Payne: A Bad Boy Romance: (With bonus book Mine)

by Kim Linwood

  When she lived here, that was all it was. Dirt and rock. We’d paddle out here together sometimes. Every time, she’d bring seeds and small plants, trying to turn it into a proper island. I’d laughed then, but fuck if she wasn’t right. Mostly they died, but over the years, the few that survived have grown ferociously, and now there’s a small but flourishing cover of palms and other plants. I’ve come to think of it as hers, and I wonder what she thinks of it.

  I follow along slowly, presumably to stay out of the way and observe the girls. All I know about them are names and pictures, and most didn’t stand out enough for me to even remember that yet. Shit, I don’t even know what name Liz is using. I didn’t recognize her headshot, and I know her real name wasn’t on the list.

  They gasp as they see what’s on the other side. From here, the ground slopes down towards another beach, opposite of where we landed. From this side, Frederick Island is fully visible in the distance, the estate a big white blotch in the middle of the green.

  “You did land on the wrong island!” says the blonde.

  I laugh. If it weren’t for the way she’s very carefully manipulating her positioning and words to play to the cameras, I’d almost believe she’s as stupid as she’s acting.

  “He landed exactly where he was supposed to,” replies Blaze. “Our brave pilot was only following directions.” He sweeps his hand in a slow arc towards the beach. There are five kayaks there, lined up and ready to go. “You want to get there? This is how you’ll do it. Two contestants to a kayak, and one camera operator to sit in the front. The last boat to make it in gets disqualified, and its riders will be forced to leave the island. Today.”

  The air explodes with voices.

  “What?”

  “Kayaks?”

  “But I’ve never—”

  “It’s so far.”

  Blaze holds his hands up. “Don’t worry. You’ll get all the training you need. We even have time for lunch, to give you a chance to get to know each other and find your partners for the race.” The girls look at him dubiously, but relax a little at the mention of food. “We’ll leave in an hour, after Sheila over here gives you gals a round of instructions on how to work your kayaks.” He points to a muscular camerawoman in a wetsuit, who grins like a shark. “I suspect this might be new to more than one of you.”

  “Seriously?” One of the women standing with the crafty blonde perks up enough to show a little attitude. Her dismay is quickly echoed by the others.

  What, they expected to be just dropped into the lap of luxury? Champagne, lobster and a sizzling hot billionaire bachelor? It’s what most of them seem to have dressed for.

  I tsk quietly and grin behind my fake beard. In spite of myself, I’m looking forward to their challenge. Girls, you’re going to have to work for this.

  6

  Liz

  The pilot is officially starting to freak me out.

  I laugh at something Amanda says, and dart a glance over my shoulder. Yep, he’s watching us again. Knowing my luck, he’s decided we’re the most likely to get voted off first and he’s plotting how to dump our bodies at sea.

  Or not, but I bet he has shifty eyes under those glasses.

  Now that we’re on the other side of the trees, I can’t believe I didn’t recognize Dirt Rock. It’s amazing how green it is now. When I left, there was nothing here but a few stubborn plants that were refusing to die. The palms shot right up, and under their shelter, everything else has flourished. I want to do a little happy dance that my efforts weren’t in vain, but I’ll have to settle for doing a boogie in my head.

  Across the water from us, Frederick Island taunts me. My palms itch to grab a paddle and get going. I’ve done the trip plenty of times, even if it’s been a while.

  I’ve been away far too long.

  The pilot sets up a couple of portable gas grills, while Blaze bosses the crew around, making them get everything ready for lunch. It looks like burgers, nice and thick. My stomach rumbles as the scent reaches me. It’s been weeks since I had the money to buy anything that fancy.

  Cassie, one of Elena’s sidekicks, pipes up, “Are there veggie burgers?” Someone else asks to check the nutritional information on the rolls.

  I sneak past a couple of girls standing around the condiments discussing how superior chutney is compared to ketchup, and hold out my plate.

  “Medium rare?” The pilot asks, not quite looking at me.

  “Perfect. Just so long as—”

  He snorts. “You can’t hear it mooing?”

  I pause, surprised. Was it that predictable a joke?

  “Next!” the pilot snaps rudely, motioning to the next girl in line.

  What a jerk. Definitely creepy.

  The camera people are like gnats, swarming around us while we get our food. Meanwhile, the pilot’s relaxed and friendly with everyone except me. Maybe he just doesn’t like me for some reason. Whatever. It’s not like it matters.

  We spread out. Already, cliques are firming up and the leaders jostling for position. Elena obviously for the Barbies, though Bianca and a lawyer named Meredith are strong contenders.For Megan and me? Definitely Amanda.

  She’s so sweet it almost hurts my teeth, but that open smile and soft southern belle voice draws people in and gets them talking. The next thing they know, they’re fetching her napkins.

  And by they, I mean me.

  I grab a couple extra—I needed one too, it was only logical that I get up—and decide to snag a roll while I’m at it. The pilot-slash-cook is sitting to one side, not quite a part of the crew. He’s between me and my grains, so my plan is to just walk right by him, but he speaks up in spite of my lack of eye contact.

  “You look familiar. What’s your name?” With the bushy facial hair and the reflective lenses of his aviators, he’s impossible to read.

  “S—Sarah.” The name still doesn’t quite roll off my tongue. “And I doubt it. I don’t think I know any pilots.” I give him a half smile and snatch the roll.

  “Must just be me. Maybe you have one of those faces, Sarah.”

  “Yeah, you know with the eyes and the nose and the mouth. I get that all the time.”

  He laughs, and my stomach does a little flip that I blame on the burger. I focus on the ketchup he has clinging to the side of his mustache. Creepy pilot is still creepy, even if he has a nice laugh.

  “Where ya from?” he asks, just when I think I can get away without seeming rude.

  Here. “Upstate New York.”

  “So, like, Westchester?”

  I narrow my eyes.

  “What? Farther north? Poughkeepsie?”

  He’s mocking me, and I don’t want to fall for it, but even though I wasn’t born there, the need to correct him burns too strong.

  “Yeah, how about you drive through Westchester, then stop for lunch in Poughkeepsie, then just keep going until the radio starts playing French. Okay? Is that North enough for you?”

  “Oh! Like really north, eh?”

  I let out a frustrated growl. “Why are we even talking about this?”

  “I don’t know, maybe—”

  Blaze does that annoying whistle thing between his fingers, getting everyone’s attention. He’s standing on the top of the hill, positioned for the perfect angle. “Get ready, ladies! Finish your food and pick your partners! It’s almost time to find out who’ll be sailing into the sunset, and who’ll be swimming with the fishes!”

  “What does that even mean? They shouldn’t let him write his own lines.” I mutter. The pilot laughs, and I glare at him. “Laugh it up, Skippy. With any luck the sharks will mistake that ketchup all over your face for blood.”

  He just laughs harder while wiping around his mouth with the back of his hand. Jerk.

  I don’t have time to deal with him. I need a partner, fast.

  Megan’s already being hauled over towards a kayak and shrugs at me helplessly. Amanda’s still free, though. She’s a touch on the short side, but looks lik
e she’s not afraid of a little work. At the very least she seems in this to win it, and the threat of a blister or two won’t scare her off.

  By some chance of fate I manage to hook my arm in hers before anyone else snatches her up. “Ever paddle a kayak before?”

  She squeaks and looks up at me in surprise, big blue eyes wide. “Uh, no, but I’ve rowed plenty of boats.”

  “Close enough.” I hope, since I’ve never been in a rowboat. How different can it be? “You’ll learn. I don’t know if we’ll win, but if you come with me, I guarantee we won’t lose.”

  She looks at me like I’m nuts, but nods and follows along anyway.

  We put on our life vests, and I show Amanda how to hold the paddle and settle her feet in the footwell. She picks it up quickly, which is promising. Blaze and the female instructor go around checking everyone, helping them figure out what to do. We have it under control by the time they get to us, but we gratefully trade our regular shoes in for slip-on wet shoes.

  They seem to be trying to make sure we’re safe, but sending ten inexperienced people out onto the ocean seems like a risky proposition at best. We’re close enough to see the other island, but it’s still quite a ways away.

  I’m just attaching Amanda’s spray skirt when the pilot comes our way. “Hello again, S—Sarah.” He grins like he’s funny. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say you’ve done this before.”

  “Okay, you don’t know better. And I have done this before,” I snap. Is he seriously following me around? “Are you here to push us onto the water?”

  With a cocky smile, he hefts a camera in his hands. “Even better. One of the crew members isn’t feeling well, so I’ll be the camera guy for your journey across the ocean blue. You two seem like the best bet for making it across without getting too wet.” He points at Megan and a girl who looks almost as wispy as her. “Unlike those two, who I’d probably capsize with the extra weight.”

  I blink in amazement. “Did you just manage to call us fat and insinuate you’re going to be a giant lump of dead weight?”

  Amanda turns her head and hides a snicker.

  He licks those annoyingly sexy lips and grins. “I assure you. I’m very much alive.”

  Up close, it’s hard to ignore that under his loose jumpsuit is a body that does in fact look very much alive. He’s mostly covered, but there’s a hint of a tattoo peeking out from under his collar when he moves, and up close his shoulders are a lot broader than I’d first thought. If he could lose the attitude—and at least tame the facial hair—he might be worth a second glance.

  On the plane, he’d sounded like he gargled gravel, but the only roughness I hear in his voice now is of pure masculine interest. There’s something off about him, but I don’t have time to care about annoying pilots who may or may not secretly be sex machines.

  He deftly leaps into the kayak’s front cockpit like he’s done it a thousand times, while I climb in behind Amanda.

  Definitely off. He could barely get down the steps from the plane without stumbling. I eye him suspiciously, which earns me a smile. Amanda rolls her eyes at us.

  “So if you’re in here with us, who’s going to fly the plane back?” Hah! Answer that Mr. Reality TV mole.

  He shrugs, unconcerned. “They’ll fly me out with the chopper later when the other girls leave.”

  Damn it. That makes sense.

  Turning around, he swings the camera to face us, and I lose my chance to keep pestering him with questions. He gives us a thumbs up.

  7

  Liz

  Paddling leaves me lots of time to think, but not much time to talk. Amanda picks it up quickly, and before long we’re pulling way ahead of the rest of the group. At this rate, not only will we not be going home, we might actually win.

  “Good work!” I call out to her.

  She turns and beams me a smile.

  Confident in our lead, we can take it easy. We’re making good time, but it’s still going to take a while to get across.

  “So, Amanda. You’re from… Georgia, right?”

  She nods. “Born and raised.”

  “Atlanta?”

  “Sugar,” she says in an exaggerated drawl. “Our town’s so small the middle of nowhere thinks we’re too far out.” She scrunches up her nose and smiles. “But I do go to school in Atlanta.”

  “This your first time in the Caribbean?”

  “Hell, it’s my first time outside the state. I know it’s crazy, but one night I was just sitting there looking at the application webpage and I thought ‘Why not?’ I’ve got one year left at school, and then I’m back home, working with my Dad. I want at least one thing to look back on and know my whole life wasn’t a straight line from cradle to grave.” She laughs. It’s infectious, a good-natured sound that’s hard not to join in with. “I just about died when I got the call. His offer was way too good to turn down.”

  I don’t remember the casting guy having a particularly good offer, but maybe if I was her I’d have thought so. Or maybe we didn’t all get the same call. Maybe the ones they think will go farther got a little something to sweeten the deal. Doubts nag at me. I haven’t seen Hunter in ten years. How should I know what he likes in a woman?

  Other than not me. Not really.

  “What do you think Hunter’s like?” I ask, trying to pump her subtly for information. “I bet he’s a real jerk. Money tends to go to people’s heads.”

  The pilot coughs.

  Amanda shakes her head. “I don’t know, but nobody that does as much charity as he does can be all bad. Right?”

  Charity? Charity starts in the home, and did my mother and I get any? Not a chance.

  I shrug. “I guess. It could just be for show. Or taxes.”

  “M… Maybe?” Her voice sounds unsure. “I don’t know. I haven’t heard anything but how wonderful it is on the island and how perfect his life is. I’m sure it’s not exactly like they said, but why would you be here if you think he’s a jerk?”

  Behind the camera, the pilot sits very still, capturing our every word.

  “Oh, I’m sure he’s fine,” I say with a forced laugh. “I’m just nervous I guess. He looked so handsome and everything looked so fancy. I feel out of my league.”

  “That I can understand. Back home I know exactly what to do, but here? I’m just winging it. Ya know? I keep waiting for my Gran to pop out from behind something and whack me on the knuckles for not being a lady.”

  “No grans in sight. I think all we have to worry about is Hunter, and I doubt the master of the house is going to jump out and spank you.”

  Amanda giggles. “That sounds more fun than scary.”

  The pilot nearly drops his camera, grabbing for a water bottle and sucking down a few furious swallows. Perv.

  “Maybe that’ll be one of the challenges. They’ll line us all up and he can paddle us, then have to guess whose butt is whose.”

  “Oh, I’ll totally win that one. I have a birthmark I can flash him while we show off our bikinis.”

  I gasp in mock outrage. “You kinky little cheater!”

  The pilot makes a strangled sound. With any luck his shaky hands will mean this part doesn’t make the final cut.

  “Say, Sarah?”

  It takes me a moment before I remember she means me. It’s not easy to get used to a new name. “Yeah?”

  “How wet is it supposed to be getting inside this canoe?”

  “Kayak. And wet? Like how wet?”

  “Well, the water’s sloshing almost up to my waist now, and it’s getting to be a little cold.”

  Shit. Getting wet isn’t exactly surprising, but we’re definitely riding lower than I like.

  I look ahead towards the island, but if we’ve taken on this much water already, we might not make it. I don’t want her to panic, though. “Don’t worry. I’m sure we’ll be fine.”

  The pilot puts the camera down and his eyes meet mine over her shoulder. From where he’s sitting, he can see her situation m
ore clearly, and from the slight shake of his head, it’s obvious we’re in trouble.

  Our kayak is sinking.

  8

  Hunter

  Fuck.

  If Liz wasn’t so damn distracting, I would’ve noticed the water level way before now.

  Or the fact that the other kayaks are much farther behind than they should be. Taking such an early lead made us all stop paying attention, which was stupid. They’ve barely gotten away from Dirt Rock, and no amount of waving our arms is going to get their attention.

  Where the hell did my investment money go if the production company can’t even rent boats that float? I rip open the storage compartment in the bow, hoping for a flare gun or something that might help.

  Nothing.

  Well, a moldy half-eaten pack of crackers, a couple empty beer bottles and what looks like a used condom. Classy.

  For fuck’s sake.

  The lines on Liz’s face as she looks at me over Amanda’s shoulder show that she sees the seriousness of our situation. “Don’t stop paddling,” she directs. “Maybe we can make it.”

  There’s no way that’s happening at this rate. I open my mouth, but Liz glares at me. Amanda looks like she’s barely holding it together. Good point. Probably not a good idea to scare her any more than necessary.

  The weather’s warm, though the wind has picked up a bit, and we all have life vests. There’s a dark cloud bank racing towards us, just to add insult to injury, but we’ll be alright. Nobody’s going to die. It’s just going to suck.

  “It’s getting a lot heavier to paddle. Are you sure?” Amanda’s voice trembles.

  I smile at her, hoping it’s reassuring. “Here, take the camera and give me your paddle. I’ll take over for a while.”

  “But the competition—”

  “I’m sure they’ll understand.” Fuck the stupid show. Whatever happens, I’ll make sure Liz and Amanda aren’t blamed for this.