His Paradise

This is what I’ve been waiting for. The whole reason I came to this island was to get this property and get the hell off of it. But after one night with Nicole, I’m rethinking all of it. What’s happened to me? Am I truly a bloodsucking bastard? And if I am, is it possible to be so completely changed after a night in bed with a woman?

“I think just folding them will be okay, Liam,” Nicole says, catching me off-guard.

I look down in my hands and see that I shredded the box I was holding. “Yeah, you’re probably right,” I say and smile at her.

The light in her eyes is so bright it nearly blinds me. How could I ever think of doing anything to put it out? There’s got to be a solution. Maybe she’s ready to give it up and this is a blessing in disguise for her. There’s only one way to find out.

“Hey,” I say, coming over to her and wrapping my arms around her waist. “Why don’t you show me around the island and give me the tour from a local?”

She drapes her arms on my shoulders and her fingers go into my hair. “I’d love to,” she says, leaning up and giving me a quick kiss. “But I’ve got to get back to the Mermaid. I’ve got to clean rooms and stock the kitchen.”

“Don’t you have staff for that?” Why would she be in charge of cleaning rooms? She shouldn’t have to do that.

She laughs and shakes her head. “No, it’s just me. And sometimes Peter runs the desk for me. I’m lucky that I’ve got good friends on the island to help out if something breaks or I need another set of hands. But I do the daily work, so no rest for me.”

“Oh,” I say, trying to hide my disappointment.

“You’re welcome to relax at the Mermaid if you want. The beach there is the best on the island.”

I know all too well how perfect it is, but I don’t tell her that.

“Would you mind if I tagged along?” I can’t stand the thought of her working and me sitting on a beach. She should be the one relaxing.

“If you’d like to, yeah. It would be nice to have some company instead of an audiobook in my ears while I work.”

It’s still early by the time we get back to the Mermaid, and Sammy says her goodbyes. I think about taking Nicole back to my room and having my way with her, but before I can let the idea take root she’s already running around and I have to move quick to keep up.

I’ve been in the hotel business for years, so I know all the ins and outs of how they operate. There isn’t a job I don’t think of or can’t hire people to do. But never in my life have I had to do the work behind the scenes. The Mermaid is small, but Nicole does everything herself. Peter offers her a helping hand, but she insists his studies are more important. After she gives him a stern look that makes me stand up a little straighter, he agrees and goes to his room. If Nicole could hire a maid or two, she’d have only about ten percent of the responsibilities she does now, but after hearing her and Sammy talking earlier I can tell that isn’t a possibility.

I already know her finances inside and out, so I don’t know why I’m surprised. I guess I’m just disappointed in myself that I never before thought about the person running the place and what they’d have to do to make ends meet. I’ve been all about the business of things from the beginning and I never stopped to imagine who my takeover might hurt.

There’s a moment when I’m helping Nicole make a bed and we’re laughing about which one of us knows the “right” way to do it that I think I might be having my first ever morality crisis. I’m obsessed with this woman like nothing else in my life, and I can’t in good conscience do anything that would break her heart. So, the only logical answer is to do everything in my power to make her happy. And the Mermaid does that. Now I just have to figure out how to give her that while getting what I want. Which is her.

“Have you ever thought about moving off the island?” I ask as I push the laundry cart down the hall and into the washing room. I close the door behind us as she moves the cart over to the rows of machines.

“No, never.” She smiles and then turns on the machines and dumps the sheets in with the soap.

“What about if you didn’t have the Mermaid? Would you want to leave then?” My chest aches when I think about what this might mean. What if I have to leave this place and leave her behind? I can’t live here full time. It would be impossible.