“I wanted to watch the sunset with you,” he says quietly, looking out at the ocean.
“But you’ve already done so much for me today,” I say sincerely. “You shouldn’t be spending even more money on me.”
“I have more money than I know what to do with, and being here with you, experiencing your first vacation abroad, is a fantastic way to spend it.”
A waiter approaches with two glasses and a bottle of champagne. There’s no one else around, the waves are the only sound as I stare at Lucas, dumbfounded.
He hands me a glass with a soft smile, but his eyes are dark and sad.
Oh fuck. This is it. This is where he tells me it’s all over.
“You’re gonna think I’m nuts,” he whispers, his beautiful brown eyes meeting mine. “But I feel terrible about what happened when we met. It’s been bugging me all day. I want to have a do-over.”
“A do-over?” I ask, amazed at how unhappy he looks.
“I’m gonna wine and dine you tonight, and spoil you rotten, like I should have done right from the start. And then we’re gonna have sex like I should have done it the first time.”
“Lucas, you don’t have to?—”
“I do,” his voice is tight. “I should have thought it through. Now I have. But if you don’t want?—”
“I do,” I say quickly, desperate to make that sad frown leave his face.
He smiles, holding out his hand. I take it, and he leads me to the table. When we get to it I start laughing at the food laid out before us.
“You have no idea how difficult it is to get real tacos on an island like this,” he says moodily.
“Oh my God, you didn’t fly them in from New York, did you?” I ask, unable to stop grinning.
“I could have, believe me, but I think the chef I spoke to got the concept down. This is only a starter. I realized when I ordered this that I don’t even know what food you like.”
I take a seat, and he pushes my chair beneath me as the waiter places an artificial candle between us. My stomach is in knots, unsure how to behave in this strange, incredibly romantic setting.
Lucas sits opposite me, as the waves brush the sand a few feet away from our table.
The sun is setting behind him, and he has never looked so beautiful as he does in that moment. The white lines in his hair are dyed golden by the glow behind him, and my heart is thudding so hard I’m worried he might hear it.
He raises his glass. “Here’s to a new first time,” he says, his lips quirking up at the edges.
I hesitate, my fingers brushing the stem of my glass, uncertain what to say. “To new beginnings,” I murmur as I raise it before me.
Our gazes lock and hold for the longest time until Lucas’s eyebrows twitch into a brief frown before he nods, and we begin our food.
The waiter is a ghost for much of the evening, appearing and disappearing like magic whenever Lucas needs something.
We finish the bottle of champagne, with Lucas drinking the majority, and move on to wine. There’s white fish for the main course, of a type I have never had before, and it’s salty, buttery, and possibly the best thing I’ve ever eaten.
“So, where did you learn to paint?” he asks me suddenly as shots of sorbet are placed in front of us.
Lucas’s dark eyes shine as he sips his drink.
“I’ve been doodling ever since I was a kid,” I say. “But I really fell in love with painting because of my friend, Hope.”
“Oh yeah?”
I nod. “When she was training to be a nurse, the hours were brutal, and I was working nearby…” I trail off, not wanting to admit I was working night shifts at my third job. “I would go to the hospital sometimes to keep her company, and I’d sketch the patients. I love drawing people, and it was Hope who encouraged me to keep going with it.”
He falls silent, that strange look coming over his face again. “Do you have any hobbies?” I ask.
