couldn’t compare to his first with its dessert of Lina’s kisses. It wasn’t like him to lust so after a woman. He’d never had problems satisfying his physical needs, but this time the urge was specific. He wanted Lina, plain and simple.
Plain and simple. The two words described her perfectly, though she was anything but plain, and clearly not simple. Despite her skill with languages, she was an island girl untempered by MTV, McDonald’s, Botox and Sports Illustrated swimsuit issues. She was natural, beautiful, the most precious treasure he had ever discovered. To be more accurate, he conceded that she had discovered him.
He had been able to push Lina out of his head just far enough to function with his fellow attorneys and pharmaceutical reps, and he’d learned far more than he’d anticipated. Most of them had heard of a tea with miraculous weight loss properties and they’d come for samples to take back for testing and research. With boxes of dried Darwin mint already purchased, most of them had planned to fly out of Darwin the next day.
Carol, as usual, was ahead of the game. She already knew that the boxed product had dismally failed Coyle-Wexler’s laboratory testing and, like Jack, she wanted to buy the rights to the actual plant in its native habitat. And like the savvy attorney she was, she was digging her heels in for the full ride. She’d rented a cottage near the center of town and had paid for two weeks in advance.
Jack hoped it wouldn’t take that long to find and deal with Marchand…but as he wore circles in the carpet, he decided that he might not mind two weeks in Darwin, not if they were spent with Lina.
* * *
“You’re not dressed for skinny dipping,” Jack said, Lina’s emergence from the shadows stealing all but the obvious from his lips. He absently licked them as she neared him. With each step she took, her bare toes peeked from beneath her long, silky skirt. Rather than concealing the lines and hollows of her hips and legs, the sheer, floral-printed fabric of the low-slung skirt emphasized them. A glittering thread of gold loosely circled her bare midriff, the dangling end unerringly drawing Jack’s gaze to her lower abdomen and the soft angles of her exposed hip bones. Her hair hung loose and floated on the breeze generated by her movements. She was standing toe-to-toe with Jack before he realized that she wore nothing other than the skirt, the gold chain and her luxurious wealth of hair. Her hair cloaked her bare breasts, but Jack caught teasing peeks of plum as she raised her face to his.
“Neither are you,” Lina responded. She sidestepped him at the edge of the lagoon and went to the rattan table. A basket of Levora’s banana-kiwi, honey-raisin, cinnamon-oat and coconut-lime muffins made a fragrant centerpiece surrounded by a grand assortment of fresh fruit, a carafe of mint tea and a chilled bottle of Peterson’s Botrytis Semillon, a sweet white wine Jack had heard of but never tasted.
Lina ran her fingertip through the condensation beading on the chilled carafe. The film of moisture tempered the burst of heat she’d felt upon seeing Jack. He’d gotten some sun in the course of his day’s travels, and his crisp white shirt highlighted his new tan. Pleated khaki trousers, a dark braided leather belt and Cordovan loafers completed his apparel. His clothing was average to the point of bland, yet Lina was captivated by the simplicity of his attractiveness.
“I didn’t come to Darwin Island for this.” Jack flicked a hand in her general direction.
“For muffins?” She sat on the edge of the table and elegantly crossed one leg over the other. The high slit in her skirt allowed it to part and fall away, revealing her legs from toe to hip.
Logical thought eluded Jack for as long as he stared at the way her smooth legs gleamed in the moonlight. He tore his gaze away to stare at the interlocked canopies of the tall nikau palms. “I didn’t come here to get
Plain and simple. The two words described her perfectly, though she was anything but plain, and clearly not simple. Despite her skill with languages, she was an island girl untempered by MTV, McDonald’s, Botox and Sports Illustrated swimsuit issues. She was natural, beautiful, the most precious treasure he had ever discovered. To be more accurate, he conceded that she had discovered him.
He had been able to push Lina out of his head just far enough to function with his fellow attorneys and pharmaceutical reps, and he’d learned far more than he’d anticipated. Most of them had heard of a tea with miraculous weight loss properties and they’d come for samples to take back for testing and research. With boxes of dried Darwin mint already purchased, most of them had planned to fly out of Darwin the next day.
Carol, as usual, was ahead of the game. She already knew that the boxed product had dismally failed Coyle-Wexler’s laboratory testing and, like Jack, she wanted to buy the rights to the actual plant in its native habitat. And like the savvy attorney she was, she was digging her heels in for the full ride. She’d rented a cottage near the center of town and had paid for two weeks in advance.
Jack hoped it wouldn’t take that long to find and deal with Marchand…but as he wore circles in the carpet, he decided that he might not mind two weeks in Darwin, not if they were spent with Lina.
* * *
“You’re not dressed for skinny dipping,” Jack said, Lina’s emergence from the shadows stealing all but the obvious from his lips. He absently licked them as she neared him. With each step she took, her bare toes peeked from beneath her long, silky skirt. Rather than concealing the lines and hollows of her hips and legs, the sheer, floral-printed fabric of the low-slung skirt emphasized them. A glittering thread of gold loosely circled her bare midriff, the dangling end unerringly drawing Jack’s gaze to her lower abdomen and the soft angles of her exposed hip bones. Her hair hung loose and floated on the breeze generated by her movements. She was standing toe-to-toe with Jack before he realized that she wore nothing other than the skirt, the gold chain and her luxurious wealth of hair. Her hair cloaked her bare breasts, but Jack caught teasing peeks of plum as she raised her face to his.
“Neither are you,” Lina responded. She sidestepped him at the edge of the lagoon and went to the rattan table. A basket of Levora’s banana-kiwi, honey-raisin, cinnamon-oat and coconut-lime muffins made a fragrant centerpiece surrounded by a grand assortment of fresh fruit, a carafe of mint tea and a chilled bottle of Peterson’s Botrytis Semillon, a sweet white wine Jack had heard of but never tasted.
Lina ran her fingertip through the condensation beading on the chilled carafe. The film of moisture tempered the burst of heat she’d felt upon seeing Jack. He’d gotten some sun in the course of his day’s travels, and his crisp white shirt highlighted his new tan. Pleated khaki trousers, a dark braided leather belt and Cordovan loafers completed his apparel. His clothing was average to the point of bland, yet Lina was captivated by the simplicity of his attractiveness.
“I didn’t come to Darwin Island for this.” Jack flicked a hand in her general direction.
“For muffins?” She sat on the edge of the table and elegantly crossed one leg over the other. The high slit in her skirt allowed it to part and fall away, revealing her legs from toe to hip.
Logical thought eluded Jack for as long as he stared at the way her smooth legs gleamed in the moonlight. He tore his gaze away to stare at the interlocked canopies of the tall nikau palms. “I didn’t come here to get
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