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Va-ca-tion!
My teeth sank into the sweet and chewy pastry of one of the finest donuts to ever grace the buffet table of a hotel continental breakfast. All the tension I’d carried in my shoulders since my kiss-miss yesterday afternoon melted away as I savored the sweet cream inside.
If I ever needed a sugar rush, this was the morning. I’d decided to forego my usual cup of coffee. Kai would be taking me out on a boat again soon, and I didn’t need all that caffeine buzzing through my body and giving me the jitters.
I sat at a tiny table with nothing to keep me company but my donut, the wide-brimmed hat Kai had given me, and a tall glass of ice water.
My eyes were bleary from staying up half the night trying—and failing—to figure out what to do about work.
I’d gone through the petals of an entire vase full of flowers, hoping they’d give me some insight. I’d plucked each one of those babies bald, muttering my own spin on a familiar phrase. “I’ll crush them. I’ll crush them not. I’ll crush them. I’ll crush them not.”
Those stupid flowers were no help at all.
Note to self: next time you use the flower trick to help with a life-altering decision, make sure there are an odd number of flowers in the bouquet.
I’d paced the floor for what felt like hours last night, trying to brainstorm a third option. I finally gave up and crawled into bed at three-thirty in the morning to sleep on my problem.
But that wasn’t much help either.
As it turns out, you have to actually sleep for that method of problem solving to be of any real use. All I’d done was toss and turn until a porter pounded on my door at eight.
Yay, my luggage had arrived.
Boo, sleep-time was over, and I was thoroughly exhausted. What a day to live life sans coffee!
I’d never felt the need for a vacation more than I did at that moment.
I took another slow bite of that glorious pastry and closed my eyes, shutting out the world with all its problems.
“You really have a thing for donuts, don’t you.” My heart stuttered in my chest. I didn’t have to open my eyes to know who had just spoken to me, but that didn’t stop them from flying open.
Kai was staring down at me with that way of his that always made me want to squirm and giggle all at once. He pulled out a chair but stopped half-way before sitting on it.
He patted its surface and then made a show of sighing in relief. “I was just checking. It’s dangerous to sit on chairs when you and donuts are around.”
I swallowed my bite and smirked at him. “You’ve got to watch your backside around me.”
Ouch! My own words stabbed me in the heart. I’d only been joking, but he really did need to watch himself around me.
He laughed and sat down.
The air sizzled between us when he rested his elbows on the doll-house-sized table I’d chosen. He leaned forward, totally invading my space.
“That sounds like a threat, donut girl.” The corner of his mouth curved upward, and he turned on the smolder.
He’d elevated that facial expression to an art form—one that had my insides heating up in a hurry. Robert Pattinson could never hope to touch Kai’s level when it came to that broody and intense gaze.
I reached out with a fumbling hand in search of my ice water, unable to break free from Kai’s spell. But instead of latching onto my glass, I knocked it over, sending the liquid inside gushing across the table.
Kai’s eyes bulged, and he rocketed to his feet. His chair toppled over behind him as he sucked in a sharp breath. He brushed ice cubes out of the folds of his shorts with both hands, taking short, percussive breaths as the frigid water poured down his bare legs. I could do nothing but bite my bottom lip while I surveyed the damage I’d done.
“You,” Kai said between gasps, “are one dangerous woman.”
I stood and offered him a handful of napkins from the dispenser. “I am so sorry.”
I cringed as he tried to dry the front of his shorts. It was no use. This splendid specimen of a man looked like a five-year-old little boy who’d waited too long to take a potty break.
“Well, this isn’t my best look,” he said.
