Falling Again For Her Island Fling. Ellie Darkins

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      She could do a lot for Le Bijou as the resident marine biologist, Meena acknowledged, turning Guy’s job offer over in her mind. She had done a lot of good when she had worked at another resort before her accident, she reminded herself, educating holidaymakers and divers about the local area and how to dive without impacting the coral reefs. She had even started a programme of coral regeneration with newlyweds, planting out coral, something that would carry on growing long after the honeymoon was over.

      She could do the same at Le Bijou, she thought, if she took up Guy’s job offer. She could stay on the island. Do her best for it. Protect it as best she could once the works were completed and the worst of the damage had been done.

      Perhaps damage limitation was all she could do. Guy owned Le Bijou, and it was going to change. Her sanctuary. It just wouldn’t exist any more. Not in the way that she wanted—needed—it to.

      But something made her hesitate before telling Guy that she wanted the job. Working with Guy, specifically, made her hesitate.

      She’d thought a lot about men the last few years. A lot about specifically what sort of man would make her fall for him. She knew she wouldn’t have slept with someone she didn’t love. Last she remembered, she had been a virgin planning to wait until she was married, as was expected of her. And then she was waking from a coma, finding out that she had been pregnant, and the only clues she had to her mystery boyfriend were notes she’d found months after she had finally left the clinic, scribbled in French on the back of a dive planner.

       I love you. I can’t wait to see you again. Meet me at our beach.

      She had wondered ever since then who he could have been. Who her type was. What sort of man she had fallen in love with.

      And now here was Guy and the strange sense of déjà vu she felt around him. It was probably just his accent, she thought. The twang of his Australian vowels that was so familiar from her scholarship year studying there. That was what was giving her this strange feeling, she decided. There was no way that Guy was her mystery boyfriend. The way that he looked at her was so cold, so impersonal, it couldn’t possibly be him.

      Which made the dreams she had been having about him all the stranger. They felt so vivid, so real. She had touched him. Smelled him. Tasted him. In her sleep last night she had run her fingertips over every part of his body and then followed them with her tongue. He had spanned her waist with his hands, cupped the curve of her hip and her buttock, teased her with his lips.

      All of which was making this meeting extremely awkward.

      She risked another glance up at him, but his eyes were still fixed on his computer screen.

      ‘I want to know what working with you will mean.’

      ‘I’m glad you’re considering it.’ He didn’t look as if he thought it was great. Considering he’d made the offer in the first place, he looked as if he didn’t want her there at all. Well, it was too late. She’d been thinking about Le Bijou. What it would mean to stand guard over it. However awkward things got with Guy.

      ‘Are you sure we haven’t met before?’

      She wasn’t really aware of thinking the question before it popped out of her mouth. He was just so...unsettling. He unnerved her. And she couldn’t help thinking that there must be a reason he had this effect on her. Must be a reason why her body reacted to him every time that he was close. A reason her heart was racing and her palms were sweating.

      Was it you? Her mind jumped to the familiar question. Did you love me? Did I carry your baby? Lose your baby?

      He sighed, looked up and made eye contact with her for the first time since she had walked into the room.

      ‘What period of time are you missing memories from?’ he asked. ‘I’ve only visited St Antoine once before.’

      She told him the date of her accident, and that she didn’t remember the three months before, wondering at the change in his demeanour.

      ‘I was here then,’ he said. ‘My parents own the Williams resort on the mainland. I was staying there for the summer.’

      ‘But I worked there!’ Meena exclaimed. ‘I was working at the dive school before my accident. It was the summer after I got back from Australia,’ she added, realising she’d never mentioned to him that connection. Was this the reason for his strangeness? For the strange familiarity she felt around him? Would she have mentioned that if she’d bumped into an Australian guest? Would she have struck up a conversation about that common link?

      ‘So maybe I have seen you before, or maybe we spoke back then? I’m sorry,’ she added, realising she was speaking out loud. ‘It’s just, it’s hard, having this gap in my memories. It makes me question myself. Question what I know, you know?’

      Of course he didn’t know. How could he? How could anyone know what it felt like to live in a body and a mind that didn’t fully belong to them?

      ‘Maybe we did meet.’ Guy shuffled some papers on his desk, not looking at her. ‘I went to the dive school when I was here before. Maybe we crossed paths.’

      ‘But you don’t remember? You don’t remember me?’ It was clear from the way that he had turned back to his work that he was ready for this meeting to be over. But it had been so long since she had had any new information about that time that she couldn’t let this drop, no matter how annoying Guy seemed to be finding her.

      Just once in her life, she wanted a straightforward answer. No, scratch that. Once in her life she wanted to know the answer to questions about her life herself, without relying on near strangers to fill in the gaps. But as that didn’t seem to be an option, no matter what she or her medical team had tried, she would have to settle for getting answers from someone else. For trusting other people to paint this picture of who she had been.

      ‘I don’t remember you,’ Guy said, looking back at his screen. ‘I’m sorry.’

      ‘No need to be sorry.’ Meena shrugged, tried to cover her disappointment. No answers, again. No reason for why she felt this strange familiarity around Guy. For him and for Le Bijou.

      ‘Get in touch with Dev about the details of the new job, if you want to consider it. And keep him updated with your progress on the environmental reports. If there’s nothing else...’

      It was clear she was being dismissed.

      ‘Okay, great.’ She forced professionalism back into her voice. ‘Well, I’m going to go have another look at the reef tomorrow. To see if there is any way that its decline can be reversed, or at least halted. If you want to come and see for yourself, you would be welcome.’

      Guy glanced up at her, meeting her gaze again. Maybe this was why he avoided it, Meena thought, as she felt her cheeks warm under his scrutiny. Maybe he could see the effect he had on her when he turned his full attention on her like that. No wonder he didn’t want to encourage it.

      ‘I’ll see what I can do. But I have a very full week.’