Page 23 of The Rebel

‘I’m blunt. You’ll get used to it.’

She tilts her head, studying me, as I belatedly realise that was a dumb thing to say. She shouldn’t get used to me. She won’t be around long enough. Besides, I don’t want her hanging around to the extent she figures me out.

‘Do you always say exactly what you’re thinking?’

I shrug. ‘I don’t have time for games. If I want something, I go after it. If I like something, I admit it. Why lie?’

‘Are you sure you have a Y chromosome?’

‘Not all guys are liars, only the shitheads.’

She barks out a laugh. ‘Well said. But in my experience, it’s rare to find an honest guy.’

‘That Casper prick really did a number on you, didn’t he?’

I expect her to rebuke me for bringing up the dickhead’s name again. Instead, she gnaws on her bottom lip, making me push the lever to speed up. The sooner we get to that cove, the better.

‘I don’t understand how a guy can be so great one minute, then turn into a complete jerk the next.’

I don’t want to ask. I don’t want to know anything about her past relationships. All I care about is here and now.

But I find myself asking regardless. ‘Is that what happened?’

She nods, placing her hand over her eyes to shield them from the sun as she looks up at me. ‘He treated me like a queen at the start, which is why I fell hard and fast. We got engaged after only three months and I moved in a week later. That’s when things changed.’

She shakes her head, as if trying to dislodge a nasty memory. ‘We moved away from my family so I couldn’t see them much. Spent all our time socialising with his friends, not mine. He started telling me what to wear, what to say, how to behave. Controlling everything.’

My hands tighten on the wheel again. I want to punch this dickhead in the mouth. ‘He was abusive?’

‘Emotionally, yeah. Physically, no, but I didn’t stick around to find out what would’ve happened if I didn’t do exactly as he said.’

She lifts her head in defiance. Good girl.

‘Smart. You’re better off without him.’

‘Not according to my family.’

I slow the boat as we round the outcrop of rocks. I can see the cove and I steer towards it. ‘What’s their problem?’

‘The Adlers have this motto of never giving up. We don’t quit, it’s not the done thing.’ I hear a soft sigh that makes me want to hold her. ‘Plus the same old cliché reasons. I’m the eldest of three daughters and have always been their touchstone. Perfect daughter, perfect sister, who became the perfect girlfriend, and the perfect employee.’ She makes a gagging sound. ‘Turns out the guy I chose wasn’t so perfect and I’m wondering if I’m kowtowing to a boss who undervalues me as some kind of retribution.’

‘That’s why this job is so important to you.’

‘Yeah. Doing a stellar PR campaign for your resort—’ She shoots me a coy glance. ‘—and you, will give me the kudos I need to consider going out on my own.’

‘So you’re basically using me for my name and my body,’ I deadpan, relieved when she laughs.

‘Hey, I think there are two bodies around here doing the using.’

Her gaze starts at my chest and drifts lower in a slow, leisurely perusal that makes me feel like she’s stripped off my polo and shorts and left me naked.

‘Whatever you’re thinking, I like it.’ I ease the yacht into the mouth of the cove and drop anchor.

‘I’m thinking I’ve never felt this carefree,’ she says, sounding wistful. ‘Living up to expectations is tiring after a while.’

‘I know.’

The admission slips from my lips before I can censor it and I know, I just know, she’s going to ask what I mean. Damn.

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