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This was different. This was Andreas’s home. She had told herself over and over that this was an opportunity that had been gift-wrapped for her but she still felt as if she’d breached an invisible line.
He deserves it, she told herself grimly, focussing her mind on Violet’s scarred, emaciated body and its root cause. He deserves everything he gets.
She checked her phone and sighed to see the message to her editor still pending. Her room must be in a black spot.
After a quick shower under the disappointing trickle of water in her private bathroom, only mitigated by the expensive, wonderfully scented toiletries provided for her, it was time to select an outfit to wear.
After rifling through her new clothing for the dozenth time she chose a dark blue dress covered in tiny white dots. It was made of the sheerest material, had the thinnest of spaghetti straps and fell to mid-thigh but at least it covered her cleavage. And, she had to admit, it was pretty.
Scrabbling through her handbag, she found a hairband wedged in the bottom and tied her hair into a loose bun at the nape of her neck. She had no make-up with her. Usually that didn’t matter as she rarely wore it but today she felt she could do with some camouflage.
Dressed and feeling much more alert, she pulled the floor-length curtains open and gasped.
The sight that greeted her could have come from a postcard.
If she’d peeked through the curtains during the night she would have seen her room had its own private balcony. She stepped out onto it now, heart thumping, the sun kissing her skin good morning.
She closed her eyes to savour the feeling then opened them again, hand on her throat, staring in stunned awe at the deep blue sky unmarred by so much as a solitary cloud and at the stunning azure ocean that lapped gently onto the finest white sand imaginable, the cove’s shore lined with palm trees. A short distance ahead sat an isolated green landmass that looked, from her dazed estimation, close enough that she might tread through water to it. An artist couldn’t have painted a more perfect scene.
‘Good morning, Caroline.’
The deep, cheerful voice startled her and she gripped the balustrade before turning her head.
So mind-blown had she been by the view before her, she hadn’t noticed her balcony was far too wide to be hers alone.
Hair damp and wearing nothing but a pair of low-slung black shorts, Andreas strolled to stand beside her and grinned. ‘What did I tell you about the view in daylight—takes the breath away, doesn’t it?’
Her grip on the balustrade tightening, she stared back out at the view and nodded. ‘It’s stunning.’
But it was the view standing feet away from her that had truly stolen her breath and, though she tried her hardest to keep her attention on what lay in front of her, her senses were leaping to what stood beside her.
His body was even better than her imagination had allowed her to believe. Broad shouldered, muscular without being overdone and deeply tanned, this was a body kept fit by plenty of swimming and enjoyment of the outside life, not by lifting weights or working on a treadmill. This wasn’t a body that had been sculptured out of vanity.
‘Sleep well?’ he murmured, resting his arms on the balustrade.
She inhaled and gave a sharp nod, intensely aware of his penetrative gaze on her.
So much for sleep curing her inexplicable awareness of him.
‘Fine, thank you.’
‘Good. Ready to start work?’
She nodded again.
‘Then let’s introduce you to the others and get some breakfast. I don’t know about you but I’m starving.’
‘Okay.’ She turned to go back into her room.
‘Caroline?’
She met his sparkling gaze. ‘Yes?’
‘Have you forgotten my most basic requirement?’
She furrowed her brow as she tried to clear her mind of his semi-nakedness enough to think, pretended her insides hadn’t just clenched and heated to see the fine dark hair that lightly covered his chest snaked down and over his hard abdomen to where his shorts rested low…
He shook his head in amusement. ‘Where is my smile?’
‘Still waking up,’ she replied without thinking.
His grin was wide enough to eclipse the rising sun. ‘Ah, you do have a sense of humour. I did wonder. Now let’s get some breakfast.’
And with that, he strolled back into his room.
Carrie was on the brink of laughter for reasons she couldn’t begin to understand, although she suspected it would have a hysterical quality to it if it came out, when clarity suddenly came to her.
She was here.
She’d got the job.
Everything was in place to allow her to do what she’d spent the last three years dreaming of doing. The last thing she wanted was to blow the opportunity by not performing as required and getting sacked before she’d properly started.
