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“You need to relax, Zane. The whole point of being here is to unwind. Dinner is just about ready.”
Zane had thought he was relaxed. Apparently not. “What are we having?”
“A conch ceviche with lime and fresh chilies to start, then baked crab with rice and pigeon peas. All my mom’s family recipes.”
“That’s why it smells so amazing. It makes me think of your mom and being at your house.”
“Of course. She must have made this for you one of the times you stayed with us.” Allison spooned the ceviche into two small dishes and sprinkled fresh herbs on top.
“That seems like forever ago.” Being with Allison while memories of time with her family surfaced had Zane wedged between nostalgia and the pain of that period of his life. It was about so much more than the financial struggle. The real misery had come from watching his parents’ marriage fall apart before his very eyes. Allison was a reminder of both things he cherished and things he wished had never happened, which he knew was part of the reason every sense was heightened around her. “You were just a girl then. How old were you when we met? Thirteen?”
She cast him a disapproving look. “I’m all for memory lane, but can we not talk about me as an awkward teenager?”
“Why? You were the coolest kid I ever met. You had the best taste in music. You were always reading all of these books I’d never heard of. You totally had your own fashion sense. You’d wear those flowery dresses and black Doc Martens boots. Or T-shirts with bands I’d never heard of.”
Allison blushed and tried to hide a smile. “Will you please shut up? It’s embarrassing.”
Zane couldn’t help but love that they had this history and that he could have playfully tease her because of it. She’d always had a tough outer shell, carrying herself with an air of disaffection. She wanted the world to think that she didn’t care what anyone thought of her, but Zane had long suspected that wasn’t quite the case. “It’s the truth. That was the first thing that struck me about you. You always had an amazing sense of self. I’m not sure I ever did.”
“I think you’ve always known exactly who you are. The problem is that you weren’t always happy about it.”
For a moment, the air in the room seemed to stand still. Was that his problem? Or was it that the wounds inflicted by the Lowell family had been so slow to heal? “Well, if that’s the case, it’s only because I’m pretty easy to figure out. Feed me and I’m happy.” He smiled, hoping to lighten the mood. He’d never intended to steer them down such a serious path.
“Then I’m your girl.” She held up the two dishes of ceviche.
Zane swallowed hard, and not because the food was so mouthwatering. He was reading too much into everything Allison did and said. And it was going to be his undoing if he wasn’t careful. Again, he reminded himself to relax. He was more than capable of enjoying a beautiful home-cooked meal with an old friend. “Should we eat out on the patio?”
“Whatever and wherever you want.”
Allison had to hand it to herself—dinner was incredible. Her mom and Aunt Angelique would be proud.
Zane sat back in one of the lounge chairs out on the patio, rubbing his belly and gazing up at the stars. “That was unbelievable. I don’t think I’m going to need to eat again anytime soon.”
“You went back for seconds. I’m impressed.”
He turned and smiled at her, and, even in the darkness, with only the faint light from inside the house, she was struck by just how damn handsome he was—kissable lips, stormy eyes and the smile of a heartbreaker. The sight of him made her breath catch in her throat in a painfully familiar way. It was exactly like every other time she’d tormented herself with the conscious thought of how perfect he was. “Like I said, feed me and I’m happy. You fed me so well, I’d have to say I’m euphoric.”
It was reassuring to know she could do this much right, but this entire evening had too many echoes of the past—the friendship was there between them, but she wanted more. She would always want more. The itch to be with him would never go away unless she had the chance to scratch it. “Any interest in working off that meal tomorrow?” She knew that there was a little too much innuendo in the wording of her question, but it was meant to be a test.
“What’d you have in mind?” He returned his sights to the night sky, not taking the chance to flirt with her.
Any other woman might be deterred or discouraged, but Allison hadn’t come this close to give up now. She would forge ahead with her suggestion and keep the ball in his court. “Snorkeling. If we hike around to the north side of the island, the water and fish are unbelievable. If we’re lucky, we’ll see sea turtles, too. We can swim out right from the beach.”
He was doing that thing with his tongue and his lower lip again, driving her crazy in the process. “Yeah. Cool. That sounds fun. What time?”
Allison wanted to spend the entire day with him, and the sun would be too strong by midday to spend too much time in the water. “Morning is best if you can haul your butt out of bed. Nine o’clock?” Just then, her phone rang. Out of habit, she’d brought it with her out onto the patio. She glanced at the caller ID and knew she had to take it. She didn’t want to interrupt her evening with Zane, but this was one of her Black Crescent candidates, someone she’d been trading phone calls with for a few days. “I’m so sorry. I need to get this. You can go if you want to. I’ll see you tomorrow morning.” She scrambled up out of her seat and pressed the button to answer the call. “Hello? Ryan?”
“Hi, Ms. Randall. I’m so glad I reached you,” Ryan Hathaway answered.
“Me, too. I’ve been waiting to talk to you.” Allison shuffled off into the house, but something stopped her from going too far—Zane’s hand on her bare shoulder. She froze, but only because that one touch was making her head swim. The power he had over her was immense. If anything ever did happen between them, she might burst into flames.
“Hey. I thought we were having a nice night.” Zane glanced at the phone. “Now I feel like you’re blowing me off for someone else.”
Allison raised the receiver back to her ear. “Ryan, can you hold on for one minute? I need to take care of something.”
“Sure thing,” Ryan replied.
“Thank you. I promise it’ll only be a minute.” She pressed the mute button on the screen. “We were having a nice night, but all good things must come to an end, right?” She didn’t want to brush off Zane, but this call was incredibly important. Not just for her, either. Kianna was counting on her.
