Page 54 of The Billionaire's Teacher

“What you say is stupid. I’m coming too.”

“Look, buster.” She jabbed her finger into my chest and my eyebrows raised. “You’re staying here. I’m going out there.” She jabbed in the direction of the boat. “End of conversation.”

I held up my hands. What had gotten into her? She’d been off—just a little—since I woke up. Maybe it was the situation. I could understand that, sort of. But it didn’t feel like that was the issue. “All right. Fine. You’re the boss. Do you think you could have Zee touch base with my emergency contact and just let them know I’m okay?”

“Of course.” Her face softened a little. “I shouldn’t be long.”

I fought the urge to roll my eyes. The swim alone would take her some time. I could see the boat from the shore, sure, but there was a reason we’d used the inflatable to get to the island in the first place. I sighed and lowered myself to the beach. She might not be letting me come along, but I wasn’t going back in the house. I was sitting right there and doing what I could to make sure she was all right.

Which, admittedly, was very little. But whatever.

Sunshine kicked off her shoes and walked out into the water. There was a decent stretch of wadable beach out there. She was able to walk, the water just up to her waist, maybe a quarter of the way to the boat. Then, with a brief wiggle of her fingers over her shoulder at me, she dove into an oncoming wave and began to swim.

She had great form.

She hadagreat form, but I wasn’t concentrating on that. At all.

Her strong strokes pushed her through the water. It was mesmerizing to watch.

The guys would give me no end of grief about this. All of it. I probably wouldn’t mind as much if it was just the hurricane. Who would have predicted it? Other than, of course, having come down here during hurricane season, so yeah. There was that. It was early enough in the year that most of the time nothing should have gone wrong.

But this…thing…I’d developed for Sunshine? They were going to tease me mercilessly. If I protested or dismissed them, they’d do the whole bit about objecting too much. Maybe it’d go away once I was back home and she was here.

That was more likely than anything. Sunshine just happened to be the only woman I’d been around, and we’d been together twenty-four seven. Which meant we’d either drive each other crazy or we’d end up like this.

Whatever this was.

And pushing aside that she didn’t seem to be feeling any of the same things I was.

Major bummer.

I’d had the best dream, too. It had been so real. I’d felt her snuggled up against me. Talk about delusional. If that had happened, surely she would have had something to say about it this morning. But she didn’t. So it had to have been a dream. I definitely wasn’t going to bring it up. How would I even do that?

Oh, hey, Sunny, did you happen to snuggle me last night?

I snickered. She’d give me that look that she had and mention my head injury the same way she did when I’d told her she was beautiful.

I cringed.

Talk about an idiotic move. Of course, most women I’d met in my life—scratch that,everywoman I’d ever met in my life—tended to like knowing someone found them beautiful. But not Sunshine.

Of course not Sunshine.

Why did I like that about her?

I sighed and watched as she finished the swim to the boat. The sun heated my arms and legs, but the breeze off the water kept it from getting hot.

She swam around to the back. Probably using the swim step to get aboard, which was smart. But I didn’t like losing sight of her. A couple of minutes ticked by and I was about to go after her, despite what she’d said, when I saw her waving broadly from the deck.

I waved back and relaxed. She was there. Safe. And despite her saying it wouldn’t take long, there was plenty for her to do. Which meant sitting here on the beach watching was bordering on stupid. I couldn’t help her if she needed it. Not now.

Fine.

I stood, brushed the sand off my pants, and looked around. My gaze landed on a well-worn path. A walk sounded like just the thing. Maybe I’d find something useful and be able to contribute to the situation instead of having to be the one making problems worse for Sunny.

The path went along the front of the house. I paused and admired the clean, long lines of the building, picturing what it might look like with the glass in place. Was the diving here any good? Would we be here long enough that I could convince Sunshine to let me find out?

The seed of an idea rooted in my mind as I continued to walk.

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