Chapter 15
This was the life. Lounging on the beach with Duke by her side. Soaking up all the warmth as they rehashed some of yesterday’s highlights.
“What about that striped fish,” he said with a laugh. “Could you believe that his little eyeball was striped too?”
Kat thought back on the fish he’d pointed out while snorkeling. “Yeah,” she said. “That was crazy, because the eyeball stripe wasn’t always lined up with the rest. Every time he looked around the stripe moved out of line.”
They chuckled in sync and sighed at the same time, causing yet another laugh.
“This feels amazing,” she said. Her eyes were closed, but after she said it, Kat felt him scoot a little closer until the length of his arm glided along hers.
“Yes,” he agreed, voice low and even. “It does.”
Warm tingles sizzled over her skin at his touch, his scent, his sheer closeness.
The large sunbed they lay on was made more comfortable by an array of throw pillows of all shapes, colors, and sizes.
There were half a dozen other sunbeds placed along the beach, some in the heat of the sun, others—like the one they’d picked—tucked beneath green bowing branches that shielded them from the sun.
If they got tired of being in the shade, they could simply hop over to a different seat, seeing that no one else was there to occupy them.
Kat had been certain that it couldn’t get better than staying in an over-the-water bungalow in the Maldives. But she had to admit that this—having a private island all to themselves—took the cake. Especially since their island stay came with one very beautiful, very luxurious beach house.
Upon making arrangements, Zander informed Kat that they’d be staying the night on the island. He’d checked with Marsha, who gave him the okay, and they weren’t needed back until noon the next day.
In truth, it was like a vacation in the midst of their vacation. It would give them the privacy she longed for.
Like the bungalow, this place came equipped with state-of-the-art appliances, gorgeous décor, and glass walls for that uninterrupted view. But unlike their bungalow, there were no neighbors. Not for miles.
Jamal, the island’s owner as well as their water taxi driver, had motioned to a spot of clouds in the distance during their trip there. The Maldives didn’t see much rain in February, he’d said, but it looked like they might get a bit of it later that afternoon.
Kat lifted her face as a breeze swept in. She didn’t mind the idea of rain. As it was, they’d spent most of their time soaking up sun and sand. Tomorrow, and the days following for that matter, would offer more of the same.
So if she and Duke spent part of their time tucked inside a stunning resort on a private island while the rain poured down…well, she couldn’t think of anything more romantic.
“Kat?”
Kat’s eyes popped open. “Yeah?”
“What was your first kiss like?”
A rush of heat poured into her chest. She propped herself onto an elbow and squinted over at him.
Those deep blue eyes were unassuming, almost innocent looking.
He held her gaze while more heat pushed through her, this time lower in her tummy.
She liked the question. That is, until she considered the answer.
“It was a guy named Gus, believe it or not. He was a jock. More my sister Jeanie’s type than mine.
In fact, he played football with Jeanie’s boyfriend.
” She shrugged. “I was sixteen and had never been kissed. He asked me out one day, which was crazy in itself because no one ever asked me out. We doubled with Jeanie and her boyfriend. Dinner and a movie.” She shrugged onto her side and took in the flawless flow of his profile.
The very attractive scruff that lined his sculpted jaw to perfection.
“He walked me to the door, asked if he could kiss me goodnight, and I probably smiled like an idiot since I was so flattered.
“He kissed me, nothing major, and then he left. I found out later that my sister put him up to it. She felt sorry for me.”
“That was your first kiss?”
She nodded. “I warned you that I have a pathetic past, remember? I do like that he asked me though,” she added. “Instead of just…going for it, I guess.”
Duke turned onto his shoulder as well, facing her now, a fresh intensity in his heavenly blue eyes.
Kat gulped as his face hardened for a blink, then softened once more, as if he’d solved whatever mystery had gripped him.
“So who was the next guy you kissed?”
Kat tipped her head back and groaned. “I think it’s my turn to ask the questions now.”
“You can.” He reached up, pinned a lock of her hair between his finger and thumb, and tucked it behind her ear.
Kat tuned into the gentle feel of his fingertips as they glided down the side of her neck. She caught hints of his aftershave and breathed out a jagged sigh. Her heart kicked out of beat.
“But answer this one first,” he said in a whisper. “Can I kiss you?” If Kat thought she’d seen desire in his eyes before, it was nothing compared to the heat behind them as he moved in.
A thrill rushed into her chest like a hot, rising tide. She gulped, nodded the slightest bit, and wondered if it would be anything like the kiss in her dream.
At once he closed the gap between them, paused for a breath, and then pressed his perfect mouth to hers in one solid kiss.
Every inch of her skin came to life—euphoria seeping from the outside in. She tipped her head in time for him to come in for another long, impassioned kiss.
His hand, the one at her neck, moved slowly over her shoulder, down the length of her arm until he slipped it solidly around her hip. A soft groan sounded low in his throat.
Kat wasn’t ready for this to end, not yet.
The feel of his mouth on hers put her morning dream to shame.
This billionaire Benton knew how to kiss, there was no doubt about it.
Better yet, he’d been the one to initiate it.
That simple fact made the moment all the sweeter.
She only hoped it’d be the beginning to a whole lot more.
It was a good thing Zander hadn’t known that kissing Kat Morgan—really kissing her—would feel like this. There’d have been no stopping him from going for it sooner, Duke’s approval be danged.
Kat slid a hand up the back of his head as he came in for another series of short, enticing kisses that only made him want more.
Zander hadn’t kissed a whole lot of women since Monica, mainly because he’d avoided serious relationships since then.
But there’d been a handful. Ladies who’d come onto him in a quiet corner of the dance club when he’d gone with Duke.
They’d caught him in moments of weakness over the years, enough that he’d indulged in a lip lock with one tempting beauty or another.
But this was no flirtatious girl throwing herself at any guy with deep pockets or a Hollywood name; this was the highly driven, crazy intelligent, strong-willed woman Zander had been thinking about since she chewed him out at the office.
And boy did that knowledge add to the thrill.
Kat pulled back the slightest bit, then teased him with the soft glide of her lips over his, back and forth, her heated breath taunting him as he waited.
“You’re good at this,” she said against his mouth.
Zander forced his eyes open and pulled further back to look at her. “You are,” he accused. “I’m pretty sure my brain turned to jelly just then.”
She giggled, pressed one last kiss to his lips, and propped herself up on her elbows. She’d only moved an inch or two, but the air between them felt empty and cool.
“You still owe me some answers, remember?”
“No,” he teased. “My brain isn’t working anymore. I wasn’t kidding.”
“Come on,” she said, a playful glimmer in those deep brown eyes.
“Let’s start with your first kiss.” Zander held her gaze, feeling grateful once again that he was able to answer the questions for himself now.
He was getting to know her, and he wanted her to know him as well, even if she did have his name wrong for now.
“My first kiss was at a party in seventh grade. I kissed a girl named Julie, who said she liked me.”
“That’s cute,” Kat said.
“Yeah, but I also kissed this girl Brenda that night too. That one was a dare.”
“Two kisses with two different girls on the same night?” she said, coating her tone with shock.
Zander grinned. “Yep.”
“So you started earning your playboy status at a young age then.”
The comment gave Zander pause. Perhaps she knew a little more about the Benton brothers than she led on. A dart of discouragement snuck in; just how was she supposed to fall for the real Zander if she had preconceived ideas about who he really was?
“I’m nowhere near the kind of playboy they make me out to be.
The tabloids like to create labels and then support those labels with imbalanced media to prove themselves right.
” Sure, he was sounding jaded now, but even Duke would say the same thing if he cared enough about shedding the image.
At this point, his twin brother was fine to let people hold onto their assumptions.
“What about serious relationships? Have you had many of them?”
Zander shook his head. “Just one.”
Kat raised a brow. “Me too. Tell me about yours and I’ll tell you about mine.”
Zander licked his lips, catching hints of Kat’s strawberry lip gloss, and sighed. “It’s not the most romantic topic,” he said with a laugh. “But normally, we’d already know all of this about each other.”
“Right.”
“I fell fast and hard for a girl named Monica.
We talked about getting married one day, owning a home with a yard and having kids down the road.” He let his mind drift back to the moment he’d strode on into the jewelry shop ready to buy the biggest rock he could find.
“I was just twenty-two, and not really aware of how things worked. None of my siblings had gotten married, of course. But without really talking about dates or a timeframe, I set out, bought a ring, and proposed to her in front of her whole family.
“It hadn’t come as a surprise to them. Heck, I’d asked her dad for her hand in marriage and planned it so they’d all be there.”
He chuckled in retrospect, freed from the pain the recollection used to bring. “Monica, on the other hand, she was not expecting that. She sat there staring at me for like…I swear it was thirty full seconds of silent shock.”
More laughter came, especially when he saw the look on Kat’s face. With her forehead scrunched up and her eyes wide, she looked horrified.
“So what did she say?”
“She said no.”
Now they both laughed.
“I’m sorry,” Kat apologized. “It’s just…you’re making it comical on purpose.”
“It is comical. I was an idiot.”
She slapped his arm playfully. “No, you weren’t, now stop smiling about it so I can stop too. I’m taking emotional cues from you, you know?”
“You are, huh?” He liked that. Liked this, all of it. Spending time with Kat, talking freely about his past. “I guess you could say that…that incident fed that guarded side of me. Those cautious tendencies. It made me want to be more aware. To never get caught off guard again, if that makes sense.”
Kat nodded, but her face scrunched up a bit as she squinted over at him. “I thought Zander was the serious one.”
A spark of fear lit hot in his chest. “What was that?” Too comfortable. He’d gotten far too comfortable around her.
“I don’t know a ton about your family,” she admitted. “But I knew enough that—when it came down to approaching you or one of your siblings, I feared facing Zander the most.”
He felt his own face scrunch up next. “And who did you fear the least?”
She grinned, then bumped him with her elbow. “You.”
Irritation shot through him. “You feared Duke less than Betzy?”
“You’re talking about yourself in third person now?” Kat asked, making him realize what he’d just said. “And yes. Everyone knows Betzy’s nice, but she can be tough. I figured that, with you, I’d be able to…” She stopped there, and Zander couldn’t help but fill in the blank.
“Flirt? Use your good looks to help me see reason?”
“No,” she said plainly. “I just figured you’d be more easily swayed than the others might. That’s all.”
When she put it that way, she was probably right. Still, he didn’t like where the conversation had taken them. “And you don’t think Zander listened to you?” He should let it drop, but he couldn’t.
“I’m not sure,” she said thoughtfully. “I guess we’ll find out when we see what he does with Milton and Brewster.”
Zander nodded. How in the world would things go over when he finally told her who he was?
“He did send me flowers though,” Kat added. “It was a beautiful bouquet, actually.”
“He did?” Zander prodded.
“Yeah. It was nice. I was pretty flattered, actually.”
This surprised him yet again. “You were?”
She shrugged. “I never said he wasn’t attractive.
” She turned to face him once more. “Honestly…” Her voice dropped to a whisper as she reached out and traced the outline of his jaw with one finger.
“A face this nice…it’s no wonder God decided there should be two of them.
It’s—hands down—the most handsome face I’ve ever seen. ”
Zander reached up, slipped his fingers around hers, and brought her silky palm to his lips.
While gazing at her through his lashes, he pressed a warm kiss to her skin.
“You, Kat, are beautiful. I really lucked out with this whole wedding thing.” He considered the live filming of the show, the millions of people who’d likely tuned in to watch.
“I’m no doubt the envy of every available man who watched that.”
A dose of pink warmed her cheeks. “I wonder if your ex saw it. Monica?”
Just hearing Kat say her name aloud made him realize something else. As soon as their honeymoon was over, they’d have access to the internet again. Kat would easily find—with a simple search alone—that Monica was tied to him, not Duke.
The acknowledgment seemed to put a seal on things. He’d have to tell Kat who he really was. Not just before the eight weeks were up, but before their time at the magical islands were through.
A recollection of Duke’s warning came back to him then, wreaking havoc in his head. Don’t do it unless you think she’s falling in love with you.
His heart had been soaring like a hawk just moments ago.
Now it felt as if it was sinking somewhere deep beneath the earth’s core.
Taking his hopes for making this work along with it.
Now he’d have to tell Kat who he was whether the feelings were mutual or not.
The trouble was, telling her too soon might ruin it for him entirely.