Her Perfect Getaway (9 page)

Max hung back as the women
discussed wedding details. Elizabeth was very detail-oriented,
considering it wasn’t her wedding. From the expression on Haven’s
face, she was grateful for her friend’s intervention.

For a moment, he allowed himself to
picture himself standing at the end of the promontory, taking
Elizabeth’s hands in his.

Whoa. A ridiculous thought to have
after knowing her, what, three days, and spending the night with
her once? She was intriguing and determined and sexy as hell, but
he hadn’t thought about getting married since Trish left him. Hell,
he was still paying off the ring, which was sitting in his bedside
drawer.

No, he’d enjoy Elizabeth while she
was here, maybe miss her awhile when she went home to Texas, and
move on.

She drifted toward the promontory
on her own. Unable to help himself, he approached. He touched the
small of her back and she turned. The smile she gave him was
dreamy. He dipped his head and covered her lips with his. She
shifted and leaned into him the way she had back in the hotel room,
her arms winding about his neck.

“Looks like we may be planning
another wedding soon?” Jennifer asked with a bit of an edge in her
voice.

Elizabeth drew back, breaking the
embrace, and smiled brightly at the wedding planner. “No. We’re
just sleeping together.”

Jennifer gave a brittle laugh, then
turned back to Haven.

Max linked his fingers through
Elizabeth’s and tugged her in the opposite direction, toward the
beach.

“I don’t know why I said that,”
she apologized when they were out of earshot. “I’m not usually
catty or possessive.”

“No worries. I like people knowing
you’re sleeping with me.”

She dragged a toe through the sand.
“For a few more days.”

He shrugged. “For however long.
You’ll be back in a few weeks for the wedding, right?”

“Just a long weekend, and it will
be busy with wedding events.”

Okay, so she was blowing him off in
advance. He turned to look at her. “Maybe Haven will invite me to
the wedding.”

She opened and closed her mouth as
a thought struck him, something he hadn’t considered
before.

“Are you coming with someone
else?”

Her face turned red.
“No!”

“You aren’t seeing someone back in
Texas?”

He was pretty sure flames shot out
of her eyes there for a second. “Do you really think I’d be
sleeping with you if I was involved with someone? Is that the kind
of person you think I am?”

He almost said he didn’t really
know what kind of person she was, he hadn’t known her long enough,
but self-preservation stopped him. “I’m sorry. That was stupid of
me.”

She blew out a breath. “Never mind.
I shouldn’t have—it’s a logical question. Completely
single.”

Max’s gut relaxed a little, but
he’d been around enough women not to trust that it was completely
over. Her feelings were hurt. He got that. Maybe he should back
off. Or maybe he should take some time to get to know the woman he
was bedding.

Even though she was leaving in just
a few days.

Once they were back in the car he
looked in the rearview mirror at Haven. “I’m afraid I need to take
the night off.”

Beside him, Elizabeth tensed as the
other women bombarded him with a flurry of disappointed
exclamations.

“Jace has already said he’ll be
happy to take you ladies anywhere you want to go, but I need the
evening. I have a date.”

Elizabeth wound up even more when
he reached across and took her hand. “Will you go out with me
tonight?”

He couldn’t know if the sighs and
murmurs of approval from the backseat made her say yes, or if she
really had forgiven him.

***

She wore the same sundress she’d
worn to Waialae Beach when she opened the door to her hotel
room.

It was perfect for the evening he
had planned. He noticed she didn't smile the way she had before
this afternoon, and that hurt, just a little. Maybe she, like he,
was realizing they were on the downside of whatever this was. They
had less time before them than behind them. For the first time
since he'd broken up with Trish, he wanted more time with a woman.
She'd never answered him about the wedding invitation, and he
wasn't going to press, not yet.

"Shall we?" He offered her his arm
and she smiled, then tucked her hand into the crook of his elbow
and let him lead her to the elevator.

That was all the touching he'd
allow himself right now, until he got her regular smile back, not
this guarded one she wore now.

"Where are we going?"

"The beach."

She looked at her shoes and for a
moment he thought she might want to go back. Instead, she shrugged
and leaned against the back wall of the elevator.

Once outside the hotel, he guided
her to his motorcycle in the parking lot. She stood across from him
and stared at the thing.

"Have you ever ridden a motorcycle
before?" he asked, offering her a helmet.

She shook her head and made no move
to take the helmet from him.

"This is your vacation. You said
you wanted to try things you’d never done before. I won't let
anything happen to you."

Still she hesitated. "I'm sure
people think that all the time before they crash and
die."

"I'm a good driver. I haven't had
an accident since I was twenty four. Believe me, not something I
want to repeat. I can go get the van if you'd rather."

She drew in a breath and reached
for the helmet. "If I die, I will never forgive you."

He chuckled and strapped on his own
helmet, then leaned across to help her adjust her own. She wasn't
fussy. Something else he now knew about her.

Once she was on the bike behind
him, her hands wrapped around his chest, her hips snug against his
ass, he revved the engine and pulled out of the parking lot. He
kept the speed reasonable until he felt her relax, then accelerated
on the open highway along the coast. Her arms tightened around him.
He tapped her hand to gain her attention and pointed toward the sun
sinking over the water. Again he felt her relax behind him as he
drove to his favorite place to eat.

***

Elizabeth stared at the picnic
basket sitting on the blanket on the beach. Around them, several
other couples had the same idea. Sullivan tipped the teenager who'd
been watching their meal, then motioned for Elizabeth to have a
seat on the blanket. She tucked her skirt under her and lowered
herself. He dropped to the sand with less finesse and popped open
the basket. First he drew out two wine glasses and a bottle of red,
which he opened with a practiced pop of his wrist. He set it aside
to let it breathe, then pulled out some fruit--grapes, sliced
pineapple, strawberries. As she bit into a fat grape, he removed
two footlong subs, wrapped in the paper from the restaurant. She
laughed in delight when he passed one to her.

"If you don't like ham, I have
turkey here."

"I'm good. And here I thought you
went to all this trouble on your own."

"Hey, I went to the sub shop and
tried to figure out what you'd like. I might have done more if I'd
thought about it in advance."

She grinned and saluted him with
the sandwich before she unwrapped it. "Any chips?"

He reached into the basket and
presented two bags.

They ate in silence as the waves
rolled against the shore, as the sun sank below the horizon and the
people who'd been playing in the water came in. Elizabeth only
managed to get through half of her sandwich, so wrapped the
remainder up and tucked it back in the basket before she reached
for the bottle of wine to pour. She passed him a glass and lifted
hers in a toast.

"To a night off," he
said.

"Cheers," she agreed, and
sipped.

She'd barely swallowed when he
cupped his hand around the back of her head and drew her close for
a kiss.

"Feels like it's been too long
since I've done that," he murmured, then released her and turned
his attention back to the water.

She watched him for a moment, her
heart doing a traitorous tumble in her chest. He was the perfect
romantic fling.

"How is it you're single?" she
asked when she worked up the courage.

He glanced over at her and balanced
his wine glass on the sand next to the blanket. “I told you my
fiancee walked out on me. Too much time surfing, too much time
working with the kids, no room for advancement, that sort of thing.
I think maybe she thought I'd want to be in administration or
something, that I was just putting my time in in the classroom. But
I like working with the kids. I don't want to get out of the
classroom. I don't want that added responsibility."

"She didn't know that about
you?"

"I guess she saw what she wanted to
see."

Elizabeth nodded. "I've been guilty
of that myself."

He cast a surprised look at her.
"Honest of you."

"What's the point in lying?" she
countered, taking a sip of wine. “So there’s not been anyone
else?”

He lifted a shoulder, his attention
on the water. “Been a little gun-shy.”

"I suppose. So you? Why are you
single?"

She folded her legs and rested her
elbow on her knee, holding her glass against her cheek. "I am a
workaholic."

"I kind of figured that
much."

"Really? How?"

"Just some of the things Joslyn
said, and the way you took over with the wedding planner
today."

“My dad and I run our own
production company, and we only have two employees since everything
has to go back into the business. This is my first vacation in
three years. I mean, I take the days off, but I'm usually still
connected to work somehow. I haven't seen my phone since we
landed."

He chuckled. "I don't even have a
cell phone."

"That makes me twitch almost as
much as not seeing mine in days."

He chuckled. "You've had a good
time this week, though, haven't you?"

She stretched out on the blanket,
digging her bare feet into the sand. "I have. I've only thought
about work a couple dozen times a day."

That brought a full-on laugh. "Do
you like your job?"

“Usually. I like
putting vision to words. I like taking an obscure idea from inside
someone's head and making it reality. And I like the challenge of
working in a small business and making it float. We’re not
over-the-top successful, but we’re making a decent living.”

He topped off her glass. "And you
make enough to come to Hawaii for a bachelorette party.”

“That is more because I don’t have
any time to spend my money,” she teased.

“So what’s the plan for the rest
of the week? You ladies are doing a spa day, right?"

"Day after tomorrow." She rolled so
she rested her weight on her elbows. "I'm not good with that kind
of thing. I don't sit still well."

"We could ditch them and go hike
Diamondhead." He nodded toward the iconic mountain.

"Mm." She shifted again, her hand
sliding across his belly. "Or we could ditch them for other
activities." He dipped his head for her kiss and she lingered,
tasting the wine on his lips and tongue, before she rolled away.
"But I should do it. We don't all get time together. This may be
the last for awhile."

"And I'm stealing you
away."

"No, this is nice. Really
nice."

They stretched out side by side for
awhile, watching the rolling waves as dusk darkened into night and
stars began to appear. Sullivan tucked her close against his side
and pointed out constellations to her, telling her the stories
behind them. She vaguely remembered Greek mythology from school,
but had never dreamed she'd learn more this way, snuggled against a
man's chest, hearing the vibrations of his words beneath her ear,
her hand pressed over his heart, his breath stirring her
hair.

"I bet you're a great teacher. All
the girls are probably half in love with you."

He bent his head to look at her.
"Why do you say that?"

"You're young, handsome, and that
accent..."

"You like my accent?" he asked,
rolling her beneath him on the blanket.

"Not as much as when you speak
Japanese."

"Right. How could I forget that?"
He hooked his foot around her ankle and murmured something against
her neck.

"What was that?" she
managed.

"You're fun to play around
with."

Before she could ask what he meant,
he kissed her, his hand on her waist rolling her toward him as his
tongue stroked her lips apart and dipped between them, so hot, so
sexy. She glided her hand down the front of his shirt, her fingers
toying with the buttons briefly before she decided against opening
them and instead slid her hand beneath the waistband of his cargo
pants.