No matter how conflicted her emotions about Zach, it felt good to be home.

And Castaway Cottage wasn’t just home, it was a haven. Despite the fact she was alone in the house, the feeling of security wrapped itself around her.

How many times had she lain here, listening to her grandmother clattering beneath her in the kitchen? She’d sung as she’d cooked, humming to herself as she’d whipped up pancakes to go with blueberries freshly harvested from the bushes outside the cottage door.

Pushing aside the pang of sadness, Brittany gave herself a little longer in bed, and then sat up.

Self-pity wasn’t going to help and as her grandmother wasn’t there to kick her butt, she’d kick her own.

But first she had to find a way of managing everyday tasks with a broken wrist, starting with a shower.

After that, she’d walk across the fields to the Ocean Club and meet Emily and Ryan for breakfast. The sea air would wake her up.

Turned out that undressing with her wrist in a plaster cast wasn’t easy.

Inside the bathroom she pulled her T-shirt over her head and lost her balance. Steadying herself against the wall, she dropped it on the floor, followed by her shorts and underwear. Who would have thought that stripping one-handed could be so hard? Or that taking a shower while trying to keep her cast dry required something close to gymnastics. Making a mental note to buy more shampoo on her trip to the harbor, she was congratulating herself on how well she’d managed and was about to reach for a towel when she noticed something on the floor of the bathroom.

And screamed.

ZACH HAD KNOCKED on the door, prowled around the house and had reached the conclusion Brittany wasn’t home when he heard the scream. It was like something from the most gruesome horror movie and it froze his blood.

Cursing under his breath, he vaulted over the fence and used skills he wasn’t supposed to have to open her back door.

It took him a matter of seconds, and he wondered not for the first time why islanders were so lax about their security. She might as well have left the door open with a notice saying All Welcome.

His heart was pumping, his hands clammy as he anticipated what he might find.

Fire?

A masked intruder?

For Brittany to be scared it must be something truly threatening.

He strode through the kitchen, noticing with a frown that it looked as if an intruder had been having a party. A couple of unwashed dishes were stacked on the counter and the table was covered in bags. Following the direction of the scream, he took the stairs two at a time and reached her in under a minute.

She was flattened against the wall of the shower, naked and shivering. Her body was gleaming wet, droplets of water clinging to the rosy tip of her breasts.

“Christ.” Distracted by the lean lines of her glorious body, Zach banged his head on the low door frame and saw stars. He remembered too late that he’d done the same thing the last time he’d set foot in Castaway Cottage.

She’d been naked then, too. At the time he’d taken the blow to the head as punishment for his sins, which had been considerable.

This time the sin was all in his head, but the pain was real enough.

Her gaze connected with his as she finally registered the identity of her rescuer.

“Zach! What the hell are you doing here?”

“You screamed.” It took effort, but he hauled his gaze up to her eyes. “What’s wrong?”

Shivering, she pointed to the corner of the bathroom.

“That.”

He turned his head from smooth, golden limbs and raw temptation and saw the thong on the floor. He’d seen more substantial dental floss. Heat uncurled inside him. “You dropped your underwear?” And then something moved and he saw the problem. An intruder, but the not the sort he’d been expecting. “It’s a spider.”

“I know what it is.” She spoke through her teeth. “Get rid of it. Please.”

If he hadn’t been trying to will his libido into sudden death, he would have laughed. He’d never met a woman more capable of looking after herself than Brittany. If a man had broken into her house, she probably would have knocked him unconscious with the nearest heavy object, but a large insect left her quivering and helpless.

Tags: Sarah Morgan Puffin Island Billionaire Romance
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