pal, no kidding.
“You aren’t fooling me.”
Well, she could certainly try.
His hands continued to massage her sore flesh with just the right amount of pressure to bring her blood sizzling back to life. If he kept this up, her eyes wouldn’t open. She’d be asleep.
She couldn’t remember the last time she slept through the night. Actually, she could. It had been fifteen months. Fifteen months of searching. The path led to Kauai. To the yacht. To flying over the side and into the water. To being in this shower.
“We can stand here all night for all I care,” he said.
Nothing that extreme. Maybe ten more minutes.
He chuckled. “Doesn’t bother me.”
Lucky for her she found an accommodating potential serial killer.
“Because I’m the one with clothes on,” he pointed out.
Her eyelids flew open.
The deep rumble of his laugh intensified. “Thought that one might get your attention.”
Oh, he had her attention. All six-feet-something of him, with haunting dark eyes, straight coal black hair cut short and blunt, and chiseled high cheekbones that spoke to Hawaiian bloodlines.
Her gaze dipped lower and…damn.
That gasp she’d been holding finally escaped her lips. The part below his neck looked as impressive as his face. A broad muscular chest, every inch tan and perfect. Blue jeans balanced on lean hips.
Double damn. Obviously strong and in command, this guy could crush her if he wanted to.
That realization got her talking. “Who are you?”
One dark eyebrow kicked up in question. “That was my question. You are…?”
A woman in deep trouble. A woman at home with a camera and in a darkroom. A woman with a mission.
The idea of confiding in someone tempted her, but she resisted. She didn’t know this guy or his agenda. Hell, she didn’t even know who her enemies were and why. Until she did, she was not saying a word.
“I…I don’t know,” she stammered out.
She was playing a dangerous game. No other choice. Someone had pushed her off a party boat. Either Sterling Howard had figured out her real identity and ushered her off his yacht the hard way or…actually, she couldn’t think of an “or” option.
“Don’t know what?” he asked.
“My name.”
Those deep brown eyes, almost black, narrowed. “For most people it’s an easy question. You’ve likely had one since birth.”
“I, uh, can’t remember it,” she said, making sure her voice held the appropriate mixture of concern and shock. Funny how those two emotions came to her without any trouble at the moment.
“Wait a second. You mean—”
“Yes.”
His hands tightened briefly on her elbows, then relaxed. “Interesting.”
The longer she stood there, the more pronounced their size difference became. “Not to be rude or sound ungrateful, but could we have this little chat later? Like, when I’m dry and fully dressed.”
“You really can’t remember your name?”
She lifted her hands and covered her breasts. A stupid move, yes. He’d already seen all the goods. Not that he cared one wit. He didn’t appear to be staring anywhere but dead into her eyes.
“Trying the dry thing now would be good,” she said.
He reached behind her and turned off the water. “You’re saying you have amnesia?”
For a second she wondered if a person with a real case of amnesia would recognize the word amnesia. Deciding that type of thinking would drive her nuts, she answered, “Yes.”
“Seems a bit convenient.”
The least the guy could do was have the decency to look a little worried about her made-up amnesia story. “There’s nothing convenient about not knowing who you are.”
He stepped out of the tub and grabbed up a towel for her. “Here. Dry off. We need to pump some heat into you and then…”
“Yes?” she asked, a bit concerned about what the rest of his sentence could be.
“Find some clean clothes for both of us. I’m guessing you’d like to be dressed when we talk.”
She’d rather skip the talking part. “Talk about what?”
“Whatever it is you’re running from.”
Wariness washed over her. This time not about being naked, although she wasn’t real fond of that either. The heart-to-heart he had planned was the bigger problem. She’d made a promise to her mother, although in her mother’s catatonic state, she likely didn’t understand the vow. But that wasn’t the point. Annie had enough guilt for a lifetime without failing her mother a second time.
He turned away and lifted an oversized terry cloth robe off the back of the door. “Once you’ve settled in, we’ll get to the bottom of who you are.”
“I told you—” Whatever she was going to say stuck in her throat when he cuddled her in the warm material and gently tucked in the loose ends between her breasts.
“You can explain why you’re in Hawaii, what you were doing on the beach and how you got there,” he continued.
Now that the uncertainty about her safety with him had eased, she could focus on his habit of interrupting. Very annoying.
Other aspects about him were annoying, but for a different reason. Being soaking wet, his jeans clung to his body. Water dripped down his bare chest and lean frame, forming a puddle on the bath mat. When he wiped a hand through his damp hair, stray ends stood up straight. For some reason, the goofy look worked on him.
Shame she couldn’t say the same thing about the intelligence lingering behind those dark eyes. He was going to be a problem. Hard to fool.
Time to leave. She had to track down the yacht and find her camera. Out of habit, she carried around her photography equipment wherever she went. Being separated from it made her nervous.
“I think it would be better if I got back and left you to your life,” she said.
A sly grin tugged on the corner of his mouth. “You don’t know who you are or how you got here. Hard to imagine you know where you’re going.”
She clenched at the cotton gathered between her breasts and adjusted the rest of the robe to make sure everything important stayed under wraps. “I meant that I should check in with the police. Look for a bag or some other type of identification, that kind of thing.”
His smile beamed now. “You’re in luck.”
Lucky, right. That was how she felt. “How exactly?”
“I’m the police.”
Her stomach dipped to the floor and took up residence there. “Excuse me?”
“I’m Police Chief of Kauai County.”
“County?”
“That’s a fancy way of saying Kauai.”
“The entire island? That’s not possible.” Please have that not be possible.
“I promise it’s true. I attended the swearing-in ceremony.”
The last thing she wanted was to talk with a police officer. She was operating under the radar on this. She didn’t want justice. She wanted revenge and didn’t plan to walk within the lines of