Page 17 of On The Beach

I cocked an eyebrow. AMy Fair Ladyfan.

Beside me, two old-timers who'd been watching these races since Reef Harbor was nothing but a dusty dive were cackling, waving their hats in the air as the lizards scrambled down the track.

Belle's eyes were locked on the track. She laughed with wild abandon every time Speedy tripped over a rock or veered off-course, only to bolt back into the lead. She was completely swept up in it. She was just another voice in the crowd, shouting herself hoarse. And hell, it was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen.

Finally, Baby Blue Eyes and Speedy came neck-and-neck toward the finish line, and the whole crowd sucked in a breath. Belle grabbed my arm, squeezing so hard I thought I might lose circulation. And then—with a final, desperate burst—Speedy, her stubby-tailed underdog, crossed the finish line a split second ahead.

The place erupted. Belle threw her arms around me, laughing so hard she was practically breathless. For a second, she just stayed there, holding onto me, eyes bright. Right then, with the noise, heat, and laughter all around us, I realized that maybe this was a little piece of her I'd just unlocked—a partshe'd buried so deep she didn't even know it was there. And damn if I didn't want to be the one to bring it out of her again.

She kissed me. "My guy won."

"You didn't have any money on him," I reminded her, my mouth chasing hers for another taste.

"Don't care." She stepped away from me, her arms in the air. "My guy won," she announced to the world.

"My guy lost," Franco declared just as loudly.

"You guys are all batshit crazy," Cato proclaimed sardonically.

CHAPTER 6

scraping the bottom

BELLE

Iwas a good girl. A nerd. A scientist. I had my moments. In university, I'd gone wild from time to time, mostly because alcohol and I weren't good friends; as in alcohol was abadinfluence on me. I'd had sex, usually with fellow nerds, and the result had been…well,okay. Not Captain Mick level, for sure.

For the past decade I'd been workingall the time. First, I was studying. Then, I was doing research and getting my PhD. Then, I was doing research, doing my post doc, and writing papers. Then, I was doing research and helping to cure diseases. Iwasworking all thefuckingtime. I hadn't taken a vacation in years. I took a day off for Thanksgiving because Anna insisted, and the same for Christmas. I came from a family of workaholics so it wasn't strange for them to see me have no life.

But here on this island, I felt like I was finally living. I was someone else—the Belle I'd always wanted to be. Carefree, fun, not constantly buried in thoughts about gene therapy breakthroughs, clinical trials, or the latest on Next-GenSequencing and CRISPR. For once, I wasn't caught up in the relentless pursuit of science; I was just...me.

I didn't give a flying fuck about Dr. Nicholas Augustus right now—though I should because there were two kids at Mass Gen waiting for something I couldn't give them yet. These kids were fighting Sanfilippo Syndrome, a rare and brutal genetic disorder that robbed them, bit by bit, of their ability to walk, speak, and even think. Time was a luxury they didn't have. My team had done all the work and developed a gene therapy we believed could halt or even reverse the disease's progression, but without Dr. Augustus's release ofhispatent, even though he'd walked away from the project years ago—we were at a dead end.

I'd come all the way to this island because I needed that signature. Without it, the therapy couldn't move forward to clinical trials. I'd already lined up a fast-track review that could get us started within weeks, but only if I got him to sign off. I couldn't let the work sit and gather dust in some office, not when there were kids who needed every day we could give them.

I shook my head as if physically getting rid of the thoughts. I deserved a few days off. Justthreemeasly days. And it wasn't like I could get off the island and continue to look for Dr. Nicholas Augustus, right? I was trying to rationalize my guilt away.

"You okay, Babycakes?" Mick's hand slid around my waist. I liked the ease with which he touched, that I let him and felt no discomfort. It was as if we were meant to be.

What in the fuck?

"I think so," I murmured more to myself than him. "I…my thoughts wandered off to Cambridge."

He cocked an eyebrow. "Your fiancé?"

I frowned. What? Who?Oh damn!Ihadlied to him that I was engaged to the scientist with the patent, hadn't I?

"Ah…well…."What the hell was I supposed to say?"I was thinking about him." That was true enough. I was.

"You feeling guilty?" he asked.

If I was engaged, I would…in fact, if I was engaged, there was no way I'd have sex with some rando, no matter how good he was with his hands.

I sighed. I had never been good at lying. Anna was damn good at it like my mother. I didn't have the gene. "I'm not engaged."

He looked surprised. "No?"

"No," I admitted in a small voice.

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