Secrets Made in Paradise

‘I do, but what do you think?’ He watched her, his expressionless game face back on.

‘These are your eighteen months,’ she reiterated quietly. ‘You get to call the shots.’

And if he wasn’t going to give much away, she wasn’t sure she wanted to either.

He looked at her. As he slowly shook his head and turned away she knew she’d disappointed him somehow.

Later that afternoon, Emmy watched Javier splash with Luke at the bottom of the stairs at the very back of the boat. The sea was a gorgeous temperature and a stunning blue. The island behind them was a perfect backdrop. Emmy lay on the step just above the water line, her camera strap looped around her neck as she watched the two of them splashing through the viewfinder. Luke giggled as Javier teased him. The baby was at ease now—as was Javier in holding and reaching for him. Emmy played with varying settings to capture every moment because they were so magic.

‘Oh,’ she breathed and smiled. ‘I just took the best photo ever.’

‘Hmm?’ Carrying Luke, Javier splashed back up the stairs and she turned the camera so he could see the display on the back.

‘You had someone photobombing you.’ She laughed.

Luke and Javier were smiling at each other, the droplets of water sparkling on their bronzed skin. But in the background was a Galapagos tortoise in the water, his head up, looking as if he was smiling. And beyond him gleamed a snippet of the golden sand of the uninhabited island behind.

‘You’re right, that’s an amazing shot.’ Javier glanced up at her. ‘Forward it to me?’

‘Of course.’ She sat back.

She more than liked it. She couldn’t stop staring at it. The two most handsome males on the planet—both better looking than any model.

‘Put the camera down and join us,’ Javier said roughly.

Emmy’s heart melted at the invitation and she quickly put the camera away before going to sit on the step beside him. His arm rested across Luke’s little belly as they dangled their feet in the water and gazed at the tortoises on the island, who gazed with equal curiosity right back.

‘They’re just incredible, aren’t they?’ Javier murmured.

‘I never get sick of staring at them. The islands are so remote, so isolated, all the creatures have evolved into something completely unique. So precious, they’re fascinating.’

‘And beautiful.’

‘And undamaged by the rest of the world.’ She pondered the rarity before her. ‘So lucky.’

She felt him turn his head. ‘The rest of the world damaged you?’

‘That’s what people do, isn’t it?’ she asked lightly.

‘And that’s why you avoid them now?’

‘I don’t avoid them.’ She scoffed at the suggestion. ‘I just choose to live in paradise.’

‘This is your definition of paradise?’

‘Yes.’ She nodded.

‘Somewhere remote and isolated and unique?’ He echoed her words. ‘Like the end of the world or something. Somewhere away from everyone, everything else.’ He paused. ‘And a place where people don’t tend to stay. Visitors come and go. There are no connections for long.’

She stilled at the serious edge to his tone. ‘I take it you disagree?’

‘I think it’s somewhere safe.’

‘Maybe.’ She forced a smile. ‘Or maybe you’re overthinking it.’

‘Or maybe you’ve just got a little prickly because I’ve got too close to the truth.’ He cocked his head. ‘Maybe you’re avoiding life, Emmy.’

‘How do you figure that, really?’ She nudged his shoulder and added an eye roll for good measure. ‘I have a child—I’ve been raising him on my own.’

‘But that’s the point. You’ve deliberately isolated yourself. And yes, thank goodness for Lucero and Connie for being there to help you to the extent that you’d allow anyone to help you.’

She stared at him.

‘There’s a compelling difference between you and the Galapagos creatures, though,’ he mused quietly. ‘They’re not afraid of people. They’ve not had the predatory experiences that we’ve had. They’ve not built the defences—’

‘You’re looking at a giant tortoise,’ she interrupted with a pointed wave of her hand. ‘What do you think that shell is for?’

‘It’s his portable house.’ Javier laughed at her. ‘Like a little caravan, he has his own roof over his head. But they’re friendly, Emmy. That’s my point. They’re not afraid of people.’

‘And I am? Is that what you’re ever so unsubtly trying to suggest?’

‘Maybe, yes. I think you’ve got a bit afraid of the rest of the world. I think you’ve been using your situation with Luke to avoid re-entering a full life.’

‘You don’t think my life is full?’

‘I think it’s lonely,’ he said quietly. ‘I think you’ve been lonely for a while.’

‘And you think that’s why I let you seduce me so easily that night?’ She felt her defensiveness grow. She wanted Luke to be enough. For her to be enough for him. ‘Is your life full?’ she challenged.

‘I’m realising that perhaps it’s not, no. I know I focus on work to the detriment of other aspects of my life.’ He sighed. ‘Certainly recently, I’ve not...’

‘Not what?’

‘Taken time for me.’

‘Is that what this is now?’

‘Partly, perhaps.’ Javier reached for her camera and fiddled with it. ‘Can we get a selfie with this?’

With dexterity he cuddled Luke and leaned close to her and somehow took a shot. With their wet hair, sun-kissed skin and huge smiles, anyone else looking at it would see a perfect family shot. But the image hurt Emmy’s heart—because it wasn’t real. They weren’t a true family and she was sure he’d only taken the photo as a means to end that conversation.

Yet the moment had been real enough. There’d been pure joy in that instant. But it was only an instant. A permanent reminder of a temporary pleasure. An emotion that wasn’t sustainable and that had no real depth behind it.

‘That’s a good one,’ he said.

‘You can see the likeness between you and Luke. The resemblance is strong.’

Javier studied the shots. What she said was true. ‘I’ve never looked much like anyone else in my family.’

‘Not your father?’

He hesitated. He never discussed his parents, but Emerald wasn’t just anyone any more. She was someone he wanted to trust and have trust him. So he answered as briefly as he could. ‘I have few memories of him. No pictures. He walked out when I was a child. I thought he’d come back one day and take me with him. But he didn’t.’ He glanced at her. ‘I don’t want Luke ever to feel that.’

‘That?’

‘Being left behind. Being rejected. All that good stuff that sears the soul of a five-year-old, you know.’ His lips twisted and his tone was dry as he tried to make light of it, but it wasn’t remotely funny.

‘Javier—’

‘My mother remarried,’ he said crisply, finishing the story on his own terms before she could ask him details he didn’t want ever to recall. ‘She wanted a real family with him. They had two sons. Jacob and Joshua.’ He shot her a look and chuckled. ‘I didn’t quite fit with that, did I?’

But Emmy didn’t laugh with him; she looked deeply troubled. ‘What happened to you when she remarried?’

He grimaced, absently fiddling with the clasp of his watch. ’I was sent to very good boarding schools. But despite their often-quoted massive investment in me and the stellar grades I delivered, it turned out my stepfather had no intention of bringing me into the fold of the family business. Because I was never part of his family.’

Emerald looked pensive. ‘What was his business?’

He almost laughed; the question she’d asked wasn’t anyt

hing as intrusive as he’d feared. ‘Car-parking buildings.’

Emmy stared at him fixedly for a second and he could see her trying not to smile.

‘I know, super sexy, right?’ He shook his head. ‘But he made millions. And all I wanted to do was build a business with an even bigger and better bottom line. And one that was a damn sight sexier than car parking.’

‘Financing is sexy?’

‘You don’t think so?’