Chapter 12
Kat breathed in the delicious aroma of fresh crab and warm, savory biscuits as their bungalow attendant, a polite young man name Savoh, arranged their food on the patio table.
“Please,” he said with a slight bow, “let me know if you’d like anything more.”
Kat gave Savoh a grin. “It looks perfect, thank you.”
Savoh smiled and turned his attention to the opposite side of the table. “Sir?”
“Looks like it’s all here.” The famous Benton—who was now her husband, she reminded herself—handed over a folded bill. “You’ve done well, my man. Thank you.”
Their attendant wheeled the cart back to the main boardwalk and toward the resort. A resort that took up the bulk of the small island.
“How big do you think the island is?” Kat couldn’t help but ask.
He shrugged, a furrow creasing his handsome brow. “We came here a few years back. Stayed on an island that looked close to the size of this one. A local said it took five times circling the island to equal a mile.”
“Wow, that’s tiny. I guess that explains the over-the-water bungalows.”
“Indeed,” he said with a nod. She liked the outfit he’d picked out at the local shop. He looked like a walking advertisement for Docker shorts with the accompanying beachy, button up shirt that hung loosely over his tan, muscled chest.
They were from different worlds, weren’t they? The guy was used to sitting in luxury’s lap. Lounging along a beachside bungalow, eating the fresh hundred-dollar catch of the day. Kat couldn’t remember the last time she’d even been on a vacation.
He reached for a small ceramic bowl, seeming to already know what it held, and lifted the lid. “You know what? You and I have a lot in common.”
Kat glanced down at the matching container in front of her and did the same. A warm pool of melted butter glistened beneath. “We do?” She glanced back up to see him crack the shell of a crab leg.
“Yep. Think about it. What’s the most significant moment of one’s life? At least, one of the most significant…”
A grin tugged at one side of her lip as she followed his lead. “Getting married.”
He nodded, pulling crabmeat from the broken shell with a tiny fork.
“Right. And we, unlike probably ninety-nine percent of married people in the US, said yes to a perfect stranger. That’s a story not many can relate to.
” He glanced up to catch her gaze, causing a dose of warmth to skitter up her neck and into her face.
“Unless they’re in an arranged marriage, I guess. ”
If he was trying to close the gap between them, he’d have to try harder.
Sure, they had that one thing in common, but from her perspective, they were still worlds apart.
After all, she knew the differences between them better than he could; Duke Benton had a reputation.
One that suggested he wasn’t a whole lot like Kat.
“We do have that in common,” she finally said.
Ice clanked against the glass as he brought it to his lips. He spoke before taking a sip. “Let’s find out what else we have in common. Tell me about yourself.”
Another dose of heat pooled into her face. “About me. Okay, I’m an environmental chemist. I monitor the quality of air, water, and soil in Los Angeles County and do what I can to help local businesses support a healthy environment.”
“That’s impressive,” he said. “I’m looking forward to hearing more about it.”
Kat sensed sincerity in his comment and grinned. “So being a billionaire—is that an occupation of its own? Like, what do you do for a living? Oh, I’m a billionaire. Enough said?”
“Exactly.” A low chuckle sounded deep in his throat. “No, I help run a number of businesses I’ve invested in over the years. I rescue the occasional company in jeopardy. You ever watch The Lion’s Den?” The glass was back in his hand, the ice clanking once again as he lifted it off the table.
The mere mention put her back in Zander’s office in a blink. The intensity of those blue eyes as he held her gaze. An unwarranted thrill shot through her; Kat chalked it up to the man’s resemblance to his twin. A man she’d just taken vows with.
“I’ve seen it, yes,” she said. “Which reminds me…I kind of met your brother a few weeks ago.”
A muffled cough sounded. Duke smacked his chest and lowered the glass, coughing yet again. “Sorry about that. You talking about Zander?”
“Did he tell you?” She hadn’t said it was his twin brother.
“No.” He shook his head. “I mean, how would he have? He doesn’t even know who I married.”
“I meant, did he say anything about having an environmental chemist on his back about a company he just rescued?”
He dabbed his mouth with a napkin, cleared his throat, and—though he couldn’t be anywhere near finished—scooted his plate toward the center of the table.
“Uh, now that you mention it…I think he said that some…really gorgeous woman showed up at his office, upset with him over rescuing Milton and Brewster. That must have been you.”
Embarrassment rushed through her. “Well, now that you’ve added the really gorgeous part, I’m not so sure.”
A wide grin spread over his face. “It’s you.”
The look in his eyes erased the embarrassment in a blink. Sparks of warmth flittered over her skin.
“Actually,” he said, “Zander felt bad after you left. Said he wanted to tell you about his plans to make the company eco friendly.”
Kat rolled her eyes. “I’m sure he plans to do that…now. After I told him they’d be under a microscope.” She thought better of the remark once it left her lips, but it was too late to take it back.
His face tensed. “Zander wouldn’t have saved them had he not planned on updating their equipment. We’re looking for solid investments, not money pits.”
She’d made him angry now, hadn’t she? “I’m sorry,” she said. “I know he’s your brother, but he’s…” She watched him tense in preparation for her words. Shoulders tightening. Jaw clenching.
Kat swallowed the word pompous and went a new direction. “Kind of abrasive,” she said, “in my opinion.”
His defensive guard seemed to drop suddenly, his features softening as he nodded. “Yeah, people say that about him.”
“But it’s not a big deal,” she was quick to say. “I’m not holding a grudge. Hopefully he isn’t either. I’m sure it’s something we’ll laugh about one day.”
“True,” he agreed, face pinched in thought. It made him look more like Zander than ever.
“You look so much like him. Actually, you look exactly like him. It’s trippy.” She shook her head as a chuckle escaped. “I’ve known there was such a thing as identical twins, but I had no idea they could actually be…interchangeable.”
He shifted in the chair. “It’s only because I cut my hair.”
“Did you two used to trick your mom when you were young?”
“Sometimes,” he admitted, “but our personalities are pretty different, so she could usually tell.”
“Huh. That’s wild.”
He nodded, looking stuck in thought. “You know, Zander…he’s—in a lot of ways—more sensitive than I am.”
Kat lifted a brow. “Really?”
“He donates to about a million causes. We all do, but he gives the most, I think. And kids…they like him way better than they like me. Kids hate me. I say it all the time. Because it’s true.”
Kat couldn’t help but laugh at his confession. She was also amused by the way he was talking up his brother. It was sweet. “I guess when you’re a twin, you’re pretty close, right?”
“Yes,” he said with a nod.
The conversation that followed covered a lot of small talk.
Details of her family and his, what it was like growing up in a small family versus a large one.
She was surprised to discover how normal his upbringing seemed to be in a lot of ways.
It was obvious he’d been raised with a good moral compass, and she admired that.
Yet as soon as they were done with their lunch, he gave her a look that said he was ready to go deeper. He held her gaze, those blue eyes nearly hypnotizing as he leaned back into the chair, and tucked his hands behind his head.
“So why’d you do it?”
Kat knew without further prompting what it meant. It was the question she’d been waiting to ask him. She hadn’t felt right asking at the wedding or even on the plane; if the groom was anything like her, he’d have a complicated answer. One that was better suited for a private conversation.
She blew out a breath while contemplating. Just as an onslaught of nerves began mounding within her, she caught sight of Savoh heading toward them on the boardwalk.
Duke glanced over his shoulder. “Should we move to the pool while he cleans up? Maybe dip our feet?”
“Sure,” Kat said before greeting the young attendant. Savoh was quick to clean up as they removed their sandals and sat on the edge of the pool. He left them with glasses of chilled coconut water before heading back to the resort.
“So,” Duke said once they were alone again. “You were just about to tell me why you signed up for the show.”
“Yeah,” she said, letting her gaze drop to the water as she swayed her feet back and forth. It was the perfect blend, warm sun on her skin and the cool water on her feet.
“I guess you could say that I’ve been burned in the past. To the point that I lost confidence in my ability to pick the right guy, you know?”
“Tsk, I know, alright,” he said under his breath. “So did a friend tell you about it or did you find it yourself?”
“I saw some pamphlet about it at work, which is kind of odd if I think about it. But then again we have a lot of students there doing intern work. It probably belonged to one of them.
“I dismissed it at first. I think I laughed out loud even, thinking, what kind of crazy person would sign up for something like that?” She laughed at herself, and he joined in.
“Very crazy,” he said with a nod.
The camaraderie made her tummy warm. “Yep. I forgot about it until I found a coupon book in the mailbox. My ex boyfriend…well…” She shook her head, not wanting to go into too much detail about her unpleasant past.