Romy Sommer - The Trouble with Mojitos - A Royal Romance to Remember!

She sent the mayor another winning smile and he melted. Rik nearly did too. Or he would have, if his entire body hadn’t been hard.

The mayor beamed. “You have my full support. I will email the harbour master and ask him to provide you with a boat and an escort. Where do you want to take your photographs?”

Kenzie pulled aerial maps from her folder. “These are the islands I’d like to visit, especially these two – Corona and Tortuga.”

Rik stiffened.

The mayor leaned back in his chair and shook his head. “Not possible.”

Kenzie’s eyes widened in disbelief. “Why not? You just told me I had your full support.”

The mayor cast a beseeching look at Rik.

He pushed away from the doorframe. “Corona is private property.”

Her brow furrowed. He didn’t need to be a mind reader to know she was wondering why Corona was marked on every map as government property if it was private. “And Tortuga?”

Rik and the mayor exchanged a look, and it was Rik who answered again. “Tortuga is a breeding ground for sea turtles.”

“It’s not a nature sanctuary – I checked. Besides, the hatching season will be well over by the time we shoot.”

The mayor’s mouth set in a grim line. “No one from these islands has set foot on Isla Tortuga in over three centuries.”

The disbelief on Kenzie’s face turned to incredulity. “Why ever not?”

The mayor squirmed. “It’s haunted.”

Rik gave her credit for not laughing.

“I’m not superstitious. If our film crew aren’t from these islands and don’t mind working there, would you give us permission to film on Tortuga?”

He gave her credit for not giving up either.

Again, the mayor glanced at Rik, this time for approval. The poor man’s dilemma was clear. The local economy could do with an injection of capital and a higher international profile. But Tortuga …

Rik nodded.

“I will,” the mayor answered Kenzie.

“Thank you. Is there anyone who isn’t from these islands who could take me there to photograph the place?”

The mayor paused only a fraction of a second before he looked at Rik. “You have a boat. Could you take her?”

Oh no. That wasn’t part of his plan for the rest of the day. Or ever.

Not to mention the mere thought of being on a boat was making him feel green again. He shook his head. “Not today.”

“Do you have anything better to do tomorrow, then?”

Of course the mayor knew he had nothing better to do. The mayor knew everything that went on around these islands.

Kenzie also turned to look at him, expectant. But where the mayor’s eyes held hope, hers held an entirely different expression. Reluctance.

She’d felt the attraction too. And she didn’t want to.

Rik shut his eyes, blocking out both their faces.

He knew exactly what tomorrow held. It would be the same as every other day. The sun would shine. He’d wake late, and go for a swim to clear the fuzziness in his head. By the time his arms and legs were too tired to swim any further, he’d wash up on the beach. And that’s when the emptiness would hit.

He would spend the rest of his day trying to fill that emptiness. He would run on the beach, or take Adam’s boat out, or he’d drink. And he’d already done enough of all these things to last a lifetime.

Even if it was just a boat ride to Tortuga, it beat spending another day in Adam’s guesthouse while the walls pressed in on him. But he was done with helping people, unless there was something in it for him. And there was only one thing Kenzie had that he wanted…

Now that was an interesting idea.

He shrugged. “Okay.”

Relief crossed the mayor’s face. He turned back to Kenzie. “If your director likes the island, then you build your boats on Los Pajaros and you accommodate your crew on Los Pajaros, and you film on Tortuga.” Translation: you spend your money here on Los Pajaros . “But you must promise me that no islanders will have to go to Tortuga.”

“Agreed. Do we have a deal?” Kenzie offered the mayor a courteous handshake.

“Deal.” The mayor took Kenzie’s hand, but instead of the expected shake, he bowed over their joined hands in the local custom.

Rik held the door open for her, but this time she was careful to avoid contact as she passed. Her scent still slammed into him, though.

He grinned. His body was taking over from his brain. That was an interesting first. He knew passion didn’t last and that it burned out far too quickly, but he didn’t care. She was only passing through. For just this once, he wanted to be like every other man and indulge his desires.

So she thought she didn’t want a man like him, a purposeless drifter with tattoos. And she didn’t trust him. Never mind. He could work with that. He’d make her want him, and she wouldn’t be able to resist.

Head high.

@KenzieCole101: Who knew pirates still ruled the Caribbean?

They stood on the pavement beside her rental car. Kenzie shifted, uncomfortably hot inside her own skin. She’d scarcely been able to concentrate throughout the meeting with the scorching awareness of Rik’s presence behind her, and the effort was starting to take its toll.

Or perhaps it was just the heat. Or last night’s lack of sleep.

It was most certainly not physical attraction making her forget why she was here, or her vow to Lee. And it sure as hell couldn’t be the memory of those inked biceps making her want to indulge her fetish for bad boys.

She wasn’t that weak, was she, after everything she’d already been through?

“So what now?” She looked at the palm trees lining the esplanade, at the sizzling tar at her feet … anywhere but towards Rik.

“Now I take you home.”

At that, her gaze flew to his, horror that he’d read her thoughts tainting her cheeks.

“I need to fetch my car, remember?” That mocking look was back in his eyes.

His car. Of course. She hoped he believed her blush was due to the midday sun burning down.

She moved to the driver’s side but Rik shook his head and held out his hand. “This time I drive.”

She hesitated. While there was something in his tone that demanded obedience, it also made her skin crawl. He might not have any right to a title these days but he still acted like he ruled the world. Bloody Golden Boys.

But she had several ex-boyfriends and a ‘perfect’ big bother who’d helped her develop an immunity to men who believed the world would do their bidding. Just because the rest of the world thought they had it all didn’t mean they weren’t all douches. In her experience, men like Rik could charm the pants off you in one breath then make you feel like a piece of shit with the next.

And she wasn’t going to let anyone make her feel like that again.

She tossed the car keys at him. “Fine.”

He didn’t take them back the way they’d come. Instead, he drove along the edge of the harbour, out the other side of town and onto a rutted tar road that snaked around the steeply peaked mountain that had once been a volcano.

The road climbed higher and higher up the side of the mountain, twisting and turning, until her knuckles were white with a tension that wasn’t entirely induced by the cliff edge a few feet from the car’s tyres.

It may have been centuries since the volcano was last active, but she was sure the atmosphere inside the car would register on the Volcanic Explosivity Index. If she thought she’d been aware of him in the mayor’s office, it was nothing compared to her awareness of him inside the tight confines of the little car.

He slowed the car, shifting gear, the fabric of his jeans pulling taut across his thighs. She swallowed and looked away. “I thought we were going back to the hotel?”