She tried not to grind her teeth at the air of entitlement. It became far easier to ignore the appeal of his shirtless chest once he started speaking in that superior air.
“Towels are available when the beach cabana opens at eight.” Bending to retrieve the duffel on the corner of her mat, she tugged out hers and handed it to him. “Poppy can have mine.”
He hesitated.
She fought the urge to cram the terry cloth back in her bag and stomp off. But, of course, she couldn’t do that. She reached toward the pup’s neck and scratched her there instead. Poppy’s heart-shaped collar jangled softly against Maresa’s hand. She noticed the “If Found” name on the back.
Olivia Trager?
Maybe the animal belonged to a girlfriend.
“Thank you.” He took the hand towel and tucked it around the dog. Poppy stared out of her wrap as if used to being swaddled. “I really didn’t mean to interrupt you.”
He sounded more sincere this time. Maresa glanced up at him, only to realize how close they were standing. His gaze roamed over her as if he had been taking advantage of an unseen moment, the same way she had ogled him earlier. Becoming aware of her skimpy yoga crop top and the heat of awareness warming her skin, she stepped back awkwardly.
“Ms. Trager must really trust you with her dog.” She hadn’t meant to say it aloud. Then again, maybe hearing about his girlfriend would stop these wayward thoughts about him. “That is, no wonder you want to take such good care of her.”
Awkward much? Maresa cursed herself for sticking her nose in his personal business.
His expression remained inscrutable for a moment. He studied her as if weighing how much to share. “My mother wouldn’t trust anyone but me with her dog,” he said finally.
She considered his words, still half wishing the mystery Ms. Trager was a girlfriend on her way to the resort today. Then Maresa would have to take a giant mental step backward from the confusing hotel guest. As it stood, she had no one to save her from the attraction but herself. With that in mind, she raked up her yoga mat and started rolling it.
“Well, I hope the dog walker and groomer meet your criteria.” She stuffed the mat in her duffel, wondering why he hadn’t let the walker take the animal out in the first place. “I’m happy to find someone else if—”
“The walker is fine. You’re doing an excellent job, Maresa.”
The unexpected praise caught her off guard. She nearly dropped her bag, mostly because he fixed her with his clear blue gaze. Heat rushed through her again, and it didn’t have anything to do with the sun bathing them in the morning light now that it was fully risen.
“Thank you.” Her throat went dry. She backed up a step. Retreating. “I’m going to let you enjoy the beach.”
Maresa turned toward the path through the thick undergrowth that led back to the hotel and nearly ran right into Jaden Torries, her ex-fiancé.
“Whoa!” Jaden’s one hand reached to steady her, his other curved protectively around a pink bundle he carried. Tall and rangy, her artist ex-boyfriend was thin where Cameron was well-muscled. The round glasses Jaden wore for affectation and not because he needed them were jammed into the thick curls that reached his shoulders. “Maresa. I’ve been trying to contact you.”
He released her, juggling his hold on the small pink parcel he carried. A parcel that wriggled?
“I’ve been busy.” She wanted to pivot away from the man who’d told the whole island he was dumping her before informing her of the fact. But that shifting pink blanket captured her full attention.
A tiny wrinkled hand reached up from the lightweight cotton, the movement followed by the softest sigh imaginable.
Her ex-fiancé was carrying a baby.
“But this is important, Maresa. It’s about Isla.” He lowered his arm cradling the infant so Maresa could see her better.
Indigo eyes blinked up at her. Short dark hair complimented the baby’s medium skin tone. A white cotton headband decorated with rosettes rested above barely there eyebrows. Perfectly formed tiny features were molded into a silent yawn, the tiny hands reaching heavenward as the baby shifted against Jaden.
Something shifted inside Maresa at the same time. A maternal urge she hadn’t known she possessed seized her insides and squeezed tight. Once upon a time she had dreamed about having this man’s babies. She’d imagined what they would look like. Now, he had sought her out to...taunt her with the life she’d missed out on?
The maternal urge hardened into resentment, but she’d be damned if she’d let him see it.
“Congratulations. Your daughter is lovely, Jaden.” She straightened as the large shadow of Cameron Holmes covered them both.
“Is there a problem, Ms. Delphine?” His tone was cool and impersonal, yet in that awkward moment he felt like an ally.
She appreciated his strong presence beside her when she felt that old surge of betrayal. She let Jaden answer since she didn’t feel any need to defend the ex who’d called off their wedding via a text message.
“There’s no problem. I’m an old friend of Maresa’s. Jaden Torries.” He extended his free hand to introduce himself.
Mr. Holmes ignored it. Poppy barked at Jaden.
“Then I’m sure you’ll respect Maresa’s wish to be on her way.” Her unlikely rescuer tucked his hand under one arm as easily as he’d plucked his pet from the water earlier.
The warmth of his skin made her want to curl into him just like Poppy had, too.
“Right.” Jaden dropped his hand. “Except Rafe’s old girlfriend, Trina, left town last night, Maresa. And since Trina’s my cousin, she stuck me with the job of delivering Rafe’s daughter into your care.”
Maresa’s feet froze to the spot. She had a vague sense of Cameron leaning closer to her, his hand suddenly at her back. Which was helpful, because she thought for a minute there was a very real chance she was going to faint. Her knees wobbled beneath her.
“Sorry to spring it on you like this,” Jaden continued. “I tried telling Trina she owed it to your family to tell you in person, and I thought I had her talked into it, but—”
“Rafe?” Maresa turned around slowly, needing to see with her own eyes if there was any chance Jaden was telling the truth. “Trina broke up with him almost a year ago. Right after the accident.”
Jaden stepped closer. “Right. And Trina didn’t even find out she was pregnant until a couple of weeks afterward, while Rafe was still in critical condition. Trina decided to go through with the pregnancy on her own. Isla was born the end of January.”
Maresa was too shaken to even do the math, but she did know that Trina and Rafe had been hot and heavy for the last month or two they were together. They’d been a constant fixture on Maresa’s social media feed for those weeks. Which had made it all the more upsetting when Trina bailed on him right after the accident, bursting into tears every time she got close to his bedside before giving up altogether. Had she been even more emotional because she’d been in the early stages of pregnancy?
“Why wouldn’t she have called me or my mother?” Her knees wobbled again as her gaze fell on the tiny infant. Isla? She had Rafe’s hairline—the curve of dark hair encroaching on the temples. But plenty of babies had that, didn’t they? “I would have helped her. I could have been there when the baby was born.”
“Who is Rafe?” Cameron asked.
She’d forgotten all about him.
Maresa gulped a breath. “My brother.” The very real possibility that Jaden was telling the truth threatened to level her. Rafe was in no position to be a father with the assorted symptoms he still battled. And financially? She was barely getting by supporting her family and paying some of Rafe’s staggering medical bills since he hadn’t been fully insured at the time.
“Look.” Jaden set a bright pink diaper bag down on the beach. Cartoon cats cartwheeled across the front. “My apartment is no place for a baby. You know that, right? I just took her because Trina showed up last night, begging me for help. I told her no, but told her she could spend the night. She took off while I was sleeping. But she left a note for you.” He looked as though he wanted to sort through the diaper bag to find it, but before he leaned down he held the baby out to Maresa. “Here. Take her.”
Maresa wasn’t even sure she’d made up her mind to do so when Jaden thrust the warm, precious weight into her arms. He was still talking about Trina seeming “unstable” ever since giving birth, but Maresa couldn’t follow his words with an infant in her arms. She felt stiff and awkward, but she was careful to support the squirming bundle, cradling the baby against her chest while Isla gurgled and kicked.
Maresa’s heart turned over. Melted.
Here, the junglelike landscaping blocked out the sun where the tree branches arced over the dirt path. The scent of green and growing things mingled with the sea breeze and a hint of baby shampoo.
“She’s a beauty,” Cameron observed over her shoulder. He had set Poppy on the ground so he could get closer to Isla and Maresa. “Are you okay holding her?”
“Fine,” she said automatically, not wanting to give her up. “Just...um...overwhelmed.”
Glancing up at him, she caught her breath at the expression on his face as he looked down at the child in her arms. She had thought he seemed different—kinder—toward Poppy. But that unguarded smile she’d seen for the Maltese was nothing compared to the warmth in his expression as he peered down at the baby.
