Chapter 1
DELTA
Sometimes I wonder if I’ll ever stop being awed by the ocean.
I park diagonally in front of the door, my gaze fastened on the blue curtain draped behind the house.
The ocean glints under the sunlight, calling me in, beckoning for me to come closer.
I’m hypnotized as I sit behind the wheel, the car purring to a stop.
This place is stunning. I can’t believe Alina owns it.
After shaking myself out of the ocean spell, I climb out of the car and stretch my spine, raising my arms above my head.
The street is so quiet, the only thing I hear is the crashing waves.
With a smile on my face, I pick my suitcase up from the back seat and make my way up the front steps to the door.
There’s a digital lock here, and I put the password in, then cross the threshold.
First things first. I put my suitcase down and look for the alarm.
It’s behind the door, just like Alina told me it would.
After typing in the password, a beep lets me know it’s deactivated.
Now I can walk around without Alina receiving a notification on her phone.
There are no alarms outside because Alina despised being awoken by the warning just because animals were crossing her front yard.
The foyer walls are painted white, but pictures in gold frames tell how expensive the decoration ahead is going to be. Alina has good taste and money to maintain her lifestyle, so she doesn’t hide it.
Picking my phone up from the back pocket of my jeans, I shoot her a quick message. Just arrived. I’ll let you know if there’s something out of place.
My phone beeps with a reply before I can put it back into my pocket.
Alina: Thanks, D. I owe you big.
I chuckle because no, she doesn’t. Alina needed someone to house-sit her beach house, and I desperately needed some time off my basement apartment.
She’s spending her July in Marseille, and she’s paying me to monitor the house to avoid teenagers from using her front yard like it happened before.
Once, one accidentally set fire to her rose bushes with a discarded cigarette butt.
Plus, she used to have an alarm, but the animals walking around made her phone buzz too often in the middle of the night.
This is a great opportunity. My pale skin needs some sunlight. As a virtual assistant for several authors, I used to work at a coffee shop, sitting near the window, or lounging on a park bench, but video calls discussing the best ways to promote a steamy romance? Not the best thing to do in public.
I haul my suitcase behind me and set out to explore the house.
The living room is an enormous thing with gigantic floor-to-ceiling windows to every corner, both to the garden and the beach.
My jaw drops. I’m definitely going to work from the couch.
On this floor, there’s a lavabo, a TV room, a game room with a pool table, the dining room on the other corner of the house, and windows giving into the second garden and the beach.
I peek into the kitchen, and my jaw drops again.
This place is bigger than my apartment, hands down.
A huge island, all sorts of fancy appliances, cupboards to no end, everything made of brushed steel and white marble. The best part is yet to come.
Leaving the suitcase in the corridor, I make my way to the door into the porch. It looks out into the ocean, with a small breakfast table and two lounge chairs. Wow, screw the couch. I’m working from here. Close to the kitchen, and there’s a bathroom around the corner near the pool.
This place is perfect. I’m going to have a blast working here, and the best part: being double paid while looking at the sea. The only downside is getting used to this and then never coming back.
I shake my head, shoving the negative thought away.
No bad thoughts here. I won’t let bad vibes ruin my moment.
With a smile playing on my lips, I grab my suitcase and make my way to the guest rooms. Alina said I could use the master bedroom upstairs, but I’d rather find myself a room down here.
Close to the kitchen, the living room, and the sea.
After changing into loose shorts and a tank top, I peek at the mirror to make sure my hair is still in place.
Once upon a time, I had pretty blond and honey highlights, but now my natural light brown hair reaches to the top of my breasts.
The color goes with the hue of my eyes, and I tell myself I look ready for the beach.
I connect the Echo Dot in my living room to my phone and put a soft jazz playlist in the background as I move into the kitchen.
Alina was good enough to send someone to fill up the cabinets for me.
I shoot her another thanks message, grab a banana, and settle on the porch.
Sitting on a lounge chair with a phone in hand and a banana in the other, I watch the waves rolling, crashing, and pulling back. The blue of the sea against the stark blue of the sky, no cloud in sight. I’m hypnotized, smiling so foolishly I almost forget the banana in hand.
Chuckling to myself, I close my lips around the banana, then see movement in the corner of my eye.
The beach had been deserted up to this moment.
A man approaches in a jog, running up the sand strip.
He closes in on me, his gaze swinging in my direction.
Damn. I’m frozen in time, locked in that blue gaze, as deep as the ocean, as bright as the sky.
He looks tall from this distance, broad shoulders naked, glinting under the sunlight.
Wow, he’s bulky. Built like a truck, powerful muscles moving with his exercise.
Sweat glistens down his stomach and my mouth waters. I would lick that sweat right up.
He arches an eyebrow in doubt, and it’s then I notice I still have a banana between my lips.
Oops. I might have sent a powerful message here.
Heat spreads across my cheeks as I bite on the banana, chewing as I follow the man with my gaze.
I wouldn’t mind if he smirked and came closer to chat.
Maybe he would take the banana thing as a flirty message and we could have a summer fling. I wouldn’t mind.
Instead, he rolls his eyes and then looks straight ahead, making it a point to ignore me.
He keeps running, then makes his way inside the house right next to this one.
A neighbor. A very, very hot one. I lean forward, squinting to see him coming back to his porch with a bottle of water and swig it.
After a couple of minutes, he puts it down and races into the sea.
Jerk.
Banana forgotten, I pick up my phone and type a quick message to Alina.
Who’s the hot neighbor?
She replies with a couple of laugh emojis. I keep checking him out in the ocean, but he never looks back at me. Not as interested as I am.
Alina: Vance York, the most arrogant asshole in town. His father is loaded. He also saw the teenagers partying in my yard last summer and said it wasn’t his problem.
Ouch, asshole indeed. I shoot a last glance in his direction, then go after my laptop.
A summer fling sounds awesome, but it needs at least two people to make it work, and this guy doesn’t want me.
Maybe he’s one of those who thinks plus-size girls aren’t sexy and if he is, then he’s not my type.
This girl has curves for days, and I won’t let anyone put me down because of them. Not anymore.
I open my laptop with a prayer on my lips. The poor thing is begging to be retired, but I don’t have enough money to buy a new one. After Alina pays me, I’ll have maybe seventy percent of a laptop. A couple more months and I’ll buy a new one, but until then, this one has to work.
With a sigh, I force myself to stop thinking about the hot stranger and start to work. Hot strangers don’t pay your bills, and they certainly don’t care.