We sit in silence and sip on our drinks.
I fire off an email to James and his team. This is not something that can wait. I’m sure there’ll be additional items that will need to be addressed. The report told me as much, but this is the most urgent by far.
Bethany appears a little while later to deliver us to Jax’s water villa. I’m not sure what possessed me to agree to stay with him. The only thing I can think of is that exhaustion has stolen my sense of self-preservation and impaired my judgement. That and the guilt of displacing the general manager, even for forty-eight hours. It simply seemed wrong when we got there. The staff would also have felt ill at ease. The CEO living amongst them.
I listen in fascination as Jax questions Bethany about the sustainability factors the hotel has in place. She’s surprisingly knowledgeable and offers him a behind-the-scenes tour should he want one.
His enthusiasm is contagious, and I find myself looking forward to learning more about how this hotel operates. At the end of the day, it has to sustain itself. It’s an island, so water, electricity, and sewage disposal all have to be dealt with on-site.
Bethany turns off the main island and drives us along another jetty. This one houses all the water villas. Individual buildings, mounted on stilts, sit in the shallow waters of the reef that surround the island. Fish, reef sharks and manta rays circle beneath us.
Several maintenance men are working on the thatched roofs of some of the buildings.
“Storm damage?” I ask, making a mental note to speak to Mr Baskin about how often this happens.
“Sadly, yes,” Bethany says. “But they’ll all be fixed by nightfall.”
She pulls up outside one of the villas.
“Here we are again,” she says, smiling at Jax, before taking out a keycard and opening the door.
I follow her into a hallway with a floor-to-ceiling glass window at the opposite end. The crystal clear water of the Indian Ocean spreads out as far as the eye can see, stealing my breath.
“To the left is the bedroom, the right, the bathroom. There’s plenty of storage for clothes here. On the balcony, you have your plunge pool, sun loungers and steps leading down into the sea.”
I leave Jax with Bethany, and step into the main bedroom.
A small, single bed has been added to the space.
“If you have any questions?”
“I think that will be all,” I hear Jax say.
I turn and look towards the hallway. “Thank you, Bethany.”
She smiles before letting herself out.
“It’s a beautiful location,” Jax says, entering the room and throwing his bag down into one of the chairs near the window. “The water looks tempting, I might go for a swim.”
His presence and accommodating attitude are doing strange things to my equilibrium. I need to put some space between us.
“I’ll leave you to unpack,” I say, suddenly. “I’m going to explore.”
“Are you sure? I can leave if you want me to.”
I shake my head and hold up a hand, stopping him.
“I’m fine,” I say before cringing at my words.
Jax chuckles.
“I’ll rephrase that. I could do with a walk. If I stop now, I’m likely to fall asleep, and it’s too early.”
I turn and leave before he can say anything else, or worse, offer to come with me. Jax has always had a profound effect on me, almost from the beginning. It’s not just his looks. He is, by anyone’s standards, beautiful. His chiselled jaw and high cheekbones have caught the eye of both men and women. I’m surprised he was never approached to model. His swimmer’s physique, broad shoulders and trim waist make his frame perfect for modelling.
But I don’t need to think about him, and certainly not in that way.
That ship sailed a long time ago.
