Free His Paradise Wife by Tina Martin Page A

Emily,” he said,
stepping in front of her and blocking her path to the
bedroom.
    “ What?” she asked, feeling a
frown form in her forehead, the norm whenever she was face-to-face
with Dante.
    “ Where were you today? I was
waiting for you at breakfast and to participate in the marriage
workshops but you never showed.”
    Emily boldly looked up at the built,
broad-shouldered man towering in front of her and said, “I’m not
interested in that.”
    “ Well, you need to be.
Emily, this is part of the process, okay?”
    “ What process?” she asked,
exasperated.
    “ What this resort is all
about. I formed this place for people who lost spouses in death.
The therapists here, as well as all the staff, are well-trained
individuals to help people like us to deal with loss.”
    “ People like us...” she
hissed. He hadn’t lost anyone unless he was starting to believe his
own lies. “I don’t have time for this. Excuse me.”
    When he hadn’t bothered to move out of her
path, Emily looked into his eyes, watching them darken. “Gosh, I
really don’t have time for this. Will you please move out of my
way?”
    “ Why do you insist on being
angry, Emily? I’m trying to work with you and you—”
    “ You’re trying to work with me?” she asked,
cutting him off. “Newsflash...I didn’t ask for, nor do I need your
help or anything else from you for that matter.”
    “ Stop!” he yelled, grabbing
her forearms and backing her up to a wall. “Stop fighting me, okay.
Just stop!”
    “ Let go of me,” Emily said,
trying her best to free herself from the grasp of his strong
hands.
    “ Emily,” Dante said in his
efforts to calm her down. She was persistently trying to free
herself from him and he fought to control her wild movements.
“Emily!”
    “ Let me go! What’s wrong
with you?” she shouted. “Let me go!”
    He listened this time, and unlatched his
fingers from around her wrists.
    “ You’re such a jerk...you
freakin’ animal!” She rubbed her wrists and said, “I have to find
thirty-thousand dollars so I can get out of here. I can’t take
another minute anywhere near you!” She headed back for the door,
then took the elevators down to the ground floor, still rubbing her
arms.
    Venturing away from the resort, she stumbled
into a bar, sat down and covered her face with her hands, trying to
get herself together.
    “ You look like you can use
several drinks,” the bartender told her.
    Emily looked up and saw a woman there, an
African-American woman who appeared to have been in her late
twenties. She was thin, had her hair pulled back into a
ponytail.
    Drawing in a breath, Emily said, “Yes. I can
use a drink. What’s popular around here?”
    “ I make a mean Bahama
Mama.”
    “ All right then. A mean
Bahama Mama it is.”
    Emily rested her head against her arms. She
needed to come up with a plan to get away from Dante and off of
Pleasure Island. She sure wasn’t getting any pleasure by being
here, and she couldn’t endure another night with Dante even if her
life depended on it.
    “ Here you go, madam,” the
bartender said.
    “ Thank you.”
    “ You’re welcome.”
    Emily took a sip. “Mmm...this is good.”
    “ Yeah, I put a little extra
rum in there for ya.”
    “ Thanks.”
    “ So where are you visiting
from?”
    “ Asheville, North
Carolina.”
    “ Oh...the
mountains.”
    “ Yes.”
    “ What brings you to Pleasure
Island? Vacationing?”
    “ Something like that. I sort
of got married this weekend in the mass wedding at the GHC
Resort.”
    “ Cool,” she said, her eyes
lighting up. “I saw that on the news.”
    “ Yeah, well I was one of the
brides.”
    “ And where’s
hubby?”
    Emily shrugged. “I don’t know. Probably back
at the hotel, thinking up more ways to irritate me.”
    The bartender grinned.
    Emily did too.
    “ I heard the owner of that
place got hitched,” the bartender said. “Is that true?”
    “ Um...what’s his name?”
Emily asked, playing