Like now.

  Nathan had just emerged on deck—in time to hear Tony’s comment—and he glowered at the other man who was floating in the pool. She wasn’t sure if it was because Tony had picked up on Nate’s unwelcome nickname for her or that his comment had been so suggestive. Either way, it didn’t bode well for a peaceful morning sunbathe.

  “Why don’t you put some clothes on before you burn yourself to a crisp?” Nate snapped at her, confirming her suspicion of his mood.

  “Why don’t you mind your own business?”

  As if. “Aren’t you afraid red skin will clash with that carrot-red hair?”

  She gritted her teeth. Her hair was not orangey, the jerk. But she managed to feign calmness. Reclining in the chair, she closed her eyes and ignored him.

  “I mean it, you’re going to fry.”

  “I marinated myself in SPF 50 before I came up.”

  “Your nose is getting freckles.”

  “They’re adorable!” said Tony.

  She didn’t open her eyes to witness Nate’s reaction. She didn’t have to—she would swear she heard a low growl from the man.

  “No, they don’t,” he finally said. “They look like the skin cancer fairy sprinkled some magic dust on you.”

  Ouch.

  “You should really go inside.”

  “If you’re so worried about the condition of my nose, why don’t you change colognes?” she muttered. “That stuff you wear is killing me.”

  Tony snorted with laughter, but before she could congratulate herself, she heard a familiar voice cry, “Heather!”

  Crap. Her eyes flew open and she saw that her mom and Jerry had just come outside. Her mom was wide-eyed with shock and not a little anger.

  Nate smirked. Ass.

  “What on earth has gotten into you?” her mother asked, walking over to confront her as if she was a kindergartner who’d stolen another kid’s Go-Gurt. “Where are your manners?”

  “Sorry,” she muttered. “But he did start it.”

  “Did not,” said Nate.

  We do sound like a pair of six-year-olds.

  “He said my hair was orange.”

  Nate cleared his throat. “I said I was afraid she was getting too much sun.”

  Jerry, who had come over to join her mom, laughed. “You’ll have to forgive Nathan, Heather. He’s just not used to being a big brother. I’m sure he’ll get the hang of it.”

  That was enough to make her blood boil. Brother? God, this was beyond ridiculous. Nate didn’t appear much happier at the description and was frowning at his father. Finally, for the first time in days, something they agreed upon: they could never have anything resembling a sibling relationship.

  “Well, if you can’t start getting along, I’m going to get one of those Trouble T-shirts I’ve seen moms put on their kids,” said her mother. “It’s one giant shirt with two arm holes, and the kids have to wear it together until they stop fighting. I’m tempted to put the two of you in one!”

  Heather swallowed hard, and Nate stepped away to study the horizon. The idea of being bound up together was a little too dangerous for either of them to contemplate. Especially in front of family.

  “I hope you can manage to get along this afternoon on the island,” Amy added. “And to make sure of it, I’ve paired you up for the scavenger hunt. You’ll have to cooperate and work together if you want to win a prize.”

  “Oh, good lord,” Heather muttered.

  At a steady eighteen knots, they were making excellent progress en route to Barbados. They should easily arrive two days from now, in plenty of time for the wedding the following evening. So her mother had been delighted to find out the crew had planned a stop on a private island for a beach picnic and this stupid scavenger hunt.

  “What will there be to scavenge on this island, except seashells and sand?” she asked.

  “You’ll find out,” her mother said, exchanging a mischievous glance with Jerry. He kissed her temple and hugged her, as affectionate and tender as only a besotted man could be, and led her belowdecks.

  Heather watched them go, swallowing the lump in her throat. Over the past few days, she’d been studying the couple, trying to get a read on their true emotions. While she still believed it was much too soon, and she wasn’t nearly ready to give up the memories of her father as her mom’s only husband, she couldn’t deny the truth. Amy and Jerry cared about each other. A lot. More, they made each other laugh. And laughter was one thing she’d sorely missed hearing from her ebullient mom.

  They were happy together. Whether she—and Nate—liked it or not.

  Glancing at him, she saw that Nate was watching, too, his brow furrowed. “Didn’t anybody ever tell you to stop frowning before your face freezes like that?” she snapped, fearing he hadn’t truly changed his opinion of her mother.

  “No. I musta missed that lesson when I was learning about the dangers of sun poisoning,” he said.

  “You are such a sore loser.”

  “I didn’t lose, sweetheart. You’re the one who got called on the carpet by your mom.”

  “Only because you’re a liar and didn’t admit you said my hair was the color of a carrot.”

  “I was wrong.”

  She started to relax, anticipating his apology.

  “I should have said radish.”

  Fuming, she muttered a curse under her breath. But as she said it, she noticed, out of the corner of her eye, that Hank was laughing hysterically. Realizing she and Nate had probably provided quite a few amusing moments for the rest of the passengers at their own expense, she suddenly decided she was ready for her breakfast, after all. And, without a word to any of them, she scooped up her things and went inside, determined to find a way to be super cool when she was alone with Nate on the island.

  * * *

  THE BEACH PICNIC was a big hit. Nate, who had been tense on the boat because he’d been unable to get either close enough to or far enough away from Heather, was finally able to relax. He swam in the ocean, did a little surf fishing, played some volleyball.

  Private touring companies apparently used this island frequently, because the crew easily prepared the party, setting up volleyball nets and the grills to cook the food on. They’d had to row everyone and everything over, since there was no dock, making several trips in the two dinghies. But that just added to the adventure of it.

  Of course, no matter where he went on the beach, or what he ate and drank, or who he talked to, he was always very aware of that red hair, that white hat and that—God help him—skimpy yellow bikini.

  Heather. Jesus, the woman was driving him bonkers.

  They’d had all kinds of crazy sex, and yet now, when they were staying on a luxury yacht, which should have been named The Orgasm since it was so clearly designed for romance, she treated him like a plague victim.

  He had never dreamed she would stick to her guns. Honestly, despite what she’d said in his room the other day, he’d fully expected that she would be unable to resist their chemistry. He’d counted on it, in fact, biding his time, waiting for her to admit she’d been wrong and that they could continue their fling without having to put any more of a name on it than that.

  She’d proved him wrong. And he had the blue balls to prove it.

  “Okay, everyone, off you go,” called Amy, as she and his dad sat at one of the portable tables on the beach. “Each couple has a map with a grid for your part of the island—no fair following anybody else, you have to stick to your quadrant. Come back in two hours. The pair with the most items from their list wins a super prize.”

  He and Heather stood together—close, but not touching—glancing down at the sheet of paper they’d been given. He could name a thousand things he’d rather do than search for the dumb items on this list. But he had to admit, being alone with Heather somewhere in the island’s jungle did sound appealing.

  Maybe they’d trip over a snake and she’d be scared and would leap into his arms or something.

  Crap. Bad moment to remember he hated snakes. He wasn’t scared of them, necessarily, but he’d rather avoid them if he could. Still, if it got Heather to let down her guard and admit she was just being stubborn by resisting their sexual connection, he’d wrestle an anaconda. Hell, whenever he was around Heather, it felt as if he had to wrestle one back into his pants anyway.

  “Are you kidding me? How on earth are we supposed to find a pen, pencil or crayon here?” she muttered as they began to walk toward the north end of the island—their quadrant.

  “Hopefully we’ll get lucky and find the old remains of a campsite from a shipwreck survivor who wrote his memoirs while he waited for rescue,” he said with a grin, suddenly getting into the spirit of the thing.

  She grinned back and wagged her eyebrows. “Or perhaps we’ll take a casual stroll toward the surf before we go into the jungle...and I’ll grab one out of my bag.”

  “You’d cheat at a scavenger hunt?”

  “Only if it wins me a super-duper prize.”

  “It’s a super-duper prize? I didn’t hear the duper part. Okay, I’ll cheat with you.”

  Suddenly, they were laughing together. Her laugh was lyrical, soft and feminine, and he realized it was one of the things he’d most missed about her. Maybe things on the boat were crazy. Maybe in a few days he really was going to have to call her his stepsister. Maybe he was frustrated that she insisted on keeping up this charade that she didn’t want him as much as he wanted her. But none of that really mattered right at this moment.

  It was a beautiful day. They were on a tropical island. They were totally alone. And he was going to enjoy every damned minute of it.

  To his surprise, not only did they find the typical beach-related things—a shell in the shape of a heart, some seaweed—but they also managed to scratch a few of the more unusual items off their list...using the pen she’d sneaked out of her bag. Obviously other tourists had visited the tropical paradise, and they found a Canadian coin, a broken comb and a kid’s sand shovel before they’d even left the beach to head inland. When they walked into the shady jungle they added a coconut and a bird’s feather to their bag.

  “This is a piece of cake,” she said.

  “You’re a born scavenger.”

  “Speak for yourself. You’re the one who climbed that tree and got the coconut.”

  He lifted the fuzzy round thing, shaking it to hear the milk sloshing inside. “Too bad I don’t have anything to open it with—I could go for a drink.”

  She pursed her lips. “Maybe if we had some rum and pineapple juice to go with it.” Holding up the scavenger bag, she pulled out a bottle of water and tossed it to him. “In the meantime, that will have to do.”

  They walked a little farther with an eye out for some of the other items, but Nate wasn’t really paying attention to the hunt. He was having a lot more fun walking behind Heather, watching the gentle sway of her hips beneath her long, loose peasant skirt. She wore her swimsuit beneath it, but had covered up for their adventure. The gauzy white fabric did nothing to hide the yellow bikini underneath, and he found himself fascinated by the bounce and jiggle of that gorgeous ass.

  “Do you hear that?” she asked, suddenly stopping.

  He paused. He did hear something. It sounded like a low roar, and it was coming from up ahead.

  “Oooh,” she said, hurrying toward it. “It’s a waterfall!”

  He followed her, the low rumbling noise growing louder as they got closer. When they worked their way through a tightly wooded area, and then burst out into a clearing, he understood why.

  It was, indeed, a waterfall. A huge, stunningly beautiful one, with cascading crystal-clear water pouring from high above them into a broad pool that glimmered in the sunlight. It was surrounded by trees swaying lazily in the tropical air and was so clear they could see all the way down to the bottom of the pond.

  She didn’t say a word, she just stripped off her shirt and skirt, kicked off her flat sandals and ran right to the edge. When her toes hit the water, she cooed with pleasure, walking deeper into the sandy-bottomed pool. She resembled some mythical woodland creature with that long red hair and pale, slim body.

  Nate stood behind her, watching this stunning woman in this ethereal setting, sure he’d never beheld anything more gorgeous in his life.

  “It’s wonderful,” she said. When the water was at her waist, she dove forward, emerging a few feet away, droplets glistening on her nose, lips and long red hair.

  He wanted to sip that water right off her mouth.

  Nate pulled his shirt over his head, kicked off his shoes and dove in after her, gasping at the coolness. It was a refreshing change from the salt water in which they’d been swimming, and he opened his eyes underneath. It was like looking through glass.

  He swam under the surface, a few pulls of his arms bringing him to her side, and then rose to stand in front of her. She gazed up at him. He was wet, delicious, glorious. The most perfect thing in the world.

  “I want you,” he admitted, not even trying to hide his desires. “Thinking you don’t want me has been driving me crazy all week.”

  She hesitated the briefest second and then whispered, “I do want you, Nate. But...”

  “No buts.” He knew where she was going with that, what she was worried about. He’d done a lot of soul-searching since their conversation in his bedroom, and he was aware he’d probably come off as an ass. Making her believe he wanted her only for sex had been a bonehead move. The truth was, he liked her as much as he desired her.

  Maybe it wasn’t the happily-ever-after, once-in-a-lifetime love she was hoping for. But it also wasn’t merely the lust she’d assumed he was offering.

  “Look, we’re not exactly the same people we were in Vegas, but we had something pretty good going on.” Though it wasn’t easy, he also admitted, “I might not be the Prince Charming you’re seeking, but I can admit, what we had...it wasn’t just physical.”

  “Really?”

  “Really. So can we just forget everyone and everything else for the next hour and enjoy being in this beautiful place together?” he asked, not wanting to waste time hashing it out. Not when they could be doing so many other amazing things.

  She hesitated for the briefest moment before lifting her hand and placing it on his chest. Her fingers traced his nipple and tangled in the wiry hair there. His heart was thudding; she had to feel it. His hot blood pounded through his veins as he waited for her answer.

  Finally, she took pity and gave him the answer he wanted.

  “Yes. We can do that.”

  5

  HEATHER WASN’T A big believer in magic. But this—oh, God, this—was magical.

  She had never before experienced a moment of such sensory perfection. The pulsing surge of the waterfall crashing behind them, the caressing embrace of the cool water touching every inch of her skin, the earthy, mossy smell of the jungle surrounding the pool, the eggshell-blue perfection of the sky, the vivid green trees...all her senses were on overload.

  But not a single one of those things was as potent—as addicting—as the man who stepped closer and swept her into his arms.

  His wet, hard body met hers, and his powerful hands lifted her at the waist. She twined her arms around his neck as their mouths came together in a hot, carnal kiss. His warm tongue tangled and mated with hers, thrusting deeply, his hunger consuming.

  The water buoyed her, and she easily wrapped her legs around his hips, not even needing him to hold her. That left his hands free to roam over her body, to reach up and untie her bikini top. When it fell away, his mouth was there to cover her breast.

  “Oh, yes,” she cried when he licked her wet skin, his mouth ever so much warmer than the water. The contrast was beyond exciting. “More, please.”

  He complied, covering her nipple and sucking deeply. She felt the pull of it down to her toes as sparks of sensation swam through her. Nate glided his hands down her body, caressing her stomach, her waist, her hips, her ass. Every touch was accompanied by a swish of the water, and the eroticism of it was like nothing she had ever experienced. She couldn’t even imagine how wonderful it was going to be when he was thrusting into her, sending waves of water surging against her most intimate, sensitive flesh.

  “I’ve been burning up for you, Heather,” he admitted as he kissed his way back up her throat to her mouth. “Every night, I’ve fantasized about you coming to me.”

  “I considered it,” she admitted. When Nate kissed her lips, her cheeks, her jaw, her eyelids, she wasn’t capable of anything except complete openness. No matter the cost. “I thought about it so often.”

  He didn’t ask her why she hadn’t come. That would take them beyond their agreement of one hour of carnal pleasure, and neither of them wanted that. Reality would intrude soon enough. For now, there was just this clearing, this pool, this waterfall, this man. This feeling.

  Suddenly, his whole body growing stiff, Nate groaned. “Fuck, I don’t have anything with me.”

  “It’s okay. I’m on the pill. And since we both already admitted we haven’t been with anyone else in almost a year...”

  “Oh, thank God,” he said, moving to kiss her again. Knowing he would be inside her, completely, with no barrier at all between them, sent her excitement level soaring.

  Their kisses were hot and hungry, their bodies writhing together. Nate tossed his trunks to the shore. He tugged her bikini bottoms off, sending them over, too, and then lifted her up again. She parted her legs willingly, opening up for him, welcoming him in.

  His cock was rock hard, hot and wet. As he began to slide into her, she moaned, loving the sensations washing over her. She leaned back, supported by the water, floating as he drove into her inch by inch.

  Nothing had ever felt as wonderful as being filled by Nate. He was huge, yes, but their bodies seemed to have been made for each other. She savored the fullness, delighted in it. When he plunged all the way in, hitting her deep inside, she cried out and smiled up at the sky, certain there had never been a moment in her life more blissful than this one.