Page 5 of One Forbidden Night In Paradise (Hot Winter Escapes)

Jem stared after the retreating figure, her cheeks burning with shock and confusion.

In the end she put the Italian moped back and rented one of the bicycles. She knew it was ridiculous to let the actions of a stranger, however handsome, affect her decision but Chase’s deception had left her feeling off balance and out of depth.

Her throat tightened.

So many people had lied to her already about what they had or hadn’t done and what they would do in the future if she’d only give them another chance and she was sick of it. But after Sam’s kindness, and with the beach house and the Bermuda sun putting her in a holiday mood, she’d actually started to think that Holly and Ed were right. She could be someone different here. Someone edgy and adventurous and sexy.

Only then Chase Whatever-His-Name-Was had tricked her into thinking he worked at the Cycle Shack. Worse, he had clearly seen her for the sensible, ‘put money aside for the bills’ kind of woman she was, and after that it was impossible to picture herself riding around on anything other than a pushbike.

But probably it wasn’t just that electric, unsettling interaction with Chase that had flattened her mood. It had been a long day. As she let herself into the beach house, her phone pinged and, pulling it out of her bag, she saw that it was a message from her brother.

Skinny dip? Go on, I dare you!

She stared down at the message and then laughed out loud. Except she knew Ed wasn’t joking. She glanced at the gently rippling blue sea. He would be the first one in. Nothing ever fazed him. He was up for anything.

Whereas she was always the one who had to do a forfeit. Sometimes her whole life felt like a forfeit.

Raising her arm, she squinted up, then down the beach. It was completely empty as far as the eye could see. Almost as if she were marooned on a desert island.

Go on, I dare you!

Her heart skipped a beat. Could she do it? Could she swim naked in the sea? She had a bikini but Holly had chosen it, which meant that it was so small she might as well not bother wearing it.

So don’t? Biting her lip, she glanced up the beach, trembling with excitement. There was nobody around.

Go on, I dare you!

Ignoring the butterflies spiralling up in her stomach, she ran back into the house, tossed her glasses on the table, grabbed a towel from the bathroom, and then quickly, before she could change her mind, she stripped off her clothes and wrapped the towel round her waist.

At the shoreline, she took one last look and then dropped the towel onto the pink sand and waded into the water. It felt lovely, and unlike the sea at home it was completely transparent. I did it, she thought, a pulse of triumph beating across her skin.

What was that?

She froze, her body electric with panic. But probably she was imagining it. Only then she heard it again. Somewhere nearby, someone was whistling. She spun round towards the shore but there was nobody on the beach. Her eyes narrowed on where the bay curved into the sea, and then, heart thumping out of time, she stumbled out of the water. She snatched up her towel and scampered back into the beach house like a startled rabbit, closing the door behind her.

Clutching the towel around her trembling body, she squeezed up against the window frame. But there was nobody there.

And then she saw him, standing upright on a paddle board, drawing the blade through the water with smooth, effortless strokes. Her glasses were still sitting on the table but she didn’t need to be wearing them to know who he was. She had only met one person in her life who moved with such careless grace.

She licked her lips. The man she knew only as Chase looked exactly as he had at the harbour.

Except now he was shirtless.

Her breath bottled in her throat. He had looked good in a T-shirt, but there was no superlative that could adequately describe what he looked like without one. Her eyes hovered greedily on his biceps, then locked onto his chest. He was all smooth golden skin and primed muscle. A light scattering of golden hair cut a line into the muscle of his washboard abs, thickening as it disappeared beneath his low-slung board shorts.

She squeezed back into the house. Her mouth was dry and her skin felt as if it were on fire and beneath her skin, there was chaos. Breathing out unsteadily, she reached up to touch the nape of her neck where she could still feel the imprint of his hand from earlier.

At that exact instant, he looked over at the beach house almost as if he could feel it too and a jolt of electricity crackled down her spine.

But of course he couldn’t feel it. Whatever she had imagined at the Cycle Shack had been just that. A figment of her imagination. And for him it had been a game.

He was out of sight now and she slid down against the wall, her cheeks tingling, the sharp tang of shame rising in her throat.

Coming here was a mistake. She wasn’t brave enough to be someone else. So even though it would mean breaking her promise,again, tomorrow she was going to change her ticket and go back home.

She stayed there for a long time until the sun slipped beneath the horizon and then, still clutching the towel, she climbed into Joan’s bed. There was nothing for her here, she thought, gazing through the window at a star-studded night sky. But as her eyes slid shut it seemed as if the stars weren’t white, but a dark, glittering green.

CHAPTER TWO

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