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“Don’t push your luck.” She looked at the clock again. “What time are you planning on heading back?”
“I’ll give the pilot a call and see how soon he can get us the go ahead, but I’m hoping later this afternoon. No sense hanging around this beautiful paradise if I’m not with the person I want to share it with.”
He really was a charmer, and she could see how the two of them could lead an easy life. But it wouldn’t be anything as exhilarating as one with Cruz. “You’re free to hang around here, but you’ll have to excuse me, I need to go find Cruz.”
“Thanks.” He hesitated, “There’s one more thing I should tell you. I kind of already had a chat with Cruz earlier.”
She stopped at the door. “You spoke with Cruz?”
“After I left here. I had something my father wanted me to drop off. A business contract. And I might have mentioned to him that your marriage wasn’t real.”
“Why? Why would you think it was okay to interfere in my life like that?”
“I’m not proud. I guess I was just being a little childish. He’s getting you, right? I think I had a right to be…peevish.”
Here she was all this time chatting up Brad, trying to let him down easy, when Cruz was back at his room with God knew what kind of doubts running through his head. He knew they weren’t married. That they didn’t have anything that really kept them together anymore. They could walk away from—
She was being paranoid. Last night had been more than she could ever have hoped for. She’d never felt closer to anyone in her life. Not being married didn’t change that.
Still. “I’ve got to go.”
She headed down the hallway, trying to calm her anxiety. Brad had mentioned something about dropping off a contract.
He’s just distracted. It had nothing to do with them. Right? Maybe it was something to do with the deal with Dick?
For some reason, that possibility didn’t make her feel any better.
Outside his door, she knocked. After ten seconds, she was ready to knock again when he opened the door wearing loose khaki shorts and a white T-shirt that accented the natural depth of his warm, tanned skin. He’d showered, just like her, his hair still wet and slicked back, and from the dab of shaving cream under his ear, freshly shaven.
“Hey,” she said, suddenly nervous and tongue-tied.
“Hey,” he said just as carefully. He watched her warily, as they stood there in silence. Her instinct begged her to wrap her arms around him, to ask him to hold her as he had last night.
But fear gripped her. What if instead of sadness at hearing their marriage wasn’t real he felt…relief?
So she waited, the sound of her own breathing seeming unnaturally loud. He took a step back finally, opening the door wider. “Come on in. Guess it’s time we talked.”
She looked pretty and sexy as always in a white strappy sundress, the sides of her hair twisted and held back leaving her lovely face exposed. But she kept her gaze down, unable to meet his eyes, which sent an alarm through his system. He’d been sweating bullets since Brad left, wondering with every minute that ticked by and she wasn’t back, if she was having second thoughts.
Because maybe she’d just been making the best of a bad situation before. And now that there was nothing holding them together, she was seeing an out.
“I’m guessing you got my note?”
He shut the door, taking his time. “Note? No.”
She walked to the veranda where he’d left the French doors open earlier. “I left a note explaining that I was heading over to talk to my mother and to change.” She turned to face him. “I’ve spoken to my mother and—and to Brad. I gather he told you? About the marriage?”
His eyes met hers, solemn and maybe a little wary. “Yeah. He did.”
She smiled and finally met his gaze. “I guess in hindsight, it was kind of silly for us to think that we could get married so easily.”
“Maybe it was.”
“But…” she bit her lip, trying to decide something. “Nothing has changed for me. About you? About us? I still…I still want to be with you.”
A weight that had been pressing on
his chest seemed to suddenly fly away and he could breathe again. He couldn’t stop the smile that slid across his face. He took a step toward her. “Yeah? And what exactly did your mother say to that?” He reached her and slid his arms around her waist. “Should I expect the firing squad to arrive any minute?”
