Find out by asking her.
His inner voice made a good point, and if it turned out she was with someone else, he’d tip his beer bottle in her direction and tell her to have a nice evening. He’d go have that swim after all.
If she was by herself, then who knew what could happen. He couldn’t deny his attraction toward her.Perhaps Narelle was looking for what he was, too. A bit of fun for a night. He didn’t do one-night stands now. He’d outgrown that in his early twenties, but the urge to travel down that road again with Narelle was stronger than he’d ever had in recent years.
“Here you go.” He placed the wine in front of her, and she smiled her thanks.
He took the seat opposite her. The location of the table wasn’t ideal, but from where he sat, he still had a good view of the exits. He didn’t like having his back exposed to half the room, though. “Are you here by yourself or with friends?”
Narelle canted her head to the left where there was a woman wrapped up in a man’s arms. They were propping up the wall and totally oblivious to what was going on around them as they made out. “I’m with her. She’s a girl I work with. It was a last-minute thing for me to take this trip. We’re not close friends. We haven’t spent much time together. How about you? Are you with anybody or by yourself?”
Relief swept through him. She was alone and wondering the same thing about him.
“Here for work.” He didn’t elaborate. It wasn’t like when he was in the Army and was always going on top-secret missions, so he couldn’t talk about his job. He worked for a private security company. Hecould talk about what he did if he wanted. However, what he’d done for Bayden and the federal police on this trip was classified.
She nodded and took a sip of her drink. “Not a bad place to have to come for work.”
“I’ve been to worse.”
“Sounds interesting.”
There was the opening to tell her more about himself, but Andy wasn’t sure he wanted to. He had no idea where Narelle lived. She was Australian, like him, but she could live on the other side of the country from him. Or be an ex-pat who lived and worked in another part of the world.
Maybe he should give up the idea of the spending the night with her, and, instead of a swim, take a cold shower.
“It’s not very exciting,” he said instead. “How long are you here for?”
Loud laughter rang out around them, and before he could blink, two men crashed into the table, spilling Narelle’s drink everywhere. She yelped and pushed her chair back from the table.
Andy shot up and hauled the two men off the table. “Watch what you’re doing,” he growled.
The sandy blond-haired man grinned. “Sorry, man.” He slurred his words, and Andy rolled hiseyes, giving him a little nudge as he released his hold.
“You might want to head up to your rooms instead of banging into tables.”
The other guy sneered at Andy, looking like he wanted a fight. “Fuck off, old man.”
They weren’t worth the energy of arguing with, and he had better things to do than fight with a couple of drunks. Andy held out his hand toward Narelle. “Shall we get out of here?”
Chapter
Two
Narelle Hennessy looked at the outstretched hand of the sexy stranger whose muscles had bulged when he’d pulled the guy off their table. She’d been in Bali for a week, and Andy was the best-looking man she’d seen her whole trip. Then again, it wasn’t as if she’d gone out of her way to seek the company of another person. Most of the time she’d lazed by the pool with her Kindle, while her co-worker, Camille, had been notching up conquest after conquest. She’d told Andy the truth when she’d said it had been a last-minute trip. Camille’s best friend had found out she was pregnant, had terrible morning sickness, and didn’t want to travel to Bali.
Narelle also happened to be taking some vacation time. Camille had found out and asked if she wanted to go with her. Even now, she still wasn’t sure why her work colleague had invited her along. They’d been competing for the same promotion, which Narelle had gotten, and Camille hadn’t been too happy about it. Thinking about it, it was weird how it all came about. As it had been a few years since she’d been on vacation anywhere, she’d said yes.
Now here she stood in the middle of a noisy bar, with a very sexy man who wanted to spend time with her, and maybe something even more.
How is this happening to me?
She’d read so many romances where the characters had holiday flings which turned into a forever kind of love. She always thought it sounded amazing. Here was her chance to be like them. Not that she imagined having a forever love with Andy, but why not live a little?
“Sure, getting out of here sounds like a great idea.” She took Andy’s hand, doing everything she could to stop another full body shiver from being obvious.
What was it about this man that had her body reacting faster than fishin a feeding frenzy?
The crowd seemed to part for them, and as they made their way past Camille, she caught her co-worker’s eye. Camille sent her a thumbs up when she saw Narelle was walking out with a man.
