“Enough, you two.” Joan from HR strolled up to the bar and ordered a Mai Tai, then she pulled out an empty barstool. “I’m glad you’re both here. We need to set some ground rules.”
I palmed the cocktail napkin with my poorly drawn map, but not before Grant caught me. One of his dark eyebrows rose. I lifted my chin in defiance.
“We don’t need ground rules,” I said, holding Grant’s gaze. “We need separate islands. I’ll turn in the rest of my vacation days if you strand him on one with nothing but a plastic spoon.”
The bartender delivered Joan’s Mai Tai, then backed away, tapping his chest pocket where he’d placed my card. He mouthed the wordsI’ll call you.
At least if this island retreat went up in flames, I could still make one couple happy.
Joan shot Grant and me a stern look. “The board won’t tolerate another fiasco like the Christmas-in-July clambake. Thanks to both of you, fireworks are banned from all future events. The sparklers aren’t the liability, you are.” She took a long gulp from her drink, and her gaze went shifty. “We already tried separating you, and working on opposite coasts hasn’t helped. So this time, we’re trying a different strategy.”
My brain flatlined. The tiki hut tilted. “No—”
“Yes.” Joan flicked her wrist, and a file with our names on it appeared, thick as an epic novel. “For the duration of the retreat, the two of you are required to spend every moment together. You’ll keep individual huts, but they’ll be side by side. You’ll eat together. You’ll be partners in every team-building exercise.”
Grant sputtered. “This mandate isn’t in the company handbook.”
Joan’s lips quirked, but her eyes stayed pure HR death glare. She slid a memo printed on company letterhead out of the folder and tapped the page.
“We’ve made an addendum. It’s the Spellman-and-Delaney clause. Non-negotiable.”
She snapped her fingers and conjured two resort keys. “Your belongings have already been moved. The good news is these huts have an ocean view. Consider it an upgrade.”
An upgrade? It was my worst nightmare. The cocktail napkin map and any dreams of fixing my magic with the waterfall would be dead in the actual water if I had Grant Delaney attached to my hip.
This wasn’t over.
I eyed the empty fruit tray with a frown, then pushed off my stool. I was resourceful; some might even say an evil genius when it came to handling Grant.
Plucking my key off the counter, I shoved my sunglasses to the top of my head and gave Grant a friendly wink. It landed with the weight of a wrecking ball. He even jolted as if it had hit him square in the chest.
Good.
I’d play along, score some points with the board, and then ditch Grant long enough to find the waterfall. But first, we had to survive our team-building exercise: tug-of-war.
And who said fate didn’t have a wicked sense of humor?
Chapter 2
Valerie
The path leading toour newly assigned huts was overflowing with tropical flowers, giant ferns, and tiki torches with their flames wavering in the breeze. I inhaled a deep, citrusy breath and counted all the ways I hated Grant Delaney.
One: he was too close.
The man was barely a step behind me. If I stopped short, he’d smack into me and send me toppling into the bushes.
Two: that wasn’t oranges in the air, it was Grant’s cologne, warm spice wrapped in tropical notes. It smelled amazing. I wanted to enchant it into a scented voodoo doll, so I could have the dual satisfaction of breathing it in while I stuck pins into his broad shoulders.
Three: I hated that even though we couldn’t have a civil conversation and spent most of our time finding new ways to get under each other’s skin, I still gravitated toward him. There had to be a term for it, and I was positive it lived somewhere on the family tree of Stockholm syndrome.
“Stop following me,” I muttered, whacking a fern out of the way and letting it whip behind me.
“You heard Joan. We’re supposed to spend every minute together.” The ice in his tone could have frozen the path into a skating rink.
“I’m surprised you didn’t pull rank. Aren’t they planning to announce your promotion to head of the Snowbelt division at tonight’s luau? You’d think your family inheritance would come with a perk.”
Grant made a low sound in his throat as he reached over me, lifting a drooping fern out of my face.
