Glen eyed them both. “You sure you just don’t want to soak up the warmth for a couple more days?”

Rachel wanted to deny Glen’s allegation, but Jason beat her to it. “A couple days of sunshine and rest sounds like a better start to the new year than we’ve had.”

Glen patted Jason on the back. “I have ya covered, brother.” He hugged Rachel. “We’ll see you back in New York.”

“Fly safe,” she told him.

Jason watched his brother leave before turning her way. “I hope you don’t mind me kidnapping you for a few more days.”

“As long as we can sleep in tomorrow, I won’t complain.” They’d been running since the moment they arrived in San José, while Nathan tutored Owen on the finer points of picking up women.

“No more room service. No more hospitals.”

She put her arm through his as they walked out the door. “Do you think Ron is going to be okay?”

“I don’t know. He’s going to have to live with Wendy’s death, knowing it was him who put her over the edge.”

“How old is the nanny?” Rachel asked as they got into the rental car.

“Not old enough,” Jason moaned. “Legal, but . . . no.”

“She’s out of a job now.” Rachel realized for the first time that the nanny was sleeping with her boss, and look how that worked out.

“Stop that,” Jason said from the driver’s seat.

“Stop what?”

“Where your mind went just now. I don’t care if you sleep with the nanny, you’ll never be without a job.”

Rachel couldn’t help but smirk. “I have no desire to sleep with Nathan.”

Jason huffed out a short laugh. “That’s quite an image.”

Halfway back to the hotel, she brought up the office. “You know they’re all talking about us.”

“I imagine they are.”

“It probably isn’t good.”

He glanced over briefly, then watched the road. “If I made a habit of sleeping with my secretarial assistants, perhaps you’d have a point. Not only have I never done that, I’ve never introduced a woman as a girlfriend. I will accept some noise over the situation, but I expect a certain degree of respect. Neither of us deserves any less.”

She blinked.

“You lost me at ‘girlfriend.’”

He didn’t bother looking her way. “Well . . . catch up.”

Smiling, she watched the rest of the miles melt away as they turned to the fun part of their working vacation.

Jason took them to the coast. He rented a house on the sand that came with a chef and a housekeeper. Before they arrived, he’d forced Rachel to pick out a few things to wear on the beach, telling her he owed her a dress after the splattered paint incident. Now they were even.

For the next three days he laughed, ate, soaked up the sunshine he knew would be absent when they returned to New York . . . and he fell even harder. It wasn’t going to be easy letting her return to her own bed now that he’d had her in his. Returning to work was going to prove difficult, which was a big reason as to why he opted to stay in Costa Rica a little longer.

Glen had sent him a message letting him know the office gossip was running wild, and that it probably wouldn’t die until they returned to squelch it.

“Someone looks comfortable.” He heard Rachel’s voice above him.

He opened his eyes in the hammock he’d managed to get into without dumping his butt on the ground. “I need to get one of these.”

“The hammock or the house in Central America?” she teased.

“Both.”

Her smile dropped.

He winked.

“I never know when to take you seriously about those things.”

“Gotta keep it a little mysterious, or you’ll start sleeping with the nanny.”

“Nah, the accent does nothing for me.”

“The accent does something for everyone in a skirt,” he told her.

She looked down at her bikini. “I’m not wearing one.”

His eyes traveled down her frame as he remembered the tiny mole she had on her left hip, which was barely covered by the material she wore. “I see that.”

“If I didn’t know better, I’d say you just undressed me in your mind.”

His eyes stopped at a particularly warm spot between her thighs. “Guilty.”

She shuffled from one foot to the other.

Jason patted his side. “Come here.”

“In the hammock.”

“Yeah.” He scooted over a tiny bit.

“You’re nuts. We’ll both dump on the sand.”

“I have great balance.”

Rachel approached gently and set her butt on the net.

“Now just lie back.”

The second she leaned back, the net twisted. Jason tried to right them but ended up on the ground, on his back, with Rachel on top of him.

“You okay?” she asked, laughing.

“It hurts.” He scowled.

“Aww, poor baby.”

He grabbed her butt with both hands and squeezed.

She laughed before leaning over to kiss his lips.

He was hard instantly, the pain in his back from the stick that he landed on forgotten.

Rachel wedged her knee between his thighs and took full advantage of her position. Jason liked her like this, raw and real. The care of work and responsibility had left them the moment they’d left the city of San José, and the woman on top of him had turned into a playful minx he wanted to enjoy all day and night.

Sand stuck to their bodies as their kiss turned more heated and determined.

“Where is Owen?” he asked, having zero desire to have the kid walk up on them.

“Back at the house.” She moved her lips to his ear, bit the lobe. “Nathan said they were having a poker tournament.”

“Sounds like it will take a while,” he said against her ear as his hand slid to the knot tying her swimsuit.

Her hand slid into his shorts, the sand she brought with her grating against the soft skin of his cock. He imagined she would be just as raw if they finished this where they were.

“Sand.”

She shifted her hips. “I don’t like it either.”

He looked at the turquoise water and private beach. “I have a better idea.”

Lifting her off him, he stood to his feet and swept her off hers.

The water was bathtub warm, the gentle waves nothing more than a lap pool without a current. He waited until he was waist high before letting her stand. Salt water replaced sand, but felt much better against his skin when she touched him.

“Is this gonna work?” she asked, hopping up and wrapping her legs around his waist.

His cock pushed against their clothing. “We won’t know until we try.” And boy, did he want to try. Their weightlessness in the water made it easier for him to reach between them and pet the folds of her sex.

She whimpered and kissed him, riding his hand until he couldn’t take it anymore.

With her hands wrapped around his neck, he adjusted their clothing while she kissed him. He teased her with his cock and then pushed deep inside her with a gasp.

Or was that her?

Rachel dropped her forehead onto his shoulder. “I like this.”

So did he.

She used her hips, and he guided her with the palms of his hands.

And they made out like teenage kids on summer break. Their bodies became one in the water, the feeling prolonged by the unique and unfamiliar position. But as they always did, they found a rhythm that worked for both of them.