one day, after they’d emerged from the sea following a swim.
She smiled at him, amused but also shy. “Thank you for the compliment, but seeing as you don’t remember anything of your world, I’m not sure it’s valid.”
“I don’t have to compare you to know that you’re smart and kind. You’re also cheerful and optimistic, and you make me happy. I have a feeling I’m not always easy to please.”
“You certainly weren’t cheerful on the beach with your friends. In fact, you were often quite aloof, sitting off on your own, staring out at the ocean. I would watch you and sketch you—”
“Sketch me?”
She nodded, blushing. “It’s what I like to do when I have free time.”
“I haven’t seen you draw since I’ve been here.”
“I do when you’re not around, or late at night when you’re sleeping.”
“What do you draw?”
“This and that.” Her blush deepened. “Mostly you.”
He loved how her pink cheeks made her eyes look even more green. She was so fresh and pretty. She reminded him of a mermaid...a siren from the sea. “Why draw me?”
“You fascinate me.”
“Why?”
“You have to know.” Her lips pressed, her expression suddenly reminding him of a prim schoolteacher. “Don’t make me spell it out.”
He was enchanted by the line her full lips made and the firmness of her chin. His fingers itched to reach out and trace her pink cheek and the shape of her mouth. And just like that, his body hardened, the desire hot and insistent. “Apparently, my head injury has made me a little slow. Be kind and explain to me why someone like me would fascinate you?”
Her chin lifted higher. “I’ll only tell you this one time.”
“I’m listening.”
“You’re unbearably attractive—”
“Unbearably?”
“You’re very intelligent.”
“Can we get back to the unbearably attractive part? Is it possible to be unbearably attractive?”
“Yes. You’ve proven it. Let me continue.” She tapped her fingers as if counting her points. “You have a sense of humor—when you want to.”
“I suppose that is a drawback, being unpredictable.”
Her lips twitched. “You have rich friends. That yacht was enormous. But that’s really more of a negative then a plus.”
“Why a negative?”
“From an environmental standpoint, it’s terrible.”
“I agree.”
Her brows arched. “You do?”
“I do. I’m always worried about the environment.”
“You are?”
He nodded.
She frowned, a faint link forming between her eyebrows. “That’s interesting,” she murmured.
“Is it?”
Josephine nodded. “You’re starting to have a clearer sense of self. I think some of your memories are returning. This is a good thing.”
He felt a sudden wash of unease, and he didn’t understand it. The return of his memory should be a great thing, and yet all he felt was a pervasive dread. “Let’s talk about you instead.”
“Why? I’m a boring academic—”
“Not boring, and academics are exciting.”
She laughed. “Are they?”
“I went to school with brilliant women. There is nothing sexier than a smart woman—” he broke off as he realized what he’d said. He’d gone to school with brilliant women. And he knew he hadn’t meant high school or grammar school. He’d meant university, and the words had been so comfortable, so natural. He also knew that calling university school was very American. Had he gone to school—college—in America?
He could see from Josephine’s expression that she’d heard the reference, too, and understood it, as well.
“Your memory is returning,” she said softly, breathlessly.
“You’re healing me,” he said. “All this sun and swimming.”
She smiled back at him. “It’s not as if there’s a lot to do here. No TV or video games.”
“But even if you had those, I don’t think it’s something you’d do. You love being outside. You’re at home in the sea.”
Her cheeks were pink, and her eyes were bright as she tucked a long strand of sun-streaked hair behind her ear. “I’ve always grown up next to the sea. First in Hawaii and then here. I can’t imagine not swimming. If I go too many days without getting wet, I feel off. The sea always restores me.”
“You are a fish.”
She laughed. “My father says the same thing. He says that I have scales and they dry out if I’m out of the water too long. Thus my close proximity to the beach.”
“So maybe not a fish but a mermaid.”
“Maybe,” she answered, smiling, feeling strangely shy and sensitive because everything inside her seemed to be shifting and lurching. Changing.
She’d noticed it before, and she’d tried to suppress the feelings, but she couldn’t pretend it wasn’t happening, or real, any longer. She couldn’t pretend that he wasn’t aware of her. She couldn’t pretend that there wasn’t something taut and electric between them, because there was something about the way he looked at her, something in the intensity of his expression that made the air catch in her throat, making her heart gallop. The way he looked at her terrified her and yet, at the same time, thrilled her. Being near him was wonderful, confusing, exhilarating. No one had ever looked at her as if she were so important. No one had ever made her feel so beautiful. Every conversation made her feel alive, and she didn’t know why because there was nothing terribly revealing said. And yet he fascinated her. He’d fascinated her on the beach when he’d been just a mysterious stranger, and her fascination only grew with every day because how could he—this gorgeous, handsome stranger—want her?
And yet, being wanted was doing something to her, seducing her, making her question everything she believed. She’d always thought that she’d never have sex with someone, not unless he was her forever love, the man who would marry her, the man who would share a life with her. Looking into his eyes, she figured she was losing out on something beautiful. This felt special. It felt like a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, something she wasn’t prepared to miss.
It helped that she knew the attraction wasn’t one-sided.
It was clear from the heat in his gaze that he desired her, and the knowledge was a heady power. An aphrodisiac that made her restless and curious. He could make her feel so much with just a look. How would she feel if he touched her? Kissed her?
She didn’t let herself think further than that. She’d never experienced more than a couple kisses, kisses that hadn’t inspired her in any way, making her think there was no need to repeat the experience. Until now. Somehow she sensed that kissing her mysterious stranger would be entirely different. Maybe even life-changing.
But did she want that?
She looked hard at her stranger, who truthfully was no longer a stranger, but someone who was quickly becoming very important to her.
She’d spent so much of her life alone, or alone with her father—which was virtually alone since he rarely spoke,