Escape (2 page)

“You’re new here, are
n’t you?” a male voice asked
.

Startled, Lucy looked up from her book. A man stood in front of her. He was tall, at least six-feet, with tanned, toned forearms and a broad chest. His brown eyes sparkled in the sunlight and he flashed
her a
grin that dimpled his cheeks and creased the corners of his eyes. Dark hair was shorn close to his head, and she knew if she touched his head it would feel as soft as mole skin.

Wow, this guy was cute.

A spark of excitement raced through her, quickly accompanied by a pang of guilt.

“
Errr
, yes, I just got here yesterday,” she said, finding her voice. “Is the pale skin so obvious?”

He laughed and something in her chest tightened.

“Are you coming to the induction in the morning?” he asked.

“Sure. Have you been to it yourself?”

He grinned, “A few times. I teach it.”

She took a long, embarrassed gulp from her glass of juice.

“Great,” she said, though she was immediately haunted by images of herself floundering around in the swimming pool with a face mask and breathing equipment, and lumbering around with oxygen tanks strapped to her back. She had never been the most coordinated of people and she could only imagine how humiliating that was going to be.

“My name’s Rudy,” he said, pulling out a chair and sitting down opposite her.

“I’m Lucy.” Her cheeks flushed with heat
. She wasn’t used to getting attention. Being this gorgeous man’s focus made her nervous.

“How do you like Turtle View?”
             

She looked out toward the ocean, trying to ignore how her heart suddenly pattered in her chest. “It’s beautiful. What’s not to like?”

For a moment she thought he was almost
too
perfect, but then she noticed the slight bump and scar across the bridge of his nose, the small gap between his front teeth, the lines around his eyes. She’d taken him for his mid-twenties, but on a second glace, she realized he was older, in his thirties, at least.

The
roar of an SUV—the name of the resort painted on the side—interrupted them. The vehicle pulled up beside reception. 
A woman about Lucy’s age jumped out of the driver’s side.

Her long dark hair was damp and tousled. She wore a red vest top with the name of the resort printed across her ample chest and a pair of cream, very short shorts. She was small, but perfectly formed, and
, from the way she carried herself, Lucy guessed that
she knew it.

She spotted Rudy sitting at the table and lifted a hand in a half-wave, then headed over to them.

As she approached, her eyes
briefly flicked to Lucy
, though she didn’t acknowledge her with a smile
. She
reached the table and
stood at the end, twisting her body around, her back to Lucy. She leaned with one hand on their table, the other lightly touching Rudy’s bare shoulder.

“Hey, there you are,” she said. Lucy heard a strong Australian twang. “I thought you’d finally had enough and run off?”

He looked up at her, his brown eyes squinting in the sun. “No chance of that.” He turned his attention back to Lucy.

“Lucy, this is Rachel, one of the dive instructors,” he said. “Rachel, this is Lucy.”

Rachel turned h
er head and gave Lucy a brief
smile, which didn’t quite manage to reach her eyes, and then turned back to Rudy. She reached back and pulled her hair around to the front, twisting it so her hair fell down one side of her body. Lucy saw the intricate red, yellow and orange
Koi
fish tattooed on the back of one shoulder.

This was the type of woman that instantly intimidated Lucy. Rachel was gorgeous, confident and obviously knew her place in the world. In short, she was everything Lucy aspired to be.

Rachel stuck out one hi
p and placed a tanned hand on her curve
. “So I take it you’re coming tonight?” she asked Rudy.

“Of course, don’t I always?”

She smiled at him. “Great. I’ll see you later then.” And she sashayed away with Rudy watching her go.

Lucy glanced down at the table, studying her fingers. Though obviously this guy had no interest in her oth
er than a professional one, Lucy couldn’t help but feel as though
she shouldn’t be talking to him.

Not that you are interested,
she told herself.
Not when you’re supposed to have a boyfriend at home.

The guilt twisted inside her again and she thought back to the day, a little over a week ago, when she had come home with travel tickets in hand, to tell her boyfriend
,
Max
,
she was going to Thailand for two weeks. When he asked when she was leaving and she named a date three days away, he pushed his glasses up his nose and looked at her as though he didn’t recognize her anymore.

Then he simply sai
d, ‘oh, right,’ as though she’
d told him she was going to take a shower instead of leaving the country without him for two weeks. He had barely spoken to her since.

That had been the worst of it; the cold silence. There was none of the ‘but what about me? What about your job? What the hell do you want to go there for?’ Instead, he acted as though she had already left, and so she had done just that.

She supposed he’
d seen it coming after the night she’d come home from the hospital. Maybe he’d seen she had changed—that
they
had changed—and he was expecting her to do something crazy.

Except Lucy never did anything crazy.

“If you’re not doing anything tonight,” Rudy said, dragging her thoughts back to the present, “there’s a barbeque going on down here on the beach.”

“Oh, right.”

Her words echoed those of her boyfriend’s a week ago.

Was he telling her about the barbeque out of courtesy? Did he tell every guest? Or was the barbeque the thing Rachel had been talking about? Rachel had not actually been reminding him of the romantic little soiree Lucy imagined she had planned.

“So do you think you’ll come?” he probed, searching her face for the answer.

“Sure, I guess so.”

“Great,” he said, getting to his feet. “Better get a move on. The class will be starting soon.” He gave her another smile and walked away, heading past the reception and into the office behind.

Checking her watch, Lucy finished her juice and headed toward the hut where the induction was being carried out. Her heart picked up a beat and she tugged at her skirt and vest-top, knowing she was about to walk into a room with Rudy standing at the front of it.

She walked in, not to find Rudy standing at the front of the class; but Rachel.

Lucy offered her a smile, but Rachel ignored her.

Gradually, the room started to fill up and Lucy found herself a seat near the back, sinking down into the cheap plastic. She wondered if she should have brought a note pad along or something, but then saw no one else even had as much as a pen.

“
G’day
, guys,” Rachel started. “My name’s Rachel and
I’m
going to assume your presence in this class means none of you have any diving experience. Is that right?”

A murmur went up around
the class and heads were shaken
.

“Okay. Well, for the most part, diving is a safe sport,
as long
as you listen to the rules and do exactly as I say. If you’re planning on fooling around in my class, you can leave right now. I’m here to teach you to dive, but more importantly, I’m here to keep you safe. Got it?”

Everyone nodded.

“The first thing you need to learn is your equipment. Once you know what everything is called, then you can learn how each piece works. Only once you know the basics, will I let you anywhere near the
water.
”

The list of equipment seemed endless, but Rachel commanded the group’s attention. The men in the group watched her with their mouths hanging open, though the women they were with were not quite so welcoming. Lucy saw them delivering the occasional elbow nudge and stern stare to their men.

Rachel moved onto buoyancy and the hand signals which were to be used beneath the surface, but Lucy found her mind wandering back to the broad shoulders and brown eyes that had interrupted her breakfast.

Where’
s Rudy? Hadn’t he said he taught this class?

When the group had a five minute break, Lucy plucked up the courage to approach Rachel.

“Hey Rachel,” she s
aid. “I thought Rudy taught the induction
?”

She had hoped it would sound like a casual question, but the woman turned to her with a flash in her blue eyes.

“You can’t just come to the class hoping to pick up men,” she snarled. “Diving is about more than that.”

Lucy reared back in shock. “No. That isn’t what I meant. I was just asking because he said...”

But she wouldn’t let Lucy finish. Instead, she turned away,
dismissing her as though she were
a child, and
addressed
the group.

“Right guys,” Rachel said, loudly, clapping her hands together. “You’re never going to know what it really feels like until you’ve been there. So if everyone is ready, I suggest we head to the pool.”

Lucy felt as if someone had punched her in the stomach. What had she done to deserve such a rebuke?

“Are you okay?”

Lucy t
urned at the sound of the voice.
A
girl she recognized from the boat
trip over to the island looked
at her expectantly.

“Sorry?” she said, surprised someone was talking to her.
The girl was pretty—brown
eyes and short dark hair. She had the kind of skinny, tanned look most of these travelers seemed to sport.

The girl lowered her voice. “I thought she gave you a bit of a hard time and I wondered if you were okay.”

“Oh, yeah.
I’m fine, thanks. I think she’s taken a bit of a dislike to me.”

The girl grinned and Lucy immediately warmed to her. “I think she’d take a dislike to anyone who doesn’t wear trousers.”

Lucy grinned back.
             

“I’m Stacy,” she introduced herself, and then nudged the girl next to her. The other girl looked up, realizing she had been pulled into the conversation.

“Hi, I’m Leanne,” she said with a smile.

“Lucy,” she told them.

Rudy poked his head through the door and Lucy’s heart jumped up a notch.

“How’s it going in here?” he asked Rachel. “All set?”

She flashed him that million-dollar smile.
“Sure thing.
We’re just heading out to the pool.”

“Great, I’ll get everything set up.” His eyes flicked across the group, briefly stopping at Lucy. He gave her a small, half-smile, before his gaze passed over her. The heart that had just skipped a
beat,
now sa
nk to the pit of her belly. Someone like him would never think
of her as being
anything special.