A Facade to Shatter(51)

A shiver washed over her as she imagined all the ways in which he might corrupt her. She’d had a taste of it, certainly, for two blissful days—but she knew there was more, knew they hadn’t even scratched the surface of their need for each other.

“There’s no time like the present,” she replied, and then felt herself blushing harder than before if that were possible.

He led her through the gorgeous house with the soaring ceilings, the koa wood floors and overstuffed couches and huge open sliding doors, to a bedroom with a king-size bed and a breathtaking view of the ocean, with its white sand beaches, jagged black volcanic rocks and rolling surf.

The bed was on a platform, clothed in pristine white, and there was a television mounted on the opposite wall. She wondered who would ever want to watch television in a house like this, but then Zach stopped and tugged her into his arms again.

He kissed her softly, sweetly—too softly and sweetly to mean he was actually planning to make love to her, she realized, and then he stepped away.

“Take a bath, Lia. Have a nap. We’ll have dinner on the lanai and watch the sunset. After that—” he shrugged “—anything goes.”

Anything goes.

Lia couldn’t get that thought out of her mind as she bathed and dressed. In spite of her insistence she’d slept on the plane, she had managed to fall into that giant king bed and drift off to sleep after she’d stared at the ocean for several minutes. It had surprised her to wake sometime later, when the sun was sliding down the bowl of the sky.

The doors to the outside were still open, and the ocean rolled rhythmically against the shore. A gentle trade wind blew through the room, bringing with it the scent of plumeria trees.

Now, Lia gazed at the ocean again as she stood in the open doors and gathered her courage before she went to meet Zach. Why, when she’d been ready earlier, did she suddenly feel as if a thousand hummingbirds were beating their wings in her belly?

Finally, she turned and strode from the bedroom, down the stairs and into the main living area. Zach wasn’t on the lanai, and he wasn’t in the living room. She continued to the kitchen, a huge room with koa wood cabinets and stainless-steel appliances. Zach was standing at the kitchen island, slicing fruit.

Lia blinked. It was such a domestic picture, and a surprising one. He looked up and smiled, and her body melted.

“You are fixing dinner?” she asked.

“It’s nothing terribly exciting,” he told her. “My repertoire is limited. But I can broil a fish, and I can make salad and cut up some fruit for dessert.”

“You are a man of many talents,” she said.

One eyebrow lifted. “I am indeed. I look forward to showing you some of those talents in detail.”

Lia blushed and a grin spread over Zach’s face. “You like embarrassing me,” she said.

He walked over with a piece of pineapple and handed it to her. She popped it in her mouth, nearly moaning at the juicy sweetness.

“Not at all,” he said as he went back over to the island. “I find it charming that you blush over such things.”

“Charming,” she repeated, as if it were a foreign word. Her family had never found her charming. They’d never thought she was anything but a nuisance. Except for Nonna, of course.

He picked up the platter. “Come out to the lanai and I’ll bring everything,” he told her.

“I can take the fruit.”

He handed it to her and then went back for the salad. When they reached the table on the lanai—a table set with simple dishes and silverware—he set the salad down and took the fruit from her. Then he tugged her into his arms and kissed her.

“Yes, charming,” he said. “I’ve never known anyone as innocent about such things as you are.”

He let her go and pulled out her chair for her. As she sat, she looked up at him, her chest tightening at the emotions filling her. Emotions she really didn’t want to spend much time analyzing. She already knew she cared too much. Did she need to know more than that?

“I don’t like blushing like a nun in a locker room,” she said. “It’s ridiculous.”

He laughed. “Like I said, charming.”

He went and retrieved the rest of the food, and then they sat on the lanai with a view of the blue, blue ocean, and a big orange ball sinking into it. They ate fresh fish and talked about many things, none of them singularly important, but all important in the bigger picture of getting to know each other.