His phone beeped from within his pocket. Duke was quick to retrieve it since they were supposed to meet the crew at the waterfall for his next shoot.
Zee:There’s a storm coming in. We’ll have to move the shoot to tomorrow. Get back to your island safely.
Duke looked up at the blanket of clouds—the sky had grown darker as it neared.
“The shoot’s been moved to tomorrow,” he said, tucking the phone back into his pocket. “We should probably head back to the house.”
Just as the words left his mouth, Viv’s eyes widened in question. “The house?” It came out sounding more like a squeak. “Just us?”
“The others have a place here. They’re already heading back.”
The energy between them shifted as she held his gaze, the wordsjust usseeming to toy with his senses.
Duke’s pulse pumped faster. Hotter too. It felt as if he’d just asked her to come back to his place after a date. As if the idea were loaded with expectations.
Another wind kicked up, causing the papers from Vivi’s notepad to rustle and lift. She slapped a hand over the pages.
“Right now?” she asked.
The pen rolled toward the edge of the table. Duke caught it and closed a fist around it. “Yes,” he said. “We’d better make it quick.”
Chapter 11
Viv tried not to get hung up on the fact that they were about to go back to Duke’s place. Alone.
She couldn’t be sure which feelings were which. A swarm of emotion had flown in as Duke talked of his desire to shed his image. His desperation to find a different type of woman. One serious about marriage and all it entailed.
After tucking her phone into her pocket, Viv closed the folds of her notebook and lifted her shoulder bag off the ground. “Well, at least we got the wildlife shoot done. I have a feeling that will be a crowd favorite.”
“Do you think it’ll beyourfavorite?” he asked.
“Possibly,” she said. “I liked watching you with that sloth. He seemed so cuddly.”
Duke grinned. “Hewasa cuddly little guy. Most of them are. I like to call it affection when they rest their head on you. Really, I think they’re just tired.”
Vivi tucked the notepad into her bag. “Sounds like you’ve held sloths before.”
“I have. Quite a few times.” He stood as the attendant rushed in to clear their table.
“Thanks, man,” Duke said to him before continuing. “If you’d like to hold one for yourself,” Duke said, “I can arrange it.”
Viv would be lying if she said she wasn’t aching to hold one of the long-armed creatures. “Okay, Sloth Whisperer, I’d like that.”
A smile spread over Duke’s face. One that took Viv right back to an unforgettable moment in their past—the night she’d known she was falling in love with him.
In that instant, an image was seared into her mind—Duke, mid-smile as he held her gaze. They’d just discovered yet another thing they had in common—this time, a fascination for an album from the eighties.
Her heart seemed to catch glimpses. Flickers of familiar heat escaping the stashed away box as he held her gaze.
“El albergue,” came a voice from the nearby food stand.
Viv glanced over to see a two-man crew scrambling to close up the open portion of the stand. “Una tormenta,” one hollered as the wind picked up once more.
Suddenly, Duke was on his feet and rushing toward the food stand. Only then did Viv realize the storm threatened to tear the upper half off it’s hinges. He rushed alongside the men and gripped the edge with strong hands.
Duke steadied the thing while the two worked to collapse the hinges at either side. Voices barely carried over the space, Duke’s among them. He was speaking Spanish as well.
Another flash of heat sparked in her chest.
