CHAPTER 2

After spending a restless night with the nameless stranger front and center in her dreams Amanda crawled out of bed and walked over to the table where she had sat her laptop. She knew her presentation by heart, everything she had dug up on the hotel brand, the owner, the financials, were sitting in a folder on her laptop.

She reached her hand out toward her mouse and even as her mouse hovered over the file she knew she should be reviewing, she couldn’t get her finger to push the open button. This morning the last thing she wanted to do was work. Weird but maybe she did need a day off. Just one day without the phone ringing, urgent clients with one disaster or another all wanting her attention. What would be the worst that could happen if she let herself have this one day?

She removed her hand from the mouse and slowly backed away from the computer. She shook her head at her own craziness and gave into the urge to go throw her bathing suit on and lay by the pool. Maybe Stacy and her grandfather were right. Amanda shivered at the thought, she would never tell them that, relaxing into the cushion of the chaise Amanda let out a breath and imagined all her tension was releasing with it.

Her body was warm and relaxed from the sun shining over her. This was what she had been missing, the chance to do nothing but work on her tan. Too bad she had only given herself this one day to be lazy. Oh well she would make the most of it until she felt her conscience nag at her less than acceptable work ethic.

“Amanda really, can’t we go do something besides sit here?”  Janice whined. “I’m bored, don’t they offer activities?  Things for the guests to do besides die of boredom? Their brochures lied.”

Amanda sighed, felt some of her tension start to return to her shoulders, and turned to look at her sister. “I told you before you invited yourself to come that I came here for work. Not to run around and entertain you.” 

“If you’re really here for work why are you just sitting there doing nothing?” she pouted.

Learning at an early age that it was best not to get pulled into a fight with Janice, Amanda ignored her question. For years she had wondered what drove her sister to act like a spoilt bitch one minute and then loving and sincere the next but the harder she tried to get close to her the more Janice pushed back. Finally, Amanda had stopped trying to force a bond between them and just learned to roll with whatever mood Janice decided to be in.

Turning her attention away from Janice, Amanda let her eyes roam over their surroundings. The sparking pool at first had seemed inviting but she wasn’t tempted enough to get up from her comfortable spot on the chaise. Beyond the pool she could see the white sand of the beaches and the bluest ocean she had ever laid eyes on.

Having grown up on the west coast she had seen the pale blue water off Huntington beach and the rich blue waters off Big Sur, but nothing had prepared her for the deep sapphire of the blue water just a few feet from where she sat. It was alluring, but she would pass for now. Huge palm trees, the kind that her client specifically told her to leave out of her presentation surrounded the hotel.

The thought of the palm trees made her smile. She wasn’t sure if the stodgy old owner left them on the property because they were expected or because even though he said no to them on the presentation he secretly like them. She liked the idea that the old man liked the palm trees enough to leave them here for the guests. It made him seem more real to her even though she had never met him. The only resort dealings she had were with Mr. Miller.

Her musing about the owner had her feeling guilty because she wasn’t working on a new proposal for him. It was starting to feel like she had let him down because she obviously hadn’t done her best work and now here she was sitting by pool.

She tried console herself with the fact that last night when she got in she did look around to find something that would make the hotel stand out but, so far it was like any other hotel that she could find on any dozen islands. Nothing remarkable stood out.

 Her conscience chided her that maybe if she left her spot by the pool or her hotel room and explored the island maybe this would be easier. Unfortunately for her conscience the longer she sat there under the sun, the less she felt the urgent need to work, and the easier it was to ignore it.

As much as she was enjoying relaxing Amanda could feel the hairs on the back of her neck stand up and knew that Janice was shooting daggers at her from the seat next to hers.

Saying a silent prayer for patience Amanda pushed her sunglasses to the top of her head and turned to look at Janice. “Go. You don’t need me to hold your hand while you figure out what you want to do. Go find adventure or whatever just count me out.” Amanda hadn’t meant to be snippy with her, but she wanted to stay in her bubble if she could. Sliding her glasses back onto her nose Amanda made a show of wiggling back into the cushion and ignoring Janice’s Glare.

“You dragged me out here to this place the least you could do was make sure that I had a good time.”  She harrumphed.

Amanda took a deep breath and tried to keep the frustration she was feeling from reflecting in her voice. “First of all, I didn’t drag you anywhere. You invited yourself, at my expense I might add. Second, I warned you I was not going to do any entertaining, I’m working.” 

The fury radiating from Janice was almost tangible, if she didn’t do something Janice would make the rest of their time here a complete nightmare. Trying to project a calm that was quickly leaving her she decided to just lay back and wait for the next outburst. It seemed like the best strategy before giving up the illusion that Janice could be ignored for any length of time.

“Oh my God Amanda!”  Janice hissed, as she not too gently hit Amanda’s arm.

Well that didn’t take long Amanda thought and turned her head toward her sister. “Ouch, what?” she asked, rubbing at the spot on her arm.

“Have you ever seen a more gorgeous man?”  Janice gushed as she pointed to the man that had just stepped onto the pool deck.

Turning to see why Janice was so excited, she followed Janice’s out stretched hand prepared to be unimpressed and found the man partially hidden by palm fawns. How could Janice tell he was gorgeous being half hidden? She did have to admit that the parts she could see were impressive.

The moment the breeze gave her a clear look at his face Amanda felt her pulse race. She wanted to look away in case he noticed her staring, but he was too far away to notice. The moment her eyes had locked onto his body an intense feeling of need slammed into her so suddenly it made her gasp.

Only one man had ever turned her on like that without saying a word and he had sat in front of her for the entire plane ride here. What were the odds that it would be the same man? Was it the universes way of telling her to relax and go with Stacy’s suggestion of a fling? Maybe she was being crazy, and it wasn’t the same man, but if it wasn’t him then why in the hell was her body responding so strongly to him?

Noticing the way the navy polo clung to his body had Amanda’s mouthwatering and the tingling sensation was back in her fingertips, imagining the feel of his chest under them. Closely cropped black hair plus the well-built body left no doubt in Amanda’s mind that it was the same man. In the back of her mind she heard the phrase she repeated like a mantra through the entire flight come back to her, I’m not here for a fling, I’m not here for a fling, I have work to do, and he would be a distraction.

Amanda knew that if Stacy could see him he would be exactly the type of man she would declare fling worthy. Most certainly drool worthy even by Amanda’s standards. Blushing at the thoughts racing through her mind, she couldn’t take her eyes off him. She had to be channeling Stacy and her fling mindset, it wasn’t like her to feel an instant attraction.

For a moment she wondered if he had noticed her on the plane, but she knew that was crazy, no one noticed her when she was with Janice. Everyone was drawn to her sister and she was invisible. Normally she didn’t mind being an afterthought, but she didn’t want to be one to this man. She wanted him to notice her, didn’t she?

“I think I need a drink. I’ll call him over. Maybe I’ll have some adventure on this boring island after all. Just remember that I saw him first. So, no dropping your name or flashing your money at him.”  Janice said icily. “Yoo-Hoo.” She wiggled her fingers toward the man.

Amanda groaned "Seriously, could you be more obvious?" but Janice ignored her.

“Oh, look here he comes.”  Janice said smugly and adjusted her bikini top.

Oh lord here he comes, she couldn’t muster the same enthusiasm that Janice had. Amanda didn’t make a move, suddenly she was frozen in place and it was hard for her to catch her breath, she diverted her gaze as he approached.

Oh my God what was she going to do? How was she going to escape this embarrassing encounter with her dignity intact? If it was the same man and he hadn’t noticed her then she would feel plain, if it wasn’t the same man and she was reacting this strongly to him then there had to be something wrong with her, she didn’t practically combust when she caught a glimpse of a hot man. She had never been that way, not even with her ex-fiancé. The giggle that came from Janice had Amanda’s mind snapping back to the problem at hand. How was she going to get out of here?

“Can I help you with something?” inquired a rough sexy voice, though it struck Amanda that he didn’t sound amused.

The man’s voice was deep, gravely and just the sound did something to her. Amanda didn’t want to be caught staring at him and tried to do her best to ignore him, but she was fighting a losing battle. Giving in she turned her head slightly toward his voice and hoped he couldn’t see how her eyes were roaming over his body behind her sunglasses.

“Yes, could you recommend some activities on the island for a single girl to do?”  Janice asked fluttering her lashes.

Amanda rolled her eyes on a silent groan. She was so embarrassed but at least he didn’t know that they were together. Maybe if she turned her attention away from them Janice would forget she was there and she could escape. She wanted to escape the weird affect the man was having on her body.

Just the sound of his voice had her feeling wet and needy. The faint blush she could feel on her skin she could pay off as the suns effects and not enough sunblock but there was no way to play off how her nipples had tightened just by his nearness. How her breathing had become shallow. Janice’s words had her breath catching as she inadvertently turned the man’s attention toward her.

“My sister is a stick in the mud and has left me to fend for myself.”  Sounding like a petulant child, Janice turned in Amanda’s direction and gave her a dirty look before returning her gaze and a million-watt smile to the man, “Unless you would like to join me for some, activities?”

Amanda felt her cheeks redden at her sister’s words and averted her eyes. When she snuck a peek at the man’s face, she noticed a slight lift of his eyebrows. Clearly, Janice’s meaning wasn’t lost on him either. Ok, she couldn’t just sit here and pretend to ignore them anymore. She had to leave before she threw up all over this deck or begged him to take her to bed instead of Janice.

Amanda slowly sat up and swung her legs over the lounge. She prayed that her legs would hold her as she quickly walked away. The last thing she needed was to fall in a heap at his feet, but as she moved to the edge of the chaise, so did the stranger. He adjusted his stance, so he was standing between the two chairs effectively blocking the exit.

Amanda sat there stunned for a brief second not making a move until he reached a hand out to help her up. It was such a gentlemanly move that she put her hand in his automatically. As their hands touched, she felt a flush reach up her neck to her face that had nothing to do with Janice’s embarrassing behavior. There was a spark, a current of awareness that passed between them and her gaze, still hidden by her sunglasses, snapped to his. She had to get out of there before she made a complete fool of herself, but she couldn’t seem to break the contact.