“Have a good day,” Antonio said as he placed a basket of fresh fruit on the table behind my laptop. “You need anything else?”
“I appreciate that but I know where the supply building is. See you around, Antonio.”
His head bowed once before he turned and walked over to Olivia. I tried not to look but I could hear her cheerful voice and giggles as Antonio talked to her.
She was thankful for the fruit. Apparently, she’d forgotten to order dinner last night. The loud music must have distracted her.
Antonio handed her a basket and the smile she gave him warmed me from the inside out. She was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen.
Too bad I had to be an immature idiot that couldn’t do anything right. She surely had seen right through me.
The old me would have confidently walked over there and taken what I wanted. But she saw me in my work uniform. She wasn’t the kind of woman that wanted a man that cleaned toilets for a living.
I blinked twice. She was looking back at me, her eyes narrowed. I quickly looked away, having been caught staring at her.
Fuck.
What the hell was wrong with me?
She wasn’t going to be here long. She was on vacation.
Maybe it was time to try something. Be my old self… even if it was only for a short time.
I stood up and closed my laptop. I rolled my shoulders back and ran my fingers through my hair as I walked through the sand toward Olivia.
7
Olivia
What the hell had I done wrong now? Frankie was heading toward me but I stared out at the ocean, pretending not to notice.
“Beautiful morning, isn’t it?” he asked.
“Every morning here seems beautiful,” I replied.
“Most of them,” he said.
I turned to him, meeting his intensely dark eyes. They were like glue holding my gaze. No matter how hard I tried to look away, I couldn’t.
“I can’t imagine a bad morning here,” I said.
“When it rains, it pours,” he said giving me a wide smile. “Are you going out for a swim?”
The back of my neck prickled. I suddenly felt incredibly self-conscious in my bikini. I hadn’t planned on meeting anyone, let alone someone as attractive as Frankie.
He looked younger. Not terribly younger but enough that I noticed. There was a sweet, yet cockiness to his features.
“I was just absorbing some vitamin D,” I said. “Good for your bones.”
Great. Why not make myself seem even more ancient than I was.
“Some say the water here is good for your skin,” Frankie said.
My eyes lowered to his smooth, silky chest. He wasn’t lying.
“Come for a swim with me?” Frankie said.
“Oh, I don’t know,” I said looking over my shoulder as if I would find an excuse not to.
I wasn’t even sure why he was asking me to join him. Surely, he had young women banging on his door most nights.
“Come on,” he said lightly placing his hand on my shoulder.
The feel of his skin against mine was like an electrical shock. My heart pounded. My entire body came to life in a beat.
I couldn’t process. What was happening?
Oh, I was probably still in bed sleeping and this was just a crazy dream. It felt so completely real.
Frankie started walking backward toward the ocean. He curled his finger. Like magic, I started walking toward him.
I was totally under Frankie’s spell. And why the hell shouldn’t I be? I deserved a break from all my troubles. That was why I was here. To forget.
I followed him into the water, which was warmer than I expected. He held out his hand to me and I took it. When we were waist-deep, he pulled me toward him. The water created a bit of resistance but I wanted to feel his body against mine.
Water whooshed around us. It felt like the rest of the world was washing away, leaving only Frankie and me behind.
“So,” Frankie said looking down into my eyes. I shivered at the feel of his hands on my hips. “What brought you here?”
“Oh,” I said pushing the image of Danny from my mind. “Just on vacation.”
“Alone?”
I bit my lip. “Do people not do that?”
“Not usually around here,” Frankie said.
“You seem to be alone,” I said.
“I’m not on vacation.” Frankie looked off in the distance. “I don’t want to talk about me. What I want to know is what brings a beautiful woman such as yourself to a secluded cabin.”
I laughed. “I thought it was supposed to be secluded but there you were.”
“You want me to go?” Frankie asked. His hands feel away and I suddenly felt naked.
“No,” I said quickly. “I didn’t mean that at all. I like you. I mean, you seem like a nice guy but I thought you didn’t like me. It seemed like I was annoying you or something.”
“Sorry,” Frankie said. “I guess I was used to silence.”