Escape by M.K. Elliott

Lucy. She wanted a shift covered so she could go to another island and party. I told her I wouldn’t do it and she was pissed. I’ve covered too many of her shifts recently and I had to put my foot down.”
    “Oh, of course.” She shook her head, embarrassed. “So what is this all about then?”
    “I told you. It’s an apology.” He bit at his lip and she wished it was her mouth he was biting. “I like you, Lucy,” he admitted. “I didn’t want you to hate me.”
    A flush of pleasure crept up her chest. She picked up a piece of croissant and nibbled on it, trying to hide how she felt.
    “I have to go,” he said, and her heart sank in disappointment. “I have a group of desperate tourists who want to go diving, waiting for me, but can I assume your acceptance of breakfast means we’re friends?”
    She looked down at her croissant and smiled. She couldn’t believe he had gone to so much trouble for her. “Friends,” she echoed.
    “Great. How about you come meet me tonight? The resort is having another barbeque down at the beach. Please tell me you’ll come? I promise to be waiting for you.”
    “I’d love to.”              
    “Great,” he said again and they smiled at each other. She glanced aw ay, suddenly shy and he stood , pushing his chair away.
    “See you tonight t hen,” he said over his shoulder as he headed down the steps.
    Lucy watched him go, his broad shoulders hard beneath his shirt, the muscles in his calves bending and flexing as he walked. Had she ever been so attracted to anyone in her entire life?
    A pang of guilt clutched at her throat. She had barely thought about Max since she got here and now she was fantasizing about another man. She wondered if she should call him, tell him it was over.
    The thought rang an alarm bell inside her. Was that what she had decided, her relationship with Max was over? It was scary how quickly her mind jumped to such an instant and final decision.
    She took a deep, shaky breath. It was a big step. They had everything together—their whole lives. But then she realiz ed they didn’t share much at all. They rented the flat they lived in, and while they might lose their deposit, that would be about the worst of it. Everything else—bank accounts, investments, were all separate. They had never taken that next step and combined their finances. Each of them had their own careers and they hadn’t felt the need to merge.
    Lucy tried to figure out what time it was in England. What were they—eight hours behind? Eight hours ahead? She had no idea. Even if she knew, she didn’t know what shifts Max was working at the moment. T he chances of catching him in (and awake) were pretty slim.
    There was always email.
    Again her stomach twisted with guilt. Did she really plan to end her two year relationship via email? When had she gotten so cold? Anyway, the satellite that allowed them to connect to the Internet didn’t face in the right direction until this evening, so she couldn’t do anything until then.
    Her hangover started to fade. Part of her felt like the morning so far had been nothing but a dream. She struggled to believe the gorgeous dive instructor had just told her he liked her. Things like that didn’t happen to people like her. She was normal, ordinary, certainly not the type of woman men brought surprise romantic breakfasts to.
    Her day was free to do as she pleased. She knew she ought to try to see a bit more of the island, but all she really wanted to do was flake out.
    Flaking out won.
    Lucy headed down to the beach with a book. The hangover still haunted her, but excitement about the upcoming night overruled her fo g gy mind . The knowledge that she wasn’t going to bump into Rudy, and now she knew Rachel didn’t have any kind of hold on him, meant she could relax. She even felt a certain amount of pleasure in knowing that Rudy didn’t like Rachel. Clearly the other woman had a thing for him and she had made her dislike of