Page 31 of Married to My Grumpy Minotaur Boss

We head downstairs, not talking, and join Sally in the elevator. Amy looks worried. Her dark brows are creased into a frown. I already think I can guess why. Out the huge windows behind her, the sky is dark and ominous.

“I still think we might be better to postpone today’s filming,” she tells Ronan.

He snorts. “Impossible. Don’t you have an alternative location?”

Amy shakes her head. “No.”

“Then we go ahead with it.”

This makes me anxious, but I’ve already caused enough trouble. I fight down my worry and follow them out to the golf carts.

We’re driven down to the jetty where the yacht waits to take us to Rottager Island. Breakfast is on board, but the sea is too choppy for me to have any appetite. I stare into my fruit salad for so long I get queasy. When I get up to put my plate away, the vessel lurches and I’m thrown against Ronan’s shoulder.

He grunts. “Sit down.”

When I gesture to the plate I’m still holding, he takes it from me and sets it on the table. Then he pulls me down into a seat next to him.

“Today’s activity is a little different,” Amy explains. “It’s a chance for you two to spend some quality time together. Get active. Solve a challenge. There’s an orienteering course set out on the island. You’ll have clues in your packs that you can use to solve the puzzle and then return to the pickup point by three o’clock. But you’ll have to work together.”

When we arrive at Rottager Island, I see immediately what made our producer so anxious. There’s no jetty. The only way to get onto the island is to step off the side of the boat onto the rocks!

My queasy stomach tries to crawl right out of my throat and I brace against the side of the vessel, hands gripping the metal bars like a vice.

“You’re sure?” Amy shouts at Ronan over the noise of the waves slapping against the bottom of the boat.

“How many times do I have to tell you?” he shouts back.

The boat lurches. The island bobs crazily as we’re bounced up and down on the waves. This is a bad idea. Surely we’re going to hit the rocks and put a hole in the boat and we’ll all drown.

Someone hands me a pack and helps me put it on. I stagger two steps sideways before I right myself and get my arms through the straps. The crew member fits something onto the front of the pack.

“Portable cam,” he says when I stare at it.

“Oh.”

“To film.”

I frown. “The crew aren’t coming?”

He shakes his head. “Just you and your husband on a little adventure. Romantic, huh?”

I can’t even muster a smile.

We’re led toward the back of the boat where the guardrail has been pulled aside to let us exit. The captain revs the engine, somehow holding us in place next to the wall of rock we’re somehow supposed to jump onto.

Ronan crouches. The boat sways a little closer to the rocks. Then he leaps off, grabbing hold of a handle I hadn’t even spotted.

I step closer, staring down at the waves just below my feet. I can’t bring myself to look at the rocks.

“That’s right, Justine. Off you go.” Someone pats me on the back.

I’m frozen.

Ronan holds out his hand. “Come on, Justine.”

I reach for him, but I can’t quite touch his hand. The boat lurches in another swell and I cry out, clutching the railing.

I’m not going to make it. Who thought I could do this?

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