pulled her hand free, thinking suddenly of her family’s concern about her going on this trip alone. She hoped this man wasn’t going to be a problem.
“Thanks again for your help,” she said in a firm tone, the kind that said she wasn’t interested in any more small talk.
The man nodded and headed to the door. “Have a good vacation, pretty lady.”
Before he left, Shayna made note of his name. His tag read “Garth.” She would file the information away, but she hoped he knew she wasn’t interested. If he showed up at her door unannounced, she would be able to tell the front desk who he was.
Shayna closed and locked the door, then slowly strolled through the room. She made her way onto the balcony, which was, as Garth had said, huge. There was a round plastic table in its center, with two plastic chairs. It would be a nice place to eat breakfast in the morning.
The woman at the front desk had explained that Shayna’s room was three stories high, even though the third level was directly accessible from the lobby level. Here, the room was at a nice height to see everything around her. Moving forward to the railing, she looked out at the incredible view below. Garth had been right. The walk had been long but worth it. Shayna had never seen water so many shades of blue. To the left there was a large bay populated with sunseekers along the beach and in the water. A number of people were a good fifty yards into the sea, and yet the water only reached to their waists. Clearly, that was a very shallow beach.
Directly below her was a green building. A restaurant, perhaps? Beside that was another building beside a marina where people in bathing suits were eating at plastic tables. That had to be one of the resort’s casual eateries.
Shayna’s gaze wandered to the right. There she saw a rocky inlet with a smaller beach, at the end of which was a gazebo. No doubt it was a spot where the resort’s weddings were held.
In fact, there were people down there now. Some children, some adults.
Wait a minute, Shayna thought, her gaze narrowing. The next instant, she felt a jolt of shock.
The sexy stranger. He was in the gazebo along with his family.
No wonder they’d been nicely dressed. They’d been heading to the gazebo for a wedding.
And when the man turned, Shayna felt another jolt. Out of all the rooms in the hotel, had his gaze landed on her?
She quickly hurried into her room, away from the man’s gaze. And then she felt stupid.
What was she going to do—run every time she saw him? Stay in her hotel room the entire week to avoid crossing his path?
“It’s not like you’re about to try and steal another woman’s husband,” she said to herself. “It’s okay to look.”
And maybe that’s exactly what she needed on this trip. Some eye candy to help soothe the memory of what Vince had done to her.
An attractive man she could admire from afar without any fear that it would lead somewhere.
After all, he was married. Therefore unavailable.
It was perfect.
Chapter 4
The next morning, the sun rose to a glorious day. Shayna stretched, climbed out of bed and immediately went to the balcony window. Pushing the curtains aside, she stared outside and sighed happily, knowing she would never tire of the view.
The previous evening, she’d found the dining hall, enjoyed a solitary dinner that seemed more Mexican than Jamaican, then retired to her room where she’d continued reading after calling home to assure everyone she was okay. Yes, she’d hidden from the world, but she hadn’t felt up to small chat with anyone. And she’d had a pleasant time by herself. It was hard to have a bad time when you sat on your balcony and stared out at nature’s stunning beauty.
She opened the glass door and stepped onto the balcony. Everything about the resort was magnificent. The beautiful greenery lining the stone paths. The towering palm trees and the low ones. The hibiscus flowers growing in the shrubs. The amazing contrast of light and dark blues in the ocean. The lulling sound of the ocean as it crashed against the shore. And she loved the slightly spicy scent of exotic flowers in the air, something she certainly didn’t smell back home in Buffalo.
Shayna smiled. Yes, this was a new day. And she was in paradise. She was going to enjoy it.
Heading back inside, she checked the time on her cell phone. It was after seven in the morning in Jamaica, which meant it was an hour later at home since Jamaica didn’t subscribe to daylight saving time. Surprisingly, there wasn’t a clock in the room. Maybe the hotel staff had figured that honeymooners would be too wrapped up in each other to care about checking the time of day.
She hadn’t eaten much of a dinner last night, and her stomach now grumbled in protest. It was time to head downstairs for breakfast. She got into the shower first, lathering up with the scented body gel the hotel provided, thinking that it was nice not to have to worry about sharing the bathroom with another person. To make her own schedule.
She was determined to look on the bright side.
Once out of the shower, she put her bathing suit on—then a dress to cover it—and packed a beach bag with two hardcover suspense novels. She would lounge by the pool and decide which world to escape into next.
Even though the walk from the front desk had been enormously long, the walk to the restaurant was much shorter. That’s because she didn’t need to backtrack through the hotel to get to the restaurant. It was directly opposite her building on the other side of the pool.
Shayna enjoyed a leisurely stroll from her building along the path that led to a bridge that crossed over the pool. It was early, but the sun was bright and hot. To her far right, under the terrace outside of the lobby, she saw the word SPA. She would definitely take a trip there later, pamper herself.
Shayna climbed the steps to the restaurant and opened the heavy door. The next moment, her heart caught in her throat. Because the sexy stranger who’d caught her staring at him yesterday was walking directly toward her.
Once again, he was accompanied by three females, two other men this time and the same children from the day before. The little girl the sexy stranger had held yesterday was now wide-awake, jumping with excitement as they exited the restaurant, probably ready to head to the pool or the beach.
Shayna smiled politely at the man and his family, then promptly looked away. She didn’t want his wife thinking she was the type of person who would do more than appreciate the good looks of another woman’s husband.
And she didn’t dare glance over her shoulder, fearing she would give both the man and his wife the wrong impression that she was a flirt.
At home, Shayna would have had a cup of coffee and perhaps a slice of toast for breakfast. But here at this all-inclusive resort, she had a freshly made omelet with cheese and vegetables, toast, slices of various fruits and a justbaked pastry. She ate and read at the table by herself until her stomach felt like it couldn’t hold another crumb.
The food was delicious. If she kept eating at this pace, she’d go home with another twenty pounds on her thighs.
She left the restaurant, appreciating the fact that the resort was as large as it was. All the walking would help burn off the extra calories she would no doubt consume.
As she stepped outside, she scanned the nearby pool area. It was beautiful. It would be a nice place to lounge for a while and read her thriller, let the food digest. Then she would get some exercise by doing several laps in the water.
Even though it was early, there was only one lounge chair left in the shade, at the side of the pool closest to the spa. Shayna could see the beige of the chair’s thin mattress, with no towel slung over it to indicate that it was taken. Positioned under a man-made tree created to look like a coconut husk, it was a prime seat. The mattress atop