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He leans forward and I smile by accident. I quickly rectify it as he points at me. “One year and we break up. Set the wedding for 18 months from now so they can get a bunch of deposits back.”
I’ve been running from a specific type of life for so long I forgot to have one. I only know what I don’t want. He’s so sure of himself. I need all my doubts, family expectations, and the noise of life to be quiet for a minute so I can figure it out.
“Deal.”
Zane’s smile curls up. “Now that we’re through our first fight, I’ll give you three reasons to remain engaged to me if you give me three reasons you want time.” I nod. “One, I won’t bother you as other fiancés would. Two, I send great gifts. Three, I’ll always have your back in this.”
Two of them are okay, but the third is what I need. “One, I don’t see me the way you do. Two, I’d like to see myself that way. Three, to sort things out.”
“All intriguing. I pick the third option, but only if it’s by example.”
We sit in our new level of comfortable. Not at each other’s throats and not quite friends, but allies. I need him and he needs me. And it feels nice to be needed for being myself, not what vintage Luigi bobble head I can afford.
“What are you going to do?” he asks.
“Right now? Get hammered and kick your ass at cards.”
“I’ll deal.”
Chapter 23
Fiancée Time
ZANE
Maui
The light is just breaking across the water and onto her thighs. Our breakfast is laid out on the patio. It’s impossibly early and her damn robe won’t stay all the way closed. Wouldn’t mind seeing that bikini she bought. I mean there has to be some perk to all of this. Fuck, she’s sexy first thing in the morning with that wild red hair shoved up in a makeshift bun, her creamy skin on way too much display and a natural pink tint to those lush lips. She pops another piece of melon into her mouth and the ring catches the sunlight.
“What is it you want to do?” I ask her again this morning hoping she got some clarity overnight.
“In life? No clue. Can we just do this for a year?” She turns her face toward the early sunlight.
I laugh. “Tempting. But I’ll have drained the trust fund within a year, have had wild success with my show and you should be well on your way to a life,” I say while sipping my coffee then placing it down on the saucer. She takes the silver coffee pot and tops me off. Then she slides over a raw sugar packet. How the hell did she know that?
I stir my coffee as Kat angles her phone over our meal and snaps a picture. I grab it much to her protest and stare.
“Seriously, woman. You have an eye. Our breakfast looks show ready. Anyone on earth would have their mouth watering at this picture.”
“It’s the light not me.”
“I disagree. May I?” She pauses for longer than I expected and then quietly nods and I swipe through her photos. She fidgets and pulls her knees up onto the chair draping the robe over them but not without a really good shot of her thighs in those tiny sleep shorts. I hand her phone back to her.
“It’s not the light.” She clutches it to her chest and a small smile turns up at both corners.
“What do you want to do?” she asks.
“In life? Thought that was obvious.”
“I just thought there might be something more you wanted than success.” She looks a little disheartened at my answer, and I don’t like making her face look that way.
“I have an idea. Let’s blow everything off today, except the actual wedding, and hike the Waiheʻe Ridge Trail,” I suggest and she smiles.
“You and hiking. Again.”
I pick up my phone and reserve a jeep through the hotel concierge along with a picnic and some wine.
“If we’re going to pull this off, we need to at least get to know each other a little bit without sniping at each other.”
