Page 46 of Maneater
Her eyes go soft, a matching smile pulling at her lips as her hand lifts to rest on my cheek. “I promise, I’m completely fine. Just a little winded,” she says with a weak laugh. “I should have been looking where I was going.”
My jaw tightens because we both know that falling on that slick patch was most likely not due to her inattention. Even more so when I finally let her go and move over to where she tripped. Using a hand to shift the leaves and dirt aside, I get a glimpse at what the true culprit was.
There are approximately two dozen glass marbles in a shallow metal pan dug into the ground. There was no way she could have seen it coming, not unless the leaves were moved, which, considering this trail is pretty well littered with leaves all the time, seems impossible.
And then I belatedly realize I’m witnessing yet another sabotage of this place, this one in real time.
* * *
“Have you checked her out?” I ask the medics once more as they load Jeff up into a gurney. He clearly has something broken and has to be brought to the main island to get proper care, but despite him being my employee, I don’t even care. All I can find in me to care about is Josie. Josie, who, much to her chagrin, allowed me to carry her down to the entrance of the hike, who has sat on the chair I placed her in the whole time, and who has humored me each and every time I came over to check on her in between talking to guests, employees, and medical professionals.
“Rowan, I’m fine. Short of an MRI, there is nothing else they can do,” Josie says with a laugh, standing and walking over to me. I contemplate the logistics of getting her an MRI, and she must see it because she shakes her head, laughing once more.
“No. I don’t need any kind of medical intervention, Rowan. I’m fine. Really.” I sigh, taking her in and fighting the all-consuming desire to pull her into me, to feel her against me in order to reassure myself she’s okay. “Really, I’m fine. It was just a fall.”
Closing my eyes, I take in a deep breath and let it out to try and bring myself back down to reality. “I’d love to at least give you some kind of complimentary service at the spa as an apology.”
She shakes her head. “That’s not necessary.”
I groan. “Please, let me make it up to you.”
The words are sincere, but they confirm that Josie is feeling just fine when her lips tip and her eyes light up with mischief. Suddenly, my mind is full of all of the ways I couldmake something up to her.
“Breakfast,” she whispers.
“What?” I ask, confused, my mind still on rumpled sheets and soft skin.
“Have breakfast with me. It’s almost ten.”
It took some time to get out of the woods and to handle all of the guests, but I didn’t realize it was that late. I told myself I was going to keep my distance, not when there’s something about her that I don’t understand, something that in my gut I know ties to everything going on around here. But then she fell, and that panic lodged in my chest, knocking common sense out of the way.
What could one meal with her hurt?
“Come on. Take me to breakfast, and I’ll completely forgive you for the egregious misstep of allowing me to get so terribly injured,” she says with a playful smile.
“Fine,” I say with a sigh, and then I pull out my phone to make a call.
NINETEEN
ROWAN
Because I’m a complete and total idiot, I don’t take Josie to one of the six restaurants that are probably full of guests having brunch. Instead, I call Sutton and ask her to arrange a private meal at one of the beach cabanas. I tell myself it’s what she deserves, considering she got injured on my watch, and if I weren’t being such a judgmental ass, she probably would have continued to talk my ear off instead of moving up front with Jeff.
Deep down, though, I know that’s not the truth. Otherwise, why would I endure what I know is sure to be a near-painful interrogation from my assistant the next chance she gets? Between a private breakfast and the expensive bottle of whiskey I had Sutton help me send to her room, I know she has questions.
To be honest, I don’t think I have the answers.
Whether I like it or not, I’m intrigued by Josie. Not just because she’s gorgeous and funny and confusing in a way no woman has ever been, but because she’s hiding something, and I’m not the kind of man to let that kind of thing go. Not when she showed up at my resort right after a catastrophe and seems to be finding herself in the vicinity of every singlesabotage since.
“Do you do this a lot?” Josie asks after we’re served giant platters of fresh fruit, waffles, and bacon laid out on the table before us. She holds an iced coffee in her hand, using the straw to stir it to her liking before taking a long sip.
“Do what?” I ask, pretending like I don’t know, as well as that I haven’t been watching her mouth the entire time.
“Fancy private breakfasts? Taking advantage of the benefits of this place? You don’t seem the type.” I shrug, then give her a half lie.
“I don’t know. Not a ton, but not never.” Because the only time I’ve done something even close to this was to wine and dine a high-profile client or a potential investor. Not as an apology to a woman I can’t stop thinking about, despite my best efforts. She had reached out then, grazing along the spot where the sleeves of my tee end and pushing it up, revealing more of the tattoos on my arm.
“These are hot,” she says with a smile, taking each one in. “What made you get them? And get them here?”
