Julian made her just that irritated, mad enough to take up any gauntlet that he threw down.
“Yeah. Then I will,” he agreed gutturally, as if he didn’t want to think about later.
Now that the bargain was struck, Kristin felt a moment of panic. “Let. Me. Up.”
He grinned down at her. “Scared?”
Hell yes, she was terrified. She’d made a deal with the most wicked male she knew, and one who posed the biggest threat to her sanity.
Julian backed off, allowing her to sit up.
She snorted. “Of course not. Three months will pass quickly.”
He just continued to smile, which made Kristin want to punch him.
“I love your optimism,” he answered, amused.
“I told you I’d make your life miserable. I will,” she threatened as she stood, needing some distance between her and the incredibly intoxicating, masculine scent of the hottest man in the universe. Even she couldn’t resist his ability to get under her skin, which in turn made her want to get him naked.
Did she have some kind of fetish for angry sex?
Foreplay.
She turned back once she was a safe distance from the couch. “I’m going to bed. I have to work tomorrow.” Maybe she’d do a few laps in his Olympic-sized bathtub to blow off steam.
“No you don’t. In fact, you need to pack,” he mentioned casually before she could walk away. “We’re taking a vacation. Sarah got a temp to cover you, and your dad just hired your mom a companion and assistant so he can spend some time with her without being her caregiver.”
Kristin was starting to see red . . . again. “What? I don’t think I heard you right.”
“You heard me just fine. We’re going to go away for a while. Someplace warm.”
Since they’d had their first major snow recently, she shivered at the thought of a warm tropical breeze and some downtime. What would that be like? “I can’t go anywhere. I have responsibilities here.”
“Not anymore,” he informed her. “And it’s not like we’re leaving for months. It’s a vacation.”
“Where?” Not that she was really going to go. But she was curious about what he had planned.
“Maui,” he informed her. “I have a place there. Call it business if you want. I should probably see how it’s going.”
Hawaii? Was he serious? “I can’t just leave,” she told him hotly, chewing her lip to keep from getting excited at the prospect of going somewhere she’d always wanted to go.
“We won’t. We’ll stop at your parents’ place in the morning to say good-bye.”
He was missing the point completely—which Kristin knew was intentional. She tried not to think about warm ocean water and tropical cocktails. “I can’t.”
“Start packing,” he shot back, completely ignoring her statement. “I’d like to get an early start. Your parents are thrilled that we’re actually going away on a honeymoon.”
Oh. God. “You told them?” she asked, her voice coming out as a surprised squeak.
He rose and moved to stand in front of her. “Of course. I talk to your dad almost every day. We have a business together. Certainly you didn’t want me to lie to them?”
“He never told me,” she answered, upset now that her dad hadn’t even mentioned that he talked to Julian.
“I asked him not to. If it helps, I just told him the day I was flying back to Amesport. I told him we got married in Vegas. That I finally realized that I wanted to see you every day for the rest of my life. Then I told him about Maui, but I told him I wanted to surprise you.”
“It doesn’t help,” she snapped. “And he didn’t ask why I hadn’t told him we were married?”
“Of course he did. But I told him we wanted to tell him and your mom when we were together,” he said with a serious expression on his face.
“No wonder you won an Oscar,” she retorted angrily. “They fell for that?”
“Completely. I can be very convincing.”
“I don’t doubt that,” she mumbled unhappily. “You’re leaving me no choice but to play along. You realize they’ll be sad to realize they aren’t having grandchildren in the near future.”
“Why? I can arrange that.” He raised a brow at her suggestively. “I do know how the process works.”
Kristin wanted to hurt him. If he didn’t have a huge gash on his forehead from saving her ass on the stairway, she probably would have. “Fine. I’ll go. But I want to go sightseeing. A lot.” If there was one thing Julian probably hated, it was being out in public.
“Me too. We can island hop if you want,” he answered with an agreeable smirk.
“And I want lots of cocktails with the little umbrellas. Oh, and snorkeling with the giant turtles. I want to do that, too.” If he thought she was going to just hang out on a beautiful beach with him and love it, he was mistaken. “I hate sunbathing.”
She’d be sunburned within minutes. With her fair complexion and red hair, she didn’t tan. She burned until she looked like a lobster.