“You were?” The knowledge that she’d thought about him—about Tony—warmed him. “I…uh…didn’t see you.”
“Oh. Well, I actually didn’t stay very long, so if you came late…” Again, her cheeks turned that adorable shade of pink.
He nodded. “Yeah. I came late.”
“I’m sorry I missed you.”
“Well, you found me now,” he said, as the waitress slipped a huge cinnamon roll in front of her. He caught her gaze and, for a moment, their eyes locked and he thought he saw the tiniest spark of the woman he’d known last night. But she quickly looked down, poking experimentally at her roll with her fork.
“Yes, I did,” she said softly. When she looked up, her smile was warm and friendly.
Amazing.
Or maybe not. His friend Alan had no problem with his scars, but Amy did. Kyra wasn’t looking at him like a freak, but she hadn’t gotten a close look at his face. She also didn’t know she’d slept with him, no matter what he might want to imagine.
They were just sitting and talking like friends. And just because Michael had to give her up as a lover, that didn’t mean Tony couldn’t stick with his original plan and have her as a friend. It wasn’t a perfect solution, but at least he’d be around her. Could look at her, talkto her. True, it was a bit duplicitous, but he firmly quashed a twinge of guilt. The alternative was to walk away entirely, and he didn’t like that option at all.
“Tony?” Her forehead creased, a little vee appearing above her nose.
“Listen,” he said, “I was going to grab a book and spend the day being a beach bum. I don’t suppose you’d be interested in joining me.”
“An entire day being completely lazy?”
“Yup.”
“Sounds like heaven.”
He could hear the hesitation in her voice. “But…?”
She lifted one shoulder. “I cleaned out my savings account for this vacation.”
“I’m not following.”
She didn’t answer right away. Instead, she took a bite from her pastry. He knew she was stalling. He could almost see her thinking, trying to decide how much to tell him.
Finally, she put down her fork. “Did you come here for a fantasy?”
“Isn’t that against the rules? Asking about other guests’ fantasies?”
Her neck flushed, but she held her own, her determined gaze never wavering. “You started it,” she said.
“Fair enough.” He hadn’t planned on the fantasy that had been dropped in his lap, but he certainly couldn’t share that with Kyra. “I guess you could saymy fantasy was to escape. One of my buddies decided I needed some downtime, and he packed me off here.”
“Nice friend. This place isn’t cheap. Why’d he think you needed downtime?”
He tensed, then forced himself to relax. Just friends, remember? Summoning all his willpower, he turned his head, then pointed to the scarred flesh that stood out around his left eye.
“Oh.” She pressed her lips together. “I’m sorry. That was a stupid question. I didn’t mean to bring up—” She shook her head. “Anyway, I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay. Really.” Amazingly enough, right then he didn’t give a damn about the scar. He just didn’t want her to feel like a heel.
“Well, you may have come to relax, but I came for a fantasy.” She grazed her teeth over her lower lip, then looked at him through narrowed eyes. “Promise you won’t laugh?”
“I promise.”
“I came for an adventure.” One shoulder moved in the slightest of shrugs. “There’s a little more to it than that, but you get the gist.”
He stood up, walked around her chair, then ducked down to see under the table. When he lifted his head, she was looking at him with raised eyebrows.
