So here you go…It’s a romantic supsense called Heart’s Paradise and I will be adding new installements every Sunday.
FREE READ -Heart’s Paradise by Samantha Storm-Romantic Suspense
Chapter 1
“Roughing it as usually, I see Baker.”
Startled Amanda Baker spilled margarita all over herself and her new beach towel. She had tried to plan for every contingency, but she had not planned on Devin McDonald.
She hadn’t seen him in years, but he was never really far from her thoughts. Try as she might she never could purge him completely from her mind.
He looked as she remembered, tall, dark and incredible sexy. Damn the man, the least he could have done was gained weight or gone bald. But no he was just as dangerous and delicious as she remembered.
He stood over her, wearing faded blue jeans, t-shirt and old brown cowboy boots. Although she couldn’t see his eyes behind the dark sunglasses, she knew they matched the deep blue of his shirt. He had let his hair grow down past his collar. It made him look disreputable and even more desirable.
“What are you doing here?” She asked trying to tear her eyes away from his tanned, very muscular bare arms.
Devin dropped a black duffel bag down next to her and sat down. He grabbed a handful of white sand and let it fall gently through his fingers before looking at her. “Baker, I’ve been tracking you for days. Any particular reason you skipped town and are now incommunicado?”
Amanda stared at him in complete silence.
“Ok, let me try again.” He stood and swung the duffel bag over his shoulder.
“Hey, Baker, good to see you. How’s life been treating you? If that bikini was any smaller you could get arrested.” He smiled at her, lowering his glasses so she could see his eyes sparkling with amusement.
“Go away Devin.” She tried wiping off the mixture of margarita and sand off her stomach. She became aware of his eyes on her. He was taking in every inch of her body, and suddenly she felt self-conscious about her choice of bathing suit. Yellow two-piece, cut extremely high at the thighs, it barely had enough material to cover all of her assets.
Devin dropped his bag again and stretched out next to her.
Amanda laid back and tried to ignore him. Not as easy as it sounded. She was far too aware of his shirt, which slowly inched up as he got comfortable giving her a glimpse of his incredibly cut stomach.
“Are you going away anytime soon?” she asked, tearing her eyes away from his body.
“It depends, are you ready to level with me?”
“I don’t have anything to explain. I’m on vacation.”
“Vacation?”
“You know rest, relaxation. I’m sure you heard of it.” She smiled at him. “You should try it sometime Devin. Get away, have some sort of life outside of work. Or don’t P.I.’s get time off.”
“You know I’m not a Private Investigator.”
“Sorry it’s just that your job seems so much like one. Tracking people down, invading their privacy. I guess lackey would be a better word.”
His eyes glittered for a moment with anger. But the anger faded quickly and was replaced with amusement. “It’s not working. I mean if your plan is to try and piss me off so I go away. It’s not going to happen. Just thought I’d warn you before you start aiming below the belt. Below the belt is something, if I remember correctly, you’ve always excelled at.”
“How did you find me?” She demanded.
“Emails. I found the message you sent to your sister about Hawaii. Once I hit the mainland it wasn’t hard tracking you down. Next time you plan on going on the lamb remember to delete all the messages in your send folder.”
She was an idiot. She shouldn’t have sent the email to Gretchen before she left - it was dumb and reckless.
Damn the man. He could stay around, but that didn’t mean she had to answer any more questions.
The silence between them stretched from seconds into minutes.
Amanda watched as a pair of tanned, bikini clad, blondes sauntered by. The blondes suddenly took notice of Devin and began casting backward glances over their shoulders in his direction. Devin stared out at the ocean seemingly unaware of the female attention.
She could understand his fascination, the view was breathtaking and although it was Amanda’s fourth time in Kauai, she never tired of it. A line of blue, green waves were breaking about fifty feet from shore. White foam bubbles, formed from the crashing waves, slide in and out with the tide. Only a few feet from where they lay, driftwood littered the beach, carried into shore by the powerful waves.
The stretch of beach they were on ran for twelve miles, zigging and zagging along the coastline. Curving in and out of the landscape - One hundred and fifty feet of exposed finely crushed white sand stretched down from the tree line.
The pair of blondes stopped, twenty feet away, and started giggling and splashing in the surf. Was he aware of the effect he had on females? He probably was - the bastard had always been conceited.
Amanda finally broke the silence with the one question she knew Devin was waiting for her to ask. “How is my father?”
“He’s worried about you.”
“Frank should mind his own business!”
“You suddenly dropped off the planet. Of course the old man’s worried.” He leaned towards her and lowered his voice, “What’s really going on, squirt?”
“Don’t call me that!”
“Sorry, old habits die hard.”
Amanda gave him her best withering stare. “I told you I’m on vacation.”
“So we’re going to play games.” Devin suddenly looked tired and started rubbing the back of his neck. “We both know Frank’s not going to buy such a lame excuse.”
“Devin, you’ve done your job. You’ve tracked me down, and as you can see I’m fine. Go back and tell your boss whatever you think will make him happy.”
“You know he won’t be satisfied until he talks to you. And when he talks to you he’ll demand to know what’s really going on.”
“It’s my life. I can do what I want, when I want. If you haven’t noticed I’m a grown woman.”
“I’ve noticed.”
The sound of his voice, suddenly traced with desire made her heart beat faster. It brought back memories of his hands on her body, his lips on her skin. A Heat tore through her. She took a shaky breath trying to force the images from her mind.
The sooner Devin McDonald was gone the better. “I’ll call my Father today. Tell him myself I’m safe and sound. Does that work for you?”
“It’ll have to do for now.” Devon got up and started brushing the sand off his clothes, “Where do I change?”
“Change?”
“Change into swimming trunks,” Devin looked at his watch, “It’s only eleven o’clock. My flight doesn’t leave until seven-thirty. I might as well take advantage of my trip to the islands. Get in a few rays before I catch my flight back.”
Amanda didn’t trust him. The longer Devin stayed around the more he would try to worm information out of her. But Devin was stubborn and if he’d all ready decided to stay, there was little chance she would be able to change his mind. What choice did she have but to put up with him for a few more hours?
“Here you can use the condo.” She reached over and rummaged around in her bag producing a key. “Number 256, up the stairs. The second one on the right.” She threw the key directly at his head.
Devin caught the metal missile inches from his face and smiled. “Thanks.” He picked up his duffel bag and gave her a long glance. “You look good Baker.”
Before Amanda could reply, Devin turned and crossed the beach heading towards the Condos.
Check back nex sunday for next installement…and let me know what you think about the story 
sam @ samanthastorm .com (no spaces) Hope your holidays are filled with alot of family, food and laughter.
Samantha Storm - http://www.samanthastorm.com/
Eye of the Storm - Available Now! http://www.newconceptspublishing.com/eyeofthestorm.htm
Murder, Mayhem & Mistletoe - coming Dec. ‘06 NCP
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