EXCERPT FROM
NIGHTS ON CATALINA
Zach Taylor needed a woman so badly he was
beginning to see things. How else could he explain the mirage walking down the
deserted beach, headed straight for him? Three days at a campground on the
remote side of
With a determined march, she came closer and closer, and from a distance he made out the face of an angel and imagined she’d come to rescue him.
He couldn’t tear his gaze away from her sexy walk or her sexier body. Getting a hold of himself, he blinked and tried to shake the ridiculous fantasy out of his mind. Zach didn’t have fantasies.
With each step she took, she came more into focus.
“Couldn’t be,” he muttered.
He ran a hand over three days worth of beard and headed into his tent to get dinner started. If he was starting to see things, he needed a lot more bodily pleasure than food could offer. Maybe he should listen to the guys once in a while. When his vacation ended and he headed back to Avalon, he’d think about going on a date. Or skip the date part and head right to bed with the first willing female.
If he’d known that deliberately depriving himself of female companionship the last two years would eventually lead to serious hallucinations, he’d have considered saying yes the last time a woman asked him out. A few poor souls had put out the effort while he’d convinced himself he didn’t give a damn and didn’t need anyone.
When he got back home, he’d give it a shot. Take it slow. No drama, no emotional entanglements, just dinner…and whatever happened to come after that.
Inside the tent, he grabbed a small ice chest containing his food for the night, and headed out toward the only barbeque pit on the campground.
He did a double take. The woman stood right in front of him. Only this time he couldn’t convince himself she was a fantasy, or a mirage. She was, without a doubt, flesh and blood. He took in the sight of her and decided he couldn’t have dreamed her up.
Her chest rose and fell as she drew in a few labored breaths. Her cheeks were flushed a deep pink, tiny beads of sweat covered her nose, and a disheveled mass of light brown hair fell around her face. A pair of light brown eyes sparkled with life and stared into his.
She took a deep breath and bit her lower lip. Then her mouth turned up into a smile that Zach thought could melt any heart. Except his.
“Hello there.”
He offered no smile in return. Without a word, he looked her up and down, past the little white tank top she wore, and down further to her blue denim cutoff shorts. While she set her briefcase down and placed her purse on top of it, his eyes roamed down her long legs to a pair of tennis shoes covered with dirt.
Backing up to the legs again, he noticed little cuts, scrapes, and a thick layer of dust covering her shapely calves. From the looks of it, she’d hiked her way out here.
Who was this woman and what the hell was she doing? Besides invading his alone time, his campsite, and his vacation.
Ignoring her, he walked toward the barbeque pit, intent on his mission to get dinner cooked before the rain came.
She tagged along after him. “Excuse me, is this Parson’s Landing?”
He set the cooler down and pointed to a spot of brush grass further down the sandy beach. “There’s plenty of space left to camp on the other end. This side’s taken.”
He assumed she wanted to camp out, but where had she hidden her gear? Couldn’t be in that briefcase.
She shook her head. “No, no, I’m not here to camp. I’m looking for an older guy. Maybe you can help me. His name is Zach. Zach Taylor.” She looked around the empty campground, and then smiled back up at him. “Have you…um...seen anybody else around here?”
Beautiful smile. Gorgeous mouth. Don’t get distracted.
Zach pulled a book of matches out of his pocket and lit the charcoal in the barbeque pit. Why was she looking for him? What did this woman want, and how did she find him? Every other pilot at Island Express knew he didn’t want to be disturbed. Wouldn’t be disturbed. Nobody else knew how to find him.
“He was supposed to meet me this afternoon at his office and he stood me up.”
That explained the briefcase. All of a sudden he knew exactly who she was and why she was here, and he didn’t buy her sweet and innocent act. She hadn’t come here to rescue him…she’d come to screw him over like everyone else. Why had he allowed himself to think otherwise?
“Though I guess I’m not surprised.” She let out a nervous little laugh, and mumbled under her breath, “From what I’ve heard, he’s a big jerk.”
A big jerk, huh? Well, even he had to admit she wasn’t that far off the mark. Zach frowned. “That so,” he mumbled.
“Yeah. An old grouch who comes out here to sulk. At least…that’s the rumor.”
She gave out a deep, exhausted sigh before she sat down in the sand and examined her surroundings. A pair of thickly lashed lids blinked over her eyes as she looked around, scanning the beach and the vast expanse of rolling green-brown hills beyond them.
“This seems like the perfect place to hide out, too,” she said. “He’s a big guy. A little worse for the wear. Have you seen anybody like that?”
Zach shook his head, amused at the description. Couldn’t deny the worse for wear part. “Nope, haven’t seen him. Look, I’ve got work to do. Good luck finding him.”
His hiking boots crunched through sand and gravel as he headed toward the tent again to get some cooking utensils. He hoped she’d be gone when he came out.
When he emerged, she was still there. He tried to brush past her while she stood in his path. “If you’ll excuse me.”
She folded her arms across her chest. The expression on her face said he’d tried to get the better of her but hadn’t succeeded.
He tried to move around her. “Is there anything else I can help you with?”
Her face glowed. “Isn’t it about time you dropped the act?”
“What are you talking about?”
She gave him a knowing look. “Come on. I know you’re Mr. Taylor.”
“Don’t know who you’re talking about. I don’t know anyone named T—”
A huge grin on her face, she nodded toward the sand.
He looked down to discover “Z. Taylor” scribbled on an old piece of masking tape on the small cooler. Damn. Why hadn’t he ripped that thing off years ago?
She ran her tongue over her lips, and her grin widened. “My proof.” Her eyes narrowed. “We had an appointment today.”
“I don’t think so,” he grumbled.
She took a step closer to him. “Does the name Michael Larkin mean anything to you?”
“Yeah. I know all about him.”
“Then you do remember we had a three o’clock at your office?”
“Nope.”
“First thing I did when I got off the boat was rush over to Island Express. Lots of other pilots there, but you were nowhere to be found.” Her brown eyes twinkled. “They offered me a tour of the island, though. Didn’t want that. I only wanted you.”
He looked her up and down, thinking about all the ways he could respond to that. But he chose not to. “Is that right.”
He tried to move away, but she followed close behind.
“Look, I just spent an hour getting seasick on the boat
from
He turned around and watched her getting more frustrated every second, enjoying her stumbling over her words. Maybe if she got frustrated enough she’d go home.
“I don’t remember inviting you. I don’t usually take meetings on the beach.”
She stepped in front of him. “And my clients don’t usually force me to hike to my meetings.”
“I didn’t force you to do anything.” He came face to face with her, and she finally took a step back when she saw the dark look in his eyes. “Look, you’re the third person in a year that your boss has sent out here. I don’t want anything to do with any of you. What do I have to do to make that clear?”
“I have an offer for you, and the least you can do is hear me out.”
His eyes met hers. “Why? I know what you want, and you can’t have it.”
“Look, there’s an easy way to get me out of here.”
He shrugged. “Great. I’m listening.”
She knelt, dug in her briefcase, and then looked up at him with bright, hopeful eyes while she held out a stack of papers. “It’s very simple. Painless even. Sign this.”
He looked down at the papers but refused to hold his hand out. Did she really think that’s all it would take? “If you’ll excuse me, it’s going to rain tonight and I’d like to get this food cooked before it pours.”
“I’d appreciate it if you’d look at the documents, Mr. Taylor.”
He answered without facing at her. “I’m not signing a damn thing.”
He placed two hamburgers on the grill with a plastic spatula. They sizzled and when the smell wafted through the air, his mouth began to water. He wished she’d go away and leave him to his food and his beach.
She moved closer. “What’s this going to take? What can I do to speed up this process?”
He looked over and caught the frustrated look in her eyes. “What I really want is to be left alone. There’s nothing you can do about it.”
“Oh, yes, there is.”
He looked at her again. If he wanted to, he could be intimidating, and it must be working this time, because she stared up at him and gulped.
“What do you plan on doing?” he asked.
She took a deep breath. “St-staying here with you until you hear me out.”