Chapter One – Cynthia
The ferry bobbed in the ocean, small enough that the waves made it rock back and forth. Cynthia’s stomach churned, the nerves making her seasickness even worse. The fresh air ought to have helped a bit, but she didn’t know if it did. With one hand she clutched the railing beside her, and with the other, she held her suitcase tightly. Closing her eyes only made it worse.
Up until she stepped foot on the ferry, she had only been excited about the start of her new life. Now, she had to wonder just how much of a bad impression she would make if she vomited all over her prospective employer the moment she met him.
The ferry captain knelt beside her. He was a big man, taller than she was with muscles on muscles. Insanely gorgeous, too, with windswept black hair and the clearest blue eyes she had ever seen. He handed her a water bottle and she sipped cautiously. The captain sat next to her and gave her a wide grin as he put a hand on her back.
“Not used to the sea, are you?”
Cynthia shook her head. “Not at all.”
There were only a half-dozen others on the ferry, all of them tall and broad like the captain. A few of them gave her distrustful gazes, though they never met her eye. One of them scowled with such fierceness she thought he might march over and toss her into the ocean, but he stayed where he was.
The captain glanced at the others and gave her a smile that had her heart doing flips despite her churning stomach. “Don’t mind them. It’s not often that we have newcomers headed to the island, and you did throw yourself on our boat.”
Cynthia felt her cheeks start to color as her eyes widened. “Your . . . boat? Isn’t this a ferry?”
“No.”
Heat rushed to her face and she dropped the water bottle. Before she could retrieve it, the man swept down and grabbed it. Cynthia peered at him nervously as she chewed her lip. “So . . . are you the captain?”
“Yes, in a way. It’s my boat. There isn’t a ferry between the mainland and our island, so I shuttle people across when I’ve got time. You’re lucky you arrived when you did.”
His grin widened and became clearly flirtatious. Cynthia started to chew her lip again, then forced herself to stop. Still, her mind drifted over what she had just learned. It was only coincidence that she managed to hop onto this boat and that it was going where she wanted to go . . . maybe this would be the place where she could heal her broken heart after all. The captain was very, very attractive . . .
Don’t go there, she told herself firmly and forced a smile to her face. I’m not looking for a relationship. “I’m sorry. I guess I made an ass out of myself.”
“No, not really. My name is Rex, by the way. Rex Tesla.”
“Cynthia Jones.” She offered him her hand, and he surprised her by kissing her knuckles.
“Pleased to meet you, Cynthia Jones.”
Oh, he was smooth. She had to stop herself from giggling. If he was trying to distract her from her seasickness, it was working. He lowered her hand but kept hold of it. “So, Cynthia. What brings you out this way? Not many people have heard of our little island, let alone want to visit it.”
“Oh! Well . . . Um . . . ”
Cynthia glanced away. There were a lot of things that brought her to California. Most of which Rex probably couldn’t care less about. He wasn’t her therapist, after all. The easy answer was just to say that she had a job offer. She found herself wanting to share more. To tell him about her failed marriage, her years of struggling to pay rent while dealing with five party-happy roommates, and the final straw when she just couldn’t take it anymore.