Page 2 of Make Me Unwind

They fell in love, and I idolized her for her determination and tenacity.

Until now.

As I stomp along the pathway toward the water, I ignore the bright blue sky, the white puffy clouds, and the seagulls swooping down to the water and shooting back up into the air.

My feet crunch on the gravel. Okay. I don’t ignore everything. The weather is gorgeous. The resort, with its plantation-style main building and an assortment of quaint cabins, is beautiful, and the man standing next to a paddleboard wearing a black skinsuit peeled off to the waist with the arms haphazardly tied around his waist is breathtaking.

Short blondish brown hair cut close to the scalp, broad chest, and sculpted muscles. A shade darker of skin than my own. And….

He glances at the black watch strapped around his wrist, and his brows furrow, leaving deep lines to mar his perfection. His mouth tightens as he huffs and drops his arm to his side. Maybe not so sexy now.

He glares and straightens. His green eyes are unreadable as they graze over me. “You, Piper?”

“Yes.” I tip my chin out. As much as I hate busybodies who mess in your personal business, I can’t stand assholes who think they’re better than you are even more.

“You’re late.”

I cross my arms over my chest. “Isn’t the guest always right?”

“Not on my watch,” he grumbles, shaking his head as if the concept annoys him. “Your appointment was supposed to start ten minutes ago. I’ll have to cut off ten minutes from your lesson.”

“Fine.” Like I wanted to learn paddleboarding in the first place.

His eyes narrow marginally. Not that they weren’t already crinkled in disapproval. “What do you know about paddleboarding?”

“Nothing.”

His jaw flexes with irritation. “Why would you sign up for something you know nothing about?”

“Why would you work at a job that indicates tutoring for novices if you don’t like to help people?” I have no idea what the website boasts. Still, it only makes sense that the resort would cater to clients without knowledge of their different activities as another moneymaking source.

“I don’t.” Dark shadows flare in his eyes and then they’re gone.

With the change, his body shifts to a relaxed stance that implies he has all day and doesn’t care that he has to put up with me for the next 49 minutes and 35 seconds.

“You don’t what?”

“I don’t work here.” One of his shoulders shifts upward in a shrug. “Or at least, I don’t typically work at the resort. My brother took over the family business when our parents retired. He lost an employee, so he asked me to fill in.”

I arch an eyebrow. “Lost an employee?” My heart skips a beat. Please don’t say you lost him in the ocean, and no one has seen him since. Weston can kiss my ass. If that’s the case, I’m not about to get in the water. My eyes dart from the right to the left. Are there sharks here?

A rough-sounding chuckle comes from his lips, as if he’s reading my thoughts. It wasn’t a humorous sound, more like a choked-out cough. “He quit to return to college over in Savannah. The busy season is almost over, so there’s no reason to hire someone else when I’m not doing anything.”

It’s on the tip of my tongue to ask why a sexy, masculine man with washboard abs is doing nothing, but I snap my mouth shut.

“Are you ready?” He tips his head toward the teal and orange paddleboard. The one at his feet is black, matching his grumpy attitude.

“No.”

One corner of his mouth twitches and then immediately straightens, causing me to question what I saw. Did I want him to think I was funny and conjured a smile, or did he really do it? His face is blank, with no emotion.

“My brother and sister-in-law signed me up for this.” I wave my hand toward the paddleboard. “I’d rather be in our cabin.”

His eyes dart over me. “Do you have any thigh and core strength?”

My shoulders jerk backwards at his doubting expression. “Yes.”

“Good. I don’t want you falling off and getting lost like poor Mateo.”

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