[Invitation to Eden 21.0] Falling or Flying Read Free Page B

he’d used a cane, and both times she’d flown him back to the island, those piercing eyes had studied her and seen through her in a way no other guest had bothered to before.
    He’d started to talk more during their trips. He’d listened intently to her purposefully short responses and, in her opinion, heard too much in her answers. And his smile… He smiled in a way that made her stomach knot up.  Made her think about what he was doing on the island the entire time he was here. The man had gotten under her skin.
    Worse, Vardalos had never given her a single hint, either in his files or their conversations, about why Austin had to keep coming back. How many unspoken fantasies and heart’s desires could one man have? Who were they about?
    What wasn’t the boss telling her? “Are you going into business with him? Is he blackmailing you with some juicy bit of scandal from your past? Four times , Mr. V. Guests don’t get invited back four times.”
    “Unless I want them to.” That voice told her the discussion was closed and Joely had the infantile desire to throw a genuine tantrum.
    Was the universe trying to drive her crazy? First the phony invitation and now… Oh God. Was it a coincidence? It had to be. No one else could know how often Austin had invaded her dreams.
    The island knows…
    Shut up , she told the voice in her head firmly. Just…shut up .
    Joely stepped away from the desk and pushed her hair out of her face, walking backward toward the door. “Oz has spoken,” she intoned dramatically, offering him a formal bow. “But so we’re clear, this face you’re seeing right now? This is my disapproving face. It’s also my I’ll-get-you-and-your-little-dog-too face. Be afraid, big guy, because you never know when I might strike. When your dream date gets here I might— Whoa .”
    When she stumbled and grabbed her stomach, Vardalos stood up abruptly and circled the desk to reach her. “Joely? What is it? Are you sick?”
    Joely shook her head, unable to respond. That was big. That was a seven-point-five on the Richter scale. She could count on a single hand how many times her feelings had been that strong.
    Someone is coming. Joely looked into Theodosius Vardalos’ eyes and forced herself not to smile, forgetting about her own worries for a minute and silently celebrating the knowledge.
    Maybe that was what the island had been trying to tell her all morning. It wasn’t about Austin at all, or her reaction to him. He and his friend would be too busy with each other to pay much attention to her. She’d bring extra liquor just in case to help distract them. This flight would be the same as the hundred that had come before. She would see them to the island and get ready for the next hundred. And the next. Life would go on as usual.
    It isn’t about me, is it? It’s about him. Someone is coming for Vardalos .
    His fantasy was about to come true.
     

 

Chapter One
     
    Joely was flying. It was the only time she felt truly free. When she was ten, Uncle Artie had taken her up in his red-and-white Cessna for her first lesson and she’d decided this was her place. Up here she was untouchable. The rest of the world disappeared and she could outmaneuver any problem, outrace any storm Mother Nature decided to throw her way.
    Flying was better than key lime pie. Better than sex. It was every good Christmas, every rollercoaster ride and every happy thought she’d ever had rolled into one. Why would she want to do anything else? Sometimes, she almost believed she could touch the stars.
    Stars. Wait, how could there be stars in the middle of the day?
    Bright lights were all around her, swirling faster and faster until the plane dropped away and she was falling. She saw the island below her, watched the water crash against the shore, the whitecaps scrabbling for purchase with grasping hands.
    Eden was spinning too. Like an oddly shaped top in the water, the island whirled, sending out rippling waves in all