He chuckled quietly. He couldn’t remember the last time a date had told him anything was too much. “Aaron is going to give us an evening tour of the city. Have you ever seen San Jose lit up at night?”
“Not from the sky.” He could feel her pulse quicken when she tightened her grip on his hand. “But I’ll bet it’s beautiful.”
“I’m sure it will be.”
He gazed down at her, feeling his own pulse quicken as his gaze lingered on her face. A crack of lightning burst overhead, causing them both to jump. He looked up and gritted his teeth. The clouds were only getting darker. That wasn’t a good sign. Not when he had a whole night planned out, minute by minute.
If only money controlled the weather.
They got closer as the wind began to whip through the nearby hedge, tearing at their clothes. The pilot yelled something at them, his hands cupping his mouth. They couldn’t hear him until they got much closer, the rumble of thunder sounding in the distance.
“I hate to say it, but I think we’re going to have to postpone,” Aaron yelled. He grimaced at the sky. “This storm is looking to be a nasty one.”
Emily’s face fell. She tried to cover it with a smile, but it didn’t hide her disappointment. “Oh, that’s too bad. Another time then.”
Michael scowled. This wasn’t the way tonight was supposed to go. Storm or not, he wanted to gi
ve her the time of her life.
“Surely, we can still go up,” he yelled, clasping Emily’s hand in both of his. He looked up at the coming clouds. “It’s not going to hit us for a while longer. We’ve still got time.”
The moment he shut his mouth, another giant gust of air buffeted the grounds, nearly pushing him off his feet. A single raindrop landed on his nose, and then another on his forehead. Suddenly, the clouds let loose and a torrential rain fell from the sky. Emily gasped as the icy cold rain soaked through their clothes. Michael grunted in defeat and pulled her back toward the house, his mood souring.
“Let’s get inside,” he yelled.
She nodded her understanding, her curls sticking to her face.
They raced across the grounds, raindrops hitting them like tiny little pellets of ice. Emily shrieked and laughed, clasping tightly to Michael’s hand. Her reaction lifted his spirits the tiniest bit, despite the fact that his socks had become a sloshy wet mess inside his Berluti leather shoes. They ran up the patio steps to the back door and clamored inside the lit mudroom, leaving wet puddles everywhere they stepped.
“There go your plans,” Emily said with a laugh, shutting the door behind her. She rang out her wet shirt, adding to the puddles on the floor. “So, what’s plan B?”
Immediately the lights flickered and everything went dark.
Chapter Seven
“I know there’s a flashlight somewhere around here.”
Michael rummaged through a few drawers in the mudroom, using only the illuminated screen of his cell phone for light. The storm had blanketed the valley in such incredible darkness that not even natural light came through the large windows. Emily shivered in her wet clothes, her hair sticking to her face. Her phone had died, no doubt a victim of the waterfall they’d just sprinted through.
“Negative on the flashlight,” he said, turning toward her. “But I did find matches and two dozen of my mom’s candles. That should help.”
He handed a small votive to her with a white candle inside and struck a match. The flare released a brief wave of sulfuric fumes and lit up his face, making his already angular and strong jaw look even more severe in the half darkness. His hand cupped hers as he lit the candle, the warmth of his skin seeping into her own freezing skin.
She couldn’t look away from his face. There was so much tenderness beneath his solemn facade. It moved her to see him react that way. As if he really cared about her. He looked up into her eyes at that moment and his fingers trailed down her arm, leaving goosebumps in their wake.
For one thrilling moment, she thought he was going to kiss her. Her gaze moved to his mouth, wondering what it would be like. She imagined he was the kind of guy who didn’t hold back. Someone who threw his whole heart and being into such an intimate act. The train of thought was making her knees shake. She took a step back and Michael’s hand dropped to his side.
“Can you direct me to the nearest bathroom?” she asked, her voice quivering slightly. “And maybe a robe I can borrow? I’m soaked to the bone.”
“My parents’ master bath is just down that way.” He pointed toward a dark doorway, his eyes glistening in the candlelight. “My mother has a robe in her closet for spa days. She would be happy to let you borrow it.”
Emily nodded and then stumbled off into the darkness, ready to put some distance between herself and Michael Knight. She wasn’t sure why her head was acting all silly. She hardly knew the guy and she certainly wasn’t going to kiss him. It was a promise she’d made to Lydia when they made this crazy agreement.
But Michael had an uncanny way of sucking her in. Making her feel like the only woman in the world. He’d had his heart set on spoiling her tonight that much was clear. It had been a long time since anyone had wanted to spoil her. She was letting her heart get too ahead of itself.
Time to rein it back in.
She crept down the darkened hall, feeling like an intruder in a stranger’s home. Artwork hung from the walls, made eerie by the dark and the flicker of the candle in her hands. She pushed through the last door and the candlelight revealed a large California king-sized bed and several plush sitting chairs.