Did he have time for Gail? That was a good question. But the real question was this: What the hell am I doing? Am I nuts?

Jesse swallowed hard. “How many days do you have left on this vacation?”

“Eight nights, nine days.”

“And what exactly do you want to do?”

Apparently, Gail had already given this a great deal of thought, because the list tumbled out fast and furious. “I want to learn to scuba dive. I want to go on one of those booze cruises under the stars. I want a naked therapeutic massage. I want to swim with the dolphins and learn to dance the salsa. I want to eat all kinds of exotic delicacies I can’t get back in Beaverdale. And I want to go skinny-dipping.”

Gail paused. She closed her eyes for an instant, and to Jesse it looked like she was summoning the courage to continue. Suddenly, her eyes flew open. “And I want you to make wild, unrestrained love to me, Jesse.”

He sat with that last request for a moment, narrowing his eyes, working the logistics out in his head. “Do we have to tackle everything in that particular order?”

“Not necessarily.”

“All right. Good to know.” Jesse’s heart pounded in his chest. Gail’s bluntness was amusing. It was damn hot, too. “So,” he said, trying to keep a straight face. “Would you mind if we combined a couple of those activities, you know, in the interest of time?”

A wicked smile had crept onto her pretty little mouth. “Like going skinny-dipping with dolphins?”

“That could work.” Jesse reached across the table for her hand, and she slid it into place without hesitation. “Or I could feed you exotic foods while demonstrating the salsa and massaging your naked body under a canopy of stars.”

“That sounds like an efficient use of everyone’s time,” she said.

It was at that moment that Jesse told his deadline monster to fuck off. He told the memory of Cammy to fuck off. The woman sitting across the table from him was one in a million. He’d never met anyone like her. He didn’t think women like her existed, except in the pages of his books. So what if he had to ask for another two-week extension? It wouldn’t be the end of the world.

“All right, then.” Jesse rose from his chair and helped Gail to a stand. As soon as he got hold of her, he yanked her close and kissed her hard. He wanted to make a statement with the kiss. He wanted Gail to know she’d found the right man for the job, that she was in very capable hands. Jesse slid his palm down the curve of her back to the globes of her L.L. Bean-covered ass, where he gave her a firm squeeze.

She jumped. Jesse ended the kiss. “We’d better get going.” He grabbed the straw bag and hooked it over Gail’s shoulder before guiding her back toward land. “We’ve got a lot on our schedule.”

Chapter six

“HELLO? MOM?”

“Hi, honey. What are you up to?”

Holly rolled her eyes. What are we up to? She couldn’t believe this. What are you up to was the issue.

“We’re still hanging with the friends we met this morning. We’re down near Mallory Square and want to stay for the sunset celebration then go for pizza. Would that be okay?”

“Sure. That sounds fun. Just remember your midnight curfew.”

“Right.”

Just then, Hannah got all up in Holly’s face and started asking questions. “Is she with him? What are they doing?” Holly shushed her friend and shooed her away.

“So, what have you been doing today, Mom?” Holly hoped she sounded casual enough.

“Oh, a little of everything,” was her answer. “I took the Hemingway tour then wandered around the island to get my bearings. I talked to some of the locals then had lunch. I’m getting ready to jump in the pool.”

And? And?

It looked like there wasn’t going to be any and. Holly realized her mom wasn’t going to say a word about the hottie captain, which pissed her off because her mom always got so parentnoid on her about the importance of honesty, but here she was—not one word about how she’d shamed herself zooming around town with her skirt yanked up to her granny panties!

Just then, her mom began to confess.

“I suppose I should mention that I spent most of the day with our neighbor, Jesse. Turns out he’s a very nice man.”

Holly nodded her head dramatically and gave Hannah a thumbs up, their prearranged signal that her mom was coming clean.

“Wow, that’s cool, Mom. Sounds like you had fun.”

Her mom was silent for a moment. “Yep,” was all she said. “Well, I better go. Call me when you’re on your way back to the house so I know when to expect you.”

“Sure.”

Holly felt somewhat calmer. So what if her mom was having a little fun with the dreamy old dude from next door? It was her vacation, too. It was all perfectly innocent.

“See you then, honey,” her mom said. “Thanks for checking in.”

“No prob. Hey, wait.” Holly stopped herself from hanging up. “Mom?”

“Yes?”

“Be careful out there.”

WHAT KIND OF HIDEOUS, despicable mother was she? When Holly called to check in, Gail had just finished stuffing herself into her daughter’s bikini, the one Gail had only yesterday deemed pornographic and unfit for public display.

Yet she was about to head downstairs to put herself on display for Jesse, the guy from next door.

Ohmigod, ohmigod, ohmigod…

Gail examined herself one last time in the floor-to-ceiling mirror. She had to admit that her body looked pretty good for her age, but the suit was slut city. What kind of skanky shops had found berth in the Beaverdale Mall, for goodness’ sake? Gail only thanked God she’d shaved her bikini area that day, because there was no room for error in this thing.

But seriously. She couldn’t really go through with this. Could she?

She heard the clank of the back gate and ran to the upstairs window. Jesse had just let himself in. He wore only a towel, which was angled low to one side and knotted at the hip. He carried a bottle of wine and two glasses in his hands, which he placed on a table. Gail watched him move in the glow of the setting sun, his brown skin gleaming, the light casting shadows on his ripped stomach and cut arms.

Suddenly, he turned. He must have felt the heat of her stare. This time, Gail wasn’t ashamed to be caught ogling, so she smiled and gave him a little wave.

Jesse tilted his head and brought one muscled arm across his body, rubbing the skin low on his abdomen. It was impossible not to notice that he was already getting aroused—the thin terry cloth was no match for the bulge taking shape beneath it. Gail watched in fascination as the ends of the towel began to open like a curtain.

Holy shit. He was naked under there. The most gorgeous hunk of man she’d ever seen in her life was naked underneath his towel! And he was waiting for her, ready to give her the kind of vacation memories a girl just couldn’t get at, say, Disney World.

Deep down, Gail knew it was now or never.

Before she could change her mind, she raced down the steps and through the downstairs, sliding open the patio doors. She stepped onto the pool deck, shaking her hair and posing for him the best she could, thinking that she felt like a woman possessed. The pre-spring-break Gail would never have had the guts to do something like this.

Jesse said nothing. He appeared to be frozen where he stood.

“This isn’t my usual kind of swimsuit,” Gail said, stating the obvious. “I don’t usually wear a two-piece.”

Jesse’s eyes went wide. “Two pieces of what?” he asked, chuckling. “Sweetheart, that’s barely enough thread to floss my teeth.”

Gail laughed—the man made her laugh! She figured if his fiction was as funny and colorful as he was in person, he might really be able to make it as a writer someday. “Should I take it off?” she asked.

Jesse shook his head very slowly. “Nope. That’s my job. Where are the girls?”

“Not coming home until later tonight. I just spoke to Holly.”

“Good. C’mere.”

“Wait. How about some music?” Gail turned and scurried over to the outdoor bar, where she’d seen the girls fiddle with the sound system. She hit the “on” button, and the ground began to pound.


Give it to me, baby, nice and slow.

Climb on top like you ride in the rodeo…

“Or not,” she said, flipping it off.

She heard Jesse laugh. “What’s wrong with a little mood music?” He’d begun to walk his way over to her, tented towel and all. The smile on his face was almost as wide as the gap in the terry cloth.

Gail let out a squeak of anxiety. Her breathing accelerated. Her mouth became parched.

Was she really going through with this? Was this really happening?

Jesse walked right past her, brushing against her hip on his way to the sound system. The music was on again, but at a much lower volume.

He stood right in front of her. “Gail.”

“Yes?”

Jesse slid his fingers up into her hair and pulled her head back ever so gently, stopping when she had no choice but to look up into his dark blue eyes. He placed a string of hot kisses along the side of her face, her jawline, her exposed throat. Her knees began to wobble.

“If you want to stop, just say so,” he whispered, still kissing. “I’m only the tour guide here. This is your vacation.”

Gail giggled and nodded at the same time. She was giddy. Drunk. Her skin was on fire everywhere his lips landed. She had the feeling of being lost, gone, out of her mind with lust for him. The volume might have been reduced, but she could still hear the overtly sexual lyrics of that song, words rhyming in subliminal seduction—behind, grind, thong, gone, zipper, quicker…