Chapter Two
Joshua Jesse Jewel watched the spunky and beautiful Jade Jardine walk up to the pool area and thread her way through to the rear doors of the resort. His resort. When she disappeared, he released a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. The gorgeous brunette with the sparkling green eyes had captivated him in a way no woman had done in a long while. He half wished he could take off the sunglasses and hat, tell her who he was, and promise that he’d find out who had accused her of embezzling and have that person arrested.
The problem was that he didn’t know Jade, and from what he understood, all the fingers pointed to her being the embezzler. He’d known and trusted Curtis his entire life, and Curtis seemed to think it was Jade, not any of the other three men who worked closely with him. Curtis had started working for his father over twenty-five years ago, and since then, he’d proven himself to be the most dedicated and brilliant employee Jewel Enterprises had. The man was like an uncle to Joshua and had taught him as much business-wise as his own father had.
Joshua trusted Curtis, but he’d been unexplainably drawn to Jade, before he knew who she was. Even now he had a hard time believing that an open-book person like her could be the one stealing from him. He’d put on a pretty good show himself the past half an hour, not letting her know that he was Joshua and not tipping his hand when he realized who she was. Hopefully, he’d be able to get to the bottom of this mess over the next few days. Being close to her should reveal the truth. If only he could lie to himself and believe that was the only reason he wanted to be close to such a fun and feisty woman.
He lifted his laptop bag and pushed through the sand, ignoring the interested glances of some bikini-clad women on the chairs nearby. He’d watched for almost two hours as Jade walked the stretch of beach in front of his resort. At that point, he’d had no clue who she was and had shocked himself by throwing his usual reticence around women to the wind, approaching her, and inviting her to have a drink with him. It wasn’t like him, not at all. His sisters and mom would be ecstatic.
Striding past the pools and into the luxurious building, he took the employee hallway behind the Italian restaurant and rode his private elevator up to the penthouse suite that took up the entire sixteenth floor. This resort was a huge revenue source, but his parents had also built it to serve as a retreat for their large family. The penthouse had an open two-story gathering area with views east and west of the beach, ocean, and surrounding gardens and property. Off of the main area were eight suites, each with its own spa-like bathroom and sitting area.
His parents’ home base changed by the season: Jackson Hole, Wyoming, in the summer; Stowe, Vermont, in the fall; Puerto Rico in the winter; and Savannah, Georgia, in the spring. He and his siblings were “requested” to be at each of his parents’ homes for a certain weekend each season. Joshua loved those loud, crazy weekends with his entire family, but he didn’t mind having the penthouse to himself right now; it was only November, and Vermont just spoke fall and the holiday season to his mother. Being here alone, he could get a lot of work done or take a certain beautiful woman to tour the area.
He smirked to himself. His mom and sisters would definitely be cheering. His dad would be concerned about the accusations against Jade. His brothers would be razzing him, shocked that he’d put anything before work. He’d been working since four a.m., only taking a break from six to seven-thirty for a run on the beach and to lift weights. Of course, there was always work to do, but he could afford a break. Part of the reason he’d asked Jade to go tour with him was because she was so appealing, but mostly he knew he had to figure out if she could be the one stealing money from his company. Keep your friends close and your enemies closer, right? Yet Jade Jardine didn’t feel like an enemy. When she’d touched him, it had felt like heaven.
He stopped in front of a mirror and pulled his sunglasses off. The trademark blue Jewel eyes stared back at him. The media claimed that his family’s eyes were more beautiful and more valuable than sapphires. People were weird. They were just eyes. Yet Jade’s eyes had fit her name, and he’d been so drawn to them, it had shaken him a little bit. If she was the one stealing from him, his attraction to her would shake him even more.
Jade didn’t seem like she’d known who he was. He wanted to keep it that way. If he could find out the truth by spending the next couple of days with her, it would be worth it. As long as she didn’t endear herself to him. “No man could resist all this fun. I’d charm the work right out of him,” she’d said. He’d love to have a beautiful woman “charm the work right out of him.” For the right reasons. Someone who actually wanted him for him, not for the money or to expose the reclusive billionaire. He’d been burned back at twenty and hadn’t trusted himself to a woman outside of his family since. It was doubtful that he was going to start now.
His jaw clenched as he threw some snacks, water, and sunscreen into a backpack. He sensed an openness about Jade. What reason would she have to lie to some guy named Jesse? Unless she knew exactly who Joshua was and was hoping to get him to fall for her and pin the embezzlement on somebody else. Those ideas made his stomach clench, and in his experience, they were more likely true.
He stepped out of the penthouse door and into the waiting elevator. He’d find out over the next couple of days.
* * *
Jade kept sneaking as many glances at Jesse as she did at the unreal beauty of the green majesty of the forest around them. He was a beautiful man, at least from what she could see of him, and he confused the snot out of her. Why was he so secretive, weirdly keeping his hat and sunglasses on? She wanted to make fun of him about it but wasn’t sure how he would take it. At least when her mind was scrambling to figure out the elusive Jesse, she wasn’t stressing about the accusations from Curtis or a dim future of being prosecuted for embezzlement.
“So Jesse …? What was your last name again?”
“James. And you?” He smiled, as if she’d let him get away with that.
“Jardine,” she said tartly.
“Ah. So we both have alliteration names. I like it. And here’s the first waterfall—La Coca, I believe is the name.”
Jade looked out her window and up, way up, to a towering waterfall that cascaded down rocky cliffs with lush greenery framing it on both sides. Jesse parked in a small lot close by, and they got out and walked with the rest of the tourists to stare up at the majesty.
“Guess we can’t swim in this one,” she said.
“No.” He tilted his head toward the park ranger station with a smile. “They might have something to say about it.”
“But you’re the outlaw Jesse James. You could get away with murder.”
He grinned. “And I have.”
She rolled her eyes. “So are you going to take me to a waterfall I can swim in?”
“Sure. Just not one as big as this. Sadly, La Mina Falls won’t be open until next spring. It’s one of my favorite waterfalls to swim in, but the hurricane took out the trail and they’re still trying to restore it.”
“Thank you, Mr. Guidebook,” she said. “One of your favorite waterfalls? Where else have you swum in waterfalls?”
He smiled secretively. “Kauai, Costa Rica, the Philippines, Dominican Republic, Tahiti …”
“Oh my goodness, now you’re just bragging.”
That wiped his smile away. “Forgive me,” he said.
They walked back to the car and drove to the next spot. There, they climbed Yokahu Tower and looked down at the incredibly fertile valley below, stretching clear to the ocean, and then turned to check out the towering El Yunque peaks the other direction, shrouded in misty gray clouds. After that, they stopped at Juan Diego Creek. They walked up some manmade steps and found a small but beautiful waterfall and pool to swim in. It was crowded with about twenty people, and lots of splashing and laughter reverberated around the natural pool.