"It's stunning, isn't it?" Caryn walked over to where he stood.
"Yes, Jocelyn at the spa told me her husband handcrafted this." He smiled cheekily at her. "She told me I should see if I could get the guest staying in Rockrose to let me have a look at it. She knew I'd appreciate it."
If she hadn't been standing so close to him, she would've missed the way his eyes widened in panic, as if he worked out he'd said something he shouldn't have. Did he think Jocelyn was trying to play matchmaker? Caryn hadn't breathed a word of why she was at the resort.
"Well, I guess it's lucky you happen to be on friendly terms with the guest in Rockrose. I’ve heard she’s hot.” She finished with a wink.
"Oh, I know for sure she’s hot," Tom murmured as he slipped his arms around her waist and pulled her closer. "So what's the plan for the evening?"
Skipping dinner and going to straight to dessert, which involves tasting every inch of you.
How tempting it was to verbalize her thoughts. To be the temptress the dress she wore called for. Heat suffused her body, and she knew that a blush was riding her cheekbones.
His fingers brushed her cheeks, confirming her thoughts. "Whatever are you thinking, Caryn Stapleton?"
She needed to cool down.
She pulled away. "I'm thinking we need to have a drink."
"Is that right? And thinking about having a drink makes you blush?"
Caryn rolled her eyes. "Do you want to have a drink or not?"
"Sure, why not? I'll have a beer if you've got one."
"Yep, be right back." Caryn escaped into the kitchen and opened the fridge. The cool air rushed out at her. Not enough to cool her down, but she stood with the door open longer than necessary. When she finally felt she had herself under some semblance of control she pulled out a beer for Tom and grabbed the unopened bottle of Sauvignon Blanc for herself. She had no plans to drink the whole thing, but a glass would help in soothing her frazzled nerves.
She turned around and ran smack bang into a wall of solid male fineness and had to juggle the bottles in her hand.
"Let me help you." Tom grabbed the bottle of wine before it slipped to the floor. Of course it would be the wine she almost dropped. It would've served him right if she'd dropped his beer.
With a hand free she slapped him on his arm. "Don't scare me like that."
He had the audacity to laugh at her. She shoved his arm again, but a smile tugged at her lips and she found herself laughing along with him.
"You're lucky I didn't do what I was thinking of doing." He winked. "How about I open the wine?"
"Good idea. I need to check when dinner is arriving." No sooner had she finished speaking but the doorbell buzzed again. "Well, speak of the devil. I'll be right back. Why don't you head out to the patio? I thought we'd eat outside tonight."
Caryn didn't wait for a response.
The next few minutes passed in a blur of activity as the efficient staff from Junonia laid out the food on the patio table. The aromas coming from the various plates made her stomach grumble in anticipation of another fabulous meal. The staff put the dessert in the fridge, another slice of the decadent chocolate cake they'd had on their picnic, before they disappeared out the front door.
Sitting across the table from Tom, Caryn picked up her wine and took sip. The light, fruity flavors burst on her tongue. She took a second to savor them before swallowing with a loud gulp.
Very classy, Caryn, very classy.
"Shall we eat?" Tom suggested easily, and she prayed he hadn’t heard her very unladylike gulp. "Everything looks good."
"Yep." She picked up the plate in front of her and began to fill it. "What did you do for the rest of your day?"
"Just hung out at the villa and then took a walk along the beach before getting ready to come here."
"Have you explored farther than the resort?"
"No. I'm happy hanging around here and relaxing. It's the main reason to I came here. To be alone."
"I never would've pegged you as a loner."
Tom shrugged. "I'm surrounded by people more often than I'm not. It’s not easy to find a hiding place on a construction site. This resort is the perfect place where I don't have to be pestered every five minutes by either a client or one of the guys on my crew. The staff is almost invisible and they respect the guests’ privacy. A lot of high-profile people stay at this resort and live on the island, and I’ve not heard any staff member talk about them. The remote location and discreetness appealed to me."
Something about what Tom was telling her seemed a little off. His need for privacy surprised her. He worked on busy constructions sites. Dealt with clients. He gave the impression he liked being around people. So why now did it seem like he craved aloneness? And if that was the case, why was he spending so much time with her?
"You know what that sounds like?" she asked.
"No, what?"
"That you need a change in career. If you dislike being around people so much, why work in an industry where, as you said yourself, you're always surrounded by people?"
"I love my job. I really do. It's just that when I'm away from it I want to be totally away from it. I don't want to think about whether a customer is going to like a finish. Or how they're going to take it when I tell them that half their budget is going to go to re-wiring the house instead of the pool they wanted for their six kids." He pushed his empty plate forward to the middle of the table. "When I'm on vacation I like to be alone."
"Why did you invite me to join you on this trip if you liked to be alone?"
That wickedly, sexy smile lit up his face and her stomach dropped. "Because, my beautiful Caryn, I like you and I want to get to know you better."
While his words flattered her, they still didn't ring true.
"You were going to blow me off when I came up to you in bar that first night."
“That was then. This is now.” Tom pulled away from the table, his chair scraping loudly on the paved ground. He moved swiftly around the table and pulled out her chair, holding out his hand toward her. Intrigued, she put her hand in his. Immediately, shards of electricity spiked down her arm. What she really wanted to do was wrap her arms around him and kiss him. Lead him by the hand to the magnificent canopied bed and do what she never thought she'd ever do—sleep with a man she’d known for only a week. A man she had met online.
8
The need to distract Caryn from asking him more questions flew from his mind the minute he touched her. The silky fabric of her red dress slipped through his fingers; it wouldn't take much to slide the fabric up until he could caress her sweet ass.
He may not have sought out a woman’s company, but fate had placed her in his path. Saying no to what had been a happy accident wasn't something he felt inclined to do.
"What are you planning on doing, Mr. Construction Man?"
Nailing you, he wanted to say. He controlled the urge, because when it came to women, he was never crude. Caryn evoked desires within him he hadn’t experienced before. Even when he'd been working on the house of a single woman who’d spent most of the time flirting with him and giving the biggest come-on he’d ever seen, he hadn't taken her up on her offer. He'd also been hit on by a couple of guys too, which totally surprised him. But on each and every occasion he was respectful in letting them down gently. Although none of them had elicited the type of responses he was getting from just touching Caryn. As much as he would like to walk her backward into the villa and have his wicked way with her, she deserved to be wooed first.
"Well, Ms. Businesswoman. You know, I don't think we've even talked about what you do for a living. But I'm thinking a walk along the beach might be nice. Then we can come back," he leaned down and nipped her earlobe, "and share dessert and see where the night takes us."
One thing he knew for sure, he planned on not spending the night alone in his villa.
The walk wasn't doing anything to cool his ardor. In fact, it was doing the opposite. With every step they too
k, every whisper of her silky fabric, his body responded until it became almost too painful to walk.
"It's such a pretty evening. I don't think I ever want to leave here."
"It is that. And while that’s a great sentiment, unless you have unlimited money, the need to work to live becomes something of a requirement."
He wasn't quite in the no need to work bracket, but he was getting close. He'd been pretty smart with his endorsement money, as well as salary from the network. Invested both wisely and lived a non-flashy lifestyle. He’d set his parents up in a nice house and had paid for the European vacation they were currently on.
Even though he was deeply attracted to Caryn, he had no plans to reveal his bank balance to her. She’d given him no reason to doubt her words. She hadn’t done anything to even trigger him giving Aaron’s words any credence. But still no need to share that detail.
"I know, but I could stay here for a while and it wouldn't be too much of a burden on my bank account."
Her comment highlighted how much he really didn't know about Caryn. He’d given her the bare bones of how he lived his life, going from one construction site to another to another—he just hadn’t elaborated on how stressful his job could be, and of course, the part about standing in front of a camera being amiable when he really wanted to curse his head off. This season, they were expanding from renovating homes in Virginia to homes in Philadelphia, a move that was going to add pressure to his job. They'd already lined up a couple of row homes he was itching to bring back to life and put his own stamp on.
And why was he thinking about work when he was walking the beach with a beautiful woman? Work would be a reality in a couple of weeks. Until then, he was still on vacation.
But what about Caryn’s possible occupations? He'd downloaded the app where they’d supposedly met and found her profile. He couldn't tell how many hits she had, but it had to have been a lot. If he were into online dating, Caryn was definitely someone he would've swiped right for. Her profile said she was a businesswoman. That description encompassed a lot of things while being extremely vague at the same time.
Would he ruin the moment if he asked her? Impossible. It wouldn't matter if she told him her business was working as a trash collector; he'd still want her. He'd wanted her since that first kiss they'd shared right on this beach the night they met.
He wrapped his arm around her shoulder and pulled her closer. "As I said earlier, I don't know a great deal about what you do with your time. Share with me. What makes Caryn Stapleton tick?"
Her shoulders stiffened beneath his arm. Surely, she wasn't afraid of sharing parts of her life with him. She'd come to the resort on a whim to meet a man she'd chatted to briefly online. But then her body relaxed and she laid her head on his chest.
"I'm pretty much an open book. What you see is what you get. I like the simple things in life. But I'm open to adventure, as you can see by coming here without knowing you apart from our email interactions."
"How long have you been in the States?" God, he hoped they hadn't had this discussion before. Geez, it was frustrating not knowing what Caryn and the douche Brad Jones had talked about.
"This time, I've been here for four months."
"You've been here before?"
"Yeah, I was born here and spent the first four years of my life living in Arizona. Then my Dad got offered a job in Sydney, so we moved. My parents loved the laidback lifestyle and the pace of life. So, when the contract ended, we stayed. This is the first trip back I’ve made since I was four years old."
"Do you have dual citizenship or something?" he asked.
"Yep, which is great. I can travel around here for as long as I like without having to leave the country to renew a visa."
Tom filed away that piece of information, and the way she freely gave it, it was clear she hadn't shared any of it with Brad. Good, he could ask a couple more questions without stumbling into territory they had already covered.
"What did you do in Australia? Did you leave your job, or did you take some time off?"
"I'm between jobs." She shrugged. "I've got enough savings to travel for a little while. When I go back to Australia I'll find something to do."
He’d already surmised Caryn had to have money. Staying in a villa at Casa Blanca wasn't cheap. The fact that she mentioned staying on longer, too, meant her savings had to be substantial. Maybe she was one of those trust fund kids who whittled away money at the drop of the hat. Only she didn’t seem like that at all. The pretentious glow that sometimes clung to wealthy people didn’t taint Caryn at all. And, at the end of the day, did it really matter whether she was wealthy or not?
It's not like he was planning on marrying the girl. He was only thinking about having a fling with her. He would be leaving in a week to go back to his life. The moments spent with Caryn were tiny stars in the grand cosmos of his life. He would treasure the rest of the time they would spend together. When he was bogged down in the middle of filming his season and everything was going to hell in a handbasket, he would pull out these memories and smile. A case of mistaken identity had certainly worked out better than he ever thought it would.
So what if she had a few little secrets? How could he deny her those when he had his own he was keeping from her?
"Life is an adventure," he said as he wrapped her up in his arms, bringing her close to him. "I say let's live the adventure."
She looked up at him, her brown eyes sparkling in the moonlight. She ran her hand down his chest, stopping at the waistband of his trousers. His cock twitched to attention.
"What adventure do you have in mind?"
"How about I show you?" He scooped her up, laughing at her little squeal of surprise, striding, as best as he could, through the soft sand back to her villa.
The time for taking things slowly was over.
9
It was happening. Something she'd never given herself the opportunity to think would ever happen when she embarked on this trip to Florida.
Tom walked through the French doors and doubts set in. Was she doing the right thing? Was she really going to sleep with a guy she’d known for less than a week? Would she be enough for Tom? The last guy she'd slept with had gone from her bed to her brother's. Try as she might, she couldn't stop her body from tensing tighter than a surfboard.
"What's wrong?" Tom asked as he lowered her onto the bed and sat next to her, keeping a hold on her hand. She appreciated him maintaining the connection between them.
What should she tell him? Considering Jasper had hooked up with her brother, everyone she knew was aware of why her relationship broke down.
Telling Tom that her bank balance was bursting would be easier than telling him about Jasper. But if they were going to take the next step, and with the way she'd frozen up the moment they'd walked in, she had to explain her past to Tom.
"I--uh." She had no idea where she should start. Did Tom even want to know about her past? But her past was affecting her future. Her whole journey was about escaping the embarrassment of what Jasper had done to her. While the trip itself had been fun and exciting, and sitting next to Tom on a bed was definitely the best part, she'd still been running. Running away from the humiliation of her boyfriend falling in love with her brother.
"We can do whatever you want.’ His hand brushed away a stray lock of hair. “I don't want you to feel any sort of pressure."
Her heart melted at the sweetness of his words. "No, it's not that. I just…" She sighed. "I need to explain what led me here."
"Okay. Take your time. But it's not necessary for you to explain anything. I'm not going to change how I feel or what I think about you."
He'd given her an out. An easy exit if she wanted to take it. Oh, how tempting it was to take him up on his offer. Tom would never have to know about the most humiliating experience of her life. But that would be a cop-out. As someone who disliked people who weren't totally truthful with her, not saying anything would put her in the same category of peo
ple she didn't like.
Caryn took a deep breath. "Six months ago, I thought I was on track to get married and start a family. My boyfriend at the time invited me over to his place, said he wanted to cook me dinner and had something important to tell me. My thoughts immediately went to him wanting to propose." She laughed softly. "I heard what I wanted to hear. He didn't say he wanted to ask me something, only tell me something. There's a big difference between those two words, let me tell you. Anyway, I was excited and ready and when he opened the door to my knock, I could tell by the look on his face that I wasn't about to like what he had to say. Cue my confusion when he stepped aside and my brother was standing behind him."
She paused, preparing herself to relive the nightmare of that night. "I’d been so caught up in the idea of a proposal, I’d gone all out. I bought a new dress. Had my hair and nails done, I felt totally beautiful.” She sighed. “I should’ve saved my money. Anyway, I followed them into Jasper’s living room. Before I could sit down, Jasper blurted out that he'd fallen in love with my brother. Seems they'd been having a torrid love affair for the previous six weeks."
Tom's other arm landed around her shoulders and the temptation to shake it off was strong. She didn't want pity, even though that was what everyone had given her. What she wanted was someone to be angry for her. Even her best friends had shown her more pity than anger. As she tried to move away from his touch, Tom’s fingers squeezed her shoulder.
"That must have been a shock for you."
"Well, that's an understatement. I was dumbfounded for so many reasons. The first and foremost being I had no idea Jasper was attracted to men that way. I knew my brother swung both ways. For years, he either had a girlfriend or a boyfriend. I loved him for who he was; his sexual orientation never bothered me. What bothered me more was the fact he chased after Jasper."
Barefoot Bay: Swipe for Mr. Right (Kindle Worlds Novella) Page 5
