Afraid that what just happened, although spectacular, might have ruined the easy friendship that made this so special in the first place.
Gage moves us onto our sides, planting a quick kiss to my head, before giving me a playful smack on the ass and rolling off the bed.
“You might want to get dressed before I have someone come clean up your mess in the bathroom, Ellie. You’re really quite bad at the whole bath thing.”
I laugh, relieved at th
e easy teasing in his voice. Relieved that we’re still us. “I refuse to take responsibility for the flooding situation. Although I vote that we clean up our own mess so that we don’t have to answer any questions.”
“It’s the Four Seasons,” he says, coming back out of the bathroom, unmindful of his nakedness. He pokes around in the bags until he comes up with a pair of boxers. “There are no questions.”
“That, and you’re Gage Barrett,” I say, propping my head on my hand. His lack of modesty is apparently contagious, because I’m not as self-conscious about my own nakedness as I’d expect. Plus my body’s too tired to get dressed.
“That too,” he says with a wink.
A moment later he’s made the phone call, explaining that there was a “situation” with the bathroom, and could someone please come up and take a look?
I make a grumpy noise. “That means I have to get dressed.”
“You do, only because I’m not yet ready to share your naked body with anyone else.”
“What do you mean, not yet?” I say, sitting up and taking the fluffy hotel robe he hands me. “You make it sound like me being publicly naked is only a matter of time.”
“Well…” He reaches down and tucks a strand of hair behind my ear, his fingers lingering against my cheek. “I mean, I am overdue for a sex tape.”
“Yeah, well, I’m not your girl,” I say, scooting toward the edge of the bed and standing.
Gage catches me to him. “Aren’t you?”
My breath catches. I want to be.
But then I remember who he is. Why we’re here in the first place.
“How long until they find us?” I ask.
His expression flickers in disappointment, and he releases me. “Maui may be an island, but its resort status will work in our favor. Even if they figure out where we are, the hotel won’t give us away.”
“But we still have to go back.”
“Eventually,” he admits. “But not until we get what we came for.”
I lift my eyebrows and glance meaningfully at his mostly naked body and then at my bathrobe-clad state.
“Nah, that was just a bonus. We came because you wanted a nap, remember?”
A nap on the huge, wonderfully soft bed does sound heavenly, but…
I walk to the ice bucket sitting on the wet bar and pick it up. “How about you fetch the flutes from the bathroom and we sip champagne on the patio, watch the sunset, and hide from the shame you created in the bathroom?”
“What about your nap?”
I walk toward the open doors of the private terrace, pausing just long enough to give him a playful pat on the chest. “There are few things I like better than a good nap, Hollywood. But it would seem hanging out with you is turning out to be one of them.”
I walk away, but not before I see his surprised and pleased smile.
I smile too, because it’s true.
Gage