Free Paradise Lust by Jocelyn Kates Page B

his dangerous feelings for her anymore. Glancing down, he saw that it was his sister, calling from back in the States.
    “Well good morning, Lizster,” he said, picking up immediately.
    “Good morning yourself, Dan the Man,” a cheerful female voice responded.
    “I appreciate the sentiment, but—”
    “Dammit,” Liz responded, laughing. “I swear I’ll get it some day.”
    Danny’s family still had a hard time calculating the time difference between them, despite the fact that he’d lived on a different continent for years. At first it had irritated him, but he’d come to find it endearing.
    “You can do anything if you believe in yourself,” he playfully teased.
    “Ha ha,” she said. “Well good evening. Good night. Good afternoon. Whatever. Anyway, what’s happening in paradise these days?”
    “Oh, same old same old,” he said, pushing Adele from his mind.
    “Have you been able to get time to surf? I know last time I talked to you there were all those development meetings in Singapore and work was just getting kind of—”
    “Yup, surf’s been great,” he said, cutting her off. If there was one thing he wanted to talk about less than Adele, it was work.  “Spent hours out there this morning, actually. But I want to hear about you! Palm trees aside, my life isn’t nearly as interesting as yours. How’s my little man?”
    “Caleb is fine,” Liz said. “Actually, it’s kind of the most adorable thing ever, his preschool is putting on a spring pageant, and he’s playing an inchworm. It’s insanely cute, he just squirms across the floor to practice—maybe not super sanitary, but hey. Oh, wait—Caleb! Honey, do you want to say your pageant line to Uncle Danny?”
    Danny felt a burst of love in his stomach. His nephew and godson was one of the great sources of joy and happiness in his life. In a moment, he heard the four-year-old’s tiny, assertive voice on the other end of the line.
    “I am a intworm!” the voice declared. “I cwaw on leafs!” Danny’s smile almost split his face in half.
    “Oh man, you better get your Oscar speech ready, little man,” he said. “That’s quite the performance.”
    “Bye bye Uncow Danny. Yuv you!” Tears sparkled in Danny’s eyes as his smile grew wider. Man, that kid.
    “Hey dude,” said Liz, coming back on the line. “Listen, I don’t want to run up a crazy bill—“
    “Liz, how many times do I have to tell you, I will pay for these phone calls,” he said, his voice stern and exasperated.
    “Hush,” she said. “Well, either way, I just wanted to hear your voice quickly. I’ve gotta run and drop Caleb off at daycare before work.”
    “No worries,” he said, though he was sorry to end the call. The phone calls from her, his younger brother, and his parents, were his only ties to that part of his life these days. And though this new life he’d created was more than he could have dreamed of, he missed them.
    “Love you, Danny,” Liz said. “Go enjoy paradise.”
    “Love you too, Liz,” he said. A moment later, the call went dead.
    He put the phone in his lap, sighed, and stared back out at the ocean for a long time. 

Chapter 10
     
    Everything felt simple the second time Adele left Danny’s cabin. Before, it had been so fraught with guilt and doubt, worry that this one act had sabotaged her journey of self-discovery. This time, she felt nothing but giddiness. He was fun, he was sexy— god damn he was sexy , she thought, conjuring up the image of his smooth, muscled back tapering down to a firm and supple ass—he was smart, and he liked her. Their interactions were easy. She wasn’t going to let herself analyze the pleasure out of this one.
    The hour had crept past ten by the time she got back to her cabin. Late, in the realm of her yogi island life; she’d been trying to get in bed by nine in order to be well-rested when she awoke at ten to six for asana practice. She decided to get right into bed, because tomorrow wasn’t