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“Daniel’s right,” I said.
Her shoulders jerked. “You want to call off the deal?”
I let out a long breath and stared at the road ahead. “I’d much rather ask you to lunch and get an enthusiastic yes.” I pumped my fist for emphasis and made a crazy face. “If I let you out of it, you’ll say no. And I’m afraid your reasons for that no have more to do with me than you.”
“They wouldn’t.” She fiddled with the sleeve of her sweater. “I can’t be in a relationship.”
I tapped the steering wheel. “‘Won’t’ would be a better choice of words.”
“One and the same.” She looked out the window.
I pulled the car over, thrust it in park. I climbed out, rounded to her side, and opened her door. She started, but didn’t back away from me.
“I’d like to take you out today. It’ll last until tomorrow. But I can’t do it if it’s not what you want.” I clutched the top of the doorframe as I put everything on the line. “Forget the deal. Would you have lunch with me? Because you want to.”
“I can’t.” She squeezed her eyes shut. “I’m so tired of saying that.”
Displeasure crashed over me, but I tried to hide it. “Then don’t. Unless you mean it.”
She refused to look at me, no matter how long I waited her out. Eventually, I shut her door. I kicked at a rock as I went back to the driver’s side and cursed under my breath. Impatience was going to cost me.
For the thirty-seven-minutedrive into Wanaka, neither of us spoke. I used the time to regroup. I’d approached this all wrong. Still put too much emphasis on the date part of everything. But she made me lose my mind. I wanted her so badly it was impossible to stay cool.
I scanned for the entrance to the airport as we traveled down the main road. Disappointment clouded my vision. In my head, I’d seen this day going much differently.
Once I located the sign with an airplane, I pulled into the rental car return parking lot.
“Ready to go?”
She never lifted her gaze from her lap.
I yanked on the door handle and had one foot on the ground when she touched my arm. Her delicate fingers were soft, yet they had the power to bring me to my knees. I could count on one hand how many times she’d touched me.
I stared at where our flesh melded together. Longed for the day when she would do this very thing without thought or hesitation, and I could do the same in return. Because this? This simple connection was more potent than any I’d ever experienced. She couldn’t have been immune to it.
“I’d like to have lunch.”
I blinked at her a few times before a slow grin spread across my face. “I don’t know about you, but I’m starved.”
Chapter Sixteen
Muriella
“Areyou sure we’ll be back by Thanksgiving?”
This was the second helicopter we’d been on, not to mention the jet. If this pattern continued, we’d be all the way home by nightfall.
“We’ll make it.” He pointed out the window to the reef below. “Check it out.”
I peered down to the turquoise water. “It’s a heart,” I said with wonder.
“Pretty cool, right?” He stretched so he could see over my shoulder. Heat radiated from his body, temporarily dragging my attention from the sight below.
It was more than cool. I pressed my nose to the window for a better look. “How did you find it?”
“Research,” he answered mysteriously.
I took out my phone and snapped a few pictures. “When you do lunch, you really pull out all the stops.” His thoughtfulness stripped another layer of my defenses.
