Ms. Perfect

Chapter 6

CHAPTER 6

Grace parted ways with Faye after they landed. The former wanted to check into their luxury hotel and freshen up, which probably meant taking a nap until late morning. Grace, however, wanted to get out onto the island. Being cramped up on the plane all night had given her cabin fever and seeing the beautiful water from the sky had been a literal inspiration.

Lucky for her she had a boat ride around the island scheduled just after 8 o’clock on a small charter boat named the Lady Jane.

With all of the last minute arrangements being made for their trip to Australia, someone had booked the boat ride much too early in the morning.

“I can reschedule,” Phoenix had told her over the phone, calling from Grace’s jet to Faye’s.

“No, don’t do that,” Grace had told her. “Book something that everyone can attend after you land. I’ll go on this one alone.”

She didn’t tell Phoenix, but she was glad for the mistake. She wanted to go alone, sans producers, sans Syd and his girlfriend, sans Zac. She wanted to decompress from her trip. A solo boat trip would do just the trick.

As she stepped onto the pier a few minutes before 8:00 she had the sense of a thrilling new adventure. A balmy tropical breeze lifted her hair off of her face and she breathed it in, letting the beauty of this place fill her lungs and feed her creative soul.

Grace needed to immerse herself in this world. To play Scarlet Kensington who, according to the script, ran a beachfront gourmet restaurant, Grace needed to become an islander. The sights, smells, and sounds of this place needed to permeate her body just as Scarlet’s character permeated her mind.

She took slow, careful steps down the long pier, taking in the shining white boats tied to their docks with thick ropes while French blue waves lapped at their sides. She smiled quietly at the sound of sea birds on the water and closed her eyes for a moment, inhaling another deep breath of this amazing place. Grace could almost feel the spirit of Scarlet Kensington in the soft peaceful breeze.

“Excuse me,” a man’s voice sounded sharp and loud from behind her, accompanied by the hollow thumping of someone running on the pier.

Grace’s eyes flew open. In the instant it took to turn around and see the man her mind raced through all of the security protocols she had broken to get to the pier. She had left her security team behind to travel in Faye’s private jet. Then, dismissing Faye’s offer to have one of her people escort her, Grace had opted not to take the shuttle. Instead, she had hired a seemingly nice man with a golf cart, or buggy as they called them on this car free island, to take her to the marina.

As the thumping runner fast approached, fear rose in her chest. Years of living with fame and the money that came with it had made Grace cautious of the outside world…normally. Had she let her guard down on this enchanting little island only to be robbed, kidn*pped, or worse, within an hour of landing? On the other hand, would a kidnapper say ‘excuse me’?

She wasn’t sure, so she grit her teeth, gripped her Chanel tote firmly with both hands, and silently cursed her mistake as the man rushed towards her.

He was tall and well built despite being a little shaggy and unkempt. His olive green cargo shorts were spattered with paint splotches and his shoes were actually worn work boots. He carried a raggedy knapsack that clunked as he ran. He was fumbling with a white polo shirt, trying to pull it down over his bare chest. The action made his forward progress awkward, but he didn’t slow down, even when the shirt was wrapped almost completely around his neck and face, obstructing his view.

Grace gasped. The wild man was barreling blindly towards her on a pier with no room for her to escape, but that wasn’t why she gasped. The gasp came from somewhere deep in her chest near her heart, a purely visceral reaction to the sight of him.

His bare chest was tan and extremely well formed. A lean, muscled, stomach practically stared her in the face as he moved closer, wrestling with his shirt. Not the rock hard six-pack that would lead her to believe he spent too much time worrying about his appearance, but the sexy hard stomach of a man who built his muscle from real manual labor. His abdomen and torso flexed and writhed as he tried to twist the white polo into place.

He was almost on top of her and Grace couldn’t move. Frozen in shock, she tried and tried, but could not get her breath. She couldn’t even call out a warning to tell him he was about to run smack into her.

Just as she thought they were doomed to collide and go careening off the pier into the blue water, he freed the shirt and yanked it down so it was out of his face. Grace had half a heartbeat to take in the shock of blonde hair, the 5 o’clock shadow on a strong jaw, and the perfect white teeth in a surprised smile.

“Whoops,” he exclaimed as he saw her right in front of him. Without slowing down, he turned sideways, sucked his stomach in to keep their bodies from bumping, raised his awkward knapsack high in the air so it just skimmed over the top of her head, and carried on past her, still running. He called out over his shoulder in an unmistakable Australian accent, “Excuse me, sorry!”

Grace was dizzy as she watched him run away. Even though she hadn’t moved as he passed by, somehow she felt as if she had spun around in a full circle and been left flapping in the breeze caused by his departure. His backside grew smaller and smaller as he quickly moved down the pier, and she noted that it was just as attractive as his front side.

It took her a few moments to regain her composure. Finally, she pulled in a shallow breath, then another, and realized that her whole body was trembling.

“It’s okay,” she whispered. One more breath, deeper, more calming, and she would be fine.

She relaxed her grip on her tote bag and glanced up and down the pier to see if anyone had noticed the running man or her reaction. There were just a few people on a handful of boats preparing to go out for the day. Mostly she could only see the tops of their heads from her much lower position on the pier. None of them seemed to be paying any attention to her or the stranger who had been in such a hurry.

Grace smoothed her black hair and tugged the front of her blue-green chambray shirt back in place. The trembling was gone, except for a small ball in the center of her stomach, and she felt a little foolish.

What in the world had come over her? She had worked with some of the world’s most glamorous and attractive men and had never lost her ability to speak. Probably the mixture of jet lag, fear, and a little bit of island mojo was affecting her senses. She needed to get to her boat and settle in for a relaxing ride.

Glad nobody had been watching to see her go into palpitations over a random good looking Australian sailor, she reoriented to her task and continued down the pier to look for the Lady Jane.