Page 28 of Vitamin Sea

"I wasn’t sure what to wear,” Jack said wryly. “But I figured the Four Seasons wouldn’t take too kindly to me showing up in the lobby naked. I came to Costa Rica to see the sights. Which does not include the inside of a jail.”

Chloe giggled.

“Don’t worry, they don’t force you to take your clothes off here.”

Although , she thought to herself, she wouldn’t much mind if they implemented a mandatory no-clothes rule just for Jack.

She had had a good look at him the day they went out on the catamaran and his body was, in a word, banging.

He was muscled, but not overly so, with the lean build of a soccer player and abs you could clean clothes on.

Lala had gone over to Daniel’s resort for the day after double checking first to make sure Chloe would be okay.

“Of course!” Chloe said brightly. “I’m glad you’re getting on with Daniel. We’re here to relax and have fun so go and

have some fun!”

“Will do, Chlo! As long as you take some of that advice

for yourself.” She sounded happy as she set off towards her salad.

Chloe smiled. She was sure she was going to have a fun time with Jack.

It was so pleasant, she thought, to feel that flicker of interest in someone.

She had known, of course, from previous breakups that while the heartbreak felt like it would last for an eternity and that she would never be attracted to another man again, that time would pass and there would be someone who would ignite that fire.

She had just been with Liam for so long that she had thought it might take years for her to feel that spark again.

“So, what do you have planned for us today?” Jack said lightly. “I know I said naked yoga isn’t my thing, but if it’s important for your work assignment, I’m in.”

She smirked in reply.

“No yoga. But we do have lunch reservations, an aerobics session, and entertainment we need to check out tonight. Aside from that, I figured we could grab a cocktail and head down to the beach. Maybe play a bit of volleyball?”

“Sounds good,” he said lightly. “I love volleyball. Just one question,” he asked sounding a bit uncertain. “Do I have to take off my shorts?”

She patted him on the arm reassuringly.

“No.” She smiled. “I promise you can keep your shorts on. Best to keep your sunglasses on too,” she warned. “Even if you’re not trying to stare, it takes your eyes a bit to adjust to all of the . . . exposure. It’s a bit of a shock to the system.”

“Noted,” Jack nodded. “I will keep my sunglasses glued to my face. Hopefully I’ve gotten used to it by dinner, otherwise I’m going to look like a creep.”

“Just remember rule number one,” Chloe said in mock seriousness. “No gawking.”

Jack shook with laughter.

“They actually have rules against perverts? This place

really has thought of everything.”

“It’s a very classy resort,” Chloe teased. “Nudity notwithstanding.”

They grabbed two bottles of water from the bar at the pool, ordered a drink, and made their way down to the sand where the volleyball game was already underway.

Chloe’s experience that everyone at the resort was very friendly was also borne out by the people who invited them to join.

She and Jack wound up on opposite teams, which made for a fun competition.

The players, with the exception of one man, skewed older and the atmosphere was gregarious.

Players high-fived each other and gave teammates claps of support.

It didn’t take long for Chloe to discover that Jack was vicious on the court—he looked like he could have played Olympic-level volleyball.

Okay, that might be a bit of a stretch, but she was thrown off by how athletic he was. She, on the other hand, was less coordinated and much less skilled. But that didn’t stop her from getting in a few good hits.

When the game ended, 15–21 for Jack’s team, the players lined up and shook hands at the net. A big grin spread across Jack’s face when he reached Chloe.

“You didn’t tell me you were a world champion volleyball player!” she hissed jokingly.

“I didn’t want to spoil it for you.” He laughed. “I thought I might be able to impress you with my ball-handling skills.”

“I’m not touching that one,” she teased back.

They headed for the beach chairs where Jack and Chloe had left their things.

“Do you want to relax out here for a bit?” she asked.

“I’d love to,” Jack nodded. “Let me just go up and get a

couple of towels. And a refill?” He gestured to Chloe’s empty glass.

“Yes, please!”

Relaxing in the sun for a ‘bit’ turned into two hours. It wasn’t the typical sleep, read, or listen to music kind of relaxation. They spent the entire time turned towards each other, talking.

On the yacht the day before, she had found out that Jack was a lawyer who specialized in finance. Jack regaled her with stories of crazy clients and Chloe responded with tales of work trips gone awry.

“I missed two days of an assignment I was enroute to Croatia for,” she told him.

“My connecting flight in London got delayed so they sent me to Germany. I had to stay there overnight and was just about to board when they shut down the airport because of climate activists.” She paused for dramatic effect.

“They had glued themselves to the runway.”

Jack laughed.

“Inconveniencing thousands of travelers. Not the best way to win people over to your way of thinking,” he chortled.

“Not at all,” Chloe agreed. “Not that I have much to complain about. There was one person on my flight who was trying to get to his mom who was in hospice. If that was me,” she continued, “I think I would have marched down to the tarmac and ripped them off the runway myself.”

Their talk soon turned to their families.

“My mom was a single parent, so we were pretty poor growing up,” Jack said offhandedly.

“She did the best she could, but we had to rely on foodbanks and charities to get by. It’s something I’ve never forgotten.

We were lucky there were people and places we could go to when things were tough, and money was tight.

” He shrugged. “So, I give back now by donating a few hours of legal work every month at a community clinic.”

“I love that!” Chloe said with genuine admiration.

She really did. Jack was handsome and intelligent, he had a great sense of humor, he had saved Chloe’s life, and he was also kind?

There was no way any man could be so perfect.

What was he hiding? Were all of his exes ‘crazy’?

Did he leave toenail clippings all over the floor?

Did he cry over dish soap commercials? The man seemed almost too good to be true.

Or maybe, she thought, she had found one of those proverbial diamonds in the rough; a pearl in the sand, as the scenery would have it.

By noon, there was a marked feeling of intimacy between the two of them. It was funny how that sometimes happened. You meet someone new and unexpectedly hit it off; the next thing you know, it feels like you’ve known them your entire life. That was how it felt with Jack.

Not that she was fooling herself thinking that it might turn into anything.

If there was one thing she had learned from her relationship and subsequent breakup with Liam, it was not to daydream and posit about the future.

It was more important to appreciate things for what they are and not for what they could be.

And appreciate Jack and the time they were spending together, she did. If his attentiveness and happy demeanor was anything to go by, it seemed he was having just as much fun as she was.

Their lunch reservations were for Costa Morpho’s American restaurant, Oak.

To outsiders it might have seemed like an odd type of cuisine to be offering, but when one took in the proximity of North America to Costa Rica, it made a lot of sense.

Especially given most people Chloe had spoken to or heard talking seemed to be American or Canadian, which had even included a few French-Canadians.

“What’s the protocol?” Jack whispered conspiratorially as they walked inside. “Surely they don’t allow people to eat in the nude?”

Chloe smirked in reply. Allow people to eat in the nude Costa Morpho did, as Jack was about to find out.

After they were seated, she looked across the table at Jack

and was pleased that he seemed to be taking it in stride. She had a chicken salad with a side of fries, while Jack had a burger. The food was just as good as their conversation, which was to say—it was great.

The waiter cleared away their plates and Jack leaned back in his chair.

“That hit the spot,” he said appreciatively. “What’s on the agenda now?”

“Well,” Chloe said mischievously, “I hope you’re ready to work off that burger.”

“Aerobics?” Jack grimaced.

“Aerobics,” she grinned and nodded.

The group workout session was held on the cement pad near the pool where Chloe had seen guests taking salsa lessons earlier in the week. There were five other people aside from her and Jack as well as an instructor who was wearing black shorts and a resort-branded t-shirt.

“I have to warn you,” Jack whispered as the instructor turned on some dance music, “I’m coordinated when it comes to sports, but I’m hopeless when it comes to choreography.”

“Two left feet?” Chloe teased. She couldn’t wait to see him in action.

“Two rights,” he shot back. “And they’re both wrong.”

The instructor introduced herself as Maria and started barking instructions while moving her body. The handful of participants followed Maria’s movements which amounted to some warm-up stretches.

“Arms way up high,” Maria commanded. The seven people did as they were told.

As expected, everyone aside from Jack, Chloe, and the instructor were not wearing clothes. She glanced over at Jack as Maria barked at them to lunge and saw a twinkle of humour in his eyes.

He hadn’t been joking when he said he was uncoordinated