Page 8 of Modern Romance September 2025 1-4

Bunny whirled round in a fury. ‘Drop the subject, Sebastian, before I explode! We did not share anything on the boat but mutual antipathy, I assure you!’

‘I appreciate that you find this discussion trying but I had to know how we interacted prior to coming here because I’m very attracted to you and I have to know where I stand with you.’

And with that, Sebastian sprang up with infuriating calm and walked out of the kitchen.

I’m very attracted to you.

Bunny was astonished. That hadn’t occurred to her as a possibility on the boat or since.

All of a sudden, he was forgiven for being so blunt and mortifying her.

She understood now. That was why he had asked if they had had sex.

He didn’t remember the boat. But was being very attracted to her why he had been rude in the first place?

No, that made no sense. He must’ve realised after he boarded. Bunny smiled. Well, fancy that!

Not that anything was likely to happen between them, of course.

She and Sebastian were ships that passed and she didn’t do casual.

And wasn’t that unfortunate? Bunny had only one man in her past and she had been in what she’d believed was a monogamous relationship with Tristram for most of the time they had been at university together.

And then it had fallen apart once she’d discovered that he had been cheating on her all along.

Even worse, she had learned that most of her friends and all of his had known that he was cheating.

People didn’t want to get involved these days but even though she understood that her friends had been afraid of telling her the truth, she still thought they could have hinted in any number of ways that Tristram led a double life.

After all, her health could have been compromised by his infidelity.

Sebastian’s sheer honesty was remarkably appealing to her at that moment as she relived that past. After what her family called the ‘Tristram treachery’, Bunny had been well warned not to get too involved with anyone she met fleetingly on her travels.

And even though she was twenty-three and no longer an innocent, she had stuck to that rule to protect herself from further hurt.

Not quite, though, how an adult woman should behave, she found herself thinking, dissatisfied with that fresh view of herself.

Tristram had been a lying, cheating creep but she knew that not all men were the same.

She walked out of the kitchen and eventually walked round the whole house to establish that Sebastian had gone.

But he couldn’t go far, she reminded herself as she made her way down to the beach.

There was no sign of him and she set off along the shore, bare feet crunching on white sparkly sand in the sunlight.

The island was divine from the lush green vegetation to the colourful birds and the empty beach of a dream holiday destination.

But because she was stuck there against her will, it somehow felt like a prison. A prison with… Sebastian ?

That was a whole other story, she conceded with a helpless grin.

Few women would complain about being marooned with Sebastian.

She would never have dared break into a stranger’s house.

He’d got them off the beach, he’d got the bathroom working and the power on.

Even without his striking resemblance to a screen-star fantasy male, he would deserve an accolade for those accomplishments alone.

She was taken aback by the sight of Sebastian feeding a small bonfire at the bottom end of the island, near where they had arrived the day before.

Only the day before, she reminded herself, and it was already shocking her that she felt so relaxed with him, as if he were a close friend, rather than a near stranger.

Really, Bunny, she castigated herself, is this how you react to a very hot guy who admits that he finds you very attractive?

‘So, this is what you’ve been at…you could’ve told me,’ she remarked, striving not to be affected by the image of Sebastian in sunlight.

He stood there so very tall and broad, luxuriant black hair tousled, dark eyes golden enticement in daylight and so handsome he made her teeth clench. ‘I could’ve helped gather wood.’

‘There are snakes in the undergrowth.’

And she couldn’t help it, she shivered, not being a snake kind of girl. ‘Why a bonfire? Hoping for passing shipping to notice?’

‘I haven’t seen a single boat since we arrived. No, the house obviously has a caretaker and presumably he’s not that far away.’

‘How do you know it has a caretaker and not just an owner?’

‘There’s no dust and nothing personal left in the house aside from that collection of his and the paintings.

The pool in the foyer has been emptied because, whoever he is, he’s not been visiting much, but I believe the house is still being checked on at least a monthly basis,’ he contended.

‘If the caretaker sees smoke and we’re even distantly in view of him, he will visit. ’

‘He might ask the police to visit.’

‘Even better,’ Sebastian contended with blazing confidence.

‘I can’t speak Indonesian beyond hello, goodbye and thanks,’ she admitted.

‘I speak enough to get by,’ Sebastian said carelessly as she drew level. ‘I spent a lot of time here sailing and exploring when I was a teenager.’

‘With your parents?’

His lean strong features tightened. ‘No, they…died years before.’

Embarrassed she had asked, Bunny nodded. ‘That’s tough.’

‘Not really, particularly not when I see the level of supervision you’re still receiving from yours,’ Sebastian traded scathingly and then he stilled and frowned.

‘My apologies, I shouldn’t have said that.

’ In an abrupt volte-face, Sebastian bent down to grab up wood to feed the fire, his lithe, powerful length silhouetted against black swirling smoke.

But he had been deflecting sooner than address the topic of parents, Bunny recognised, wondering why that was such a sore spot apart from the obvious reason of loss, particularly when that loss had taken place years back in his distant past. At most, she reckoned he was in his very early thirties, and it was a little odd to still be that sensitive.

Only what did she know about such emotions when she had yet to lose anyone she loved?

Surely, she had to know about his parents, Sebastian was thinking.

Everyone knew that horror story! He was the survivor of his family, a victim, which he hated to acknowledge especially when the relatives treated him as though he were mentally unstable and somehow fatally contaminated like his late father.

Arrogant much, Pagonis? Of course, not every chance-met stranger knew his history but, with his inherited wealth, people were usually quick to look him up online and then they found out because it was all still out there for anyone to see.

‘How much do you know about me?’ Sebastian shot at her without warning.

‘Nothing, well…three facts. I know your first name and that you were born in Greece and that there’s a rumour that you’re very rich,’ she told him uneasily.

‘Didn’t you look me up online?’

‘Not on my phone budget on a boat abroad,’ Bunny admitted. ‘I usually use the bar at the harbour for Internet access and send messages or call home while I’m there. I’ve lived on the boat since I arrived. What’s your surname? Would I know it?’

‘A lot of people do… Pagonis.’

‘Sorry, not familiar at all. Pagonis…’ she sounded out absently.

Sebastian was amused, oddly relieved by her ignorance of his background. For once, it seemed, he was on a level playing field with a woman. ‘And yours?’

‘Woods…’

Sebastian flung back his handsome head and laughed with appreciation. ‘Bunny Woods. Nobody was thinking too hard when they named you, but you are undeniably cute.’

Bunny went pink and collided with smouldering dark golden eyes that burned through her like a shot of adrenalin.

She rushed into speech. ‘I was thinking that we could make a big SOS message on the beach with stones or shells or something…seaweed?’ she asked uncertainly.

‘In case a plane flies over. I know we haven’t heard any yet, but we should be prepared just in case. ’

‘That’s a good idea,’ Sebastian commented, walking over to her, lean hands lifting to rest lightly on her slight shoulders. ‘Are you going to feel threatened if I kiss you?’

‘Will you ? No telling what a sexually deprived woman might do to a man without backup on a remote island,’ she teased.

‘No telling.’ Enjoyment gleamed in Sebastian’s heavily lashed eyes, whirls of caramel and whiskey shades in the darkness of those eyes that made her heart beat so fast, it felt as if it were sitting right at the back of her throat.

Her bare feet felt welded to the sand as though she couldn’t have moved even if she had wanted to.

She was feeling an excitement absolutely new to her that she had not known even in the heady first days with Tristram, and that sense of thrilling anticipation was uniquely seductive.

Of course, deep down inside, she expected to be vaguely disappointed as usual.

Sebastian gazed down into her intent green eyes, a sort of witchy green, he decided.

He remembered hanging an old green glass fishing buoy in a window as a kid, daydreaming that it was a magic witch’s ball that he could somehow escape his life through.

He didn’t know what it was about Bunny, but she soothed him in some weird way, made him want to be a better man than he believed he was.

The way he had spoken to her when he boarded that boat?

As if she were nothing, nobody. He didn’t want to be that man but, apparently, he was that man ten years at least down the road.

He ran slow fingers across her delicate collarbone, tracing it, following the line of her slender neck, cupping her pointed chin, and then let go, bending to lift her gently off her feet and rest her down horizontally on the sand.

‘No way of doing this comfortably when we’re standing.

You are way too small and I am way too tall,’ he sighed, folding down and holding his weight off her with one powerful arm.

‘You about to whip out a tape measure or kiss me?’

‘I didn’t want to scare you.’

‘I get that…but still waiting here,’ she countered with a lively smile of one-upmanship.

And then he just kissed her, kissed her long and deep and slow and every nerve ending in her body came alive as though it was a celebration rather than an experiment on her part.

Never had she felt like that before. Never had anything felt so intense that her entire body felt engaged in a cliff-edge scream for more.

The delve of his tongue made her spine arch and jackknifed her up into closer contact.

And he came down on top of her in a wildly hungry kiss that sent every nerve ending in her body pulsing and begging.

Her nipples tightened into hard buds as his chest shifted over hers and a throbbing helpless heat pooled between her thighs.

And it was too soon, way too soon for that and way too dangerous , her brain shouted at her, dragging her free of the erotic spell he cast. She liked to think through such actions, to look and ponder before she leapt.

Sebastian intoxicated her and on some level that was as scary as it was exhilarating.

Opting out, Bunny tried to shift sideways, which was impossible beneath his weight, but he got the message and folded back onto his knees. ‘For one kiss, that was amazing.’

‘Who are you trying to kid? That was at least ninety-five kisses. Take your clothes off,’ she told him, eying the blood stain on that gorgeous sweater.

For a split second, Sebastian froze and then vaulted upright as Bunny got up as well. He peeled off the sweater and the tee shirt, embarked on his salt-stained chinos, only to freeze as she yelped, ‘No, not the boxers too!’

No, not a shy bone in this guy’s body, she thought with roaring appreciation as she gathered up the sweater, tee shirt and chinos and turned on her heel to head smartly back to the house.

‘Where are you going?’

Bunny flipped him a glance over her shoulder and laughed. ‘I’m planning to try out the washing machine…’

She swore that she would cherish the incredulous look on Sebastian’s darkly handsome face until her dying day.