What She Wants Tonight

by Jillian Neal

  Meridian’s laughter vibrated through his chest from their proximity. Sharing that with her was another truth he could build on. “I don’t so much mind you being possessive.”

  “Good. Then I would also like to claw Senator McCoy’s eyes out with a dull pickaxe.”

  “We have several of those in the barn.”

  “That saves me a trip to the hardware store.”

  She nuzzled her head against his chest, cooling his temper just a little. “Can we go back to talking about our trip?”

  “Definitely. I’d prefer not to go to Telluride if it’s okay with you. I was hoping to take you somewhere no one knows either of us.”

  “That sounds like heaven.”

  Jack thought about that. “Being anywhere with you is heaven, but I was thinking somewhere like Hawaii?”

  She lifted her head and stared at him like he’d lost his. “Can we afford to go to Hawaii?”

  Pleased with just how smooth this was going, Jack smirked. “We could if I didn’t renew the lease on my house next month, and I get my deposit back.”

  The golden flecks in those whiskey eyes shimmered. “You know, I sometimes leave really gross boots on the front porch.”

  “As long as I can also leave dirty boots on the porch, I think I can live with this. But you know, sometimes I eat pizza straight from the box on the couch when I’m reviewing for a trial. There are even a few nights when I leave the empty pizza box out if I’m up really late.”

  She nodded thoughtfully. “I’ll concede your pizza and the box, as long as beer bottles left on the table until the next morning can be negotiated.”

  “No negotiations required. I’ll allow it. I will also promise never to leave a wet towel on our bed.”

  “Good, and I’ll promise not to take up the entire bed at least three nights a week.”

  “How generous.”

  Meridian grinned. “I thought so.”

  Jack gestured to his package. “My client and I would like to negotiate that you wear nothing to bed on the other four nights then.”

  Smirking at that, she offered, “That…might could be arranged.”

  “Then my client and I will allow the lack of bed space. I will also offer to make you coffee every morning.”

  “With two big scoops of sugar and more cream than could possibly be healthy?”

  “Is there any other way to make it?”

  Her grin continued to expand. “Mama says that coffee someone else makes for you always tastes better.”

  “I want to make every day the best day it can be for you.”

  “I want to do that for you too, so that sounds like a pretty good relationship.”

  “I completely agree. I also love you and somehow love you more every single day I spend in your presence.”

  “I love you too,” she vowed, “and I really like your client as well.” She waggled her eyebrows.

  Jack gripped her ass. “He can be very persuasive when he needs to be or when you need him to be.”

  “I need him to be.”

  “Go make sure that door is locked.”

  Chapter Fifty-Four

  A week before Christmas, Jack was propped up on his elbows in the warm Kauaian sand watching as Meridian emerged from Hanalei Bay. When she settled back beside him, he wrapped her up in a towel. Her sun-kissed skin now sported the beginnings of tan lines despite constant suntan lotion applications he personally saw to. They’d only been there for two days.

  “This entire island is amazing,” she gushed.

  “I agree, but we haven’t even seen all of it yet.”

  Meridian grinned at him, a calmer sweeter grin than he saw when they were at work, one she only gave him at home. “I am very excited to see the cattle ranches, which I know is such a weird thing to do on vacation. Thank you for indulging me.”

  “Indulging you is one of my favorite pastimes,” he explained. “Before we go get ready for our cattle ranch tour, I’m hoping you’ll indulge me in more shave ice.”

  “I will definitely indulge you in that. Too bad we can’t take any home with us.”

  “We’ll just have to come back sometime.” The fruity ice confection was delicious and no matter how many times they stopped by the stands there was no way they were going to be able to try all the flavor combinations before they had to leave for home.

  “You’re still talking like you have the salary of a bourbon baron’s son instead of the district attorney.”

  Jack chuckled at that. “I didn’t say how soon we’d be able to come back, just that we would.” He shrugged. “Maybe for our honeymoon.”

  Her only response was a smirk.

  He was doing a terrible job of keeping his plans for the evening a secret, but the ring he’d hidden in their villa was burning a hole in his swim trunks.

  Nerves constantly twisted in his gut. What if she didn’t say yes? As soon as the thought took hold of his mind, she smiled up at him with one of those adoring grins he’d gotten pretty good at earning. She was going to say yes. His nerves were just getting the better of him. They’d been inseparable for months now. But what if it was too soon?

  He needed a drink. He scanned the endless blue horizon and then his gaze fell back to her wet hair and sun-pinked cheeks. Or maybe, he just needed a hit of her.

  Coaxing her face closer to his, he indulged himself in the flavors of her salty lips. When she offered up her neck for his affections, he almost asked her right then and there. He wrapped his arms around her and held tight. He’d worked hard on this plan, and he was going to execute it perfectly.

  “Are you ready to head back to the villa?” he whispered against her slick shoulder.

  “One second.” She dug in her bag and pulled out her phone. “I want to remember every second of this.” She held the phone up with one hand and laid her head on his shoulder. He couldn’t help but grin. She was pleased with the created selfie even if they weren’t the type to post pictures anywhere. “Okay, now we can go.”

  They packed up and walked the trail back to their beachside villa. They’d paid a small fortune for the private cottage, and it had been worth every penny. He turned on their outdoor shower and shed his swimsuit. With a wicked grin on his face, he took hold of one of the strings of her bikini top and arched his eyebrow. If she moved, the bikini top would come undone.

  Her flirty giggle was everything as she shook her head at him. “The indoor shower is bigger and warmer,” she reminded him.

  “I know.” He pulled the string and watched her top loosen. “Indulge me.”

  “In what exactly?” Her smirk betrayed her false innocence.

  “Letting people hear me indulging you.”

  A heavy note of hunger stirred in her eyes. Her bottom lip slipped between her teeth, and she shot a nervous glance toward the next closest cottage, like she’d been given a script of his darker fantasies. And of course, she had. They’d talked even more than they’d fucked in the last few months, and that was how he knew she was going to say yes.

  After their lengthy outdoor shower, Jack offered to go get them a glass of POG, a drink they’d fallen in love with on the plane, while she finished getting ready. Meridian seemed to know he was up to something, but she went along.

  He made his way past a few other cottages, waved at bike riders, and tried to memorize the scent of hibiscus on the winds so he could cling to that wild freedom the next time he had to deal with his family.

  He passed the hotel pool and finally arrived at the main house. Smiling at Kealia at the front desk, he slipped inside.

  “Everything’s ready, Mr. Denton,” she assured him.

  “Please, call me Jack,” he insisted again.

  “Okay,” she shrugged. “The table is set up on the beach. Sunset is at 5:35. The boat leaves the Kukui’ula Harbor at 7:00. Just make sure you’re there in time. Captain Keyes doesn’t wait around.”

  “Thank you for your help. I couldn’t have done any of this without you.” He hesitated. “Yo
u’re sure the hot dog and mai tai thing is the way to go for this?”

  “You’re just going to have to trust me.” She grinned. “I’ve helped a lot of couples get engaged here. It’s kind of our specialty.” She gestured to the surrounding pavilions and villas.

  Jack tried to believe her, but he was struggling. “If you were getting engaged tonight…” he started.

  “It’s exactly how I would want my boyfriend to ask me. If I had a boyfriend, that is.” She wrinkled her nose. “Even a prospect would be nice.”

  Jack felt bad for asking. “I broke off an engagement and then spent years refusing to admit I was in love with Meridian, so never say never,” he tried.

  Kealia laughed. “My Tutu keeps trying to fix me up.”

  “I recommend against family involvement in every way.”

  “Clearly you are not from Kauai,” she goaded.

  He nodded his acceptance of that. “Maybe some things are more universal than they appear.”

  “Maybe.” She shrugged. “Do you have your order ready? I’ll call them and get the rest set up. You just head to Poipu and leave soon or you’ll get stuck in traffic in Kapáa.”

  “Wish me luck.” He wished his hands would stop shaking.

  “You don’t need luck. You have Kauai.”

  Jack gave her their hot dog order and supposed she was right. The entire island was magical. From the oceans to the winds to the sandy kisses they’d shared, this was the perfect escape they’d needed. Every uninterrupted conversation healed him.

  They spent the afternoon touring two of the Kauaian cattle ranches. Just before they left for their dinner, a broad grin spread the width of Meridian’s features. “Oh my gosh, you’re Levi Wohlers.”

  A rather well-built Hawaiian man turned to smile at them. “Aloha,” he offered. “Do I know you?”

  “No, but I’m Meridian Holder. This is my boyfriend, Jack Denton. You competed at our Founder’s Day Rodeo in Holder County last year. Jace is my cousin. You won for team roping, right?”

  Levi nodded. “I took a year off of the circuit to help out around here, but tell Jace I miss him.”

  “I didn’t know you lived here.”

  “This is home.” Levi nodded. “For now, anyway.”

  Jack wondered if Levi planned on leaving soon or if something was happening to their ranch. He didn’t want to be nosy.

  Meridian also looked concerned. “I hope everything’s okay,” she offered.

  Levi shrugged. “Yeah, me too.”

  They didn’t press further. Jack offered him his hand. “We’re heading down to Poipu tonight. If you ever get back to Holder County to compete, you should come out to Holder Ranch.”

  “I’ll take you up on that. You two have fun tonight. If you ever want to get away from the rest of the tourists, give me a call. There’s a lot more to this island than what’s on Travelocity.”

  Jack and Meridian shared an excited glance. “We’d love that,” Jack assured him as he handed over his phone.

  Levi entered his number, and they waved as they headed back to their rental car.

  Kealia had been right. The hot dogs with coconut and mango relish were amazing. The sunset picnic on Poipu Beach was perfect as well. And yet, for some reason, Jack couldn’t bring himself to get down on one knee.

  He called himself a coward, but that wasn’t it. Something about all of his planning wasn’t right. It wasn’t real.

  They went on their cruise and relished the mai tais and each other, but he still didn’t ask. Something was clearly wrong with him. He lay awake next to her that night and mentally pummeled himself. What the hell was wrong with him?

  It didn’t occur to him until the sun was warming their lanai the next morning what had actually been wrong. It was what Levi had said. There was a whole island they were missing because they were only seeing the external cover splashed in brochures for tourists. Meridian was perfection because of her authenticity, and he wanted their engagement to be equally as authentic.

  His cowgirl princess wasn’t the kind of girl who wanted to get engaged at sunset on a tourist locale beach. Before she awoke, he snuck into the living room and phoned Levi.

  After another day spent laughing, talking, eating, and having sex, Jack told her he had a surprise for her. She got suspicious the farther south they drove.

  “Where are we going?” she asked.

  “Just let me surprise you.”

  “I don’t like surprises.”

  “You’ll like this. I hope. Just trust me,” he reminded her.

  “I do.”

  He let those two words ring in his mind as he turned in the entrance of Hanchett Ranch. He could tell it was killing her not to demand to know why they were back there, but she seemed determined to prove that she trusted him. He fell even more in love with her.

  After he parked the car, he guided her toward the small family market on the ranch where they sold locally crafted meats and goods. Levi met them outside with two saddled horses. Meridian all but started jumping up and down and applauding. “Are we going riding?!”

  Thrilled with her reaction, Jack brushed a kiss on her cheek. “I thought you might be missing Kagan.”

  “You are the best,” she gushed.

  Smiling at that, Jack took the lead line from Levi. “Just stay on the trail. It’ll take you all the way to the table. My sister’ll meet you out there.”

  “Thanks so much for this,” Jack urged.

  “It might be us who owes you a mahalo. You two have fun.”

  They climbed into their saddles and stuck to the trail just like Levi had instructed. Meridian leaned low to hug her horse several times. Jack fought not to laugh at her outright. His cowgirl princess indeed.

  This time, by sunset they were seated at a perfectly positioned table that overlooked a bluff. They were surrounded by blue skies, red dirt, and a God-made flower garden that would put anything at River Chase to shame.

  They ate steak and drank Kauaian rum punch. Levi’s sister’s megawatt grin as she and her mother served them their meals only served to make the entire meal even better.

  And as the sun gave off its last vestiges of light, Jack grinned at Meridian. “Hey cowgirl,” he whispered.

  She beamed at him. “Yeah?”

  He got down on one knee, and her gasp delighted him. “I’m pretty sure I have been in love with you since I first laid eyes on you. I know it’s fast, and I know everything going on with my family makes it harder sometimes, but I want to be married to you. I want to have everything with you. I never want to own the world, but I do want to own your heart…as cheesy as that is now that I’ve said it out loud.” He cringed.

  Meridian’s laughter made the moment even better. “You haven’t actually asked me,” she teased.

  “Meridian Skye Holder, I love you. I love you when you’re stubborn, and when you’re wild, and I love you just as much when you’re tired of fighting with the world and want to be held. I want to be the one that’s there for every single side of you, always. Will you do me the honor of marrying me?”

  “Yes!” She leapt from her seat into his lap, and they both collapsed in a heap on the soft grass.

  After several lengthy kisses, he managed to get the ring on her finger. She stared down at it. “I love this almost as much as my straw wrapper one.” She laughed.

  He knew that was true. She still had that straw wrapper ring tucked safely in a drawer back at their house. It wasn’t the diamond that meant so much to her. It was them together.

  Levi’s sister, Lealani, rushed to the table as soon as they’d composed themselves. “Congratulations!” she gushed. “Also, if I managed to talk my grandparents, and my parents, and my stupid big brother into letting me set up our ranch as an engagement destination, would you leave us a Yelp review? This would be such a great way to diversify. We could save our ranch doing this.”

  Jack wasn’t certain on the details of the troubles on Hanchett ranch, but Meridian assured her that they
would love to do that and to help out with the new venture any other way they could.

  As they walked back to the car in the moonlight, she gave him a coy smile. “You do know I’m not taking your name, right?”

  Jack pulled her closer and painted another kiss on her cheek. “I was kind of hoping maybe I could take yours. Jackson Holder would really irritate all of those people back home that don’t like the Holders holding too many county seats.”

  “You do love irritating pretentious people, don’t you?”

  “It’s a bad habit.”

  She waggled her eyebrows at him. “I love all of your bad habits.”

  “I’m glad. Let’s get back to the villas and I’ll show you a few more of them, princess.”

  Chapter Fifty-Five

  The Next Spring

  The shrill blare of the alarm shook Jack from his deep slumber. He grinned before opening his eyes, wanting to stay in the warm cocoon created by their covers and Meridian’s body entwined with his. That day’s planned activities filtered slowly through his mind, but he pushed them off. He didn’t want to deal with them yet.

  Meridian whimpered and then slapped at her phone until she’d successfully silenced the alarm, either turning it off completely or snoozing it. Jack didn’t particularly care which, just so long as he could keep holding her close and feeling her burrow deeper and press closer to him. He’d never really known sleep until he’d officially moved onto Holder Ranch. He swore he didn’t even dream here unless his dreams were just swift, soft flashes of her body, her warmth, her laughter, and her smiles from his memories.

  The first notes of sunlight played at the window blinds. Meridian’s eyes blinked open slowly.

  “Good morning, cowgirl,” he whispered.

  She brushed a tender kiss on his neck. “We’re getting married tomorrow,” she said as if he might’ve somehow forgotten.