She smiled and shot him a playful wink. “You’re cute,” she said with a laugh.
There went the simmer again. That low and steady belly heat she kindled in him. “Well, you’re beautiful.” His breath hitched. Heat gathered in his palms.
She shook her head, grinned, and closed the door once more.
Great, they were flirting now?
This was dangerous. Just how deep should he allow his feelings to go?
That question seemed more like a joke. Who was he fooling? Zander couldn’t control his feelings any more than he could the depths of the ocean. So maybe he should try harder to change the one thing he could control.
Quickly, he darted back to the bedside and ducked low. He snatched the phone off the side table, hit redial, and drummed his fingers while it rang.
Once.
Twice.
And then a third time.
“Are you kidding?” Zander hissed as it rang once again. The machine picked up at last, reminding Zander that he’d told Duke not to answer; the guy probably thought he was testing him.
“I know I said it was okay if you didn’t come out here, but it’s not. I am starting to feel something for this woman. Seriously. So get out here. Do what you need to do, unless you want me to be the one consummating this marriage.” He left the name of the resort and the number to their bungalow and hung up the line.
There. He’d done the right thing.
Already the tension in his shoulders was slipping. Now he could relax. Let himself go a little. By this time tomorrow, or shortly thereafter, Duke would step in and take his place. Now there’d be no harm in getting a little closer. Flirting a little more. Heaven knew that’s what Duke would be doing once he got there.
Already, Zander was looking forward to being himself around her. A very large part of him didn’t want to give up his time there with Kat, but that’s what made his decision all the more right. Duke was the one who’d signed up for this. It was Zander’s job to step aside.
Chapter 12
Kat breathed in the delicious aroma of fresh crab and warm, savory biscuits as their bungalow attendant, a polite young man name Savoh, arranged their food on the patio table.
“Please,” he said with a slight bow, “let me know if you’d like anything more.”
Kat gave Savoh a grin. “It looks perfect, thank you.”
Savoh smiled and turned his attention to the opposite side of the table. “Sir?”
“Looks like it’s all here.” The famous Benton—who was now her husband, she reminded herself—handed over a folded bill. “You’ve done well, my man. Thank you.”
Their attendant wheeled the cart back to the main boardwalk and toward the resort. A resort that took up the bulk of the small island.
“How big do you think the island is?” Kat couldn’t help but ask.
He shrugged, a furrow creasing his handsome brow. “We came here a few years back. Stayed on an island that looked close to the size of this one. A local said it took five times circling the island to equal a mile.”
“Wow, that’s tiny. I guess that explains the over-the-water bungalows.”
“Indeed,” he said with a nod. She liked the outfit he’d picked out at the local shop. He looked like a walking advertisement for Docker shorts with the accompanying beachy, button up shirt that hung loosely over his tan, muscled chest.
They were from different worlds, weren’t they? The guy was used to sitting in luxury’s lap. Lounging along a beachside bungalow, eating the fresh hundred-dollar catch of the day. Kat couldn’t remember the last time she’d even been on a vacation.
He reached for a small ceramic bowl, seeming to already know what it held, and lifted the lid. “You know what? You and I have a lot in common.”
Kat glanced down at the matching container in front of her and did the same. A warm pool of melted butter glistened beneath. “We do?” She glanced back up to see him crack the shell of a crab leg.
“Yep. Think about it. What’s the most significant moment of one’s life? At least, one of the most significant…”
