Maid for a Magnate

Will rolled over in bed, wrapping his arm around her and settling against her back. “I’d like to say I can’t wait to get off this island, but waking up with you in my arms is something I could get used to.”

His husky tone filled her ear. The coarse hair on his chest tickled her back, but she didn’t mind. She loved the feel of Will next to her.

“I’m getting pretty spoiled, too.” She snuggled deeper into his embrace. “I’m never going to want to leave.”

“Maybe that’s how I want you to be,” he replied, nipping her shoulder.

“We can’t stay here forever,” she laughed.

“As long as you don’t leave Alma, I’m okay with going back.”

A sliver of reality crept back in. Catalina shifted so that she could roll over in his arms and face him.

“I don’t plan on working as a maid forever,” she informed him, staring into his eyes. “And after what you told me about your father, I think it’s best if I don’t work there anymore. I can’t work for a man who completely altered my future. I stayed with James because I adore him and I moved on to Patrick because I needed the job, but now that I know the full truth, I can’t stay there.”

Will propped himself up on his elbow and peered down at her. “I understand, but stay in Alma. Stay with me.”

“And do what?” she asked, already knowing this conversation was going to divide them. “I have goals, Will. Goals that I can’t ignore simply because we’re... I don’t even know what this is between us right now.”

“Do you need a label?” he asked.

Part of her wanted to call this something. Maybe then she could justify her feelings for a man who’d let her go so easily before.

She had no idea what she was going to do once she got back to Alma. Working for Patrick was not going to happen. She’d put up with his arrogance for too long. Thankfully she’d only worked for him a short time because up until recently, James had been the one occupying the Playa del Onda home. Catalina had had a hard enough time working for Patrick knowing what she did about her mother, but now knowing he’d manipulated his son and crushed their relationship, Catalina couldn’t go back there. Never again.

So where did that leave her? She didn’t think she was quite ready to head out with her designs and start pursuing her goal. She had a few more things she’d like to complete before she made that leap.

“What’s going through your mind?” Will asked, studying her face.

“You know the sewing set you got me?”

Will nodded.

“You have no idea how much that touched me.” Catalina raked her hand through his blond hair and trailed her fingertips down his jaw, his neck. “I’ve been sewing in my spare time. Making things for myself, for my mother. It’s been such a great escape and when I saw what you’d gotten me, I...”

Catalina shook her head and fell back against the bed. She stared up at the ceiling and wished she could find the right words to tell him how much she appreciated the gift.

“So you’re saying it was a step up from the flowers?” he joked.

Shifting her gaze to him, her heart tightened at his playful smile. “I may have cried,” she confessed. “That was the sweetest gift ever.”

Will settled over her, his hands resting on either side of her head. “It was meant more as a joke,” he said with a teasing smile. “And maybe I wanted to remind you of what we did in the utility room.”

Cat smacked his chest. “As if I could’ve forgotten. That’s all I could think about and you know it.”

He gave her a quick kiss before he eased back. “It’s all I could think of, too, if that helps.”

Catalina wrapped her arms around his neck, threading her fingers through his hair. “What are we going to do when we get back?”

“We’re going to take this one day at a time because I’m not screwing this up again.”

“We can’t seem to function in normal life.”

Will’s forehead rested against hers as he let out a sigh. “Trust me, Cat. I’ve fought too hard to get you back. I’m going to fight just as hard to keep you.”

Catalina prayed that was true, because all too soon she was going to have to reveal the final secret between them if she wanted a future with this man.

* * *

Cat lay on the deck sunbathing in that skimpy bikini, which was positively driving him out of his mind. Right now he didn’t give a damn that the radio was beyond repair or that their phones weren’t getting a signal. For two days they’d made love, stayed in bed and talked, spending nearly every single moment together.