“I think it was his wife. She had a big diamond on her finger,” he said with a smile. “I’m Jack by the way. Jack Saunders.”
“Emma. Emma LaRue,” I replied and shook his outstretched hand. His skin was warm and his grip firm. I felt a strange tingle run through my fingers as we touched, like we were completing a circuit. He smiled and repeated my name, still holding onto my hand.
“Emma. Well, it is very nice to meet you, Emma. Are you staying at the resort here?” He asked. I nodded and held up my other wrist with the pink bracelet.
“Yup. How about you?”
“No, I am staying at a house on the beach a little further down,” he said, jerking his head back in the direction he had come from. He still hadn’t let go of my hand and I wasn’t about to complain. I found myself wanting to touch even more of him.
“Oh, that must be nice. The houses I saw on the way in looked very nice,” I said, instantly sounding dumb in my head. I needed to find a new adjective. I let myself off the hook for it though. I was still a little shell shocked. He sighed and let go of my hand.
“I am actually trying to escape it right now,” he said, his smile gone. It was like the sun had dipped behind a cloud when he stopped smiling.
“It can’t be that bad,” I said, hoping he would smile again.
“I came with someone, and I thought we were going to have a good time, but it has been miserable. I couldn’t stay in the house with her a second longer,” he said with a grimace.
“Girlfriend?” I asked, trying to keep the disappointment out of my voice. If he was here with someone, then I probably would never see him again. I had only known him for less than five minutes, but I never wanted him to leave.
“Secretary. I thought maybe the cliché would work, but it’s no fun out of the office,” he said. He shook his head and shrugged. I nodded. He had a secretary. Those swim shorts probably were as expensive as they looked.
“So you just left her?”
“She’s out admiring the pool boy and still hung over from last night. It hasn’t been the best vacation of my life,” he said. “Our conversation has been the most civil one I’ve had all day,” he said looking directly into my eyes.
“That is no vacation. Vacations are supposed to be fun. You know, maybe even save a life or something,” I said coyly. I was never very good at flirting, but I didn’t want him to leave. I wanted to talk to him all day. I asked the first thing I could think of to get him to stay, “You want a drink?”
He laughed. “A drink sounds great.”
We walked over to my towel, the piña colada melting quickly in the sun. I smiled sheepishly at the melted drink, and bent to pick up the clicker from my towel.
“I’ll get you a fresh one,” I said quickly.
“We can split this one until it comes, You look like you could use a sip. Besides, I’m in no hurry; I’m on vacation,” he said, settling into the sand and taking a big sip of the slushy drink. I hit the clicker and sat down next to him. He handed me the drink and I took a small sip off the side.
“How did the ambulance get here so quick?” I asked. Now that a couple of minutes had passed and the adrenaline was wearing down, I felt the weight of what had happened hit me. I was glad I was sitting. I took another bigger sip. I was sure I was going to wake up any moment. How could this be happening? I had saved someone’s life and was now sitting next to the most gorgeous man I had ever seen. My life was not this exciting or this good.
“I called it. I heard her screaming and then you took off like a bat out of hell,” he said nonchalantly as he gently took the glass from my hand and took another sip.
“You have a phone that works out here? That must cost an arm and a leg. My phone company said mine wouldn’t work on the island,” I said. He handed me the drink and I took a big sip this time. My nerves still felt frayed, but with him sitting next to me, it still felt too dream-like for me to worry about it.
“The downside of my business; even on vacation, I have to carry a phone.” He took the drink back and took another swallow. It was almost half gone at this point.
“What do you do?”
“I work for my father’s company. What do you do?” he said, dodging my actual question. He looked at me like I should know who he was, but I didn’t press him for more. He was on vacation and didn’t want to talk about work. I could understand that.
“I'm a vet tech,” I answered and reached for the drink.
“So, you work with animals?” He asked, waiting for me to finish swallowing so I could answer.
“Yup. I love it. I'm actually in the process of applying for Veterinary School,” I said proudly.
“So you want to be a vet? That sounds like a great job. I wanted to be a doctor when I was a kid,” he finished off the last of the drink and set the glass in the sand. “But with my dad’s business, that was never really an option. I hope you do it though. If you can save animals like you save people, you’ll be great.”
“Thanks. I sure hope so,” I said with a smile. He glanced over at me, his brows darkening slightly as he thought of something.
“If you don’t mind me asking, how can you afford this vacation? I can’t imagine vet techs make enough to go on vacations to an exclusive resort very often,” he said. His outward appearance never changed, but a current of tension wound through him, as though he suspected something.
“You want to know my age and weight too?" I asked with a smirk. He managed to look slightly abashed, but obviously still wanted an answer. It seemed strange, but it was a question I would ask if I were on a super expensive resort too. I was an interloper on this island.
"I actually won this trip — a radio station call in thing. My sister was supposed to come with me, but she got sick at the last minute. There is no way I would ever be able to afford anything like this otherwise,” I said before realizing I had just told him I was poor and very alone here. I smiled nervously and hoped he didn’t notice.
“So you’re here alone?” he asked, raising his eyebrows. No such luck there.
“Um, well, the resort is keeping track of me, so I’m not really alone,” I tried to backpedal. A quick pulse of terror pushed through me, but I fought it down. Telling things like that to a complete stranger, no matter how good looking, was not a good way to stay safe. My dad would have killed me if he knew I was telling people I was here by myself.