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“Do they have limos here?” Zeta wondered.
“No i— Oh crap.” Elisa bolted, straight for the guy in the suit, her stare locked on what he’d dropped without realizing. “Hey!” she called. “Hey! Guy in the gray suit. Hey!”
He didn’t stop.
Rude.
“Hey,” she called, cheeks burning as she noticed other people looking at her. She swooped up what he’d dropped—his passport—stumbling a little as gravity tried to control her jet-lagged muscles, and resumed her pursuit. “Hey!”
Still, he didn’t stop. She burst into a faster run, bearing down on him as he reached the first available tinsel-adorned station. “Hey,” she said again, trying to come to a halt as he stepped up to the counter and the waiting official.
Trying.
And failing. Spectacularly.
Her feet tangled beneath her, and she lost her balance, at the precise moment he turned around.
Wow, he’s cute,she thought a heartbeat before she fell straight into him, her extended hand—the one gripping his dropped passport—punching straight into the middle of his chest.
“Oof,” he grunted, stumbling back a step with the impact.
She yelped—damn it, that hurt her wrist—and suddenly he was sliding his firm hands around her waist and holding her still.
“What the—” he almost shouted, his frown both stern and confused.
“Your passport,” she blurted, as he released her. “You dropped—”
Eyes the color of a cloudless summer sky locked on her as he reached up and plucked white earbuds from his ears. “What?”
“Your passport,” Elisa finished on close to a whisper.
For a second, he stared at her, as if a second head had sprouted from between her eyes, and then his attention dropped to the passport she shoved up at him and dawning realization flashed over his face. “Shit, did I drop it?”
She nodded. Damn, she could gaze into his eyes all day. They were stunning. And he sounded so Australian.
Because he is, you idiot.
He took his passport, a smile stretching over his face. “Thanks. Saved me having a not so fun time trying to get back into the country.”
“You’re welcome.” Wow, his smile was as gorgeous as his eyes. “I’m Elisa.”
Now why the hell did she tell him that? She was so freaking shy she couldn’t even tell her gynecologist her name was Elisa not Elise, and here she introducing herself to a complete stranger?
His gorgeous smile reached his gorgeous eyes. “G’day, Elisa. Welcome to Australia, I’m—”
“Holding up the bloody line,” the customs officer behind the counter growled.
Heat flooded Elisa’s cheeks. She jolted back a step, heart pounding. Oh no. She’d caused a problem. What if they didn’t let her into Australia now? She’d miss Bria’s and Owen’s engagement party, and Zeta would have to find Bria and Owen in the arrivals terminal on her own, and what would their parents say? And think? And what wouldOwen’smom think? And oh no, she couldn’t breathe, she couldn’t breathe, she couldn’t—
She turned and hurried away, her spine so stiff it ached, her face on fire.
“Thank you,” the gorgeous Australian in the well-cut suit called after her. Was that confusion in his voice? Or laughter?
Her blood roared in her ears, and she quickened her pace. The air pressed down on her. Her vision blurred. Heart racing, she swallowed, flicking her stare from her moving feet to the space around her. God, where was Zeta? Where was her sister? What if Zeta had gone through customs, and now she was all alone and…and…and… Oh God, she couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t—
“I’m here, Lis.” Warm arms wrapped around her, halting her frenzied walk, and Zeta hugged her tightly. “I’m here.”
Elisa buried into Zeta’s protective embrace, eyes squeezed tight, tears stinging at them.
