by Evie Jordan
Island Fling
Paradise Island Book 2
Evie Jordan
Next Door Books
Paradise Island Series
Destination Wedding Date
Island Fling
Love at Sunset
A Crazy Thing Called Love (coming soon!)
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Thank You!
Also by Evie Jordan
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Chapter One
Trace leaned against the railing of the old hauling boat he’d chartered in Nassau. Sure, his business partner wasn’t expecting him on Paradise Island for a couple more weeks. But what was a surprise among friends?
“At this island,” the driver said, “we have to unload your car on the docks.”
“It’s a dune buggy,” Trace corrected. One he’d had custom built—one of the first things he’d spent his millions on.
The man waved a dark hand dismissively. He was probably used to rich douche-bags coming out here and telling him his job. The driver…Junior? Yeah. Junior.
“But whatever you think is best,” Trace added.
“I knew I liked you.” Junior chuckled and Trace grinned back.
He’d seen pictures of Paradise Island sent by his partner, but he hadn’t been to the place. He’d sent Colby the listing for the island as a joke. He never expected his friend to act on it. Colby had always been the solid and steady one of the two—running an app company took two types of people. The one willing to risk it all, Trace; and the one willing to step back and be cautious, Colby.
But now Colby was here with some girl he’d crushed on in high school, and Trace was a little more than curious about a person who could get under the stiff outer layer of Colby Parker.
Turquoise sea stretched out for miles. Trace’s shirt fluttered in the warm breeze. Small islands emerged from the ocean all around him. This place really was like paradise.
A few rocks jutted out of the blue water, large yellow and black checkered signs stuck to the front.
“What’re those?” He pointed.
“Markers to guide us in,” Junior answered. “I’ve done this trip a thousand times, though. Could do it in my sleep.”
“Let’s not test that out with my toy on here, eh?”
Junior chuckled again. “Wouldn’t dream of it, sir.”
No one had called his twenty-two-year-old self, sir. But once he and Colby had made the deal that changed their lives, he heard it almost everywhere he went. Amazing what a few bucks would do to people’s perception of him. Funny, he was still the same impetuous guy he’d been as a kid. Now that he had money, he understood how much luck had played in his fortune. Luck, he was very grateful to have.
Honestly, he’d expected to feel like an adult at twenty-four, not a bigger version of his kid self.
“Woot!” he yelled once the harbor came in to view. A few smaller sailboats were tied to the greying docks, and the Harbor House was a much paler version of the ugly thing he’d seen on the real estate listing. Colby had been as busy as he’d said.
“Hey Colby!” he yelled as they drew closer. “Colby!”
A woman emerged from the Harbor House, a hand shading her face. Strawberry blond hair was braided and rested over a shoulder. Slim legs and arms caught his attention. Gorgeous girl. Even from a distance, he knew it had to be Regan.
Way to go, buddy.
If she was half as cool as Colby made her out to be, Colby was in great hands.
“It’s Trace!” he yelled.
The woman waved and shouted something back that he couldn’t hear over the rumbling engine.
Junior nosed the square-front boat to the end of a wide dock and the woman sprinted down the boards. She leapt onto the transport boat and immediately pulled metal pins from one side of the front ramp and then the other. “You set, Junior?”
“Done this a few times?” Trace asked.
She shrugged and flashed him a smile. “Didn’t expect you for a while yet.”
Trace shrugged back. “I get bored…what with all this money and a fun job playing with apps.”
“Colby warned me,” she said as the ramp flopped open and hit the dock. “Better drive that thing up while Junior can keep the boat even. Wouldn’t want that crazy-looking car thing to sink to the bottom of the ocean.”
“Nothing time and money can’t fix.” But still…He’d rather not lose his precious creation.
Trace jumped into the driver’s seat, started the engine, and hit the gas. The tires spun and launched his dune buggy up the metal ramp and onto the narrow dock. At least he had a straight shot to land from here.
He turned to see Regan giving Junior a half hug. Junior saluted, Regan reattached the ramp pins, and stood on the rail of the metal boat, her body perfectly balanced as Junior inched close enough to the dock for her to jump up.
Impressive.
Colby said that she’d been a dancer and a yoga teacher.
Junior gave Trace a wave before backing out of the harbor.
“Sorry,” Regan said as she held out her hand, “sometimes a breeze kicks up, and he ends up a bit sideways. It makes unloading tricky or disastrous. Thought keeping the cargo safe was better than introductions.”
Trace gripped her firm shake. Nice. “No, I’m totally impressed. Island life suits you, huh?”
“Very much,” she answered. “You can drive up on shore…” Her brows pinched together. “I thought you were bringing a four-wheeler.”
“This looks like more fun, doesn’t it?”
Her body leaned to the side, inspecting the back. “Well, the point of the four-wheeler is to haul the trailer that’s meant to be hauled by four-wheelers so we can move the building materials from one side of the island to the other.”
“Ah.” He shrugged. “Well, this is my new toy, so…”
Her smile was a little too knowing for his taste, which reminded him…
“What did you mean that Colby warned you about me?”
She laughed. “He said you two were different. That’s all.”
“Yin and Yang,” he said. “Complimentary. And that’s not all he said about me, but I’ll let it slide because I might rather not know.”
“He’s working on the new cabins. I can show you if you like?”
A breeze hit Trace in the side—more of a wind than a breeze. Yeah, he could see how that might have affe
cted the way Junior was able to keep his hauling boat stable.
“That’s be great.” He jumped in the driver’s side. “Wanna ride?”
“Are you going to kill me in that thing?” she teased as she walked around the front.
“My best friend’s girl?” He grinned. “Wouldn’t dream of it.”
She crawled over the passenger’s side door and dropped into the seat, pulling the harness over her shoulders. “Tear up his trails, and he may murder you.”
“I’ve been warned.” Trace waggled his brows before hitting the gas.
The dune buggy bounced up the sandy trail. The Bahamian trees provided bits of shade along the wide path, and the ocean spread out behind him. Coming here had been a perfect idea.
He followed Regan’s directions up a few hills, and then down and left until they overlooked a long, crescent-shaped beach.
Colby swiped at his forehead as he leaned against a brick structure—several people slathering bricks with cement and building walls. Huh. Colby Parker was building walls and was tanner than any computer programmer had the right to be.
“You’re early!” Colby grinned as he walked their way. “And you brought your toy! I should have guessed.”
The two men slapped each other’s back in a hug. “Good to see you.”
“And you’ve met Regan, I see.” He planted a kiss on her cheek—a casual gesture, but the way she leaned into him said that these two had routines together. Things that they did, which neither thought much about.
Kinda like how he and Colby worked together—almost seamlessly. Their strengths complimenting each other, and here it seemed as if Colby had found someone to match him in his personal life as well. Trace couldn’t imagine what it would be like to find a woman who would complete that side of him the way Colby completed his professional side.
“What are you staring at?” Colby asked.
Trace gestured widely. “All of this. You bought an island, man!”
“It’s your fault.” Colby swiped at his forehead again. “That email from you with this listing caught me on a day when I had no idea what to do with myself.”
“And now here you two are,” Trace said, stating the obvious.
“I didn’t plan on this either,” Regan piped in. “And we’re taking it slow, but yeah…I can’t imagine being anywhere else.”
Another easy gesture brought the two of them together, Colby’s arm around her waist, her chin on his shoulder.
“Okay.” Trace clapped his hands. “As much as I’d love to re-live your romance, I wanna see this place.”
Colby gave him a one-minute sign and turned to the men working. “Thanks for putting up with my newbie mistakes, guys.”
A few chuckles were earned in response, but the men kept working, slapping brick over brick in time to the music in the background.
“See you tomorrow big boss-man,” one of the men teased as Colby saluted and started toward Trace’s dune buggy.
“I’ll show you around,” Colby said as he moved toward the vehicle, “but only if you let me drive.”
Trace sprinted and jumped into the back. “You two take the front. Show me your island.”
Aside from his role as witness to their ongoing love story, this trip would be the best kind of break from Trace’s aimless wanderings.
Chapter Two
Three Degrees heeled up on her side as the wind crashed into the boat’s sails. Katy cranked while her brother guided lines, until the sail was safely back in its sail bag. Wind like this could turn a boat upside down. He leapt back to the steering station, angling the boat just before another wave hit.
Katy was pretty much funned out. “I thought you checked the weather!”
Her brother, Danny, was still all smiles. “I did! No one said anything about thirty knot winds. Sorry, sis!”
She grasped the railing on the back deck, sure the boat would be upside down at any moment. The sunny day did nothing to ease her frantic nerves. She’d been sailing the Bahamas long enough to know that sunny didn’t always equal good sailing, but she really wished that it did.
Danny’s two recent graduate school pals—Preston and Lyman, were inside, probably making and/or eating more food. These three boys could pack down in an afternoon what she ate in three days. But, anything was better than home. Even her brother and his spoiled friends.
The bow dipped down again, and ocean splashed over the boat, soaking Katy. She sputtered saltwater off her lips and swiped at her eyes.
“It’s fine Katy-did,” Danny said with a laugh. “Saltwater’s good for your skin.”
She was tempted to throw a few curses his way but bit her tongue. If she cursed, he’d know she was scared, and she’d rather seem angry than scared.
“Either of you want some mac and cheese?” Lyman called from below.
“No!” she yelled back. It’d get soaked in about three minutes out here anyway.
Lyman’s long face appeared in the doorway to below deck. “Sure?”
“I’ll take some,” Danny said. “But I can’t take my hands off the wheel, so someone’s gonna have to feed me.”
“Fat chance.” Lyman disappeared.
Danny mumbled under his breath.
These boys. Brought up in mansions around golf courses and gone to schools that catered to people from “fine families”. All Katy had seen of money was that it turned great people into people she’d rather not deal with.
Another pitch of the boat raised the bow into the air, slowing their progress. Just as fast, the bow tipped over the top of the wave, sending them rocketing to the base of the wave. Another douse of saltwater hit Katy in the face. “I hate you, Danny.”
He laughed. “We’re fine.”
“Our definitions are probably a bit different.” She swiped wet hair off her face.
“There’s a little harbor on a small island before Nassau,” her brother called. “We could stop there? I think they even have a few rooms available if you wanted a night off the boat.”
“Yes!” she answered, no longer caring if she seemed panicked.
Another climb up another wave would mean another drift to the bottom. This was never going to end. Ever.
Her stomach rolled. Maybe it was time to grab a job somewhere and take a break from being a cruiser—hopping up and down the islands in the Caribbean. She could always catch a flight home, or to wherever her brother and his schmuck friends were next. Or…to somewhere else. As long as she kept moving, she’d be fine. Moving forward, hoping from place to place, meant she didn’t have to make any big life decisions, just decisions that kept her facing new and interesting scenery and people.
Another up. Another down. Another douse of seawater. She gripped the railing harder. No amount of conditioner would help her with her long hair after this mess. Stupid brother. Stupid weather.
“See?” he yelled. “There’s the markers to Paradise Island harbor up there! We’ll drive right in and take a nice break.”
The chipped paint on the yellow and black checkered markers said that whatever was waiting for her in the harbor of Paradise Island, was less than paradise.
The wind and waves slowed as they grew closer to the island, the mass of the land blocking the wind from the Atlantic. Finally, a break. Her fingers ached where she’d held the railing. She stretched them out, one at a time. Took a few deep breaths to slow her heart. Sailing in bad weather held no sense of adventure for her. The twisty route to the harbor nearly wore off her last nerve, but at least she had some shelter from the winds. The rocks gave way to a small harbor—three long, nearly empty docks, stretched across the tiny bay. In the calmness here, the large waves behind them felt almost impossible.
Some radio calls flipped back and forth from her brother to the harbor master to figure out cost to park and where to park. Katy went down below the deck and into the cabin to find something dry to pack a bag to spend an overnight on shore.
A few yells and some stomping by her brother, Lyman and Preston, a
nd then quiet. Finally, the boat was docked. Salt coated her slowly drying skin, and her hair was matted to the sides of her face.
Katy crawled up the narrow, steep steps and onto the deck of the boat, the feeling of the ocean still forcing her body to sway. After how long they’d been out, it would probably be days before land felt like land again. Cruising probably wasn’t for her. She liked the movement from one place to another, not the constant movement of the floor under her feet. Hitching her pack higher on her shoulder, she walked for the opening in the railing that surrounded the bow of the long vessel.
“Hey there,” an unfamiliar voice caught her attention. She looked down to the dock to see a guy in a Gucci T-shirt, the wind blowing at his coiffed and died hair. “Rough out there today?”
Her eyes floated to the shorts that matched his two-hundred-dollar T-shirt.
Great. Just what she didn’t need. Another spoiled, rich guy. After two months on her brother’s sailboat, and a lifetime living on the East Coast, she’d had her fill. Katy dropped her bag on the dock and stepped down, walking around the guy toward the harbor master’s office.
“We’re gonna do up some dinner soon,” Danny called from behind her.
Katy knocked on the window of the harbor master’s office and a woman with reddish-blonde hair appeared. “Yes?”
“I just came in on Three Degrees, and I’d love a room for the night, if you have something available.”
She smiled. “Need off the boat for a night or two?”
Every muscle in her body relaxed at the thought of a real bed, in a real room, rather than her small bunk, in her miniature cabin. “So much.”