Chapter Two

She awoke early the following morning, sunlight pouring into her chamber like warm honey. She stretched, changed into a tank top and shorts, and went outside.

Marcus was at the shore.

Of course he was sprinting. Of course he was the type of man who turned jogging at daybreak look like a movie scene from a movie written for ladies who had unsettled fantasies about older men with facial features sharp enough to crush hearts.

He moved with a focused strength—efficient, forceful, concentrated. The type of man who looked sculpted without the need for a gym membership because life had done it for him.

Jade strolled down the...