Contents
Title Page
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Epilogue
About the Author
Other Books by Anna Durand
Connect with Anna Durand
Copyright Page
Chapter One
Mara
The forest raced by in a blur of green and brown, the blue sky seeming to melt into it, while I stared out the window of the taxicab without really seeing anything, too absorbed by my own thoughts. My life had become a blur too. Days bled into each other the way the sky bled into the trees, impossible to hold on to or to differentiate. This vacation was supposed to cure me of that.
Could two weeks at a birdwatching retreat do that for me? Maybe I was asking too much of the universe. Maybe I shouldn't moan about my life when so many other people had so much less than I did. But I needed a change. Something drastic. Nothing else might have a chance of breaking me out of these doldrums.
So here I was in Oregon, far, far away from my home in Philadelphia.
Where was I? Au Naturel Naturist Resort. Even the name sounded relaxing and blissful. When my travel agent had suggested I come here for my vacation, I'd jumped at the chance. The resort was for people who loved nature, she'd told me. It offered things like birdwatching and nature hikes. I could learn about the wildlife.
I had never left the city before, not in my entire life.
About time I expanded my horizons.
My parents would think I'd gone insane, so I hadn't told them where I was going.
The gray-haired cab driver leered at me over his shoulder. "So, you're one of those naturist freaks, huh?"
What about birdwatching was freakish? The driver had creeped me out from the moment I met him, but nobody else wanted to drive out here. Nobody at the airport would tell me why. They raised their eyebrows and smirked, like it was obvious and I was too dumb to understand.
"Not really," I said to the driver. "This is my first time at a naturist resort. I'm looking forward to communing with nature and stuff like that."
"Sure, communing." He leered at me again, snorting like he was trying very hard not to laugh at me. "Bet a pretty girl like you will commune with lots of other naturists."
Why did he say the word commune like it was filthy?
I returned my attention to the view outside the window. Out the corner of my eye, I spotted the driver still leering at me. It made my skin itch.
My phone made a blooping noise, indicating a new text message.
Sighing, I checked the text.
Nico: Where are you, Mar-Mar?
I growled under my breath. He knew I hated being called Mar-Mar. Hadn't he humiliated me enough? No, he had to taunt me with obnoxious texts. I typed, "None of your business."
Another bloopety-bloop. Another text from Nico. This one said, "I miss you."
My thumbs flew over the on-screen keyboard. Should've thought of that before you dumped me.
I made a mistake. Let's talk.
Another growl burst out of me. Leave me alone.
Talk later, then.
If I could've figured out how to block his number, I would've done it. I'd never been tech-savvy.
Another text came through, but I ignored it. At least they had cell coverage way out here in the boonies. Would the resort have Wi-Fi? Not that it mattered. I was getting away from the world, which meant no checking social media. Maybe I should've left my phone at home, but then what would I do in an emergency? What if there was a wildfire? An earthquake?
"Here we are," the driver said while he steered the cab down a gravel driveway that snaked through the woods. "Just a few more minutes until you can commune with the other freaks. You can get started now if you want."
I caught his leering gaze in the rearview mirror.
What was this guy's problem?
The cab rumbled down the gravel drive, emerging into a big, sunlit clearing. A modest-size house occupied the prime spot at the driveway's end, while a much larger, two-story building squatted to the right of that, a little further away. Other, smaller structures were barely visible behind the large building. I saw tents too, set up nearer to the woods.
I'd have to work up to sleeping in a tent. Give me a soft bed and a plush pillow, please.
The cab stopped near the small house.
"Here ya go," the driver said, leaning forward to peer out the windshield, squinting like he was trying hard to see something.
Someone rushed up to open the back door of the cab, but I couldn't see the person very well. The sun glinted on the windows, obscuring my view. Plus, it was so bright out and I'd left my sunglasses in one of my bags. Which were in the trunk. What a hopeless ditz you are. Maybe I had my spare pair in my purse.
I dug around inside it, hoping to find sunglasses. My hair fell around my face, tickling my cheeks and my nose. I scrunched up my nose, wishing with all my might that I would not sneeze on whoever was standing outside the car.
"Welcome to Au Naturel Naturist Resort," a male voice said.
A hand reached out to me. A hand that had been toasted in the sun, but not so much that the skin looked like leather.
I slung the purse over my shoulder and settled my hand into the stranger's, letting him help him out of the cab. His palm felt warm and soft. I lifted my gaze to his, and my tummy did a silly little flip-flop.
The gentleman holding my hand wasn't a drop-dead gorgeous hunk with enormous muscles, but I liked that he wasn't. He looked like a normal guy, though a uniform disguised his physique somewhat. The blue polo shirt had short sleeves that exposed a good bit of his biceps. This man wasn't ripped or
