Island Fling With The Tycoon

When they went down a curving gravel road she held her breath. Moments later he stopped the car, and she exhaled.

‘What if the place had been further down?’ he asked dryly.

‘I probably would have fainted and you could have done the gentlemanly thing and left me in the car to fend for myself.’

There was a beat before she thought she heard him chuckle, but he climbed out of the car before she could check. Good thing, too. If she saw him smile, or do anything other than glower, she might have to pay attention to the buzzing that had been in her body since they’d met. At the moment, she was blissfully ignoring it.

She’d practised hard on that ability for the last two years. She was pleased it was working.

‘Would you like me to get your bag out, or do you want to do it yourself?’ he asked when she joined him at the back of the car.

Oddly, the question touched her. It made her feel...understood, though that made no sense.

‘I’ll do it,’ she answered, to be safe.

She climbed in, pulled at the bag. Pulled again when it didn’t budge. It took her a second to realise it was stuck. Panic made her fingers clumsy as she tried to loosen the bag. Pride prevented her from asking for help.

She waited for Caleb’s sigh. For the dip of the car that told her he was coming in to help. To take over because, obviously, she couldn’t be trusted to do anything herself.

‘This is why you should leave things to me, Pipe,’ Brad had told her whenever something like this had happened. ‘You can’t do it by yourself.’

It was funny that she’d heard versions of that from her father all her life. When Brad had outright said it though, she hadn’t listened to the alarm going off in her head.

Gritting her teeth, she pulled with all her strength. The bag came loose, but the momentum had her falling back. A hand pressed against her back, but was removed as soon as she was steady. She got out of the car, her face burning despite the triumph of exiting with her bag.

‘Nice job.’

She lifted her chin. ‘Please don’t make fun of me.’

‘I wasn’t,’ he said sincerely.

There was a shriek from somewhere behind them, ending the conversation before she could think about why his answer warmed her.

* * *

‘Caleb, you did it!’ Emma exclaimed, launching herself at him as he turned to face her. ‘The caterers arrived an hour ago and everything seems to be going smoothly.’

He pushed at a braid that had flown over her face when she finally let go of him, and smiled. ‘Of course, Em. What choice did I have?’

‘Ha,’ she said, poking him in the stomach. Then her eyes moved to Piper and softened. ‘Piper! It’s so lovely to see you!’

Emma went to hug her future sister-in-law. Caleb expected Piper to wince. To put distance between her and his affectionate—sometimes overly so—sister. But she opened her arms and squeezed Emma tight. His heart squeezed, too. He ignored the sensation.

‘Em, you look beautiful,’ Piper said when she leaned back.

Emma beamed at her, smoothing the strapless blue dress she wore before flipping her hair over her shoulder. ‘I still have to have these styled,’ she said, lifting a free braid.

‘And I have to have the whole of this styled,’ Piper replied, waving a hand down her body.

Emma laughed.

‘Em, it’s less than an hour before the party starts,’ Caleb said. ‘You need to get your hair done and leave. Your guests will start to arrive soon and you and Liam have to be there.’

‘Yeah, yeah,’ Emma said, rolling her eyes good-naturedly. ‘It’s not like my hair is going to take long.’

‘Is Jada doing it?’ Caleb asked, thinking of his baby sister.

‘Yes.’

‘Then you need as much time as you can get.’

Emma’s expression turned thoughtful. ‘True.’ She kissed Piper on the cheek before doing the same to Caleb. ‘Show her to her room, please, Caleb. Liam’s already at the beach, welcoming guests.’

She stuck her tongue out before Caleb could say anything, leaving behind a restlessness in the silence.

‘You should probably show me to my room,’ Piper said eventually.

He acquiesced without reply.

He heard her intake of breath when they walked onto the Pleasure Villas property. It was like when she’d seen the view of the ocean, the island of Mykonos earlier. A gasp at the beauty. So simple, too, as if she hadn’t seen something like it before. Or perhaps as if she could still appreciate beauty like it, despite seeing it in her home, as she’d claimed.

But even he, jaded as he was when it came to beautiful places, appreciated Pleasure Villas. Tall white buildings with blue shutters surrounded a bright blue pool. At almost each of the assortment of buildings, green leaves and pink flowers pressed against the white paint. Some crept up, along pillars. Others stretched over from one building to another. The greenery around the pool created an oasis he’d never had the opportunity to enjoy, too concerned with privacy than to strive for relaxation.

He wondered if that would be the case for Piper. She seemed closed off, private, though her tongue was sharp. But then he thought of how eagerly she’d opened her arms to his sister, how she didn’t seem to be hesitant or resistant with Emma, and he didn’t know. His first impression of her was challenged by almost every other moment he spent with her. As someone who prided himself on reading people quickly and efficiently, he didn’t like that she was such an enigma.

Then again, he wasn’t buying property from her as he did in his business. That was where he relied on his people-reading skills. Perhaps he needed to calm down. Not that thinking that helped him to calm down.

‘Here you go,’ he said, taking the key from on top of the door frame and opening the door.

‘You left the key there?’

‘It’s safe.’

‘Hmm.’

It was the only comment she made as she pulled her bag into the house.

There was another gasp when she was inside, and he felt a strong sense of satisfaction. He’d done some work on the inside of the villas when he’d bought them. Not enough to change the feel of them, but enough that he could be proud when someone liked them.

It had been no small feat to get Adrian Anagnos to sell this place to him. In Mykonos, businesses remained locally owned for the most part. There were none of the fast food places that had taken over most of Europe. Most of the restaurants and properties were family owned. It was how Mykonos had survived the recession, a fact they were quite proud of.

When he’d learnt of this, Caleb had been determined to get a foot in the door. He’d worked with Adrian when the man had come to South Africa, interested in investing in property. Their relationship had been purely professional until, one day, Adrian’s daughter had been robbed in Cape Town. Adrian had been in America on business. With no one else to assist her, Adrian had called Caleb, who hadn’t given it a second thought.

Things changed then. Adrian invited Caleb on a boat trip one day in Cape Town to thank him. Dinner became more frequent, and Adrian became a mentor. Caleb didn’t use that term lightly—it felt like a betrayal to his father, whose business Caleb had taken over when Chad Martin had died thirteen years ago. But Caleb had grown to like and respect Adrian. The older man felt the same about Caleb.

When Adrian had invited Caleb to Greece for his daughter’s wedding, Caleb had stayed at this very property. It was one of several Adrian owned on the island. Caleb had liked it so much he’d enquired about purchasing it. It had taken two years before he’d finally worn Adrian down. Eventually, the man had stopped laughing at Caleb; now, Caleb was the owner. It was a deep disappointment that Adrian couldn’t make Emma’s wedding.

‘This is... Wow,’ Piper said, drawing him from his thoughts.

‘Yeah, I thought the same thing when I first saw it.’

Piper ran a hand over the couch, looking from the cobbled tiling up to the sea-themed décor. She took the two steps up to the open-plan kitchen, walked out to the small courtyard at the back, then into the main bedroom with its en-suite bathroom. With wide eyes she walked out and stared at him.

‘Are all the rooms in the villa like this?’

‘Pretty much, yeah.’

‘Wow,’ she said again, setting her hands on the small blue table in the kitchen. ‘How could you afford to rent this place?’

His lips twitched. ‘I didn’t rent it.’

She gave him a look. ‘Liam told me you arranged for accommodation.’

‘Technically true, although I didn’t have to arrange much. I simply didn’t hire it out for this week.’

‘You didn’t...’

He could see her brain working as she trailed off. Enjoyed that brief moment of shock when she realised what he meant.

‘You own this place?’

She spoke in a whisper. He smiled.

‘I do.’

‘Holy cow.’ She blinked. Repeated the action in rapid movements. ‘I...guess I understand why Emma went so extravagant with the wedding now.’

‘Liam wanted the wedding to be big, too,’ Caleb reminded her, as if he had to defend his younger sister.

‘Yeah, but Liam wanted it because Emma wanted it.’

‘Why do you sound so judgemental?’

‘I’m not judging anyone,’ she said, straightening her spine. ‘I’m only saying that if I had access to literal paradise—’ she lifted a hand, gestured around them ‘—I’d want to have a big destination wedding, too.’

‘You’re definitely judging her.’

She met his eyes. ‘If you tell me you’ve never once judged Liam because of his choices, personal or professional, I’ll tell you the truth about whether I’m judging her.’

Caleb thought back to all the things he’d seen Liam do—things he hadn’t agreed with. Two failed business ventures in the year and a half since he and Emma had started dating. A lack of a spine when it came to even the vaguest prospect of conflict.

The only reason Caleb had felt comfortable with the wedding going ahead as planned was because Liam was completely in love with Emma. And he made Emma happy. Otherwise, Caleb might have had to step in, like his father would have, had the man still been alive...

Piper was smiling when he looked at her again.

‘I’m going to get ready for the party. Please close the door on your way out.’

* * *

Piper dusted a hand over the olive-green dress she wore. It was simple, with thin straps, and revealed more of her breasts than she’d ever shown before. But it had pockets, ended mid-shin, and the colour popped against her skin. She couldn’t bring herself to change, despite the situation with her breasts.

She lifted her hand to her hair, which she’d had to tie up into a ponytail since she’d worn it that way on the flight over. There had been no time to wash and blow it again. She’d tied it up, flattened the front of it with gel and straightened her ponytail until it was a sleek curtain to her mid-back. With one last look in the mirror, she grabbed her clutch and opened the door.

Right to Caleb Martin.

They both took a step back. Both sized each other up in the silence that followed. He wore light blue pants and a white shirt. It accentuated the brown of his skin, the broadness of his shoulders, the dark black of his hair. He’d shaved since they last saw one another, so the sharp angles of his face were even more striking than they’d been that afternoon. Or perhaps that was because he no longer wore sunglasses, and for the first time since they’d met she could see his eyes.

When her stomach flipped at them—they crinkled at the sides as he patiently waited for her to finish her perusal, done with his own—she wished he’d brought the glasses again. His eyes were kinder than she’d thought they would be. They were also sharp, light, and the combination of that expression as well as his outfit...

It was a good thing she’d practised her self-control. Fanning herself would have been inappropriate.

‘What are you doing here?’ she asked when she was finally done staring. No, that wasn’t true. She wasn’t done. She simply knew what was proper.

‘Emma asked me to escort you to the party.’

‘Why? Is it complicated to get to the beach?’

‘It is not.’ Amusement shimmered across his face, a potent addition to the gorgeousness she was already distracted by.

‘Is she trying to set us up?’

His eyes widened comically, the determined shake of his head following in a similar manner. ‘No. No, of course not.’

‘You’re denying this a lot.’

‘Doesn’t mean it’s not true.’

It would probably annoy him if she disagreed—so, of course, that was what she wanted to do. She walked out of the door, closed it behind her. Primly, she folded her hands around her clutch.

‘I don’t know. You came to fetch me from the airport. You showed me to my room. Now you’re escorting me to a party. This must be a date of some sort.’

‘It’s not a date,’ he said. ‘It’s...being courteous. Which I’m deeply regretting.’

‘You’re the least courteous person I’ve met, Caleb. You telling me you regret being courteous proves that.’

‘Has anyone ever pointed out how contrary you are?’

Why can’t you do as you’re told, Piper?

A question she’d heard far too often in her twenty-six years, in various forms.

‘All the time,’ she said lightly. Fighting for that tone. ‘Though you think it an insult. It’s not. I try to be contrary whenever I can, so someone pointing it out to me is a compliment. Shall we?’

She started walking, not bothering to check if he was following. She could almost hear his irritation with her. It thrilled her in a way it shouldn’t have.

To be fair, some of what she’d said had been for the sake of contrariness—he was so easily riled!—but some of it had been true, too. She’d spent most of her life obeying people. Her mother had died when she was young, leaving her and her brother with a father who didn’t want to be one. Keaton Evans had never said so, but she could only assume that was the reason for his awfulness. People who wanted children didn’t force them into behaving in certain ways, did they? Surely they allowed their children to become whoever they wanted to be. They let them test the boundaries, drawing them in when the child went too far.

But not Keaton.

Keaton had a strict routine for them to follow. So strict, in fact, that if either of them strayed from it they were punished. No outside time. Food in their rooms. Being kept separate from one another. Since they had no friends, not really, Piper and Liam had become friends. At least they had been in those first few years. Not talking to one another was torture then, which their father knew. It was how he’d kept them in line.

There was no testing the boundaries in the Evans house. There were only the boundaries. If they were broken, Piper or Liam would be punished. At least Keaton had been simple in his cruelty.

As they’d got older, Liam began to rebel more, and things got bad. Eventually, Liam had got a bursary to university and moved out. Their father had forbidden him from coming back. Forbidden her from seeing him. They’d lost touch, even when she’d joined Liam at university two years later. By then she’d allowed her father to crush her spirit of rebellion. Of independence. She’d only got it back three years later, when Keaton had died.

Then she’d welcomed another manipulator into her life.

‘It’s hard to insult someone who doesn’t have the decency to be insulted by things that normal people are insulted by,’ Caleb commented from beside her. She hadn’t even noticed he’d caught up. Now that she had, she could feel his presence like the light breeze caressing her skin.

‘That’s the point,’ she replied. ‘I don’t get insulted, and that way I take away the power from the person trying to insult me.’

‘Sounds like you’ve practised it.’

‘I have,’ she told him simply, before stopping at the top of a steep decline. She let out a breath. ‘I knew these heels were a bad idea.’

‘I wouldn’t say so,’ his voice rumbled.

Her flesh shot out in goosebumps. And she remembered, for the first time, that she’d forgotten to put on the nipple covers she’d bought for the dress when she’d realised she couldn’t wear a bra with it. She resisted angling her body away so he wouldn’t know the effect his flirtatious remark had on her. It would be giving him power. On principle, she couldn’t allow that.

‘Well, I do,’ she said determinedly. ‘How am I supposed to make it down this path without breaking an ankle?’

‘Take them off.’

She wrinkled her nose. ‘Then I’d have dirty feet when I have to wear my shoes again.’

‘You could wipe them off.’

‘That won’t help.’

He stared at her for a moment. ‘You’re strange.’

‘Tell me something I don’t know.’

‘Well,’ he said, ‘you do have another option, though I don’t think you’re going to like it.’

‘What is it?’

He turned to face her, his expression so satisfied that she wanted to give him whatever answer he didn’t expect from her. Until she heard his suggestion.

‘I could carry you.’

CHAPTER THREE

HE’D DONE IT on purpose. He wanted to ruffle her feathers when she seemed so composed. Perhaps not his most honourable decision in life, but he’d been honourable enough. When his father had died thirteen years before, he’d stepped up and taken care of his siblings, who’d been eleven, nine and seven years old. He’d only been eighteen at the time—he’d been the result of a teen pregnancy, the cause of a quickie marriage, and his parents had only had his siblings once they were more settled—and he’d been forced into being a guardian and entrepreneur when he’d taken over his father’s business.

So he could afford a little dishonour. Particularly when it came to a woman who intrigued him.

Piper stared at him, those beautiful eyes big and bright and bold against the odd green of her dress. If he’d seen that shade in a store somewhere, he wouldn’t have taken a second look. Or he might have, but only to be offended by it. Now, though, on Piper... It made her skin look as if it had been bronzed. And it flattered a body he’d been trying not to pay attention to since they’d met.

Her breasts were full and out on display, though he was trying not to pay attention to them either. He wasn’t sure if it was because it would get him into trouble if he did, or if he was trying to be polite. But the straps of her dress rested over smooth, strong shoulders, the waist of it clinging to her ribcage then flaring out. The heels he’d teased her about earlier did excellent things to the legs the dress revealed, though there wasn’t much of them to see.

She wore no jewellery, only the lightest of make-up, and the way her hair was tied up accentuated the angles of her face. It made her look innocent, despite her pink lips curving. Despite her high cheekbones, almost demanding her eyes to crinkle even when she wasn’t smiling. When she did and those cheeks lifted, her eyes narrowing... He’d learnt his lesson after the first time. Now, he simply braced for the breath he’d lose.

‘You’re teasing me.’

‘Maybe,’ he answered.

‘Not maybe—yes.’ Her eyes flickered to his face before moving back to the steep path. ‘This is payback for me not being offended by you.’

‘What is?’ he asked innocently. ‘This decline? I don’t control landscape, my dear.’

‘Don’t call me that,’ she said, though her words lacked heat. ‘It’s condescending.’

‘It’s not. “My dear” is a phrase of affection.’

She snorted. ‘Now I know you’re being condescending. You certainly do not feel affection towards me.’

He wasn’t sure how to respond. The truth was there was a slight niggling in his chest that made him feel something for her. He didn’t know if it was affection or if he’d merely suppressed his annoyance.

‘Okay.’

He blinked. ‘What?’

‘Okay, carry me.’ She stepped closer to him, giving him a whiff of a scent that reminded him of wild flowers. ‘You’re still offering, aren’t you?’

‘I—Yes, of course.’ He cleared his throat. Did it again.

She smirked. ‘Something wrong, Caleb?’

In one quick movement he scooped her into his arms. Her hands went around his neck with a quick exhalation, and he caught the smell of mint on her breath. It made his body tingle—though that might have been due to the fact that she fitted in his arms perfectly. He tried not to think about the soft flesh of her thighs against his bottom arm, or his hand on her perfect waist.

While he was at it, he resisted the desire to put his nose in her neck, to get more of that intoxicating perfume she was wearing. Or did she simply smell that way? Could someone’s natural scent be this heady?

Caleb.

He kept himself from groaning now, too. His entire body had gone tense from the control he was exerting. But he thought of all the times he’d had to exercise control in his life. It was interchangeable with responsibility in his family, it seemed. Like during that phase when Tate, his brother, had refused to eat anything besides pizza. Caleb had refrained from buying anything else—including pizza—if Tate didn’t eat at least one nutritional meal a day. There’d been a week where things had been touch and go, but it had worked out.

Then there was that time Jada had consistently got up late for school. No matter what Caleb had done, they’d arrived anywhere from fifteen to thirty minutes late. Jada had got detention and Caleb had received numerous notes about punctuality. Eventually, he’d refused to put the hot water on in the mornings if she didn’t get up by six. He’d stood guard over the switch since it meant the entire house didn’t get warm water. After three days of the Martin siblings going to school without showers, the collective effort of him, Emma and Tate had forced Jada to get up on time.

He smiled at the memory.

‘You’re enjoying this?’

It took the question to realise his trip down memory lane had distracted him from the woman in his arms. Now that she’d spoken, he realised it wouldn’t work again.

‘No.’ He took the first tentative step down the hill. Once he got his grip, he took another. ‘I was thinking about how my sister’s getting married.’

‘No, you weren’t.’ She continued before he got the chance to ask how she knew. ‘What are you feeling about it?’

‘Affectionate. Nostalgia.’

‘That’s it?’

He looked down. ‘What are you feeling?’

‘I don’t know.’ There was silence as he took the next few steps. ‘I’m happy for Liam and Emma. They obviously care about one another. Liam’s changed a lot since they’ve met.’

Caleb tried not to snort at that. Piper narrowed her eyes.

‘See, you’re not only feeling affection and nostalgia. You don’t like my brother?’ she asked after a beat.

‘I do.’ He took a breath, another step. ‘It’s not that I don’t like him. I certainly wouldn’t have allowed him to marry my sister if I didn’t like him.’

Her body stiffened. Even when he looked down at her, saw her face taut, saw her actively try to relax it, he still felt her tight muscles in her arms.

‘What?’ he asked. ‘What did I say wrong?’

Her eyes met his. There was an inexplicable disappointment there. His stomach turned.

‘Nothing,’ she replied. A bald-faced lie. They both knew it. Neither of them addressed it. ‘Are we done?’ she asked quietly a moment later. Caleb turned, saw they were, and lowered her gently.

‘I didn’t mean to upset you,’ he said when she was on the ground again.

‘It’s fine.’

‘It’s not fine, clearly.’

‘It’s not fine,’ she told him, giving him a sad smile. ‘But it doesn’t matter.’

He wanted to tell her it did, but he had no reason to. He locked his jaw. Didn’t bother prying it open when she’d obviously made up her mind. Nothing he could say would make her more receptive to his words. He was sure of it because that stubborn furrow in her brow told him she didn’t only feel sad.