She steps up another few inches, not with a beach bag or a towel, only herself this time. She smells incredible, like soap and sunshine.
“Well, I felt it as I was packing,” she says.
She grins and shakes her finger at me. “Now, don’t think I’m that into you,” she warns, still smiling. “I’m just giving in to the curiosity, Luke Everett, so don’t get the wrong idea.”
I laugh out loud, shaking my head at her.
“Same here, Sienna Murphy—I’m not into you at all,” I lie through my teeth, “but I just feel like we might have … things to learn from each other.”
She nods with a serious face as if to second that motion, but I think she’s as full of shit as I am right now.
“But I thought you had to go back to work?”
“I did,” she says, “but I had a talk with my boss.”
“And?” I raise an inquisitive brow.
“Well, I have two weeks of vacation saved up that I never got around to using. I wanted to take my parents somewhere nice, but they’ll never go.” She crosses her arms and tilts her head to one side. “So I asked my boss if I could take it now since I’m already in Hawaii.”
“And your boss agreed?”
She shrugs and purses her lips. “She was hesitant to let me take it at such short notice,” she explains, “but after I saved the Oahu wedding yesterday, she agreed to let me have the time off now.”
“Just like that?” I hear every word Sienna is saying to me, but behind all that I really can’t focus on anything but the strange turn of events and how glad I am that she came back.
She bobs her head once and says, “Yep. Just like that—granted, she was worried about my event in Jamaica, but she has other employees at her fingertips to take over for me. And I know Paige will cover for me.”
A bit surprised, I say, “You turned down a trip to Jamaica to stay here?” With me? I want to add, but feel like it might be overkill.
Her freckled face flushes pink and then she shrugs as if it’s no big deal.
“Yeah, I guess I did.”
Knowing that I’m about five seconds away from being unable to stop myself from kissing that perfect mouth senseless, I smack my palms together loudly, breaking the tension. Sienna jumps a little. God, she’s so damn cute.
“So two weeks in Hawaii,” I say. “That’s a lot better than three hours.”
“Definitely.”
Who needs the sun with a smile like that?
A moment of silence passes between us. I can’t stop staring at her. “Oh, and I’m happy to give you pointers for your event,” she says, “but I won’t take your money.”
Shaking my head, I say, “Forget I even said anything about that. You’re not here to work, remember—I was just getting desperate. I would’ve said just about anything to make you stay.”
She chuckles.
Finally I decide to let go of all my hesitations and all of the uncertainties and just be myself for a change.
And it’s liberating.
I reach out and take Sienna’s hand in mine—my heart leaps when it touches her hand—and I start to walk with her across the beach.
“So where to first?” she asks.
“To jump off some cliffs,” I say with a grin.
Her hand tightens within mine, but I get the feeling it’s not because she’s trying to keep up—I think maybe jumping off cliffs wasn’t what she had in mind.
Sienna
I think my heart just dropped down into my stomach—between his brazen decision to take my hand and him saying the words jump and cliffs in the same sentence, I was done for.
We stop at my hotel for a few things first, mainly my black canvas bag and my digital camera. Then Luke and I catch a bus to head out to a place about twenty-five minutes away.