on the other side of that big rock. Can I go look in it?”
Without taking her gaze from Adam, Joanna nodded. “Stay where I can see you.”
It shouldn’t be this hard to think of something to say to her. Though meaningless small talk would never be Adam’s strong suit, he’d gotten better at it during his three years working at the resort. He made it a personal rule not to get intimately involved with guests, so he avoided that awkwardness. Still, this wasn’t the first time in his life he’d unexpectedly run into a woman he’d slept with, and he was usually able to manage a few polite words. Apparently, none of those other women had affected him in quite the same way Joanna had.
He settled for the mundane. “How have you been, Joanna?”
She moistened her lips, visibly nervous. Was she still on edge because of her son’s early disappearance? He couldn’t imagine why running into Adam again would elicit such a dramatic response. They’d had nothing more than a few days of fun. Laughed, danced, walked, swam, enjoyed each other in bed a few times. A few damned good times. But thinking about that wasn’t making this encounter any less awkward.
“I’m—um.” She pushed her blowing hair out of her face, and he could see that her hand wasn’t quite steady.
Seeing him again wasn’t a happy surprise for her, apparently. Was she worried he would make things uncomfortable with her husband? Okay, he could understand that. How could he let her know that he was willing to pretend their fling never happened?
Giving her his most impersonal smile, he took another step back. “As your son told you, I’m on staff here, so if you or your family need anything at all during your stay, just let us know.”
Her gaze darted from him to the boy and back again. She moistened her lips again. “Thank you.”
She’d changed little in appearance, but something was definitely different about Joanna. The woman who’d drifted on occasion through his memories had been confident, animated, flirty. If there was, indeed, a husband waiting for her, he could understand why she wasn’t flirting now, but he couldn’t figure out why she seemed so stiff and nervous. The only explanation that made sense was that she was concerned he might interfere with her current relationship.
He made a sudden decision. “I’ve got a few vacation days built up.” More than a few, actually. Despite his employer’s encouragement, he hadn’t taken more than a handful of days off in the past three years. “I’m thinking about taking a week off. If I don’t run into you before I leave, it was nice seeing you again, Joanna.”
Though he’d have to scramble to make arrangements, maybe things would be easier for her. It was for a similar reason he’d slipped away after their long-ago weekend together, to save her—okay, to save them both—from awkward partings. At least this time he’d said goodbye.
He started to turn, but paused when Simon ran up to him again, another shell clutched in his hand. The boy gazed up at him eagerly, his steel-gray eyes squinting against the brightness of the rising sun. “Do you know what this one is?”
Man, there was just something about this kid’s eyes...
“That’s a banded tulip,” Adam said automatically. “Got a little chip out of it, but it’s still a nice shell for your collection.”
Simon repeated the name under his breath as if committing it to memory, then asked, “Will you help me look for a starfish?”
“Um—”
“It’s time for breakfast, Simon. We need to go back to the suite and get dressed for the day.”
The boy heaved a huge sigh but didn’t argue. Probably didn’t want to push his luck after sneaking out earlier. “Can we come back after breakfast?”
“Yes, we will.”
Simon held out both hands toward Adam, a shell displayed on each little palm. “Banded tulip. Lettered olive,” he recited slowly, nodding to each in turn. “Right?”
“Very good.”
“I still want to find a starfish. And a Scotch bonnet. My friend Liam found a Scotch bonnet once and I want to find one, too.”
Once again, Adam was impressed by how well Simon expressed himself for being such a little guy. Was he small for his age? “How old are you, Simon?”
“Five years and three months. Have you ever found a Scotch bonnet?”
So, a little older than he’d first thought. “I have, yes. I hope you find one during your stay. There are lots of shells in the gift shop. You can buy them there or study them to learn the names.”
“Okay. But I want to find my own.”
“Of course.”
“Simon, let’s go, please.” Joanna sounded as though she was losing patience quickly.
“Okay. But...just one more second. I think I see another shell over there.” Without waiting for permission, Simon dashed a few yards away and bent down to dig in the wet sand.
Joanna made a low, strangled sound of frustration.
Cute kid, Adam thought. She must have had him soon after...oh, damn.
He’d always been good at math, but it didn’t take a CPA to figure out that adding nine months of pregnancy to five years and three months took him back exactly six years. Feeling suddenly like the world’s biggest idiot, he realized why he’d thought the kid—Simon—had looked so familiar.
It had been like looking at a childhood photo of himself.
* * *
JOANNA ZIELINSKI WAS aware of almost the exact moment when the truth hit Adam. His head snapped back, his jaw tightened and his eyes narrowed as if against a blast of overbright light. He must have felt as though he’d just been poleaxed.
She knew the feeling. Seeing Adam here on this beach talking with Simon had stunned her into near incoherence—an uncharacteristic response from a trained psychologist used to giving lectures to college students. She always prepared thoroughly for those presentations. She couldn’t have practiced for this. She’d had no clue that the man who’d slipped out of her bed six years earlier now worked at the very resort where they’d accidentally conceived a son.
“Simon,” he said, his voice a taut growl now.
It wasn’t a question, but still her first impulse was to shake her head. To lie about her son’s parentage. Her second, and almost overwhelming, instinct was to snatch up her child and run back to the happy home she’d created for him on her own.
Her last encounter with Adam had turned her meticulously outlined, fiercely pursued life plan upside down. Something told her this unexpected reunion would have similarly far-reaching and life-changing consequences. For her, for Adam and for Simon.
She banked down her seething emotions and squared her shoulders. She’d always taken pride in her integrity, and she wasn’t going to abandon her principles now.
“Yes,” she said in answer to the question he hadn’t uttered. She kept her voice low
