Page 8 of One Forbidden Night In Paradise (Hot Winter Escapes)

Inside, it was difficult to see the bar itself. Finally, she managed to get to the front. There were several people working behind the bar. Three men and one very beautiful woman in a clinging red dress. One of the barmen leaned forward. ‘What can I get you, baby?’

‘Lime and soda, please?’ she said quickly. It was her drink of choice at home. It looked enough like alcohol that she didn’t stand out in the pub. Her family and friends knew that she didn’t drink but she had discovered that it was easier on nights out to pretend she did than be obviously teetotal.

‘You must be Jem.’

She glanced up, startled.

‘I’m Aliana.’ The beautiful woman behind the bar smiled at her. ‘Sam told me you might be dropping in.’

‘But how did you know who I was?’

Aliana laughed. ‘We don’t get many tourists out here. Look, I gotta go back to work, but I’ll keep my eye on you. Enjoy the vibe.’

She managed to find a table in the back room, and to her surprise it was easier than she expected to follow Aliana’s advice. Normally on nights out, she was so tense, so on edge; she always felt like the ‘grown-up’ in the room. But here, she wasn’t responsible for anyone. She could just sit and watch. As her eyes moved across the room, the crowds parted and she caught a glimpse of a pool table. A game was in progress. One man was standing at the side, his cue upright in his hand like a staff. But it was the other man, the one bent over the table, who caught her attention.

She couldn’t see his face but she could almost feel his concentration.

Although how he could concentrate with so much going on around him was anyone’s guess, she thought as he potted the ball with an audible crack.

The final ball, apparently. There was applause and cheering and she found herself smiling but as he straightened up she felt her body still. There was something familiar about that back.

At that moment he turned towards her and she felt her face dissolve in shock. Around her, everyone else in the room seemed to fade away. It was him. The man from the Cycle Shack.

Chase.

What was he doing here? Her heart raced at the sight of him. For a moment she just stared, her glass frozen mid-air. Earlier she had imagined herself on the moped, glancing at him with cool confidence, but now that he was standing in front of her she just wanted to run. But it was too late. As if feeling her scrutiny, he looked over and his gaze collided with hers.

Suddenly she was aware of nothing except the dark, uneven thud of her heart.

And his eyes, clear, green, steady on her face.

Her fingers tightened around the glass as a group of women stumbled in front of him, laughing and clutching at one another, and he disappeared from view, and for a moment she thought she might have imagined him, but then the crowd parted and she saw him again, weaving his way through the crowd towards her.

Leave, she told herself fiercely, but she was rooted to the wooden bench. Her stomach clenched as he stopped in front of the table, that same flickering smile pulling at his mouth.

‘Hello again.’ He paused and she felt her stomach somersault as his green eyes locked with hers. ‘How’s the moped? Let me guess, you swapped it for the bike, didn’t you?’

‘I did swap it for the bike. But then I swapped it back,’ she added, giving him a small, challenging smile.

‘Is that right?’

She nodded. ‘I didn’t get very good advice.’ Lifting her chin, she cleared her throat. ‘Apparently the man who helped me didn’t actually work at the Cycle Shack.’

His smile widened and she felt her pulse accelerate. ‘I spend enough time there it feels like I do.’

‘But you don’t.’

‘No, I don’t,’ he agreed.

‘Well, don’t let me keep you from your game, Mr...?’ Lifting her drink, she looked pointedly past his shoulder.

‘Just call me Chase.’

‘Is that your name?’ she replied tartly, although she knew it was. ‘Or are you just trying it out for tonight?’

He laughed softly. ‘It’s definitely mine although when I was a kid I used to wish it wasn’t. Having a stand-out name at school seemed to get me into more trouble than my friends.’ He shrugged. ‘But it’s a family name.’

He was trouble, all right, she thought, with or without the name, but it suited him.Chase.It was what predators did, she thought, her brain spinning like a top. And this man was an apex predator.

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