AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Can I get you something to drink?” the waiter asked.
“Margarita, please.”
“Whiskey,” James said, his eyes still locked on my face. “Did you find your room okay?”
I nodded. “I’m staying at one of the cottages at the resort. What about you?”
“I’ve got a house on the beach.”
My eyebrows shot up in surprise. “Wow, that must be luxurious.”
He huffed out a laugh. “It’s actually pretty small and rundown.”
“Oh. You should talk to the owner then.”
“I am the owner.”
I flushed red, ducking my head in embarrassment. “Well…I don’t know what to tell you then.”
He shrugged. “I’m fixing it up. It’s just a small thing, but it has potential…in maybe a few years,” he grinned.
“And what inspired you to buy a house that’s rundown?”
Our drinks were delivered and he waited for the waiter to leave before answering. He stared down at his whiskey, spinning the glass on the wooden table. “It was cheap,” he said teasingly. “I like to work with my hands. I’ve always wanted to fix up a house, and this seemed like an opportunity I couldn’t pass up.”
I watched him for a moment, only now noticing the t-shirt he wore. It definitely wasn’t designer. In fact, nothing about him screamed wealth, yet he bought a house on the beach. That couldn’t have been cheap, even rundown. Which made me wonder if this man had money—not that it mattered. Money didn’t make people better. If anything, it made them worse in my experience. Shaking those thoughts from my head, I realized he was waiting for me to say something.
“I know nothing about fixing up houses.”
“No big remodeling projects in your future?” he grinned.
“Not unless I’m donating money to it,” I said, my voice dripping with contempt. I realized how bitchy I sounded and immediately shook my head. “Sorry, that makes me sound like a bitch.”
“It’s okay. I get it.”
“So, did you really come all the way down here just to fix up a house?”
He took a sip of his whiskey, his throat working as he swallowed. “Well, that and to steal cabs from unsuspecting tourists.”
My eyebrows shot up. “Hey, I could be native to this area.”
“I highly doubt that,” he grinned.
“Give me one good reason why not.”
“I’ll give you three. One, a native from this area would have already known about the cab thief and ordered a car to pick her up instead.”
“Maybe I like watching cab thieves in action.”
The amusement on his face grew. “Two, you’re staying at a nice resort. If you lived here, why would you stay at the resort?”
“Obviously, to catch cab thieves in action.”
“But if you really lived here, you’d see them all the time.”
Well, he had me there. “I concede to your point.”
“So, why does a beautiful woman like yourself come on vacation all alone?”
