“Most people come to Bermuda and want a Dark ’N’ Stormy or a Rum Swizzle,” he says, and his biceps flex as he picks uptwo glasses from a rack that looks like it was just pulled from the dishwasher and uses a towel to dry them off. “You can get a Dark ’N’ Stormy anywhere though, so I’d go with the Rum Swizzle as long as you like a fruity cocktail.”
“Sure, let’s do that,” I say. Normally I’d order something boring like a vodka tonic, because I know these fruity drinks are loaded with calories and I try to keep strict tabs on what I eat. I wish I had the kind of body that didn’t act like it was in starvation mode, storing every calorie I eat. But I’ve accepted that counting macros and watching calories are just part of my life if I want to stay even remotely fit.
He turns to leave when the guy beside me calls out, “Yeah, I’d love a Dark ’N’ Stormy, thanks for asking.”
My chest shakes with laughter as the bartender turns back toward us, gives him a small salute, and then proceeds down the bar.
“Oh, helikesyou,” I say with a laugh.
“I think he doesn’t like that I’m sitting next to you.”
“What makes you say that?” I’m not looking for flattery, I’m actually curious.
“Maybe the way he was so obvious about it, calling you lovely, and completely ignoring me even though we were talking when he walked up.”
“Hmmm,” the noise rattles around in my throat as I glance down the bar where the guy is making our drinks. He glances up, his blond hair flopping back from his face as he looks over and gives me a wink.
“You still not sure he’s into you?” the guy next to me says with a laugh.
I turn toward him then, putting my full back to the bartender as I say, “He’s not my type.”
“Oh yeah, what’s your type?”
A little over an hour ago, while I was holed up in my hotel room, AJ sent a text:Find a hot guy and have a vacation fling, and then never think about Carter again.
What are the odds he’d sit down right next to me? I send a silentThank Youout to the universe, then say, “I like them tall, with dark hair.”
He folds his muscular forearms over each other on the bar and then leans toward me, nudging my arm with his elbow. “Where would you ever find someone like that?”
Chapter Four
AIDAN
Was there another seat available at the opposite end of the bar when I arrived? There sure was. But I noticed the way the bartender was eyeing the cute girl currently sitting next to me, and the way she was completely oblivious to him.
It’s not in my nature to go for a woman when there’s competition. I’ll take the sure thing over the girl I’ve got to fight for any day. There are too many willing women in this world to waste my energy like that. But something told me that this one would be worth it.
“So what are you doing at the bar alone?” I ask her.
“I was meeting people here and their flight was cancelled. You?”
“Same. I heard some guy at the front desk say that any flight arriving after three today was cancelled because of the storm.”
She glances across the bar, where the wind is already bending the palm trees. “Think it will get much worse?”
“I mean, I wouldn’t want to land a plane in this. But it’s not going to destroy the hotel or anything.”
“Do you land many planes?” Her voice is teasing, and there’s something about the way she lifts her eyebrow, like she’s lookingto call me out on my bullshit, that makes me want to know her better.
“Not many, no.”
“But some?”
“Occasionally.”
I have my pilot’s license, and I fly just enough to maintain it. It was something I got because I had a fear of flying when I was younger, and my stepdad thought that if I flew a plane myself and understood how everything worked, I’d get over the fear. I did it just to prove to myself that I could, and it worked. Which is a good thing, because once I started playing hockey in college, I was on planes all the time and that hasn’t stopped since.
She lifts the Rum Swizzle that the bartender set beside her a few minutes ago, and pulls the straw between her lips. They’re full and pouty in a way that has my gaze instantly focused on them. She takes a sip, then lets her lips part so the straw falls against the side of the glass before she looks up, running her tongue along the seam between her lips, and saying, “Wow, that’s good.”
