Page 20
“It’s okay.” His hand found her leg, and she clasped it with her own. She heard the clatter of the exhausted Coleman as he slid it aside. He muttered a curse. “My phone’s not working.”
Her phone! Of course. She let go of him and felt blindly in the small space until she found her phone. She pressed a button and blessed light flared between them. She examined the screen. “Forty percent battery.”
He took her hand and directed the dim light around the bedding. When he located his flashlight, he flicked it on and off. “Still works. Save your phone’s battery in case we need it.”
As their eyes met in the low light, the air sizzled between them. Now it was vibrating with a different kind of tension. The sexy kind.
“We should walk to the road,” he said. “See if you can get a signal. Then we call Clive.”
“I have a bet to win. I’m not giving up that easily.”
And she didn’t want to interrupt whatever was happening between them. He wasn’t joking or teasing her for once. He was attentive. Concerned. Despite the shadows pressing in on them from every angle, she liked being here with him. Maybe because she was seeing a side of him she’d never seen before.
“Determined to take Hawaii from me the way you did that last account?” he asked.
“You really want to argue about Sunny Acres again? We have been over and over this. You didn’t have a written contract with Margaret.”
“No, but I sketched a design she loved. It was out of her price range.”
Lily picked at an eyelet in her sneaker. “She…didn’t actually like your design.”
Somehow that truth came easier in the dark.
“Of course she did. She added on the pond and greenhouse because it was less expensive, but my room design was perfect. Which is why she said she’d have it done later.”
Lily shook her head even though he couldn’t see her. She had been avoiding telling him the truth. Which was odd, because the truth—that Margaret had requested an entire redesign from Lily—would have made for excellent ammo. She’d tucked it into her back pocket for the next time Marcus attempted to one-up her. But she hadn’t used it. Each time he teased her at work, she’d changed her mind about bringing it up. What had stopped her?
Because. Because of the look on his face the day he’d won the trip. He’d never looked happier. He’d prattled on about surfing and how he couldn’t wait to climb a coconut tree.
His reaction had been so…so genuine. It was her first look at what she thought of as the real him.
An hour later, he’d plopped down on her guest chair in her office and had run down a list of things to do in Hawaii. Ever been snorkeling, McIntire? I think I’ll cliff dive while I’m there. Maybe even visit a volcano.
A scraping sound scratched the boards over the windows.
“Trees,” he muttered.
“Trees,” she agreed. Maybe they’d overreacted because it was scary as shit in here. Maybe, inside of a spooky mansion steeped in local lore, everyday sounds were scarier than normal.
“Talk to me about something,” he said.
Good idea. She’d talk about anything to distract herself from the ghost of Essie Mae. “Like what?”
“Like why you wanted to win the trip to Hawaii.”
Not what she’d expected him to say. She thought for a moment. “Well. Like you, I’ve never been there. Plus, it’s a free trip…”
But those weren’t the only reasons she’d worked overtime and had gone out of her way to sign more accounts than him.
“The truth is I really like to win.”
His deep laughter tumbled around her in the dark. “Yeah, I noticed that.”
“And I wanted to know if I was good enough to beat the best.” She squeezed his knee. “You’re the best. Practically unbeatable.”
“I don’t know.” One rough hand covered hers. “You may beat me yet.”
She would have laughed if he hadn’t been touching her. If her heart hadn’t been pounding triple time.
