Tropical Heat

by Stephanie Bedwell-Grime

  EVERNIGHT PUBLISHING ®

  www.evernightpublishing.com

  Copyright© 2017 Stephanie Bedwell-Grime

  ISBN: 978-1-77339-421-3

  Cover Artist: Jay Aheer

  Editor: Audrey Bobak

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

  WARNING: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. No part of this book may be used or reproduced electronically or in print without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews.

  This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, and places are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  DEDICATION

  For all the resort staff who work so hard to give the rest of us a wonderful holiday.

  TROPICAL HEAT

  Stephanie Bedwell-Grime

  Copyright © 2017

  Chapter One

  I’m finally here!

  Sydney wedged her heavy suitcase against the doorframe and rummaged in her pocket for her room key. She’d been looking forward to this vacation for over a year. A vacation she’d feared wouldn’t happen.

  A week in the sun, that’s what you need. Marcia had proven what a great friend she was by agreeing to join her to make the holiday more affordable. Events had conspired against them though, when Marcia had to cancel at the last minute. Sydney had all but given up on her dream holiday until she’d seen the ad for “Singles Week”. The tour company offered to provide a female roommate to get around the single supplement charges. Sydney had booked her ticket the same day.

  Now here she was. A warm breeze swirled around her, even this late in the evening, bringing with it the spice of salt in the air. Palm trees clattered in the wind. Birds screeched as they settled down for the night.

  Her fingers closed around the key card. She slid it into the lock. She hoped her roommate had already arrived and they could have a get-acquainted drink before turning in for the night. That way the morning wouldn’t be too awkward.

  The door swung open. Propping it open with one foot, she reached for her suitcase and hauled it over the threshold.

  A dark-haired woman sprawled on the bed glanced up in surprise. She wore only a cropped tank top and a pair of barely-there shorts. She stared at Sydney in horror.

  Sydney leaned her suitcase against the dresser, a sense of unease creeping down her spine. Why was there only one bed? Maybe they’d been upgraded to a suite … perhaps one of the other two doors opened into another room.

  “Hi!” Sydney donned her friendliest smile. “I’m your roommate.”

  The woman on the bed sat up, putting aside the room service menu she’d been reading. “What?”

  “Your roommate?”

  She couldn’t see any comprehension at all in those dark eyes. Could it be the hotel had made a mistake and given her the key to the wrong room?

  Sydney was about to grab her suitcase and back out of the room when the bathroom door swung open.

  A bronzed god of a man strode through. He seemed totally confident in his nakedness as he moved toward the closet. His sun-kissed skin appeared as if he’d already spent some time at the beach. A telltale tan line showed he’d been wearing what had to be a very small bathing suit. Sydney dragged her gaze upward over his narrow waist that flared into a muscular chest and broad shoulders. Her entire body tightened with interest. Her underused libido was only too happy to supply images of what he could do with a body like that. Reluctantly, she squelched the reaction. He wasn’t hers. Apparently, her roommate—if she was in fact her roommate and not a giant mistake made by the hotel’s front desk—already had some action going on. This, she hadn’t bargained on. If this was her roommate, they really needed to have a get-to-know-you talk and lay some ground rules.

  Halfway to the closet, the bronzed man turned, becoming aware of Sydney. For an instant, he froze in place, staring at her. Then he darted back into the bathroom and reemerged covering his crotch with a towel.

  “Who are you?”

  The woman who’d been sitting on the bed strode past him to the door. “She’s your roommate, Jesse. Her name is Sydney.” She got up off the bed and crossed in front of him, fixing him with a withering stare. “Thanks for nothing.”

  “Brittany, wait!” His attention flickered from Sydney back to Brittany.

  The brunette hauled the door open. “Whatever, Jesse. I don’t want to hear it.” The door slammed shut on his protests.

  The man in the towel turned to her. “You’re Sydney?”

  She leaned against the bureau and surveyed him. He didn’t seem quite so self-assured with his shoulders hunched and a bunched-up white towel covering his nakedness.

  “Sydney with a Y,” she supplied. “And you must be Jesse.”

  “Jesse with an E not an I-E,” he said, as if that explained it all. “Would you excuse me for a moment?” He reached into the closet, grabbed something without looking, and disappeared back into the bathroom.

  Her gaze searched the room. It would have been a great room for a honeymooning couple, she couldn’t help thinking. The giant four-poster bed with its bright yellow curtains dominated the room. A loveseat covered in coordinating material stood on the other side. It would have been a cozy retreat for a couple to cuddle while watching the sun set over the ocean.

  Except she wasn’t on her honeymoon. Instead, it appeared she’d been stuck with an untidy male roommate.

  An open suitcase sat on top of the bureau instead of on the provided rack. Its contents seemed to have been strewn across the room. A wet bathing suit seeped into the cushions of the loveseat. She noted his bathing suit was as brief as she’d imagined. A damp beach towel lay across the coffee table. A loud Hawaiian shirt hung haphazardly on the back of the room’s only chair. A pair of boxers in an equally unfortunate pattern took up the end of the bed. Sydney sighed. On top of the late hour and long flight, now there was this mix-up to deal with.

  A half-hysterical chuckle bubbled up inside. Well, she and her roommate had gotten acquainted. Or at least she’d gotten quite well acquainted with him. Under other circumstances, she’d have been interested. No, more than interested. Even now her libido was shouting at her to get another glimpse of that delicious stranger. Heat pooled deep inside her, low and insistent.

  She sighed. She wasn’t going to get another glimpse. He was busy in the bathroom making himself presentable.

  She thought of how she must look with her fine blonde hair coming undone from the French braid she’d wrestled it into this morning. She’d had to work late and had spent most of the previous night packing. She knew from one scary glimpse in the mirror that dark circles ringed her green eyes. She ran a hand over her shirt, trying to smooth out the wrinkles.

  The door to the bathroom swung open and Jesse emerged. He’d put on a pair of khaki shorts and a wrinkled white t-shirt. The shirt stretched tight over his muscular pecs and his baggy shorts did nothing to hide his physique. Sydney tore her gaze away.

  Jesse rooted around on the bureau, finally locating his room key. “I think we’d better go talk to the front desk. Obviously, there’s been a mistake.”

  ****

  A busload of vacationers had recently arrived from the airport, leaving a long lineup of weary passengers waiting to check in. Jesse gallantly agreed to stand in line so Sydney could sit on a nearby couch.

  She sank into the cushions gratefully. The moist night air made her hair curl at the ends, ruining her braid further. She hadn’t had time to redo it before they’d left the room. Still dressed in the clothes she’d worn on the plane, she felt even more creased and grubbier than before. A waitress wandered by with a tray of fruity drinks. Mist
aking Sydney for one of the many new arrivals, she handed her one.

  She took a grateful sip. Sweet liquid slid down her throat, cooling her from the inside. Hot, humid air swirled around her from the ceiling fans, providing a contrast to the blender drink that was already beaded with condensation from the heat of her hand. She held it up to her forehead, using it as a crude form of air conditioning.

  How had this holiday gone so wrong so fast? First Marcia had canceled at the last minute, then there was a delay in taking off, and now this confusion with the roommates. She sighed. That kind of thinking wasn’t going to help. She was here, in the tropics, in the salty sea air. Jesse would straighten things out with registration and then they could part company. She could forget about the brunette on his bed. She could forget about his stunning body. She eyed his tight butt as he waited in line. Not that she’d be forgetting his physique any time soon. Once the real live man was gone, she could fantasize about him any time she wanted. And damn, she wanted.

  The line moved. Guests left with bellmen en route to their rooms. Jesse took his place at the front desk. Any minute, this would all be fixed. Sydney watched the exchange. Jesse started out looking polite and reasonable enough. But as the moments passed, the conversation seemed to get more animated. Putting her drink aside, she joined him at the desk.

  “Unfortunately, our Singles Week promotion has been far more popular than we expected,” the harried front desk clerk was saying.

  “But we were promised roommates of the same gender!” Sydney objected.

  The clerk straightened his tie. “I understand, ma’am, but the hotel is full.”

  Ma’am? Surely she wasn’t old enough to be called ma’am. It seemed there were no end to the indignities this evening had to offer.

  Jesse gestured to Sydney. “We’re obviously not the same gender. You’ve made a mistake and you need to rectify it.”

  The clerk blew a puff of air through his teeth. Obviously, this wasn’t the first time he and Jesse had been over this ground. “As I explained before, sir. The hotel is at maximum capacity. I have no other room to give you.”

  “But—” Sydney tried to sound reasonable. “The room has only one bed.”

  “The couch does pull out,” the clerk offered helpfully.

  “You mean, we’re stuck like this for a week?” A terrible scenario began to play out in her mind. She thought of the brunette on Jesse’s bed. Not only was she going to have to share a hotel room with a total stranger, she was going to have to share it with a male stranger who was obviously a bit of a player if he had a strange woman in his bed so soon after he’d arrived. She thought of the towels strewn on the floor and the clothes tossed about the room and groaned.

  She realized with a shock she’d groaned out loud because both Jesse and the clerk were staring at her.

  “Well, it is an ocean-view room, ma’am.”

  Again with the ma’am. She wanted to groan again.

  The clerk continued in an overly-cheerful voice. “One of our best.”

  Exhaustion and frustration caught up with her. Sydney smothered the urge to grab him by his brightly-printed tie, pull him across the counter, and demand the situation be rectified to her satisfaction.

  Her expression must have changed because Jesse grasped her by the elbow. He had a nice touch with just the right amount of gentle persuasion rather than force. “Let’s go have a drink at the beach bar and talk this over.”

  “What’s to talk about?”

  Her protests went unheeded as he led her away from the counter, much to the likely relief of the staff. As they walked away, she noticed an even longer line had formed while they’d been arguing with the front desk.

  “Apparently, we have a lot to discuss if we’re going to be stuck together for a week. Besides, you look like you could use a drink.”

  That was certainly true enough. She nodded in reluctant agreement. “Okay, but I’m not letting them get off this easily. This problem has to be fixed!”

  “This problem could also be an opportunity.”

  She gave him a hard stare. “Just don’t.”

  He held up his hands in surrender. “Ok-ay. One drink coming up.”

  They stepped out of the lobby into the open air. A light breeze offset some of the humidity, cooling her body. Darkness had completely fallen while they’d been inside. A multitude of lights lit up the resort. Every palm tree on the grounds was wound with ropes of tiny white lights. A giant pool flowed through the resort. Its water gleamed like emerald glass. Moonlight gilded the palm trees. Tropical flowers scented the light breeze. The effect was stunningly beautiful. It lifted her mood instantly. Maybe this holiday was salvageable after all.

  She glanced at Jesse and realized she was walking so close she could feel his body heat. Her body was acutely aware of him. Still, she didn’t seem like his type. That didn’t mean a girl couldn’t dream. He didn’t seem unduly embarrassed at her having seen him naked.

  Rather, he had the self-assurance of a guy comfortable in his own skin at all times. She coveted his confidence. From under the fringe of her lashes, she studied him as she followed him along the cobblestone path past the pool. He walked with a swagger that was self-possessed, but not arrogant. She could understand why women were attracted to him.

  She remembered having that kind of confidence briefly herself. For a while, she’d felt like her life was on the right track. Everything moved along according to the plans she’d had since she was a little girl. She’d studied hard at school, which had led to a demanding career. Yet she was willing to put in the hours to fulfill her dreams. She happily gave up dinners with friends to work late. She canceled plans with her boyfriend to deal with work crises. When her boyfriend found a new girlfriend with more free time, she told herself he simply didn’t share her ideals, that someone more in tune with her values would come along. Only she never seemed to have the time to find that someone.

  Her sense of rightness vanished once the economy took a downturn and she found herself without a job. Not only was she missing a job, many of her friends had moved on as well. While she’d been preoccupied, they’d become couples and spouses and parents.

  Just when she’d thought she was close to achieving her goals, to truly having it all, Sydney found herself working at a much lower-paying job, and except for Marcia, mostly without friends. This vacation had been Marcia’s idea. It was supposed to be a little reward to break that cycle of regret and despair and get that elusive all-is-right-with-the-world feeling back.

  Jesse stopped suddenly. Lost in thought, Sydney bumped into him. A solid back met her outstretched hands. For a moment, she reveled in the feel of all that hard muscle beneath her palms. She realized she’d held on a moment too long and dropped her hands. “Sorry, I wasn’t expecting you to stop.”

  He turned, a wicked ghost of a smile disappearing from his lips. “It’s okay.” The unexpected touch didn’t seem to bother him. “I was just looking for some friends, but it appears they’ve gone.” Sydney couldn’t be sure, but he sounded relieved not to find his friends waiting for them.

  “I see a seat over there.” Jesse was on the move again.

  Shaking her head to clear it of those lusty images, she followed him.

  He led her to a small table by the water. The breeze blew stronger down by the ocean, cooling her skin. It was likely doing horrendous damage to what was left of her braid, but she refused to care. She was there in paradise, destined for a week of sand, sun, and fun. She intended to enjoy every second of it, even if it meant dealing with an unexpected roommate. And some very unexpected feelings.

  “I’ll get us some drinks from the bar,” Jesse offered. “What’ll you have?”

  “Piña Colada.” The words slipped from her lips. Normally, in deference to her already curvy figure, she stuck with lower calorie white wine. But the sweet drink seemed to go perfectly with the sultry night. And besides, she hadn’t eaten dinner.

  “They’re really strong here. You wa
nt some food with that?”

  As if on cue, her stomach growled loudly.

  Jesse laughed. “All right. One Piña Colada and one hamburger.”

  She opened her mouth to protest she really wanted a salad instead, but her stomach growled again. “Thanks!”

  He was back in a few moments with a Piña Colada complete with a wedge of pineapple and a little blue umbrella on the side. He put a beer down in his own place and returned for her hamburger. Gratefully, she took a few bites.

  She’d wolfed down half of it before she realized she must appear totally undignified scarfing down her burger with Piña Colada chasers. Warily, she raised her head, but he appeared amused as he watched her.

  She wiped her mouth on her napkin. “Guess I was hungrier than I thought.”

  He laughed. “Guess you were.”

  Sydney sat back in her chair. Her hunger and her thirst sated, she remembered the reason they’d come down here. To work out the details of their forced confinement. For a few minutes, she’d been content to enjoy the warm night air and company of a great-looking guy. Now reality intruded. Memories of their embarrassing meeting shot through her mind. She wanted to start this odd relationship off right. Or re-start this strange cohabitation on the right note. She took another sip of the Piña Colada for courage. Jesse was right. It was strong. Already she could feel a relaxing euphoria spreading through her body. She glanced at Jesse. No, that wasn’t going to help. The more she studied him, the more she found herself wanting … him. She forced her gaze to a point over her left shoulder.

  “Look…” she began. “I’m really sorry if I ruined your … action up there in the room.”

  For a moment he appeared chagrined, and then he shrugged it off. He opened his mouth to say something, but she continued resolutely. “The hotel emailed me yesterday to say they’d found a roommate for me. So when I opened the door and saw another woman, I assumed that was her. Thanks for showing me where the beach bar is. If you want to go find your friend, we could talk about this tomorrow morning. I can arrange to stay here for a while if you…”