“It’s her,” a man’s voice said softly.
“You can’t know that,” a second man said from the other side of my body.
Body. The thought brought me back to myself. I was laying on my back, and I could feel sand under my fingers, so I assumed I was on a beach, but my eyes didn’t want to open, no matter how much I wanted to look around me.
“I knew about you, didn’t I?” the first man asked.
“This is completely different.” The second man’s voice sounded huffy, even to me.
My mind cleared with every second that passed. I heard water lapping over the sound of the men’s voices and wondered if I had been in a surfing accident. I didn’t remember going surfing lately, but the last time I had woken up confused on beach was after smashing face-first into my board on a trip to Hawaii. So the thought was not out of the realm of possibilities.
“She’s moving,” the man on my left whispered. “Ma’am, can you hear me?”
“Ma’am? Is my mother here, too?” My voice sounded raspy, but it was working, so yay me.
“If you can make lame jokes, that’s an improvement. How about opening your eyes?”
I concentrated on that small movement until I began to blink against the sunlight. My eyes were open, my voice was working, and after a few seconds, I was even able to wiggle my fingers in the sand.
“Hey there, baby blue,” the man on my right said. He was very tan, very muscular and very shirtless. His dark hair was long enough that the breeze blew it into his eyes. The sun was so bright that I couldn’t clearly make out the features on his face, but his jaw line looked strong, and I could see that his five o’clock shadow had hit about six-fifteen.
“Sara,” I said with a steadier voice. “My name is Sara.”
“Nice to meet you, Sara,” the man on my left said. “My name is Gabe. And that’s Toby.”
I looked over at Toby. I could see him much more clearly, and it took all of my strength not to stare open-mouthed at him. Like Gabe, he was tan and shirtless with longish dark hair. He was also muscular, but Toby was more leanly muscled, less showy but still impressive. His features weren’t as hard as the other man’s outline had seemed. He wasn’t at all feminine, just softer. His lips were full and turned down at the corners as he watched me. When I met his eyes, I saw that they were almost the same shade of pale blue as my own
“Hi.” I struggled to sit up and finally had to let Gabe help me with an arm around my back to keep me steady. I looked around and saw the remnants of a scuba suit ripped into pieces on the sand a few feet away. Next to it was my backpack, which seemed to have survived the trip. We were on a beach, and the ocean was calm off to my left. There were lush tropical trees further up the shore, but nothing pinpointed where I’d washed up.
“Where am I?”
“You’re on an island called Wyspa,” Toby said.
“I’ve never heard of Wyspa. Could you be a little more specific?”
“You mean like coordinates?” There was a bite of humor to Gabe’s voice, but it was exactly what I’d meant.
“Yes. Like coordinates. Where on a map is Wyspa?”
The men exchanged a look I couldn’t read, but I didn’t like it. Finally, Gabe turned back to me. “Look, Sunshine, you’re hurt—”
“I’m fine,” I interrupted. “And my name is Sara.”
“Okay, Sara, well, you’ve just washed up on a beach and don’t seem to have all of your shit together, yet. Will you please let us take you to Dr. Carpenter and have you looked at? After we make sure you aren’t concussed or anything, we can talk map coordinates. Okay?” Gabe looked down at me with a smile.
His frankness stunned me into silence because I found myself nodding as they helped me to my feet. Standing, I could see that they were both about the same height. I’m five-foot-seven, and they didn’t seem to tower over me, which made me think they had to be around five-foot-nine or ten.
The world didn’t seem even slightly off kilter so I knew their worry about a concussion was probably unwarranted, but I had agreed to go to the doctor and I would go. It would give me an opportunity to get my bearings and think about what had happened.
They helped me over to my bag, which had lived up to its waterproof claims. Toby held me steady while I pulled a pair of jeans over my wet bikini bottoms. I was already wearing a slightly damp shirt over the top and decided to keep it on. It felt better to be covered. Confusion doesn’t mesh well with half-naked.
When I was dressed and had flip-flops on my feet, I let the guys lead me to the doctor. Every minute that passed made me more and more sure the exam would be unnecessary, but it seemed important to them. It’s hard to disappoint attractive men when they appear to have saved your life.
As we walked, I started to think about where I had been when I’d lost consciousness. I remembered the hotel in Florida where I’d been staying and going out on a chartered scuba dive…
My mind drifted from that train of thought as the beauty of the island surrounding me demanded my attention. Huge palm trees stretched toward a flawlessly blue sky, and thick ferns lined the path we walked. Birds cawed in the foliage around us. I had traveled all over the world and couldn’t remember seeing anything as beautiful as what I saw as we walked. Even the air seemed cleaner than anything I’d ever before breathed.
“Doc, are you home?” Toby’s voice snapped me back to attention.
“Come on in!” a voice yelled from inside.
The men led me into the house where an attractive young man sat on the sofa with a book in his hands. I didn’t want to come across as an ageist, but I really hoped he wasn’t the doctor. He looked entirely too, well, young to be an experienced doctor.
“Wes is in the shower,” the man on the sofa said. “Is everything all right?”
“Probably,” Gabe said. “Sean, this is Sara, our new arrival. Sara, this is Dr. Carpenter’s fiancé, Sean.”
“Hi, Sean. Nice to meet you,” I said with a smile. “Nice to meet you, too.” Sean grinned back.
“How is the wedding planning going?” Gabe motioned for me to sit as he talked to Sean.
“Good!” Sean’s face lit up as he said it. “I can’t believe that in a couple more months, he will legally belong to me.”
I sat on the small sofa and hugged the armrest as Toby dropped down next to me, a little closer than I felt was conversationally polite. He acted as if he didn’t notice my reaction as he slung his arm over the back of the couch and made himself comfortable.
“We can’t wait!” Gabe said enthusiastically as he sat on the floor at Toby’s feet. “It’s going to be a blast.”
“Thanks. So Sara,” Sean turned his attention to me, “how are you feeling?”
“I’m fine thanks,” I replied. “I really don’t think we should even be here bothering you and your fiancé.”
“Speaking of fiancé,” Sean said as the water stopped in the other room. “Hey Doc, you’ve got company!”
“Is that code for ‘don’t come out here naked’?” Toby asked with a laugh.
“More like code for ‘hurry up old man,’ ” a voice called from the bathroom.
Sean turned toward that voice and smiled. The look on his face caused a lump to form in my throat. I didn’t even really understand where it had come from or why, but all I could think was that no one had ever smiled like that in the direction of my voice. The love Sean felt for his doctor was obvious and strong. He didn’t even try to contain it or hide it—not that he should have. I couldn’t help wondering if anyone would ever look at me the way Sean looked at that closed door.
“I have never called you an old man,” Sean called back, rolling his eyes, but he was still grinning.
“Hey,” Toby whispered in my ear. He had moved even closer, and I’d been so caught up in my own head that I hadn’t noticed. “Are you all right?”
“Yeah.” I cleared my throat and blinked back tears. “Maybe my head is starting to hurt a little.”
He looked at me for a minute, disbelief plain in his eyes, but he was smart enough to let my lie go. I glanced over to find Gabe also looking at me with concern. A sigh escaped my lips before I could stop it. It wasn’t that I was frustrated exactly, but having just met them, it didn’t seem fair that they already read me that well.
The bathroom door opened and a very attractive man stepped out, wearing only a pair of jeans, water still dripping down his muscular chest. This must be Wes. His hair was wet, making it look dark, but I saw touches of gray at his temples. His eyes had slight creases at the corners, but it didn’t age him at all. In fact, he looked as if he laughed often, and it made him even more attractive.
“Wow, you weren’t kidding about company,” Wes said with a chuckle as he looked at the extra people in his house. He caught my gaze, and his face grew serious.
He walked over to me quickly, and I blushed as I realized he must have taken my slack-jawed staring as a sign of injury. I didn’t know how to explain that I had been so in awe of him and his wet body that I’d forgotten where I was.
I kept my mouth shut and let him look me over. The exam was short, thank goodness. I wasn’t sure how long I could sit with his chest in my face while he felt around my head. I was glad my shirt had dried and my nipples weren’t obvious against the fabric. I think I’d been surrounded by too much testosterone for way too long after a traumatic experience.
“I’m Wesley, by the way,” the doctor said as he looked down into my eyes.
“Sara,” I said with a weak smile. “Nice to meet you.”
Dr. Wesley smiled and patted my cheek. “Well dear, you look fine to me.”
“You, too.” The words slipped out before I had even thought about it. A blush burned at my cheeks, and I wished for the sofa to swallow me up, but it didn’t. I was left sitting there like an idiot while the doctor gave me a pitying smile and Gabe chuckled softly next to me.
“Sorry,” I mumbled.
“Don’t be.” Wesley crouched down to meet my gaze directly. “I appreciate the compliment. You’ve had a pretty hard day. You’re allowed to say whatever you want.”
“I wouldn’t be so quick to give her that much permission,” Toby said with a laugh.
I shot him a dirty look and shared it with Gabe when he, too, started to laugh.
“Do you have a place to stay?” Wesley asked me, completely ignoring the reaction of my companions. “We have an extra room if you’d like to stay here for a few days.”
“Oh no!” I said quickly. “I really appreciate the offer, but I would never think to impose on you. I’ll figure something out.”
“We’ll take care of her, Doc,” Toby said as he placed a hand over mine. | 
