I laughed. “Sorry about the necklace,” I said a few minutes later. “I really am happy with just the pearl.”
“No problem, Delilah. It’s the thought that counts, right?”
“I think that is my line.”
“You’re slow on the clichés.”
I laughed and fell in step with him as we made our way through his fabulous resort.
“Why were you on my beach the other day?” I asked as we rounded a restaurant. The ocean suddenly stretched out in front of us in all its majesty. Umbrellas and beach chairs were already dotting the landscape, most of them with a “reserved” sign attached to the side.
“Lucas is staying in that resort. He wanted to be close in case something came up.”
“So he has to work while you take time off?” I stopped with him as he took a slip of paper from his wallet.
He looked at the chairs in front of us, grabbed my hand, and pulled me toward the right. “Mostly, yes. I wanted to catch a few speakers and meet with his final decision for a new vendor, but I needed some time to unplug. Here we go.” He stopped in front of two white chairs with an umbrella to either side. “Choose.”
They were exactly the same. I took the closest.
“I’ve gotten to a point where it feels like my face is always glued to either my phone or my computer screen,” he went on as he sat down. He adjusted his towel under himself before stripping off his shirt. I stared at his remarkable torso.
“Like what you see?” he asked in a deep tone.
“Very much,” I said, untying my wrap and dropping the sides. I looked at the umbrella, which would effectively eliminate my ability to tan.
He pulled his towel out from under him and dropped it on his lap. “I should’ve prepared for your beauty. This is a family establishment.”
I took my sun lotion out of my small beach bag. “You were saying, pervert?”
“Care to go for a swim?”
I glanced over, bemused. He was staring at my hands as I rubbed the lotion into my skin. “I have to wait for this to soak in, and then I’m all yours. You were saying…”
“It’s hard to think around you, Delilah. What are your plans after this?”
“I don’t know. Probably dinner and then sex, right? Or will you be tired of me by then?”
“After this weekend. You live in the Bay Area, right?”
“Oh.” I frowned and squeezed more lotion onto my palm. “Yeah. I still have a job. I’ll go back to that, get a lot of shit for going back to your hotel, probably get blamed for not landing the deal despite sleeping with you—I’m sure they’ll call me a bad lay—and then get laid off or quit. A real fun time will be had by all, I have no doubt. You weren’t a mistake, but I wasn’t being as subtle as I should’ve been. A big oops, on that score.”
His silence had me looking over. His eyes were full of regret. “It’s my fault. I wasn’t as subtle as I should’ve been. I invited myself and the guys to your booze cruise, talked only with you, then ferreted you away when the others were returning to their hotel. I’m a jackass.”
“You invited yourself?” I stilled in applying the lotion.
“I didn’t want to wait until you were done. I wanted to see you. I should’ve thought that through.”
“Wait.” I leaned forward a little. “You invited yourself, but then didn’t talk to anyone? Why didn’t anyone approach you?”
“Lucas and Clive were running interference. They said I wanted to go over the presentation. But it wouldn’t matter. People assume I’m eccentric because I’m usually an ‘in the shadows’ kind of guy. It’s not eccentricity—I just don’t like panderers. But no man on that boat would have questioned me giving you all of my attention.”
“Not eccentric. A stalker.” I tried to summon up the ability to care about that fact. Still couldn’t find it. I’d make another note to care more in the future. “So yeah, they will definitely blame me for losing the account. That’s rad.” I blinked rapidly, squinted, and then…still couldn’t find the gumption to care.
What had come over me?
I glanced at my surroundings, and then my gaze landed on the hot man by my side.
Paradise. That was what. I needed to just run with this and deal with the repercussions later.
“Come live with me,” he said in a harried voice. “Come home with me. Quit now. Today. And come back to Texas with me.”
I stilled again. This time, the ability to care came crashing down. My hands started to shake. I just didn’t know what I was capable of anymore. I had boarded the Crazy Plane with the ex, and I wasn’t sure if I’d ever deplaned. This guy had more money to hire attorneys.
Plus, and this was the real clincher, I had another hundred hours of community service to do for that little stunt with my ex. He’d pressed charges, but I had gotten lucky with a female judge. No jail time, just beach and park cleanup. I couldn’t move outside of the state until I was cleared.