“Is it working?” Nick chuckled, a pleasant sound that made Bree smile. “I promise, those are definitely Orion and Cassiopeia.” He spoke as he looked toward the sky, wavering slightly. “Legend has it that Orion had women trouble. When he wooed Merope, the daughter of King Oenopion, she rebuffed him. One day he drank too much wine and tried to take Merope by force, so the king had Orion blinded and banished.”
“Imagine if today’s sex offenders met the same fate.” Bree was fascinated by the tale. “So this guy, Orion, was blind forever?”
“No, eventually he regained his sight with the help of Hephaestus, the god of the forge. Not sure how a blacksmith can restore sight, but that’s what I learned.”
“What are you, an astronomer or something?” She knew very little about him aside from his skill at rescuing falling women.
“Nope. Just an Eagle Scout.”
“Eagle Scout, very impressive. I’m sure your parents are very proud.”
“They were,” he told her in a more subdued tone.
“You make it sound like past tense.” Bree cocked her head, waiting for his explanation.
“Sorry. My mother still brags about me.” He paused. “My father died almost two years ago.”
“I’m sorry.” Her own father had been absent so much of her life that it sometimes felt like he was deceased. And he lived only a half hour away from her.
He shrugged off her condolence. “It was very sudden and there are times I still can’t believe he’s gone. He actually taught me how to navigate with the stars, and he did all the venture camping trips with me.”
She tried to lighten his mood. “So I don’t have to worry about getting lost, and you’ll protect me from bears?”
That made him laugh, an enjoyable male sound. “I doubt we’ll come across any bears on the beach, and as long as we stick next to the shore I’m pretty sure I can get us back to the main lodge.”
Her head had cleared a bit and she didn’t feel quite as out of control in the fresh air. At some point during the evening, she had stopped resenting Nick’s intrusion on her girls’ working vacation and begun having fun. He hadn’t made a good first impression, but she had been willing to rethink her initial opinion of him.
Maybe the girls had been right about her needing to have a vacation fling. She wasn’t about to seduce him, but he was definitely entertaining to have around.
“Someone mentioned earlier that you were all here on a working vacation,” he said. “So what kind of work do you do?”
This was a subject she loved to talk about. “I own a company that helps women get ahead in their jobs. We offer training and guidance for women already in the workforce, as well as for those coming back into the workforce.”
“Isn’t that a little sexist, just focusing on women’s issues?”
“Isn’t it sexist for men to be paid more than women for the same job? Or for women to be passed over for promotions because they’re of childbearing age and might require maternity leave?”
“Whoa! I’ve obviously struck a nerve. Sorry,” he said. “I just wondered why you don’t offer the same services to men. But you’ve explained it perfectly.”
She relaxed. “I’m passionate about my company and what we do for women. Two years ago we even started loaning money to women to start up new businesses. So far, it’s been very successful.”
“That’s great! When did you start the company?”
“Technically, about thirteen years ago.”
His eyes widened in surprise.
“But I was still in college then,” she added. “I didn’t actually incorporate until two years later.”
They were silent for a while, the pounding of the waves crashing on the shore making for a pleasant soundtrack.
“What brought you here?” she asked as they continued walking. “I didn’t even know this place existed.” The island was small, no more than a few square miles, but with all the luxuries imaginable. So far, four days into the trip, Bree had no complaints.
“Someone recommended it to me,” he said as he looked at the sky.
“And you just had to check it out?”
“Something like that,” he said cryptically, and then looked down at her. “Would you believe I just needed to get away?”
She shrugged. “But why here?”
“Why not? From where I’m standing right now, it seems like I chose wisely.”
She stopped walking at those words.
He stopped, too, and turned to face her.
Their eyes met and she forgot to breathe. He took both of her hands and pulled her to him, wrapping her arms around his waist. His body was solid, and the heat coming off him suffused her in a cocoon of warmth and comfort.
She rested her cheek on his chest. The pounding of his heart and the hard muscles beneath his T-shirt were difficult to ignore.
He tipped up her chin with his finger. Her eyelids closed as his mouth descended on hers. Their first contact was chaste, but her lips hummed with expectation. She ran her hands up his back, enjoying the play of his muscles as he tightened his embrace.
He slanted his mouth over hers, deepening the kiss and stealing her breath away. His hand on her lower back held her securely.
But then Nick ended the kiss abruptly, leaving Bree to question her kissing ability. “What—” she gasped, realizing how truly out of practice she was at this man-woman thing.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “We should get back. Your friends will wonder what happened to you.” He grabbed her hand and tugged her in the direction from which they’d come.
“Slow down,” she cried, trying to keep up. Her foot landed on something sharp. “Ouch!” She liberated herself from his grasp and hopped on her good foot.
“What happened?” he asked, when she sat down hard on the damp sand.
“I think I cut my foot on something,” she sputtered. Then she mumbled under her breath, “As if you cared.” Not only was her pride hurt, but now she’d done a number on her foot if the pain she felt was any indication.
“Bree, I’m sorry. It’s not you,” he began. “I—”
“Save it.” She’d never been as good as her friends were with the opposite sex. Up until this moment, she hadn’t really cared.
She brushed the sand from her cut foot to discover she was bleeding. The moon and stars were bright, but not bright enough to see how deep the cut was. “It’s bleeding.”
Without another word, he picked her up and carried her back to where the light was brighter and set her down.
“You might need stitches,” Nick said, after examining her foot.
No way. That would mean needles and she didn’t do needles. “I’m sure some antibiotic ointment and a bandage will do.”
“Let’s get a second opinion,” he said as he lifted her again and proceeded to carry her to the hotel. He inquired at the front desk about a nearby infirmary, and was directed to the resort’s clinic, just a short walk away. He was also given a towel to wrap around her foot.
“Really, Nick, I’ll be fine.” Being carried around by a strong, sexy guy might be some girl’s fantasy but not hers. She was just plain embarrassed.
He ignored her pleas, as well as her demands to walk on her own. And about five minutes later she was seated in