Trial Run: Addicted To Love Romance Collection by Ella Medler Page B

reassuring. Rob turned to look at her slender fingers on his skin. It was hard to ignore the burning sensation there.
    “I don’t really want to go that way,” he said, turning his gaze away once again, “but the little nest egg I’ve built so far will not last me forever. I’ve got to think of the future.”
    “Did you speak with Jason?”
    Rob shook his head.
    “Are you afraid of what he would say?”
    “Nah, that’s not it. I just didn’t have the time. Something came up.” He glanced at her pointedly.
    “Oh. Sorry. We can have a word with Jason when we return. My brother has got his fingers in so many pies, he’s bound to know of any opportunities around south Florida.”
    Rob nodded. “Okay. Now would you mind checking the weather map? I thought we were supposed to have a clear sky. I don’t like the look of those clouds over there.”
    Amelie rose from her seat and went to rummage for her phone, which had been packed in one of her bags. She flicked through some screens, then frowned at it. “No. There’s no cloud forecast. No rain. Not even much of a wind.”
    “Hmm…”
    “What’s wrong?” Amelie asked, absentmindedly slipping the phone in her shorts’ back pocket.
    “I don’t like it. Don’t like it at all.”
    “You don’t like what?”
    “No wind. There’s never a time when there is no wind. Except…”
    “Except?”
    “Except when the wind is changing.”
    Amelie gasped. She’d lived there long enough to know what the change in winds brought about. The hurricane season would hit early this year.

Chapter 9

A Bit of Rain
     
    “Don’t worry. We might get a bit of rain, but we’ll be okay.”
    Rob’s words still rang in Amelie’s ears as she curled herself into a ball in the cabin entrance, praying she would survive being pelted by raindrops that felt the size of saucers. The wind was howling now and their boat felt miniscule in the stormy ocean.
    She couldn’t understand what had gone so badly wrong. She’d checked the weather forecast herself, not that she expected any trouble. It was weeks before the hurricane season usually started.
    Rob stood right in front of her, hanging onto the rail beneath the windshield, working desperately on keeping them on a stable course. They’d passed Bimini a while ago, when the wind and rain seemed like no more than a short but intimidating summer squall, a quirk of nature. If they stayed on course, they should hit New Providence soon, and then they would be safe.
    Amelie peeked up at Rob, not daring to ask about time or place for fear of disturbing him at an inopportune moment. Her eyes lingered on his arms, his muscles corded as he fought for grip on the slick rail. His legs were strong and defined, like perfect stone carvings, yet when he darted from the rail to the back of the boat to check the engine, his steps were fast and agile, like those of an athlete.
    The man was incredibly strong, under his air of casual indifference. She hadn’t quite expected that when she’d suggested he take her along for the trip. Maybe his job as stunt double had required him to be strong and fit. Not that he hadn’t been fit even as a teen. He was drool-worthy then, and the last ten years had only added another layer of masculine ruggedness to this already beautiful man. If she hadn’t made such a conscious, determined decision to ignore her former crush on him, she had to admit she might have just thrown caution to the wind and flung herself at him. He was exactly the kind of man that made her dreams of independence puff right out of existence and her resolve melt, alongside her heart, in a pool of lust at his feet.
    Though she would have probably thought twice about getting on board a boat this fragile-looking.
    The damned thing didn’t even have a proper cabin, and the small depression beneath the glass windbreaker, laughingly called cockpit, served merely as anchoring point as far as she was concerned. She hung with all her might onto anything