Page 84 of Escape to the Sun

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“Gracias, Luis.” He helped her out of the boat and handed up her bag. “I won’t be long. I just need to get a few things and I can meet you at the Bitter End.”

“Si, señorita.” The young man nodded and smiled, the smile that was almost always on his face these days. It must be love. Both he and Camila had the same smile. It made Heather happy inside. It also made her wonder. Did she have that same smile? Ash certainly made her happy. In so many ways.

She could do without him taking off with her boat unannounced, though.

Speaking of her boat…as if she’d conjured it, there it was. Tied up at the far end of the dock was, in fact, her boat. Which meant Ash was in Bocas Town. Not that there were many other places for him to go. Her curiosity flared again but it would have to wait. She had business to attend to.

Heather picked her way down the broken dock before she glanced at her watch. She was earlier than expected. Luis had made good time in his boat that had a larger engine than her own. She hadn’t expected to be there so quickly, but it worked out well because she’d have time to say hi to Mick and maybe he’d have some coffee on. She hadn’t been back to see him except for one other time after that first day she’d arrived in Bocas. It was past time for a visit. The fact that he might know where Ash was only played partly in her decision.

Just as she’d expected, the front door was open. Security was pretty much nonexistent in Bocas Town. A fact she was slowly getting used to. So early in the morning, the place was pretty quiet, and Heather started to make her way down the hall but she was stopped by voices.

Ash’s voice.

She backtracked. The voices came from upstairs. A feeling of dread washed through her, making her fingers numb, but she couldn’t turn back. Her mind instantly played through a million scenarios. Each of them worse than the next one. She put a foot on the stairs and froze.

You’re being ridiculous, Heather.

She was. She was being stupid. If Ash was upstairs, it was probably because he’d gone into town for some reason, and it was too late to get back. Mick would have given him a room and that was probably it. Nothing more sinister than that. It was likely quite simple. Still, she needed to know. Besides, it’s not as though she could ignore the fact that he was there. Especially not since he had her boat.

Having reasoned it to herself, Heather took the rest of the stairs two at a time and followed the voices to the room at the top of the stairs.

“Put some clothes on.” It was Ash’s voice.

“I think I like what I’m wearing just fine.”

Heather’s stomach dropped at the sound of a woman’s voice. No. No. He wouldn’t.

But he had said that he’d vowed never to have a relationship again. Maybe that’s what this was? Maybe she’d just been naive thinking that she could change things for him.

No. She’d been naive.

“Ash…” The woman’s voice was pleading and nauseating for Heather to listen to. And she wasn’t about to stand there and listen to another word. But she was going to get her boat back. Anger rose up inside her and she flung the door open.

If there had been any doubt about what she thought she’d see when the door opened, it vanished. The door slammed against the wall and Ash spun around. The look on his face went from anger to shock to concern. All in a flash.

“Heather.”

She opened her mouth, but no words came out, so she shook her head and bit her bottom lip. Hard.

“It’s not what it looks like.”

Heather laughed then because it was about the most cliché thing he could have said. The sound came out as a cross between a choke and a cough. He reached for her, but she shook her head, warning him off. She didn’t think she’d be able to survive his touch. The betrayal was fresh and raw and…damn it hurt to see him standing in a bedroom, the bedsheets rumpled, with a beautiful half-naked woman next to him.

It hurt all right.

A lot.

She couldn’t stand there for one more second. With the image burned in her mind, Heather turned and ran down the steps.

* * *

“Heather!”

He started to run after her, but Sara stopped him.

“I wouldn’t do that.”

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