Formula for Passion

“How can that be?” Courtney shook her head. “Who gets two flat tires?”

“Apparently you do?” He grinned broadly. “You must have rolled over some nails.”

“For Christ’s sake!” She should have listened to the hotel manager instead of going off on her own. Now look where she was, stuck on a dirt road with a construction worker. “Well, if it’s money you’re after to help me, I’m sure I can accommodate you.”

Jasper’s eyes narrowed at her condescending tone. This high-class diva was probably used to getting what she wanted with a bat of her eyelashes. She probably thought he was some poor schmuck off the street whom she could speak to any kind of way. She was wrong. “I don’t have to do a damn thing. And if I were you, I wouldn’t be throwing around the fact that you have money in these parts. It might attract the wrong sort, if you get my drift.” And with that comment, he started walking back toward his truck.

Courtney stormed after him as best she could in four-inch heels on a rocky dirt road. “Wait, just a minute. Where do you think you’re going?”

Jasper turned around and Courtney caught a flash of anger in his eyes, but just as quickly it was gone. “I’m leaving. Or do you need me to get an interpreter for you?”

“Oh!” Courtney was flabbergasted. “You’re just going to leave me here?”

Jasper opened his truck door and hopped in the driver seat. “That’s exactly what I’m going to do. Perhaps you should be more kind to Good Samaritans.” He turned on the engine. It sputtered to life and seconds later, he shifted into gear, leaving her staring at his bumper. It was what she deserved considering the way she’d spoken to him. She had acted like a princess and as if she were entitled to a ride. He owed her nothing.

So why did he feel terrible? From his rearview mirror, he could see her standing in the middle of the road. She looked shell-shocked that he had left her stranded on the road in a bad area of town where beautiful, rich women like her disappeared in a nanosecond.

Seconds later, Jasper was reversing his truck to scoop her up. His mother had raised a gentleman, so he couldn’t very well leave her alone. When he reached her, her arms were folded across her chest and he could see she was pouting. He swung open the passenger door. “Get in!”

Courtney paused, debating whether she should get in the vehicle. It was dirty and looked as though he hauled debris of some sort in it. Not to mention the fact that he could be some crazy ax murderer. How would she know? She probably wouldn’t realize it until he’d taken her to some abandoned house in the woods never to be heard from again.

“I’m not going to ask you a second time, princess,” Jasper warned.

Courtney didn’t have a whole lot of options. If she stayed there, she could be stuck until nightfall and what would become of her? Throwing caution to the wind, she jumped inside the truck. Something in her gut told her she could trust him. Plus, she didn’t want to be left on the dirt road to fend for herself. She would just have the hotel manager send someone for the car.

“I am not a princess,” Courtney said, looking over to hazard a glance at the stranger.

“You sure act like one,” Jasper replied, shifting into gear and pulling back onto the highway.

“Wow, you sure know how to talk to a lady.”

“Is that what I’m doing? I thought I was giving you a ride back to your resort. Because trust me, if I was trying to talk to you, you would know it.”

Courtney turned around and stared at the stranger. She was surprised, but yet oddly turned on by his confidence. He didn’t seem to have the same social graces that some of her boy toys did, but perhaps that was why she tired of them so easily. “You sure are cocky.”

“I’ve been told that before.”

“But you don’t care?”

Jasper shrugged, which Courtney took to mean he couldn’t care less what others thought about him. She wished she could do the same. She always had to be conscious of how she was viewed by the public. It was up to her to sell the Adams Cosmetics brand, so her every movement was calculated. She supposed it was why when she was eighteen, she had done something completely reckless.

She’d gotten married to Chaise Anderson, whom she’d known only a few weeks. She’d met Chaise, the son of a wealthy Atlanta businessman, at a local party. He was good-looking, charming and sexy. The attraction between them had been instant. So when Chaise suggested they run away to Vegas to get married, Courtney had been on board. She’d been dying to get out of her parents’ grip, and marriage had seemed like the next best thing. The marriage hadn’t lasted longer than a few days because, as soon as her father, Byron, had found out, he’d flown to Vegas. She’d gotten quite the tongue-lashing about the image she was portraying and he’d insisted she have the marriage annulled. Courtney had never seen her father so furious and she had quickly agreed. But truth be told, she’d liked being free and reckless, if only for a little bit.

The remainder of the drive continued in silence with the exception of Courtney asking the stranger to roll up the window and turn on the air-conditioning. That’s when he’d promptly informed her there was no a/c and they hadn’t spoken a word since. Clearly, her handsome stranger was a man of few words.

He also looked like the type who knew how to handle a woman in the bedroom. Where had that thought come from? She didn’t mind a bad boy every now and then, but they were usually the clean-cut type, trust-fund babies who liked to have fun. But this guy, he was different from the men she usually encountered. There was something a little dangerous about him and it was kind of a rush. Courtney shook her head, trying to shake the thought out of her head, but she was having a hard time focusing. They were in such close quarters she could smell his woodsy earth scent, and it was making her horny.

She was happy when the resort finally came into view and the truck made an unceremonious stop in front of the entrance. She turned to the stranger at her side and said, “Thanks for the ride.” She reached inside her purse for her wallet, but the stranger placed his large dark hand over hers. Courtney felt a tingle shoot straight from her hand to her core.

“Think I told you about offering folks money,” he said. “Didn’t I?”

Courtney lowered her eyes and blushed. “You did. So perhaps I can buy you a drink as a thank-you?” She looked up at him and a smile spread across her lips.

When Jasper’s dark eyes stared into her green ones, Courtney swallowed hard. Her throat felt parched and she licked her lips. The stranger’s eyes followed her movement, and that made her nervous. Why was he so silent? Speak, for goodness’ sake!

* * *

Jasper thought about the princess’s offer. Despite her efforts to appear aloof, he could see she was attracted to him. Her body language was giving it away, and he noticed her breasts in the tank top perk up at his long gaze. And then wetting those full, sumptuous peach-stained lips told him everything he needed to know. Normally, he would accept and take what she was offering, but he had a feeling the princess was used to getting what she wanted, so he would decline right now. And then have fun making her work for it.

“I have a couple of errands to run,” Jasper replied. “But maybe later?”

She frowned. “Fine.” She threw her purse over her shoulder, opened the truck door and climbed out. “Thanks again for the ride,” she said over her shoulder without hazarding another glance at him.

“’Bye, princess.” Jasper waved.

She stomped inside the resort and didn’t see the hotel manager come out to greet Jasper.

“Would you like me to put the truck away for you, sir?” Miguel asked Jasper when he came around to the driver’s side.

“That’s not necessary. I’m heading to my villa.” Jasper watched as Courtney’s rear disappeared from his view. His villa was located on the outskirts of the Sea Breeze Resorts property. It was close enough for him to check on the resort, but far enough away for him to have his privacy.

“She’s breathtaking, isn’t she?”

“So you noticed, Miguel? I thought you didn’t look at patrons.”

“I usually don’t, sir, but she’s hard not to notice, yes?”

Jasper leaned out over the window and patted the man’s back. “I agree, wholeheartedly. So, what do you know about the lady? Who is she?”

“If you come into my office, sir,” Miguel said, “I can fill you in on the details.”

Chapter 2

Courtney couldn’t believe the man had turned her down. She’d hoped for a quick drink, or maybe even a long roll in the hay with her construction worker. He looked as though he had lots of stamina. Unfortunately, she was left to comb the resort for some fun on her own.

After a long, hot shower and a massage and facial at the resort spa, Courtney was ready for the evening. After a spritz of Bliss over her body, she slid on a long maxi dress in a bold Copacabana print and some ornament-encrusted thong sandals and headed to the bar.

As she entered, Courtney noticed that every male eye in the room turned to her. She wasn’t unaware that the halter maxi dress plunged at the neckline to show off her pert breasts or that the dress plunged to her waist to show her bare back.

The bar was pretty busy and the band had already started playing some merengue music. Courtney scanned the bar looking for an opening and got more than she bargained for when a pair of dark eyes focused solely on her. He was here. How many dark-chocolate, six-foot-three brothers, with a killer smile that could make your panties wet, were on the island? Courtney’s breath caught in her throat. He’d changed his mind, but why? He’d seemed determined to make her feel like a fool for asking him out, so she would give it back to him and act as if she didn’t recognize him.

Courtney sauntered to the bar and sat across the way from her stranger. He could come to her. She knew it was a dangerous cat-and-mouse game they were playing, but she was secretly thrilled at the prospect. She needed a spark of excitement in her life after watching her brother and sister fall in love.

She didn’t have time to order a drink because, shortly after being seated, one of the men who’d been openly staring at her approached.

* * *

From across the room, Jasper drank his Presidente and watched the beautiful seductress through dark lashes. She’d seen him and knew he was here, but she had been content to sweep past him and go to the opposite end of the bar. But from here he could watch her every move. And watch he did.