“So, Brooks has a nature lesson with the kids at DragonZone after lunch, but after that, he’s free. Are you still up for a foraging tour?”
I smile though my eyes are closed as I’m enjoying the heat and the rays. “You’re spending every waking moment with that man if at all possible. Are you sure it’s just a fling? Are you sure you’re not filling every possible moment, so you don’t have to think about the fallout of skipping your wedding?”
Jax lifts one shoulder but can’t fool me as I turn my head to check her expression. The smile creeping across her face is a dead giveaway.
“You like him,” I say.
“Yeah. I thought this was just going to be a casual vacation thing. I even told Brooks about my rather bizarre circumstances—well, some of it—and he’s unfazed.”
She seems happy, which is something I haven’t seen from her in a while. She might be a successful model in her own right, but her life back in the States is out of control. Through no fault of her own, she’s been caught up in the shady dealings of her music producer father. It’s truly appalling the expectations they put on her. I have a feeling Jax is going to extend her time on the island.
“He’s not your usual type,” I say, thinking of the slightly nerdy Brooks and his tendency to talk endlessly about birds, flowers, tree frogs.
All of a sudden, another presence is blocking out the sun. I look up, and the familiar shape of Austin Fisher is silhouetted against the azure South Pacific sky. “Hi,” I say.
“We need to talk,” he says.
“Yes, we do,” I say.
“Are you finished with your pro/con list?”
“Yes.”
If I thought this day couldn’t get any weirder, I’m now being kidnapped.
Austin has thrown a beach blanket over me and is lifting me into the air without another word.
“What are you doing?”
He doesn’t say. He simply scares the liver out of me by tossing me over his shoulder and carrying me away from the beach, wrapped up in a blanket like a burrito.
“You’ve had enough sun.”
“Where are you taking me?!”
“Out of the sun.”
“Can you put me down, please? And be more specific?”
Austin sets me down when we’ve reached a stand of shady trees set back from the beach.
I huff in disgust and unwrap myself, shoving the blanket at him. “Was that necessary?” I bluster. “I can talk to you just fine from my lounge chair at the beach.”
“Not in that outfit, you can’t.”
“It’s an adults-only section of the beach. I’m not corrupting anyone by being there with a two-piece.”
“My god, it’s not a two-piece. It’s barely one-piece.”
“Thank you, I wasn’t sure if I could pull it off, but now that it’s getting terrible reviews from you, I’ll go take it off and wear my caftan for the rest of the trip.”
He grits his teeth and tells me, “You don’t know what you’re doing. You don’t get the assholes who come here. They’re all staring at you. It’s disrespectful.”
“Well, that’s their problem, not mine. And I do know what I’m doing. You don’t even know what was happening back there. That guy was sent here by my father to talk me out of artificial insemination. Trust me, I didn’t do anything to get his attention, and he’s not going to be bothering us anymore.”
This news throws him. “He was? Do you want me to get rid of him?”
Still mad as a wet hen, I bluster, “I can take care of myself!”