Page 119 of Beach Reads and Deadly Deeds

I did. A small one. Then he tickled me, and I burst out laughing. “Stop!”

He gave me one last poke, then kissed me quick. He grabbed my bag with his left hand, and my hand with his right. We walked down the beach to the Jet Ski.

“Aren’t we having dinner?” I hadn’t finished my snack plate. I’d be hungry before dark.

“We are.”

I looked around. Henry was already gone, and I didn’t hear or see anyone else.

He glanced at me. “You don’t like giving up control, do you?”

“No,” I admitted. “I like having a plan.”

“Which is a great character trait for a financial planner. But tonight, trust me, okay?”

“I do.” It was true. While it scared me to leave the evening completely in Jason’s hands, it was also exciting.

Jason opened the seat and put in my dress and bag, then closed and secured it. He climbed onto the front of the Jet Ski, motioned for me to sit on the back. “Hold on,” he said as he started the motor.

I let my hands rest lightly on his hips.

“Tighter,” he said. Then we were movingfast.“I won’t let you fall, but you need to hold on.”

I clung to him to avoid being thrown off the back.

“Jason!” I screamed.

I couldn’t hear him, but we were so close, my body vibrated with his laughter. He drove fast out of the small bay and headed out to sea.

I closed my eyes and clutched Jason, scared to death that I would be thrown off and drown. I could swim and I had a life vest, but when you were moving at a hundred miles an hour (okay, probably closer to twenty, but it felt like a hundred), your life flashed in front of your eyes.

All I saw was my neat and tidy desk at work, with my perfectly arranged files and color-coded notes. My two cats, Nick and Nora, meowing at the door of my apartment when they heard my key in the lock. Then I saw Grams over my coffin, shaking her head, Jane and Amanda on each side of her, all of them looking sad. Not because I was dead (though I’m sure theywould all be sad at my demise), but, Grams said as she pet my cats, “Poor Mia, she never lived.”

Yes I did!I wanted to scream, but Nightmare Grams was right. I was scared of living.

Suddenly, the Jet Ski stopped.

“What’s wrong?” I asked. “Are we sinking? Did it break? Do you have a radio? How far are we from shore? Can we swim back?”

“Open your eyes,” Jason said.

“No.”

“Mia,” he said softly. “Open.”

Slowly, reluctantly, I opened my eyes.

We were a good distance out to sea. I could see the entire island before me. The resort looked like a tiny dollhouse. The sun was barely behind the island, glorious colors framing the mountain peaks like a halo.

It was gorgeous and romantic, and I had no words.

Jason put his hands on mine, which were still tightly wrapped around his waist.

“Sometimes,” he said almost too quiet for me to hear, “I come out here and sit until it’s almost dark. It makes me feel small, but in a good way. My problems are smaller, my worries disappear... it’s freeing. When I get back on the island, solutions to my problems magically appear.” He chuckled. “Because I took the time to clear my mind and not overthink everything.”

I realized then that I didn’t really know Jason. Not who he was inside and what he might worry about. He was friendly and intelligent and had opinions about things like extreme sports and taking risks and even my own dream of owning a bookstore. A dream I had never told anyone until Jason. Maybe because he was a stranger... maybe because I would never see him after this week.

But I didn’t know Jason’s dreams, or his fears, or how he grew up or even where he grew up. I didn’t know if he had brothers and sisters, what he did before he started working on St. Claire, and if he had plans for his future.

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