A Facade to Shatter(56)

“Zach, I’m fine. I have an appointment with the doctor on Oahu next week, remember?”

He continued to study her like she was a bug under a microscope. “Would you tell me if you were unwell? Or would you hide it?”

She blinked. “Why on earth would I hide such a thing?”

He looked at her for a long minute. And then he shrugged. “I have no idea. I just get the feeling that sometimes you aren’t being completely honest about what you’re feeling.”

Her heart skipped a beat. Wow, he’d nailed it in one. But not for the reason he supposed. She reached out and grasped his hand. His skin was still cool from the pool. “I’m not used to sharing my life with anyone,” she said truthfully. “I’m used to being self-reliant in many ways, but if I felt truly ill, I would tell you. I don’t want anything to happen to this baby.”

“Or you,” he said, and her heart seemed to stop beating in her chest. A moment later, it lurched forward again, beating in triple time. She told herself not to read anything into that statement, but, oh, how her heart wanted to.

He turned away and reached for his tablet computer while her pulse surged and her heart throbbed. She wanted what he’d said to mean something. Wanted it desperately. But he sat there scrolling through his tablet so casually, and she knew that it hadn’t meant a thing. Oh, he didn’t want her to hurt herself, certainly.

But not because he didn’t know what he’d do if she weren’t here. Not because the air he breathed would suddenly grow stale without her. Not because his life would cease to be bright if she were not in it.

Lia turned away from him, her eyes pricking with tears, and picked up the virgin mai tai he’d fixed for her before he slipped into the pool. The trade winds blew so gently across her skin, and the sun was bright in the azure sky above. It was so perfect here, and she’d let herself be lulled by it.

But she had to remember there was nothing about this situation that was permanent. It could all end tomorrow, if he so chose. Lia shivered and tried not to imagine what would happen when it did.

In the end she didn’t need to imagine a thing.

There was a storm in the middle of the night. It was a rare occurrence on Maui, because the trade winds and the air pressure didn’t usually allow for it, but tonight there was thunder and jagged lightning sizzling over the ocean.

Lia woke with a jerk when a crack of thunder sounded close by. Zach was beside her, sitting up, his eyes wide.

“Zach?”

He didn’t move. She reached for him. He jerked, then spun and pinned her to the bed. His eyes were wild, his skin damp. He growled something unintelligible.

“Zach, caro, it’s me,” she said. “It’s Lia.”

He was very still. “Lia?”

“Yes.”

The tension in his body collapsed. He rolled away from her with a groan and lay on his back, an arm thrown over his eyes. “Jesus,” he breathed. “I could have hurt you.”

She propped herself on an elbow and leaned over him. “You wouldn’t,” she said, utterly convinced.

The arm fell away and his dark eyes gleamed at her as he drew in deep lungfuls of breath. “How can you be so sure? I’m a mess, Lia.” He choked out something unintelligible. “A damn mess.”

Fear was beginning to dance along the surface of her psyche. He frightened her, but not physically. “I don’t believe that.”

He laughed bitterly. “You’re too damn trusting. Too naive. You have no idea what goes on in this world.”

He threw the covers back and got out of bed while she sat there with her heart pinching and her chest aching. He yanked on a pair of shorts and stalked outside, onto the balcony, oblivious to the rain coming down.

Lia’s first instinct was to stay where she was, to let him cool off. But she couldn’t do it. She loved him too much, and she hated when he was hurting.

She climbed from the bed and put on her robe. Then she went to stand in the open door and look at him.

The rain washed over him, soaking his hair, running in rivulets down his chest. He looked lonely and angry and her heart went out to him. She knew what it was like to be lonely and angry. She wanted nothing more than to fix it for him.

“Zach, please talk to me.”

He spun to look at her. “You don’t want to hear what I have to say.”

She took a step toward him.

He held a hand up to stop her. “Don’t come out here. You’ll get wet.”