Losing Control - By Robyn Grady Page 0,36

down his glass, Cole hesitated. He hadn't meant to respond to her suggestion in the plural. But Taryn didn't bat an eye at his we rather than I. Instead she reached for a coconut to spoon salad onto her plate, and Cole eased out the breath he'd held.

He didn't intimidate her. Or not for long. In fact, he'd never felt so challenged yet strangely at ease in a woman's company before. She made every other person he'd dated seem staid.

Not that this was a date, Cole reminded himself, spooning salad out for himself...even if, with Taryn's eyes sparkling in the torchlight, nature's music playing a lazy tune, an open-ended evening ahead of them and a bold afternoon behind, it sure was beginning to feel like one.
Chapter Twelve
When they'd finished the last of that tasty pink nectar, out of nowhere one of the women who'd set up earlier appeared with a fresh batch. Taryn thought she'd make an inquiry.

"Can you tell me the best direction for a walk along the beach tonight?" She explained to Cole, "I want to take some night shots."

"A full moon will be out," the woman said, refilling their glasses. "Either stretch is free from outcrops. There are more turtle nests down that way." She slanted her head toward their right. "You might even see a batch hatching."

Taryn sat straighter. "Really?"

She'd seen a turtle nest hatching on YouTube. The sand had bubbled then a circle overflowed with tiny flippers and shells pushing themselves out into the world. A nest was supposed to contain from fifty to over two hundred eggs. Now that was a big family.

"Throw a blanket out high on the beach and you might get lucky," the woman said, setting down the carafe. "But don't use a torch or flashlight. That confuses hatchlings." Swinging back her heavy fall of brunette hair, she again gestured down the beach. "You'll see the nests. The children mark them off."

Cole seemed interested, too. "You really think we might see some hatch?"

"Female turtles like to return to the same nesting ground, and that section is popular." After the woman had replaced used plates for clean, she ended, "Don't forget a blanket. Sea breezes can be cool at night."

As the woman headed off, Taryn sized Cole up. "So you like turtles, huh?"

"Tate's grade is signed up in some conservation program about them."

"Hopefully we'll get lucky and snap some close-up shots he can take to class." She pushed back her chair. "Think I might take the opportunity to catch up with that woman and get her ideas on other spots to check out while we're here."

"You'll find me on hammock duty."

As he got to his feet, too, and stretched those magnificent arms at angles above his head, Taryn pressed her lips together then said it anyway. He looked so striking yet relaxed. So unlike his usual blustering self.

"Maybe you shouldn't take a real vacation. It might feel so good, you'd never want to come back."

"Leave someone else in charge permanently?" Intentional or not, his fingers brushed hers as he passed. "Dream on."

* * *

"I've got blankets."

Cole glanced over from where he lay, swaying, half-asleep. Taryn stood a few feet away on the verandah, a stack of blankets in her arms. Rousing himself, he rocked out of the hammock onto his feet.

"Was that an invitation?" he asked.

"You said you liked turtles."

"I said Tate liked them." But, seriously, who didn't like turtles? He moved closer. "You won't be disappointed if nothing happens?"

"But something might happen."

Taking in the confident curve of her grin and - in that pink cotton slip of a dress - her other curves, too, he had to agree. Something might happen, and not just on the turtle front. But did he really want to put them both in that situation...alone on a secluded beach for an undefined amount of time, and with bedcoverings to boot?

Taking the blankets, Cole supposed the answer was an unconditional yes.

A few moments later, they were wandering down the beach with a full moon hanging high in its starry night sky.

"That woman was telling me how well this island does through visitors like us," she said. "They have a joint council and apparently invest the revenue wisely."

"Maybe they should spend some on decent public transportation and fixing up that welcome sign."

"Oh, Cole, it's all part of the charm. If you've stayed at one five-star, you've stayed at them all. But you'll never forget that taxi ride."

He winced. "Neither will my shoulder."

They came across a spot where a