Lisa wiggled her fingers in a friendly wave.Matt extended his hand.“Nice to meet you.”
Doug shook the guy’s hand, and Amy and Emily opted for a smile and a nod.
“And this,” Courtney continued, “is my bridesmaid, Tish, and Ray, her brother—”
Brother?Amy was pretty sure this time her mouth had fallen open.
A strong hand shot out in front of her.Mr.Towel took a step closer and flashed her a heart-stopping smile.“Ray Varner.Very nice to meet you.”
When he’d heard the wordsister, Ray was sure his jaw must have dropped.He’d glanced at the brunette Doug had introduced as his fiancée, just to make sure he hadn’t gotten confused in the multiple introductions, and saw her hand tucked neatly into Doug’s.Yep, Emily was the fiancée.And the attractive blonde he’d been noticing since he’d arrived was… not.
Though Tish’s friends and the other wedding people chattered around him, their words garbled into gibberish, and even their faces blurred like a movie fadeout.When he gazed into Amy’s blue-green eyes, he saw the Pacific Ocean reflected in them.
He still wasn’t sure if she was unattached.But, from the way her gaze was now fixed on his, he guessed this all-day tour, which he’d at first thought would be interminably long, just might not be long enough.
Feeling like he’d been frozen in place for minutes instead of seconds, he broke his stare.“First time in Hawaii?”he asked awkwardly.Blast, he sounded like a teenager on a blind date.
“Yes.One of the things on my bucket list is the surfers’ paradise at the North Shore that we’ll be seeing today.”
“You surf?”
“No.Do you?”
Ray shook his head.“I’m from Oklahoma.This is the first time I’ve ever even seen the ocean.”Why had he confessed to that?Now she’d probably figured him for a real country bumpkin.
“I’m originally from Sacramento.”She looked dreamily over the water.“Even though I know it’s the same Pacific I see every day, it looks different somehow.”
“Where do you live now?”
“San Francisco.”
“You like it?”
“Love it.”
“Ray!”Tish called him to the edge of the cliff.“Let’s take a selfie of us here.”
Reluctantly he moved to where his sister stood.The wind howled through his hair and threatened to push him over.Digging his sandals into the ground, holding Tish to his side, he tried several poses but couldn’t quite get the shot to contain both their heads and the scenery.
“I can take a photo of the two of you,” Amy offered.
Ray posed with his arm around his sister, smiling for the camera and Facebook.“What’s this place called anyway?”
“Pali Lookout.One of the best views on the island,” Amy answered, handing back his phone.“Palimeanscliffin Hawaiian.”Holding her hair away from her face with both hands, she walked straight to the wall near the thousand-foot drop.“Wow,” she repeated the unoriginal but irrefutable sentiment everyone else had used to describe the view.
Ray peered over the edge.“Looks like a great place to send an enemy to instant death.”
Amy smiled.“Actually this was a battlefield.”She swept her arm across the panoramic scene, like a teacher instructing her students.“King Kamehameha defeated the last of his enemies here and united all of Oahu under his rule.Hundreds of soldiers died in the battle, many of them by being forced off the edge of that cliff.”
The woman was smart as well as beautiful.“How did you know that?”
Amy grinned.“I just read it on the historical marker.”
He strolled over to see for himself.The Battle of Nu’uanu Pali.“Kamehameha.”Ray scratched his chin.“Isn’t he the dude on the statue in front ofHawaii Five-0headquarters?”
Amy giggled, a sweet light laugh.“I love that show too.”She came to stand beside him.“I read that the building you see on the show is an actual government building in downtown Honolulu.”
Smart and beautiful and she liked one of his favorite TV shows.If she also watchedThe Amazing Race, he could fall for this woman.
