol. “And that’s Cassiopeia,” he added.
He’d taken her hand somewhere between the lounge and the beach, but she didn’t mind. In fact, she kind of liked it. She decided to blame her nonchalant attitude on too many sweet drinks.
“You’re probably making that up to impress me,” she teased.
“Is it working?” Nick chuckled, a pleasant sound that made Bree smile. “I promise, those are definitely Orion and Cassiopeia.” He spoke as he looked toward the sky, wavering slightly. “Legend has it that Orion had women trouble. When he wooed Merope, the daughter of King Oenopion, she rebuffed him. One day he drank too much wine and tried to take Merope by force, so the king had Orion blinded and banished.”
“Imagine if today’s sex offenders met the same fate.” Bree was fascinated by the tale. “So this guy, Orion, was blind forever?”
“No, eventually he regained his sight with the help of Hephaestus, the god of the forge. Not sure how a blacksmith can restore sight, but that’s what I learned.”
“What are you, an astronomer or something?” She knew very little about him aside from his skill at rescuing falling women.
“Nope. Just an Eagle Scout.”
“Eagle Scout, very impressive. I’m sure your parents are very proud.”
“They were,” he told her in a more subdued tone.
“You make it sound like past tense.” Bree cocked her head, waiting for his explanation.
“Sorry. My mother still brags about me.” He paused. “My father died almost two years ago.”
“I’m sorry.” Her own father had been absent so much of her life that it sometimes felt like he was deceased. And he lived only a half hour away from her.
He shrugged off her condolence. “It was very sudden and there are times I still can’t believe he’s gone. He actually taught me how to navigate with the stars, and he did all the venture camping trips with me.”
She tried to lighten his mood. “So I don’t have to worry about getting lost, and you’ll protect me from bears?”
That made him laugh, an enjoyable male sound. “I doubt we’ll come across any bears on the beach, and as long as we stick next to the shore I’m pretty sure I can get us back to the main lodge.”
Her head had cleared a bit and she didn’t feel quite as out of control in the fresh air. At some point during the evening, she had stopped resenting Nick’s intrusion on her girls’ working vacation and begun having fun. He hadn’t made a good first impression, but she had been willing to rethink her initial opinion of him.
Maybe the girls had been right about her needing to have a vacation fling. She wasn’t about to seduce him, but he was definitely entertaining to have around.
“Someone mentioned earlier that you were all here on a working vacation,” he said. “So what kind of work do you do?”
This was a subject she loved to talk about. “I own a company that helps women get ahead in their jobs. We offer training and guidance for women already in the workforce, as well as for those coming back into the workforce.”
“Isn’t that a little sexist, just focusing on women’s issues?”
“Isn’t it sexist for men to be paid more than women for the same job? Or for women to be passed over for promotions because they’re of childbearing age and might require maternity leave?”
“Whoa! I’ve obviously struck a nerve. Sorry,” he said. “I just wondered why you don’t offer the same services to men. But you’ve explained it perfectly.”
She relaxed. “I’m passionate about my company and what we do for women. Two years ago we even started loaning money to women to start up new businesses. So far, it’s been very successful.”
“That’s great! When did you start the company?”
“Technically, about thirteen years ago.”
