The boat captain brought Charlie back to the boat with impressive precision, and he landed on the deck flat-footed and steady, his heart a little lighter.
“How was it?” the kid asked with puppy dog eagerness.
Charlie grinned. “Like I said, I’m an addict, man. Let’s turn you into one too.”
Audra smiled, and he didn’t hesitate to slide into the kid’s empty seat next to her. They watched her brother successfully take off from the boat, parachute spread out behind him. As introductions to the start of something, it wasn’t half bad. If he was worth his salt—and he was—this was only the first of many thrills he and Audra Reed would experience together.
When Audra finally got Isaac settled for the night with room service pizza and strict orders not to order porn from the TV’s menu, it was nearly nine o’clock.
“I’ll just be downstairs at the hotel bar,” she told him for the fifth time.
“Uh, huh.” Her brother didn’t even glance up from his iPad as he grabbed his phone from the bed and held it up. “I’ll text you if someone tries to break in and kidnap me. Pretty sure I’ll be okay.”
Audra rolled her eyes. Teenagers.
He’d spent an hour chattering about how awesome parasailing was and thanking her for taking him and claiming she was the best big sister in the whole wide world—a high compliment since he had two more big sisters that he’d shared a womb with for seven and a half months. Of course, she should have earned the Best Big Sister award by virtue of this trip alone. How many other fifteen-year-olds got an all-expenses-paid trip to Duchess Island for some brother-sister bonding time?
Once he was talked out, he’d completely lost interest in spending time with her in favor of bestowing his attention on as many electronic devices he could put at his fingertips. If she hadn’t be in the room when the triplets had been born, she’d never believe she and Isaac were related.
Tonight she’d let it work in her favor. She had a man to track down.
Twirling once in front of the floor-length mirror, she took off the first accessory that caught her eye—the sparkly headband holding her hair back. Yeah, it had been iffy anyway, considering that she had every intent of letting the man she hoped to find run his fingers through her hair.
Charlie with no last name wasn’t hard to spot at the bar. His broad shoulders and spiky blond hair stood out among the pasty accountants and balding executives in Hawaiian shirts. And then there was the fact that he’d situated his bar stool a half twist to the right, turning his handsome face every so often to survey the crowd.
Was he watching out for someone? Her, perhaps? He’d better be. Otherwise she’d never have wasted this white formfitting dress on him.
They’d had A Moment on the boat, and he’d casually mentioned he’d be at the bar later as they’d parted on the dock afterward. It wasn’t a date, per se, and she appreciated the lack of pressure since she easily could have been occupied with Isaac.
The instant he saw her, his face lit up and it was clear that yes indeed she’d made the right move with the dress.
“I wasn’t sure you’d make it,” he said smoothly as he rose to his feet and waved toward his now-empty barstool—the only one in the place at this point. The gallant gesture put a nice little ball of warmth in her abdomen.
“Isaac was a chatterbox for some reason,” she explained and slid into the chair.
It was still situated a little bit sideways, facing her toward him. Her pulse fluttered as Charlie leaned in, his arm settling across the low wooden back right where the dress dipped into a V that left her skin bare. With his free hand, he signaled the bartender.
God, he had amazing arms, corded with muscles and so much sexier with his shirtsleeves rolled up to his elbows than completely bare.
That was a first. Months in the Caribbean and she’d found the one guy who looked better dressed than he did undressed. Okay, no—that was a lie. He was smoking hot without a shirt too. His abs were a work of art, and his shoulders? To die for.
Maybe she’d get a chance to see the rest of him later… you know, just to make a proper assessment about the lower half.
Her spine quaked in a delicious shudder. It had been a while since she’d done any assessing. Apparently her taste in men ran to the impossible-to-find variety: must not be an ass, must not be married, and must not be in the market for someone to push around.
Yeah, with those high standards, it was no wonder she slept alone. Of course, she had no guarantees the man she’d come looking for wasn’t all three. But she didn’t think so.
“Glass of wine?” Charlie asked as the bartender headed in their direction.