himself laughing out loud as he recalled her demands in bed the other night. He’d tried to be a nice guy when he discovered she’d never done the deed before. He’d been willing to stop altogether, or at least slow down. But not Grace. She was full steam ahead. Thank God.
Logan shook away the image of Grace naked in his bed and tried hard to focus on the sports center blueprints.
He and Aidan had learned long ago that projects like the sports center would cause problems at every step. And whenever a new problem reared its ugly head, a whole new set of drawings had to be rendered. So not only had the design of the center itself changed three times now, but they’d been forced twice to completely move the site of the project. The new site was based on the latest geological survey and the environmental impact reports they’d received last month.
Logan turned to the next blueprint to study the architect’s three-dimensional rendering.
Most of the problems with building a sports center on the tiny island of Alleria had to do with the geological makeup of the island itself. The beaches, the natural bay and the rocky coves were the features that brought most of the tourists here. But also, the island had been formed by an ancient volcano, now dormant, and the land around the volcano had been ravaged by ancient lava flows. Now, over one square mile of north island coastline was barren except for the scrub that managed to grow there. In contrast, much of the southern part of the island was covered in lush rain forest.
The original investors had suggested that the brothers put the sports center adjacent to the hotel and within walking distance of the edge of the rain forest. The theory was that sports enthusiasts would be able to enjoy not only the beauty of the rain forest, but also the hiking and zip-line features offered.
But early on, Logan and Aidan had nixed that location and considered canceling the entire project. Who wanted to look at or spend time at a concrete sports center when they could simply enjoy the natural beauty of the island itself? But when the brothers decided they could relocate the sports center to the north side of the island, closer to the dead zone at the foot of a dormant volcano, the project was revived and revamped.
The brothers wanted a hotel built closer to the sports center, as well. They had invited developers to the island to check out the possibilities, but none of those builders had brought the sort of entrepreneurial spirit and sensibility that Logan and Aidan envisioned for their island. But then, this past year, they’d met their Duke cousins for the first time.
Adam, Brandon and Cameron Duke owned Duke Development and after touring a few of their California properties, the Sutherland brothers had decided that the Dukes would be the perfect partners in a new boutique hotel on Alleria.
The Duke family would be arriving next weekend and Logan and Aidan had already planned an extensive private tour for them in order to show off all the special qualities that had originally attracted them to Alleria.
In fact, there were several island features that had never been advertised in the hotel brochures or on the website, such as the hot springs that bubbled in various places around the island. The ancient volcano had created thermal pockets that still provided heat to the small pools. One secluded lagoon was located in the rain forest, within hiking distance of the hotel. But the hike was treacherous enough that few hotel guests had ever ventured far enough into the forest to discover it.
Logan suddenly wondered if the scientist in Grace would enjoy exploring the hot springs. Logan grinned, knowing the scientist in
“Damn,” he muttered. It was getting impossible to concentrate on work as the thought of Grace crossed his mind again. She was definitely unlike any virgin he’d ever known before-not that he’d known all that many. Frankly, he tried to avoid virgins whenever possible. They were just too much damn responsibility. After all, if he somehow ruined a woman’s first sexual experience, it would traumatize her for the rest of her life and leave a black cloud over her memory of him and all other men on the planet. Who needed that kind of pressure? Not Logan.
Grace didn’t seem at all traumatized, he thought, then chuckled. Far from it. In fact, Logan had been blown away by her natural passion and enthusiasm for trying new things. He had originally planned to walk her back to her hotel room later that night; but, the truth was, he hadn’t wanted to let her go. The feel of her in his arms, the soft sigh of her breath as she drifted into sleep. The woman got to him on levels he hadn’t even been aware of.
They’d spent every night since then together.
He couldn’t get enough of her and damned if he knew what to make of that.
The only thing that concerned Logan was that once his brother and their corporate staff returned to Alleria, he was a little uncertain about how he and Grace would arrange to spend time together. Getting their latest project up and running was going to keep both Logan and Aidan busy.
But, hell, maybe it wouldn’t be an issue; his need for Grace might fade by then. It would certainly fade eventually. It always did. And, of course, sooner or later, she would have to go home. And that would be the end of it.
But that didn’t matter right now. For now, he wanted her in his bed at night. Once Aidan was back, Logan and Grace would simply have to be as discreet as possible. After all, he didn’t need his brother tormenting him about sleeping with the staff. On the other hand, Grace wasn’t really part of the staff anyway, considering the fact that she’d arrived on the island under false pretenses. So it wasn’t a problem, was it?
Yeah, that was his story and he was sticking to it.
“I still can’t believe you’ve never been sailing before,” Logan said as he held Grace’s hand and helped her aboard the sailboat.
“The closest I ever got was when I very young and went fishing with my father.”
Logan watched her glance around and take everything in. “How’d that go for you?”
She stepped up next to the mast and studied the rigging and hardware. She seemed to be weighing her words before she finally gazed at him and spoke. “I spent most of the time calculating the velocity of the wind versus the barometric pressure, then trying to angle my fishing line in the direction I’d theorized would produce more biting fish.”
Logan laughed as he hauled the large picnic basket on board, then led the way down into the cabin. The thirty- foot Catalina sailboat belonged to Logan and Aidan and they’d had some great adventures-and some awesome parties-sailing around the Caribbean together. But with business obligations and scheduling problems, it had been a few months since Logan had taken the boat out.
Grace followed him down and glanced around the sleek main cabin. “It’s so nice down here.”
“Yeah, it’s a cool design,” he said, strapping the picnic basket under the galley table.
“So did you catch any fish?” he asked.
“Yes, I caught twelve,” Grace admitted, frowning.
“Twelve fish for a little kid is a pretty good haul,” he said, flashing her a grin. “How’d your dad do?”
She made a face. “He didn’t have much luck. He told me I scared the fish away.”
Logan was taken aback. “Hardly sounds fair.”
“It wasn’t his fault,” she said quickly. “I talked a lot. I guess it freaked him out sometimes.”
“What do you mean?” He climbed the ladder back up to the deck, then turned and gave her a hand up.
“I was such a pain,” she said with a rueful laugh. “I seemed to know so much about everything, except I didn’t know enough to shut up once in a while. Little kids like to talk, you know? But my parents didn’t seem to have a clue what I was talking about. I intimidated both of them.”
She said it lightly, but Logan could see the hurt in her eyes. He could relate to the pain she must still be suffering from her parents’ inability to love and understand their child.
“I thought parents love it when their kids are smart.” He tossed her a life jacket and she slipped it on over her tank top. “Their reaction doesn’t sound right.”
She sighed. “When I was five years old, my cat broke her leg and I set it in a plaster cast. My parents took the cat to the vet to have it x-rayed and he said it was a picture-perfect set.”
Logan laughed. “Wow, they must’ve been proud of you.”
“Oh, no, that scared them to death.”
“I can’t believe that. I mean, there are plenty worse things you could’ve done. At least you used your power for good.”
“I tried,” Grace said, laughing, then sobered. “My parents used to say that I belonged to the world. I think it
