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window she passed had its own priceless view of either jungle or vast ocean.
    Joel led her through the foyer to the wide, vaulted great room with a marble fireplace so big they could waltz inside it. A wheaten couch faced the hearth.
    Ava’s jaw dropped as he led her out to the terrace. The blazing moon highlighted the gentle crest of the waves rolling onto the shore.
    “No wonder this is your favorite place,” she said. “If I owned it, I’d never leave.” Back in the city Ava had loved to stare at the serene river flowing below their office window. This view was even better.
    “As much as I love it here, I start missing the action.”
    “Yeah, you always do need to be challenged. Tragic character flaw.” She flashed a teasing smile.
    The next stop on his tour was a brief walk through an open kitchen with every amenity known to a five star chef.
    “This is not primitive. You had me expecting a small rustic cottage. Not a showplace with a granite kitchen.”
    “If I decided to cook, I’d want all the comforts of home.”
    Joel, cook? Did he even know how? Yet another reminder of how different she and Joel were. Even if Joel wasn’t the emotionless, secretive man her father had been he still wasn’t right for her. He didn’t live in her regular world. He’d created a world so above hers, she’d never fit in. And he didn’t want her to. He only wanted her for a sexual excursion, so he could go back to New York, to his million-dollar penthouse powerhouse life, where he would marry some model-debutant.
    The tour continued. After passing ten bedrooms, all with their own bathrooms, Joel showed her the most impressive room of all, his master bedroom.
    Decadent—the only word that could describe the enormous square room that housed a majestic, mahogany king-sized bed that screamed excess. And the suite’s marble bathroom was opulent temptation with its seductive, jetted tub for two. Oh my.
    They would be sharing it before the week was over.
    Joel came in behind her and laid his hands on her shoulders.
    She froze. “I…I’m not ready for—”
    “I don’t expect you to tear off your clothes and jump into my bed this minute. We just got here. I plan to take the time to seduce you, slowly, until you melt in my arms. I want to spoil you. It’s late. For our first time, I want you wide-awake and willing.”
    Ava leaned in the bathroom doorway and watched Joel work in the bedroom. He opened her suitcase, where it sat on the floor. His shirt strained as he bent to retrieve her folded clothing. The play of his back muscles and arms made her swallow hard.
    They’d sat close during the flight. He’d laid his arm over her shoulder. His scent had tantalized her and charged her hunger. Tension built in her muscles, especially the ones low in her pelvis. She sensed he’d give her unimaginable pleasure. But it had been forever since she’d had a lover and fear wouldn’t leave her, so she’d done the cowardly thing and given herself a reprieve. One more night.
    “I never pictured you like this, waiting on me. I thought no matter where you go you had an entourage of servants,” she said.
    “With me, anything is possible.” He walked to a nearby closet and hung her navy sweater before he faced her. “But out here, I like my staff bare. They come once a day to deliver food and clean. I choose to be more self-sufficient on Stanfield Cay because I like the privacy of my island. This place is a thousand years away from New York. And there are fewer sharks out here.”
    He sounded like that was the island’s only flaw, the fact there were no sharks. Joel liked sharks and challenges. He didn’t experience fear the way other men did. Nothing about Joel was like other men, which made him danger personified. She shivered in spite of the fact his island palace was the perfect temperature.
    “How many times in the past year have you come here?” Had he and Claudia been here recently ?
    “Once, twice maybe.”
    “Oh.”