"And you manage all of this on your own. Just you and a handyman."
"Well, I do outsource dinner. Tonight, it's pizza delivered from a restaurant in town, with salad for the vegans."
I arched a brow. "Town is eighteen miles away. I didn't realize anyone delivered that far out."
"Normally, they don't. I have special arrangements."
She stacked four trays and lifted them in her arms.
I rushed around the island, intending to take them from her. "Let me help."
"You're a guest, and you're naked."
"I'm also not the sort of man who lets a woman do all the work alone. My sisters would whip me for not lending a hand." I turned halfway toward the hall. "Let me put some clothes on, and I'll help you. Please, I insist."
She set down the trays and raised her hands. "I surrender. Knock yourself out."
I sprinted back to my room and yanked on an outfit that seemed more appropriate for serving lunch than my designer clothes—a T-shirt, jeans, and sneakers. When I got back to the kitchen, Eve was waiting with her elbows braced on the island. She moved to pick up those four trays again, but I hurried over to take them from her.
A knock vibrated the door as a male voice hollered, "It's me, Eve."
"Come on in," she said.
The door swung open. A well-tanned man in jeans and a T-shirt, with clunky boots on his feet, pushed a metal cart into the kitchen. He dragged another metal cart behind him, and I could see a third parked a few feet outside the door.
"Sorry I took so long," the man said. Deep wrinkles carved lines into his face when he squinted at my hostess in what seemed like a strained attempt at a smile. "We better hurry, Eve. The natives are getting restless and might start gnawing on each other if we don't get them their food pronto."
The man looked at me, his squint deepening. "Guess you've got help already."
Eve cleared her throat. "Quentin, this is our newest guest, Val Silva. Val, this is my handyman extraordinaire, Quentin Smith."
Quentin offered me his hand, realized I couldn't take it with the trays in my arms, and pushed his cart toward me. "You can set those down here."
I deposited the trays on the cart and offered him my hand. "A pleasure to meet you, Mr. Smith."
"Just Quentin." He shook my hand, eying me up and down. One corner of his mouth twisted downward, then smoothed out. "Welcome to Au Naturel Naturist Resort."
"Hungry people are waiting," Eve said, stacking four more trays on the counter.
When she tried to pick them up, Quentin and I reached for them at the same time.
I yanked them out of Eve's hands and slid them onto the cart's lower shelf.
Quentin's mouth tightened.
"No fighting, boys," Eve said. "There's plenty of work to go around."
Her handyman pursed his lips, his gaze narrowing on me.
Did he have a special fondness for my hostess? If he did, he'd have to take a step back. For the next two weeks, I planned to be the one monopolizing her attention and seducing her into sharing my bed.
Chapter Three
Eve
For the next fifteen minutes, Quentin and Val competed in a bizarre race to ferry their carts across the fifty-foot gap between my home and the guest house and get their trays into the dining hall and unloaded. I pushed the third cart but gave up on keeping up with the men. Val seemed to think their little race was funny, but Quentin was not amused. I supposed he'd gotten used to being my one and only assistant. It probably didn't help that we'd slept together last summer.
Oh yeah,thathad been a mistake. Ever since, Quentin had developed an odd possessiveness toward me. The sex had been decent, but not worth this aggravation.