Justine Davis - Just Another Day in Paradise

“I don’t know. Maybe he just doesn’t like Noah.”

She liked the name, and that’s how she thought of him, but now she wondered why she persisted, when he’d asked everyone else to call him Rider. Maybe because he hadn’t asked her to call him that. And her mind skittered away from figuring out the motivation behind that particular choice.

As if satisfied that Paige wasn’t really a source of details on the man in question, Miranda gave up on the subject. They chatted for a couple of minutes about how her two children were doing in class, and then the woman excused herself to go find said kids and stop them from whatever trouble she knew they were up to.

Paige watched her go, feeling oddly wistful. Once she’d said similar things, said them in that same light teasing tone, knowing it was just that, teasing, and that there was little chance her sweet boy would really be in any kind of trouble.

Now there was every chance, every day, and what she’d thought would help—extricating him from the environment that had had him skating on the edge of real problems—only seemed to have made it worse. He was angrier than ever, and it showed no signs of abating. Most days she could barely get a civil word out of him.

“Paige?”

Her breath caught at the unexpected sound of his voice so close behind her. She took a half second to steady herself before she turned around. He was wearing jeans and a blue T-shirt with the Redstone logo, and she was startled at how the casual clothes suited him even better than the executive look. He looked windblown and exhilarated, his blue eyes brighter than ever.

“Have fun?” she asked.

He grinned. “It was great. Want to try?”

She glanced toward the water again, saw that somebody else was taking a turn now. The urge was there, but so was a little tingle of fear. She looked back at Rider. “I don’t know,” she began.

“I saw you watching. You looked like you were wondering how it felt.”

“You saw me from up there?” she said, not quite believing him.

He reached out, touched her hair with his fingertips. “You stand out.”

In an instant the air between them seemed charged. She held her breath, afraid to move. He drew his hand back, looking at it in surprise, as if he hadn’t even realized what he was doing. He curled his fingers to his palm, and shoved on the sunglasses he’d been holding in his other hand.

“Come on,” he said. “Catch a ride before they wrap it up for the day.”

She looked at the current flyer, who suddenly looked much higher than before. She wanted to try it, but a bit of shiver down her spine stopped her from immediately jumping at the chance. “I’m not sure,” she said.

“You’ll love it. I promise.”

“And if I don’t?”

“Dinner. On me. Rudy has a new dish he wants to add to the menu.”

Dinner again, she thought. As neatly as that he’d put her in a corner. If she said no, he’d think she hadn’t forgiven him, that she wasn’t sticking to their agreement to put it behind them. And if she said yes…

If she said yes, she could end up marooned at a table with him, truly testing the strength of her resolve to not think about what had happened between them anymore.

So, you’d better love this little adventure then, she thought. “All right,” she said.

As she walked beside him down the beach, Paige had the strange but persistent feeling she’d done more than just say yes to a physical flight of fancy.

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