Heartbreaker (Unbreakable #1)(93)
Impressed with the flair in which she hid her true nature, I crossed my arms and leaned back in my chair. I studied her with an unwavering stare.
“Why are you here?” Direct. I was all about getting to the bottom of her mission.
“Your sailboard.”
I blinked. “My equipment brought you here?”
“And my brother.” Almost imperceptibly, she let her perfect posture slump on a short sigh.
“Your brother.” The word flattened with my growing confusion.
“Makani.” She gave a nod, as if his name explained everything. After taking a healthy swallow of her beer, she stared at the amber bottle for several long seconds.
Then the most amazing thing happened: She smiled.
And the exotic girl who’d been merely pretty…became stunning.
I watched with fascination as a spark of wild defiance transformed her expression. Her honey-bronze skin flushed pink up her slender neck to her defined cheekbones. Long dark lashes blinked heavily an instant before greater amusement lit up her eyes.
And then it died. Gone in a flash.
Hmmm. “Gonna need more info.”
“Those two competitions.” She waved a hand toward the breaking waves outside the open window. “You won them on his sailboard. And he wants to sponsor you for windsurfing competitions.”
Finally. The nuts and bolts of it. “Don’t need a sponsor.”
“He’ll pay you well.”
“So will all the others.” Half a dozen big names so far. “Don’t need money.”
Without skipping a beat, her head tilted a fraction. “What do you need?”
Damn good question.
I stared long and hard at a girl vastly different than me…and yet entirely familiar.
She held herself with a certain grace I’d seen play out my whole life. You can’t fake that. Refined. Well-mannered.
Yet I saw right through her mirror-calm surface no matter how expertly she masked it.
Because a similar rebellion railed deep within me.
“Not a damn thing.” Total truth.
Because all anyone needed was food, water, shelter, and sex.
And…the size of my trust fund would cover that for small nations ten times over. But I’d abandoned civilized life to wander the world uncharted.
She frowned, and her lower lip pouted out into something almost as amazing as her smile.
“But there is something I want.”
Her expression brightened. “What’s that?”
“You live in Hawaii?” Educated guess with her name and accent, but had to be sure.
“Yeah, Maui.”
“Perfect.” Actually, f*cking perfect. Windsurfing mecca. But I kept calm: the art of negotiation. Cade, my friend and former roommate, would be proud. “I need a place to live.”
“To live?”
“Your place?”
“Nooo.” She crossed her arms, shaking her head. “Definitely not.”
“Nearby, then. You’ll hook me up with something.”
The headshake thing happened again. Her lips parted, her hardening expression broadcasting loud and clear that a fierce protest was coming.
Unwilling to hear her argument on an empty stomach, I cut her off with a piercing look. Then I added to my list of demands, “Waves to windsurf.”
Her features softened as she nodded. “All year round at Ho?okipa Beach.”
An electric thrill charged through me as I pictured endless surfing—one thing I’d never gone after before.
“And a personal guide.”
“Guide?”
“Assistant. PR rep. Whatever you want to call yourself.”
“Me?”
“You.”
“No way.”
“Only way it’s happening.”
Her eyes narrowed, breaths shallowing as she struggled to maintain that cool composure. “Why?”
Yeah…why?
Pretty sure I hadn’t knocked my head on coral in the surf today.
Damn sure wasn’t looking for a relationship—just got out of one.
But when an adventure-bound guy, who could have anything, sits in front of a girl with enough fire in her to make every step of the journey ahead a glorious fight?
She becomes the only thing he wants.
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