Page 39 of Places I've Never Been

“Welcome to Du Nord Beach,” Adam said. “The only way to get here is by boat.”

Mattie pushed herself out of the chair. She was so full of conflicting emotions she didn’t know what to do with them. She wanted to demand he stop goofing around, but she longed to enjoy the day on that beach, so the words she should say came out all garbled. “Why…Is this…I thought we were going fishing.”

“We can do that too.” Adam gestured at the beach. “I just thought we might have lunch and do a little snorkeling first. But no pressure. We can spend hours embracing smelly fish instead. Your call.”

She blinked at him. Everything about this day said romantic ambush, but his tone was casually considerate. The two things didn’t go together. “We’re not supposed to be doing either of those things. We’re supposed to be working, remember?”

Adam shrugged. “So who’s stopping you?”

“You. You’re stopping me.” She waved her notebook at him, and irritation pushed politeness aside enough for her to say what she was really thinking. “You’ve been doing everything you can to avoid work since we stepped foot on this island.”

“I have not.” His eyebrows rose as if he was offended, but his voice betrayed amusement.

She held up her index finger. “First, you called off a session so the guys could surf.”

“The waves wait for no one. And it was the first day. We all needed to relax a bit to get in the groove.” He pointed at her. “You had a good time body surfing, admit it.”

She’d had a fantastic time body surfing, but she wasn’t going to tell him that, not when he looked so smug.

“That’s not the point.” She heldup two fingers. “You completely forgot about the second session, and when I tracked you down you insisted we have lunch first.”

“I was starving.” He patted his abs. “You can’t work on an empty stomach.”

“Lunch turned into dinner and a two-hour horse ride along the beach.”

“But you were relaxed at the end of it, right? All the better for writing.”

“No. I wasn’t relaxed. That’s not what I was.” She’d found the experience so exhilarating that she’d been completely transported back to childhood, which turned her around so completely she actually left her bag behind on the beach. She found it waiting for her on the couch when she woke up the next morning. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d gone so long without opening one of her notebooks.

She gave herself a mental shake. The fact that she’d enjoyed herself didn’t change the fact that it was another day of song writing lost.

Adam raised an eyebrow at her. “Is that it? You seemed like you were on a roll.”

“No that’s not it.” She held up three fingers. “Yesterday you said you had a headache because the sun was too bright, and then insisted on an all-day spa treatment to recover.”

“I thought all girls loved facials and massages.” He looked genuinely perplexed.

She wasn’t fooled. Adam was a first-rate performer. He could fake confusion. “I like them fine, but they’re supposed to be a rewardafterI’ve written a song, not before.”

He snorted. “Life’s way too short to put off the things you enjoy like that. Eat dessert first, I say.”

“I donotput things off.”

Adam gestured at the notebook in her hand. “Youlive inside your notes instead of out here, with us mere mortals. That’s the ultimate putting things off, I’d say.”

She gave him her best be-reasonable glare. “You invited me here towork. And you can stop pretending that you don’t work just as hard as I do. I’ve read the blogs. You’re driven and insanely goal oriented, which is one of the reasons I took a chance on coming here. I shouldn’t have to chase you all over the island.”

Adam’s face contorted into a blend of thoughtful confusion and the beginnings of irritation. She’d finally struck a nerve. Which nerve she wasn’t sure, but at least she’d found one. “You’ve been reading blogs about me? Which ones?”

A burst of irritation surged through her. She wouldnotthrow her notebook at him. She liked her notebook, and it deserved better than being turned into a projectile weapon.

“Stop deflecting.” She wiggled four fingers at him. “You were supposed to meet me at the Big House this morning to go over the chorus, but instead you booked an all-day fishing expedition without me.”

His jaw tightened. “Withyou. I waited until you showed up to leave, didn’t I?”

She set the notebook on the captain’s chair to remove the temptation to throw it at him. “If you’re not serious about this, just say so. I’ll quit right now.”

A look of alarm crossed his face. “You can’t quit. We have a contract.”

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