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“Ah, I can help you there. Are you in the hotel or a private villa?”
“Villa.”
“Me too.” She moved ahead of him to lead him toward a waiting shuttle. “I’ll show you.”
“Thanks.”
As they slid onto the last empty bench seat together at the back of the shuttle, Ani caught a whiff of his cologne—mint and spice and a hint of soap. Nice. And helping people always made her feel better. Good thing too, considering she’d practically grown up taking care of her mother.
She shook off those thoughts. That was neither here nor there and she came to this island to forget anyway. Forget her past with her mother. Forget the horrific break-up with Marcus. Forget all of her problems and just concentrate on herself for once.
As the shuttle took off and the jostling of the wheels caused Ani to bump into Rehaj, she couldn’t help wondering what had brought such a gorgeous, successful man to this island and what exactly he needed to forget.
He turned to her once they were under the shade of the surrounding palm trees and removed his glasses. Man, oh man. Those were some beautiful eyes he had. Light green and piercing, as if he could see through to Ani’s very soul. “So, what brings you to Amour Island?”
Ani swallowed hard and looked away from his too-perceptive gaze. She’d been wrong. He wasn’t just gorgeous, he was stunning.
“Same old, same old,” she said, trying to brush off the waves of attraction threatening to draw her under. It was heartache, loneliness for Marcus, right? That had to be it. It had only been eight months since their break-up. She was still grieving, wasn’t she? If the pounding of her heart was any indication, maybe not.
“I have a secret,” he said, flashing a small smile, his teeth even and white against his tanned skin. “Want to see?”
“If that’s a pick-up line, it’s probably the worst ever.” Ani snorted. “Seriously. I think I see why you’re here now. You need help with your game.”
Rehaj shook his head and reached into the inner pocket of his suit jacket. “My game is fine, Miss Brightbridge. But if you’re nice, I might let you use this.”
Ani glanced over to see him waggling a burner phone between his fingers. “Oh! Where did you get that?”
“I’m a man of many talents.” Rehaj grinned and slid the phone back into his pocket. “Now we shall see if we can actually get any cell service out here in the middle of the ocean.”
“We’re not that far out.”
“True.” The shuttle emerged out onto the beach and drove a bit far down the sand to where a jumble of thatched roof huts were nestled amongst the foliage, some on stilts, some nearly at the water’s edge. Ani thought it was beautiful, but the man beside her was frowning. “This is not what I expected.”
“What?” Ani asked as the shuttle pulled to a halt and they got out. The sand felt warm and squishy beneath her feet and she kicked off her sandals. “All the villas are adjoined. Each has a private entrance, but we’re all together. Mine’s the corner one over there on the left. Let me see your keycard.” He pulled it out and handed it to her. “Cool! We’re neighbors. Yours is right next door to mine. C’mon. I’ll help you get settled.”
When he didn’t follow right away, she stopped to look back at him. “I promise I don’t bite. You act like all this is a huge shock. Didn’t you read the brochures before you came?”
“I could ask you the same thing, Miss Brightbridge,” he said, tromping through the sand in his expensive handmade loafers.
“Ani, please. It’s what everyone calls me.” She held her hand over her eyes to block the brilliant rays of the setting sun. “And touché. I didn’t read the brochures because my sister planned this trip for me. Thought it would do me good to get away.”
“What a coincidence,” Rehaj said, stalking past her toward his villa. “Mine did the same for me.”
2
Rehaj let himself into his villa, thankful for a moment of silence at last. Not that he’d minded talking to Ani. Quite the contrary. He’d found her amusing and different. He was used to his sisters, who shared a mutual love of shopping and clothes and decorating, but were also pragmatic and as driven as Rehaj and his brothers to rebuild their country and improve Djeva’s standing in the world.
Ani seemed smart, though he hadn’t gotten the same sense of overwhelming ambition from her like he did from his sisters. Even his youngest sibling, Razi, already had her future planned out. At fourteen, she was a wizard with all things tech and her goal was to revolutionize the technology infrastructure within Djeva to make it a global data-processing powerhouse.
No. What he actually picked up on most from Ani was a sense of uncertainty and loss. Two things he was well acquainted with. The loss of his father had hit him hard and he still found himself struck by sorrow from time to time, though it had been well over a year now since his father’s passing. Then there had been young Ayesha. At seventeen, she’d been so young, so beautiful, so hopeful. Back then, Rehaj had been hopeful too. He’d imagined they would live happily ever after with Ayesha as his princess. The car accident had ended all of that forever.
My fault. All my fault.
Exhaling slowly, he shut the door to the villa behind him then switched on the lights. The sun had set now, leaving everything bathed in shadows. Across the room there were open doors that led to a veranda outside and the curtains billowed in the breeze. It really was a lovely resort, meant for lovers. His mind wandered back to all those couples he’d seen in the lobby and suddenly Rehaj felt far older than his thirty years.
With a sigh, he set about unpacking his things, then shrugged out of his suit jacket and tie, unbuttoning the top button on his shirt and rolling up his sleeves. Starting tomorrow, he’d wear the sporty casual stuff he’d packed. This was a vacation, after all.
A knock at the door had him turning to find a sheet of paper had been slipped beneath his door. He walked over to pick it up and found it was an itinerary for the next day. The words Recover Love Rehab were printed across the top and below them were hourly scheduled activities designed to get the island’s current residents mixing and mingling. Also beside each activity the name of another guest was listed—his partner, he supposed. To his shock and relief, Ani’s name was beside his for the entire day. She seemed nice enough, even if he wasn’t looking to get involved at this point. And yes, she seemed a little too high-strung and overdramatic for his tastes—he preferred women who knew the score and didn’t mind disappearing at the first whiff of media coverage—but they could make this work. From the schedule, the activities were set to start at eight sharp. That meant he could get up early and go for a nice long swim in the ocean before partnering up. Things were looking better already.
