“I just want you.”
She kissed him, way too explicitly and way too long considering they were in a public place that was theoretically family-friendly. Julie didn’t care. She put her heart into that kiss, trying to express everything she was so bad at saying. Alan responded enthusiastically, squeezing her closer, going deeper, until they were both breathless and flushed.
A cough from the cashier’s desk prompted them to stop. The pleasant-faced lady couldn’t see them from her vantage point, but they’d been back there a long enough time that it made sense for her to worry. For all she knew, they were stuffing full-color photo essay books in their swim trunks to smuggle out, or defacing the bobbling hula dolls. Or getting it on.
“I think your mom would love that book,” Alan said a shade too loudly. “Honey.”
She laughed and he joined her, kissing her again briefly before taking up the basket and adding a random book from the nearest shelf.
“That cashier has seen worse than us,” Julie pointed out in a whisper. “Do you have any idea how many honeymooning couples this place has seen?”
“Yeah, but were they really dry-humping in the souvenir store?”
“That was totally not dry-humping, Alan. I know dry-humping, and that was not it. Not that I’m not amenable to it as a general thing. That would be a great romantic gesture. Maybe in the restaurant or right out on the beach.”
“Shh. She’ll start coughing again.”
They giggled, peeking over the top of the shelf to see if they were being watched. The cashier was checking somebody out and paying no attention to them.
“So,” Alan murmured, “about those big romantic gestures. You’re really not interested in that?”
“No.” She looked his way, smiling, basking in the light she could finally see. “I don’t need any of that crap. I have you.”
He bit his lip, grimacing. “In that case...you might not want to look in your room right now.”
Chapter Fourteen
“Oh my god. I called it crap. I’m so sorry, Alan. I didn’t mean it. I so didn’t mean it!”
“That’s quite all right. I’m one hundred percent confident that you find this awesome.”
It had turned out even better than he’d imagined. Worth every penny, which was good because it had taken a hell of a lot of pennies to turn Julie’s hotel room into a tropical paradise.
“Where did all of Amanda’s stuff go?”
“Jeremy’s room. She helped with this, by the way.”
“It’s amazing.” Julie walked over to one of three small potted plumeria trees, raising up on her toes to smell the fragrant white blossoms gracing one branch. Each flower had a lemon-yellow center, a perfect swirl of color. Their scent filled the room, a concentrated dose of the tropics.
“The trees are loaners,” he confessed. “And the hibiscus plants. Since we can’t take them with us on the plane, anyway, Amanda worked some sort of deal with the florist. The bouquets are yours, though. It’s all the flowers I never gave you.”
She turned to look at him, speechless. He plowed ahead, trying to reach an end to his unexpected bout of full disclosure.
“I was going to do all the chocolate I never gave you, too, then I realized how much chocolate that would be, so I went with one box. A big box, though. It should be around here somewhere. Not sure where. They wouldn’t let me in to help.”
The helpful concierge had placed the candy on Julie’s pillow, with Alan’s note on top. She picked it up, read it and started crying again.
“I love you, too.” She turned and lifted her arms, about to embrace him, but detoured at the last second. “Hang on. Sorry. Hold that thought. Tissue.” She disappeared into the bathroom, stranding him in the temporary jungle.
He frowned, but decided it was probably for the best given how much nose-blowing followed.
After a minute, Julie reemerged, nose red but thankfully dry. Her cheeks were pink from sun and emotion, her eyes weepy-looking even with the tears dried off. She wasn’t even wearing the minimal makeup she wore to work. He saw all that, but she was still the best thing he’d ever seen, and he was totally going to marry her someday.
“I love you,” he reminded her, just in case she’d forgotten the note in the last sixty seconds. The words came out as easily as if he’d been saying them for years.
“I love you, too.” She made as if to hug him again, then snatched her arms away. “Wait, you mean I could’ve been getting flowers and chocolate all this time?”
Laughing, Alan grabbed her and pulled her in until she was sufficiently squished against his chest. Parts of her were squishier than others, delightfully so, and he groped a few of his favorites as he kissed her. Long, slow, hot, like they had all the time in the world and he meant to spend all of it doing exactly this.
He knew he’d have to stop eventually. There was a waiter on the way with champagne and strawberries, for one thing. But he made a genuine effort with the time he had, a kiss that was a down payment for all the future kisses he hoped to receive.
They drank champagne, and ate strawberries and far too many chocolate-covered macadamia nuts. Neither of them could have said afterward where the celebratory snacking ended and the lovemaking began, only that the one led directly into the other. Because they’d missed lunch, the physical exertion led to an early dinner. Also via room service, because neither of them was inclined to put on more than a robe.
Julie got a text from Amanda during dessert, and while the two of them chatted, Alan turned on Julie’s iPad. By the time she looked up from her phone and joined him on the bed, he’d started watching a rental movie.
“Did I just pay for that?”
“I’ll make it up to you. You can take it out in trade.” When he started to close the cover and set the tablet aside, she reached over him to retrieve it. His finger had tapped the slider before he paused the movie, fast-forwarding to a lurid midmovie battle scene that seemed to catch Julie’s interest.
“I didn’t say to put it up. Wait, that looks familiar. Is that this beach?”
“Yeah, it was filmed near here. I think everything with a beach is filmed near here.”
She looked more closely at the background on the frozen frame. “And is that an alien spaceship?”
He nodded. “One of several, I think. This is the middle, though. We could start it over.”
She gave him a skeptical look. “That’s true. We could do that. Of course, then we’d be spending two hours of our last night in Hawaii watching a terrible movie that’s set in Hawaii. Instead of, you know...going outside.”
“Outside has zero alien spaceships,” he said somberly.
“There is that. Some would consider that a plus.”
She didn’t sound convinced. Alan slipped a hand inside her robe, stroking his fingers along the underside of her breast. “Outside requires clothes.”
“You make a persuasive argument.”
“We still have chocolate in here.”
“Sold!”
Yes, Hawaii was great, but it would still be there later that night, and in the morning before they had to catch their flight. In the meantime here in this one room he had Julie, a terrible movie to watch, chocolate-covered macadamia nuts and all the great-smelling flowers a human being could ever possibly want. As a bonus, he and Julie were only two bathrobes away from being naked.
“The night is young,” he pointed out. “If this turns out to be too lame, we can always find something more exciting to do. I don’t want you to think I’m taking this for granted or anything. If you feel like only old married couples stay in—”
“If they stay in, but they’re half-naked with chocolate and champagne—”
“I think you’re actually drinking the last of the champagne.”
“Then we’ll order more from room service. Or, no...you know what I’ve always wanted? A fruity umbrella drink, like a mai tai or something else with rum in it, but served in one of those gigantic fishbowl glasses.” S
he abandoned her champagne on the nightstand to free up her hands to demonstrate. She contemplated the imaginary orb she was cupping, then widened it a bit. A big fishbowl.
“And after you pass out from drinking that on top of the champagne, I spend a romantic evening with myself?”
Snorting, she joined him on the bed, snuggling along his side. “Silly. The gigantic glass comes with two straws. You have to have somebody else to drink it with.”
He could be that. Her somebody else for the fishbowl mai tai. He could fill the hell out of that role. Literally and metaphorically.
Alan pretended to attend to the screen in front of them, but snuck a glimpse to the side. Julie was profiled against a spray of sunset-colored blossoms and a fan of dark leaves. She was biting her lip, trying not to smile, but the muscle in her cheek gave her away. “So an early night, an awful movie, sharing a drink. I dunno, Jules. That sounds an awful lot like an old married couple evening to me.”
Julie wrapped one foot over his ankle, stroking his calf with her toes as her smile broke through. “And, honey, I can’t think of any way I would rather spend the time.”
* * * * *
ISBN-13: 9781460332948
MAI TAI FOR TWO
Copyright © 2014 by Kimberley Wendt
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Mai Tai for Two Page 11
