I was annoyed at the fact that Valerie was here and that she felt she could simply sit down and dredge up our past to try and make herself feel better. Or take jabs because she was angry. Or whatever the hell else it was she was trying to do. Even though I knew people recognized me in this place, at least they weren’t coming up to me and talking about it. This place had served to wash away some of my concern, even though I was still checking my work emails and notifications.
But with my ex-girlfriend sitting across the table from me, it was beginning to spoil my mood.
“Well, Val, it’s always a moderate pleasure to speak with you. If you don’t mind, I have a—”
The moment I stood from my chair, she leaped to her feet. Her hand wrapped around my neck, cupping my head and pulling me into her lips. Our bodies collided, her tongue swiping over my lips to try and beg entrance. I pursed my lips together, placing my hands on her waist before I pushed her away from me.
“What the hell was that?”
Valerie looked at me as if she’d seen a ghost.
“Why in the world are you upset?” Valerie asked.
“Because you kissed me, that’s why. What in the world are you doing?” I asked.
She looked like a deer in headlights as if it shocked her that I didn’t want to kiss her. But when I looked over Valerie’s shoulder, I saw Sam standing there. Her eyes locked onto us as her dress of choice fluttered around her knees. She looked so beautiful in the sunlight of the island with her tanned skin and her orange flip-flops and a dress painted the same colors of the sunset we had made love to last night.
But the look in her eyes was one of hurt and heartbreak, which only confused me more. Sam turned on her heels and ran off, heading back to the pier and racing back to our bungalow.
I had to get to her.
I had to explain what the hell had happened.
“Look, you know what? It doesn’t matter. Val, we were over a long time ago, and if I remember right, you were the one who dumped me because I couldn’t monetarily keep up with your ambitions. Is that how your father put it?” I asked.
She was gawking at me. Just staring with her lips parted.
“I’m sorry,” she said with a stutter. “My apologies for presuming. I hadn’t heard anything about you being with someone is all.”
“What? Through your society channels? Get one thing straight, Miss Rickshaw, I never have and never will even moderately associate with the vultures you call friends. I’m with someone here at this resort, and I’ve worked very hard to keep her out of the grimy, sleazy hands of high society as well as the media. If you haven’t heard anything, then I’ve done my job. But that doesn’t give you the right to go around kissing your exes simply because your heart is broken. If you don’t want a broken heart, Val, then maybe you should look in the mirror and try to figure out why men keep leaving you.”
I didn’t wait around for her response. I threw some money down on the table to cover the breakfast and a tip. Then I brushed past Valerie. My eyes scanned the shoreline as my feet carried me toward the dock, my chest panting with exertion as I ran after Sam.
All I could hope was that she would listen. All I could hope was that she would understand.
But the way her eyes looked when I caught them was forever seared into my memory.
Shit.
This vacation was ruined before it ever got off the ground.
Chapter 10
Sam
I WOKE UP THE NEXT morning to an empty bed. It didn’t shock me that he wasn’t there, but there was a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. I had fallen asleep against Derek last night with the silent hope he would be there when I got up. There was a war raging within me, pulling me between falling into his arms and keeping myself at arm’s length. He was intoxicating. Intriguing. He broke down my barriers in the same way ice yielded to fire, helpless to his heat and automatically transformed by simply being next to him.
It was mysterious and frustrating, and it flooded my veins with a rush no job had ever prompted in me before.
I slid from bed, stretching my naked limbs to the sun. The sliding door was still open, filtering the warm ocean breeze into the room. Waking up to the sound of the ocean and the salted breath of the landscape around us was another thing I had yet to experience. I was taking in Hawaii for the first time, even though my travels had brought me here on four separate occasions. There was a beauty about this place I had denied myself, a beauty that tricked my mind into believing I could dwell in it and that a creature born and bred in the darkness could suddenly step into the light and enjoy it.
Belong to it and fit within it.
I stood to my feet and shuffled across the floor. There was a note on the bathroom door as I made my way to the toilet. I plucked it from the surface and scanned the words, smiling as I took them in.
Derek had stayed with me last night. He was simply out eating breakfast.
I rushed to the closet and pulled out the first dress I laid my hands on. It was an orange dress, with shades of pink and yellow. I found the matching flip-flops and slipped my feet into them, ready to surprise him with my presence this morning. It was thoughtful of him to let me sleep in, and my body was better for it. My arm was feeling better with each passing day, and I felt my muscles repairing now that they were no longer under the stress of staying up all night and trying to keep Derek safe.