Caribbean Cowboy: Under the Caribbean Sun, Book 4 by Jenna Bayley-Burke

but I’ve heard he’s fencing the parcels as if it’s one property.”
    She gave her best nonchalant shrug. She almost couldn’t believe it worked. But there was no reason to push. Kristin didn’t have any of the answers she needed. She faked a yawn, though she wouldn’t be able to rest until she saw Nik and could make sure he wanted what had happened in Alaska to stay in Alaska.
    Janny hadn’t been to Slick’s place since before college, yet she remembered every turn on the unmarked dirt road. She’d actually never met Slick, but island mythology said she’d been a poet who’d welcomed all artists to her sparse homestead. Until a wealthy painter had decided she was his muse and whisked her away on his yacht. Who knew if the romantic story was true, but local teens used to flock there, hoping to find a bit of their own escape.
    It had been the place to party, but a hurricane five years back had sent waves washing over the entire island. The abandoned clapboard house hadn’t stood a chance. Once the house was gone, people had stopped coming around the undeveloped roads. Goats and iguanas had taken over, consuming what vegetation the dry side of the island sprouted. Over a low hill, a small fire glowed in the distance.
    As she inched her car closer, she couldn’t see a soul in the twilight. Harm’s giant black truck sat at one side of an expanse of bare dirt and an old pickup that looked like it had given up on the other side. She parked the car, her headlights illuminating the space. Makeshift furniture sat on the left of the campfire, and to the right she saw him.
    Naked.
    Her heart jumped at the sight of his broad back, bare ass. He stood in a half barrel, water showering down from somewhere above him. A pair of jeans rested on the arm of a chair, a straw cowboy hat on the seat and worn boots on the ground beside it. He turned and shaded his eyes against the glare of her headlights. Maybe she could just turn tail and run.
    And then he smiled that sexy grin and she knew she’d been made. Janny turned off the car and killed the lights, shoring up her resolve to do what needed to be done. Find out exactly why Nik Hansen was on her island.
    Hot damn. Nik let the last of the water drain from the solar shower bag and pushed the water out of his short hair. He hadn’t imagined Janny would find him within hours of arriving home. Had to be a good sign. It meant she hadn’t had her fill of him yet.
    He’d planned on looking her up once he’d had a chance to truly shower and shave. Out here, he rinsed off just enough to stand himself when he crawled into the bed of the truck at night. And because he thought it a bit wasteful to use clean water to make compost tea. Nik stepped out of the half barrel and onto the pile of rocks he’d collected. He grabbed his towel off the chair and rubbed down his head, shoulders, back. He wanted to give her the opening line, but she didn’t seem to have the words. He wrapped the towel around his waist and turned to watch her walk toward him.
    Now that was a beautiful woman. Her wild curls rivaled with the serious expression on her face. Once she reached him, she squared her shoulders, yet she cocked one curvy hip to the side.
    “Did you miss me, Princess?” He licked his lips as he took her in, from her sandaled feet to the sway of her red sundress.
    “The only thing I missed was your last name, Nik Hansen.” Her pale eyes sparked in the firelight.
    Why did it sound like an accusation? “It was in the wedding program, and I had to stand still and smile for lots of pictures.”
    “You said Holly was your best friend.”
    “I am her best friend. I’m on a rock in the middle of the Caribbean Sea because she needed me here. If that isn’t a best friend, I don’t know what is.”
    “That’s a brother.”
    “Nope. She has eight of us and I’m the only one here.” He kept the towel in place while he slipped back into his boots to make the walk to the truck bed.
    “What are