ROMAN TOOK FIVE minutes to change and stalk through his villa, getting a feel for the place. It was all vacation luxury, heavy on the driftwood furniture and big open spaces to maximize the view of his private beach and the foliage that surrounded three quarters of the building.
And therein lay the problem.
He should have anticipated that an island with only ten villas would play heavily into privacy, but with the various activities open to all guests, he’d anticipated there would be plenty of time to find Allie and make his argument.
He hadn’t figured on not knowing which part of the island she was on.
He strode onto the beach and looked around. The natural curve of the island created a miniature bay that blocked out the view of anyone else. There were bicycles and walking paths to get to the main buildings, where there was a restaurant, a bar, a yoga studio and a boutique gift shop. He could hang out there and hope like hell that Allie would venture in for a meal, but with the option to have dining brought to the villas, he didn’t like his odds.
No, better to get the lay of the land and plan accordingly.
A quick examination of the storage unit right off the sand—designed to look like a weathered shack—gave him the answer. There was gear for a variety of water sports. He considered his options and went with the kayak. It was the fastest way to get where he needed to go and stay relatively dry in the process. He shucked his shoes off, paused and then dragged off his shirt, too. The summer sun should have made the heat unbearable, but as he pushed the kayak into the water, it was damn near pleasant.
Roman hadn’t been on a kayak before, but it seemed easy enough. He experimented in paddling until he got a good rhythm, then set off, heading south around the island. He’d make a circuit and go from there.
The main problem lay in the fact that he didn’t exactly know who he was looking for. He’d never managed to pin Allie Landers down into meeting him in person. The digging he’d done online had brought up precious little—both in details about her as an individual and pictures of her. Her social media accounts were both set to private, and the one photo he’d found of her was from ages ago. The Transcend website, which revealed more about the company’s services and vision than its founder, didn’t give more information than a contact email address. Considering it was linked with a women’s shelter, that wasn’t surprising, but it still irked him.
That said, Roman had secured deals in the past that began with even less information than he had now. He was confident he’d pull it off this time, too.
The first villa to the south had a family with two smallish children making sandcastles, so Roman kept going, starting to enjoy himself despite the fact that he much preferred the city to anything resembling nature. This didn’t feel like nature, though.
It felt a whole lot like paradise.
He made his way around the island, surveying beach by beach. There were two with families, two with groups that seemed to consist solely of men, three empty and one with a group of four women who catcalled him as he paddled past. He filed that information away to check on later. There was no telling how many friends Allie had come down here with, but he knew she wasn’t married and had no children, so at least he’d narrowed down the search.
By the time he came around the north point of the island, he was fucking exhausted. Roman spent time in the gym regularly, but the heat and the constant paddling wore on him. He steered around the outcropping of rocks and let his paddle rest across the kayak in front of him, taking a moment to roll his shoulders.
Which was right around the time he saw the woman.
She lay on her back, her arms stretched over her head, her long blond hair stark against the vivid red of her beach towel. But that wasn’t what made his breath dry up in his lungs.
It was the fact she was topless.
Her golden skin glinted in the sunlight as if she’d oiled herself before coming out to the beach, and the only thing resembling clothing she wore was a tiny triangle of indeterminable color. Her long legs bent as she shifted, her large breasts rising and falling with a slow breath.
He forgot what he was there for. Forgot that his muscles were damn near shaking with exhaustion. Forgot everything but his sudden need to see what color her nipples were.
What the fuck are you doing?
He shook his head. Going closer was inappropriate. Fuck, sitting there and staring like a goddamn creep was the height of inappropriate. It didn’t matter how mouthwatering her curves were or the fact that she’d propped herself up on her elbows to watch him.
Roman took a deep breath, and then another. It did nothing to quell his raging cockstand, but he managed to pick up the paddle and keep rowing. Whoever that woman was, no matter that he wanted to spend a whole lot of time up close and personal with her...she wasn’t Allie. The one picture he’d managed to source of the woman alone was several years old. Her goddamn senior yearbook photo. She’d been skinny to the point of being unhealthy with her hair chopped short and dyed pitch-black.
He highly doubted she looked anything like that currently.
The one defining characteristic of the women who staffed Transcend was that they were all tiny and chiseled and didn’t have a soft spot on their bodies. Beautiful, yes. Roman could appreciate all body types, but none of them had made his hands shake the same way that woman on the beach did. Soft and curvy and with breasts he ached to get his mouth on.
Knock that shit off. You aren’t here to fuck anyone, no matter how sexy she is. You’re here for business.
He’d go to dinner tonight and see if he could sniff out which of the women on the island was Allie and make his plan from there.
And if he saw the mystery woman once he’d gotten the rest of it figured out?
Roman grinned. Maybe he’d make an exception to his rule and indulge in some pleasure along with business.
He was in paradise, after all.
* * *
“How are you doing, sweetie?” Allie pulled on a sundress and headed over to check on Becka. Her friend had indulged a little too heavily on the vodka on the flight down from the city, and the short plane ride from Miami to West Island had made her sick. She’d spent the afternoon sleeping it off, but she still looked a bit green around the gills.
Becka managed a shaky smile. “I think vodka and I broke up.”
“It’s temporary.” She hesitated. “Do you want me to stay? Nurse you back to health?” She was pleasantly tired, but the draw of tonight’s menu was enough to have her itching to ride to the lodge and get a better lay of the land. Becka had been so out of sorts when they arrived, it had been a rush to get checked in and settled in the villa so she could sleep off the worst of it.
“God, no. It’s bad enough that I’ve brought shame on my family for ruining the first day of your desperately needed vacation. I’m not going to let you spend any time paying for my bad decisions. Go. Eat delicious food. Drink.”
Allie still didn’t move for the door. “Why don’t I see if the chef can make up some broth or something easy on your stomach?”
“Go, go, go. You’re on vacation. You’re not required to mother me.” She softened the words with a smile, still looking queasy.
Allie went. Becka wouldn’t thank her for staying and would only feel guilty if she did, which would distract her from resting. Tomorrow would be soon enough for them to go exploring and try out the stand-up paddleboards Allie had eyed when she’d checked out the beach.
Her face heated at the fact she’d been caught sunbathing topless. Whoever that guy was, he’d been far off enough that she couldn’t clearly see his face. Those shoulders, though... Allie shivered. Even at a distance, she’d seen the cut of his muscles and how purposefully he’d maneuvered the kayak through the turquoise waters. The island must have already gone to her head, because she’d spent a truly insane moment hoping he’d come to shore so she could get a better look at him.
Maybe more than a better look.
Allie laughed at her fanciful thoughts. Vacation hookups were all well and good, but if that was what she’d wanted, she’d chosen the wrong place to go. Isolation and relaxation were the name of the game on West Island, which was exactly what she’d craved when she let Becka talk her into booking the trip. It was the exact opposite of New York and her life there.
But now she found herself wondering if maybe something slightly more chaotic would have been a better choice. The sun and sea had soaked into her blood and the heady feeling had her convinced anything was possible. It was only a week. The perfect length of time for a fling...
If she wasn’t on a private island in the middle of the ocean without a single man in sight.
She bypassed the little golf cart that was one of the main forms of transportation here. It felt good to walk after being cooped up on the plane and then lying prone while she sunned herself. She usually taught at least one class a day at Transcend—more if she needed to cover someone else’s schedule—so being inactive wasn’t natural for her. It was only a mile or two to the restaurant and the day had started to cool as the sun reached for the horizon. It’d be downright pleasant tonight.
She’d make sure to wake early and attend one of the yoga classes offered, and the rest of the day would be filled with activities that would keep restlessness from setting in. There was even scuba diving available, though Allie wasn’t sure she was feeling that adventurous. Snorkeling? Sure. Going deeper with only a tank and a few tubes between her and drowning? That would take a whole lot more convincing.
The path was cleared and well maintained to allow the carts to drive without problems, so she let her mind wander as she fell into a natural stride that ate up the distance without tiring her out. Every once in a while, the path would branch off in different directions, some heading toward other villas, some heading deeper inland. There was a small selection of hiking trails that offered tours of the history of the island.
She made it to the restaurant easily and found it practically deserted. Allie paused in the doorway, wondering if she’d misunderstood the woman who’d checked them in. Maybe it was closed?
“Looks like it’s just you and me.”
She jumped and spun around. The man stood a respectable distance away, but his sheer size ate up the space and made her feel closed in. She froze. I’d recognize those shoulders anywhere. Confirming her suspicion, his gaze slid over her body as if he was reminding himself of what she looked like with nothing but what she’d worn on the beach. She tried to swallow past her suddenly dry throat. “You.”
“Me.” He finally looked her in the face, and she rocked back on her heels. The man was an Adonis. There was no other way to describe his blond perfection, from his hazel eyes to the square jaw to the cleft in his chin to the body that just wouldn’t quit. He might be wearing a shirt now, but the button-down did nothing to hide his muscle definition.
He held out a wide hand with equally perfect square fingers. “Let me buy you a drink?”
“We’re at an all-inclusive resort.”
His lips twitched, eyes twinkling. “Have a drink with me.”
Oh, he was good. Charm practically colored the air between them, and she had the inexplicable impulse to close the distance and stroke a finger along his jawline. To flick that cleft chin with her tongue.
Allie gave herself a shake. “Since we’re the only ones here, it’d be silly to sit apart.”
The look he gave her said he saw right through the excuse, and why not when it was pathetically flimsy? The truth was that this man was magnetic and she suspected she’d be drawn to him even in a room full of people. He waved a hand at the empty place. “Lady’s choice.”
“How magnanimous of you.”
“I try.”
She laughed and headed for the table in the middle of the small patio. There were half a dozen tables, and she picked a spot that put her back to the building and presented the best view of the ocean through a carefully curated gap in the foliage.
He eyed the view and then the chair on the other side of the table, and then he picked it up and set it adjacent to hers so they were sitting on a diagonal, rather than directly across from each other. “Nice view.”
She turned to agree—and found him staring at her.
Allie wasn’t falsely modest. Life was too short to play games with body shaming and pretending she didn’t have access to a mirror. She was pretty—beautiful when she put some effort into it—but she’d given up being skinny or petite after the agony of high school, and she wasn’t athletically built like some of the women at her gym. Sure, she had muscle beneath her softness, and she could keep up with the best of them in her spin classes, but she loved food just as much as she loved to sweat, and her curves reflected that. Some guys had a problem with that, though she didn’t keep them around as soon as comments like “Should you really be eating that?” started.
This guy looked at her like he wanted to put her on the table and feast on her for dinner.
The desire stoked the flame inside her that had kindled the second she saw him. She leaned forward, checking his left hand. No ring. No tan lines, either. “What brings you to West Island?”
“It’s paradise, isn’t it? Who wouldn’t want to come here to get away from it all?”
That wasn’t quite an answer, but she was distracted by the intoxicating way his mouth moved when he spoke. Get ahold of yourself, Allie. You’re in danger of panting for him. She took a quick drink of water that did nothing to quell the heat rising with each minute she sat next to him.
Luckily, a waiter appeared to save her from saying something truly embarrassing. He outlined the menu for the night and took their drink orders, then disappeared as quickly as he’d come.
They were in the middle of one of the most beautiful places Allie had ever seen, and she couldn’t manage to tear her gaze away from this stranger. She licked her lips, every muscle in her body tensing when he followed the movement. She opened her mouth, but before she could speak, he took her hand, running his thumb over her knuckles.
The touch was innocent enough, but she felt that light movement in places that were most definitely not innocent. She didn’t have to look down to know her nipples now pressed against the thin fabric of her sundress.
His smile was slow and sinful and promised things she never would have had the gall to ask for. “This is going to sound unforgivably forward, but what do you say we get out of here and go back to my villa?”
It was crazy. More than crazy. She didn’t even know his name, and she sure as hell didn’t know anything more pertinent about him.
But there on the softly lit patio with the tropical scent of some flower she didn’t recognize and the soft shushing sound of the tide coming in, she didn’t feel like Allie, gym owner and mother hen, the responsible one who could never afford to do anything out of line or make a misstep because too many lives depended on her.
Here, she was just Allie, a woman. A woman who desperately wanted the man staring at her mouth as if he was doing everything in his power to keep from kissing her right then and there. She licked her lips again, secretly delighting in the way a muscle in his jaw jumped. “Yes.”
“Yes?”
“Yes, let’s get out of here.”