by Eliza Boyd
“Does his opinion matter anymore?” he questioned seriously. He wanted her to say no. It had nothing to do with him and everything with her needing to realize on her own that she was enough. He still didn’t know why she and Gabe weren’t together anymore, but if that man had left her, he’d made the biggest mistake of his life. “You can talk about it, you know. I’m happy to listen if you want to tell me what happened.”
Straightening her spine, she stood taller. More resolute. Prouder. “Not yet. But it does remind me of who I am. Who I want to be.”
Seeing her like that made him soften. Hearing that not yet gave him hope too. She might open up to him soon. He’d just have to be patient.
“And who’s that?” he asked. He hoped she’d give him more than a tiny insight.
“Someone who honors her commitments.” With a single nod, she left the table and jogged up the stairs before he could ask what she meant by that.
While she was on her way up, Phillip came down, a cell phone in his hand. “Mr. Hartford will be ready for you in an hour, sir. This is charged and ready for the meeting.”
“Thanks, Phillip.” Maxwell took the phone from his personal assistant and tried to get back into the information in the file.
But Phillip wasn’t done. “Sir, if I may, I’d like to tell you about something I found.” He spoke in a hushed voice, peeking at the stairs between words.
Maxwell was certain it had something to do with Alexis. But she’d just expressed that the opportunity for her to tell him on her own terms would arise soon. Or at least at some point. He had to wait for that. He’d respect her privacy.
That decision was only confirmed as she jogged down the stairs, a small backpack dangling behind her. As a person who honored commitments, she was still going on that excursion.
But, now, he couldn’t let her go alone. Not when she was so worried about her ex. Not when she was only leaving the suite to do something he’d asked her to do.
“Phillip, it’ll have to wait,” he said, handing him the cell phone back. He kept his gaze on Alexis as she put her sandals on. “I have something else I have to do.”
When she peeked at him from her perch on the bottom step, she did a double take. “Were you talking to me?” she asked, standing up now that she was ready to go.
He shook his head and faced Phillip. “Please call Mr. Hartford and tell him I’ll have to postpone our meeting until Monday.”
“But, sir, is that really the best idea?” his assistant asked, controlled shock etched onto his face.
“For right now, yes. If he wants to sell today, he’ll still want to sell on Monday.” Maxwell flicked his gaze over to Alexis, who had hope shining in her eyes.
“Does that mean you’re going snorkeling with me so I don’t have to face Gabe alone?” she asked, an unmistakable wishful tone ringing in her voice.
He dared to look at Phillip first. The disappointment written all over his body language didn’t change Maxwell’s mind though. If Alexis was going to do something for him, he’d do something for her. And with the promise of finding out her truth hanging over his head, he thought this was the right thing to do. If he liked what he heard and could live with it, it was better to be on her good side already than have to climb back up that mountain.
She was a feisty one, which only endeared her to him more.
She wore her heart on her sleeve—even if she wasn’t willing to give the details. He’d never been that way because he hadn’t been able to be that way. But it was starting to rub off on him.
“Yes,” he told her, earning a full-blown smile and giving her one right back. “I’m going snorkeling with you.”
Then he changed into his bathing suit, grabbed a towel, and left to the tune of Phillip’s protests. Maxwell was his own person, and in that moment, he was choosing to live a little and leave money out of the picture. He’d follow the trail to what made his heart skip a beat instead.
There was a first for everything—even for a billionaire.
15
Alexis was supposed to be avoiding Maxwell, not snorkeling with him. She was supposed to be on this excursion alone. After her conversation with Heather, she’d decided to focus on herself. Focus on fun. Focus on enjoyment. Yet the moment Maxwell had offered to go snorkeling with her, she’d lit up like a Christmas tree.
Now, he wasn’t ever more than a few feet away from her.
Luckily, it wasn’t like they could talk all that much. With goggles and snorkels, they didn’t have many chances for conversation, which was good on two counts. She had nothing to say to him, and as long as she kept her head clear, she could remember why she was keeping her distance.
That was mostly because she’d mentioned the L-word to Heather and couldn’t get it out of her head now.
It was a ludicrous thought, and she was probably just on the rebound. Maybe all she wanted was to make Gabe jealous. For him to see that she could move on and never think of him again. But then she remembered that she’d felt something for Maxwell before Gabe had even come along. They might have kissed if Gabe hadn’t stumbled upon them.
Maybe the car door to the head had done a number on her.
Alexis focused on dipping her head below the water’s surface and enjoying the view. Not the view of a shirtless Maxwell. The view of the fish. The coral. The ocean floor.
Okay. And the view of a shirtless Maxwell.
It was a sight to behold. That was for sure.
She’d heard him come and go from the suite while she’d been staying with him. Though she wasn’t sure if the resort had a gym, maybe that’s where he’d been sneaking off to. It certainly wasn’t for snacks, like she’d done the night before. While he’d been keeping in shape, she’d been eating up all of that good vacation food. At this rate, the only juicy story she’d have for Heather was the one about how she needed a juice cleanse after eating everything at this resort.
Swishing her flippers, Alexis swam around, determined not to go home and break her scale.
The view really was gorgeous. She’d never seen anything like this, even in photos. It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for her, so she needed to take advantage. She took in all the colors of the fish, all the shapes of the coral, and all the shades of blue in the water, determined not to relate to that color again.
Through her goggles, she could see so clearly. In fact, she didn’t think she’d been able to see so clearly in her entire life. If she’d had such clear vision before, she would have seen Gabe for who he really was. She might have been able to see his philandering ways coming. She might have been able to avoid the heartbreak altogether.
But then she would have missed this opportunity. This entire week. And for that, she was grateful.
Perhaps she shouldn’t have used Gabe’s money to do it, but really. It was the least he’d owed her after cheating on her just days before their wedding.
All the stress she’d felt from having to cancel everything at the last minute had been tough. So tough. And all of the shame she’d felt from having to tell all of her friends and family that the wedding was off had been mortifying. A week in paradise would be payback enough.
Especially if it led to her finding love a second time. Real love.
Ugh. There was that L-word again.
Alexis pulsed her feet, feeling as though if she swam far enough, she’d leave that word behind. Maxwell wasn’t the answer. Another relationship right after the tragic ending of her previous one was a bad idea. Heather’s whirlwind romance idea could kick rocks. She just needed to clear her head.
Every time she did, though, her thoughts went right back to Maxwell.
His dark, easy-to-get-lost-in eyes.
His elusive but oh-so-rewarding smile.
The stubble on his face, which had almost turned into a full-on beard while they’d been there.
The more she tried to avoid him, the more she thought about him. The more she ended up with him. The more she wanted to be around him.
&nb
sp; And the less she thought about Gabe.
About the hurt and the pain.
About what he’d done to her.
About how he’d treated her in the end.
Clearing her head only brought her back to Maxwell, and she wondered what that meant.
She didn’t get much time to think on that because, in her quest to avoid him, she swam right into him instead.
“Oof,” she said as she bounced off his chest—or at least it was a garbled version. The snorkel in her mouth prevented the word from being clear.
She swam up to the surface, hoping against hope that she wasn’t bright red. Embarrassment was not a good shade on her, and she found herself in that predicament with him far too often.
As soon as his head popped out of the water, Maxwell took his snorkel out of his mouth and ripped his goggles off. “Are you okay?”
After doing the same, she treaded water with her equipment in her hands. “Yeah, I’m fine. Sorry about that. I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going.” Inwardly, she rolled her eyes at herself. That was the truth, but not all of it. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, of course,” he said. Then he smirked. “I guess that’s payback for what I did to you when we met.”
She scoffed, but it was full of humor. “Hardly. And that was before we met.”
His smile made his eyes crinkle at the edges, which made her heart pick up its pace at the sight of it. “Then I’m glad that happened.”
This time, her scoff had less humor, but the openmouthed shock still had her lips curling up at the edges. “What?” she asked, incredulous.
Maxwell pushed his arms through the water and swam closer to her. “We wouldn’t have met otherwise,” he said, his voice lower, deeper, raspier. Then he kicked with his feet to come within a foot of her. “If I hadn’t accidentally knocked you down with my car door, I would have gone inside the lobby, tried to throw money at the receptionist for the honeymoon suite, and spent this week wondering if I should buy this place.”
With him this close, it was difficult for Alexis to keep her thoughts clear and focus on what he was saying, but she’d managed. And she raised a challenging eyebrow at him. “Uh, you did that anyway.”
“Yeah, I did.” When he was merely inches away, he held her gaze and said, “But I wouldn’t have had you by my side.”
Her stomach swirled as she melted in the hot Hawaiian sun right in front of him. It didn’t matter that the water was colder than she would have liked. She was turning into a puddle from the thought of him being grateful they’d met. And she couldn’t keep those feelings off her face.
Until he went on. “I mean, money didn’t change the receptionist’s mind, so I’m glad you were able to get me the honeymoon suite.” He punctuated that smart remark with a sexy wink.
Her jaw nearly hit the water as she playfully splashed him with a salty spray. Laughing, he shook the water from his hair and wiped his eyes with his index finger and his thumb. She ran a hand over her face and her hair too, but as soon as her vision was clear, Maxwell was all that was in it.
His dark, easy-to-get-lost-in eyes.
His elusive but oh-so-rewarding smile, which was smoldering in the sun.
His stubble that was basically a beard.
They’d ended up close to the pier, so he was close enough to gather their snorkels and their goggles and toss them up onto the wooden dock. They landed with a thud, which was all the confirmation either of them got that their equipment had ended up safe.
He hadn’t taken her eyes from her while doing it.
And she hadn’t been able to break her gaze away from him, either.
Darn those easy-to-get-lost-in eyes of his.
As his smoldering smile began to slip from his lips, her heart pulsed in her ears. Every time they were near water together, they almost kissed. While he focused on her mouth, she wondered if this was the time they’d actually do it. He returned to his close proximity as she bobbed in the water, and her breath came in shallow pants with every inch he closed between them.
When he was a breath away, he said, “I don’t know what happened in your past. But if you’re not ready to tell me, that’s okay.” He smoothed some of her hair behind her ear, his fingers lingering at her jaw when he was done. “I’m here to listen when you are ready though.”
Despite the sun beating down on them on this unusually warm spring day, a chill shivered throughout Alexis’s body. She could have blamed it on the cool water surrounding them, but she knew the truth. Knowing that Maxwell was there for her made her want to spill her truth. She wanted to open up and tell him everything. And maybe she would.
But not in that moment.
In that moment, she did the one thing that felt more natural than speaking.
She dared to close the rest of the distance between them and finally—finally—gave herself a juicy story to tell Heather.
She kissed Maxwell right there in the water, pressing her lips against his, the hair on his cheeks wet and soft beneath her fingers as she held herself to him.
Everything about the moment felt perfect. From the way the sun was warming her skin to the way he slipped his arms around her middle to how tingles like electricity pulsed through her, Alexis wanted to memorize every single second and feeling. With his lips against hers, tasting like salt from the ocean, she melted against him, loving the way it felt. She had to fight to keep herself from wrapping her legs around his waist—if only to stay afloat and not drown from the ecstasy of his kiss, but also to get even closer to him. She almost gave the fight up, but he cupped her cheek and pulled away too soon.
Shaking her head, her heart racing, she rushed out with, “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t ha—”
“Of course you should have,” he said, cutting over her. He dipped his head to hold her gaze. “We’ve only been on the verge of that all week.” He laughed a little, which broke the tension.
She released a long breath of relief. “We have, haven’t we?”
Maxwell grinned, holding her against him and treading water to keep them afloat. “Yeah. We finally weren’t interrupted that time.”
He was right. They hadn’t been.
So… “Why did you stop, then?” she asked, furrowing her brow.
Had she done something wrong? Was it too soon?
Sighing, he pressed his forehead against hers. “We should probably talk first,” he gently said, his warm breath fanning over her mouth. “I have so much going on, and you…” He trailed off, but she knew what he meant.
Gabe. Her past. What she’d been avoiding this whole time.
“Right,” she answered, nodding curtly.
He tipped her chin up with his free hand. “We’ll figure it out, okay?” The hope he had for that to come true shone in his eyes, and she thought it matched hers.
“Okay,” she breathed out.
“Good.” He carefully tread water in front of her. “For now, maybe we should get out of the water. We seem to find ourselves in this…situation every time we’re near it. If we have to talk, we should probably do it somewhere else.”
She laughed, recognizing the deep, real truth in those words. She’d thought just as much earlier. “Good plan,” she told him, already swimming toward the pier.
Avoiding the water seemed like a good idea. For the time being anyway. If she wasn’t avoiding Maxwell anymore, it was the least she could do—especially now that she knew how delectable it was to kiss him. Or else she’d end up never telling him what really happened with Gabe. And she finally felt ready to spill her truth and be honest with Maxwell.
Before it was too late.
16
Before Maxwell heard Alexis out, he needed to make sure he had a clear head. That kiss had been, in a word, spectacular. Nothing over the top. Not planned or even very romantic. They’d collided, which they tended to do, and she’d initiated it.
It wasn’t how he’d envisioned his next encounter with a woman, but it was perfect for how he and Alexis ha
d met.
The woman certainly kept him on his toes, and if he wanted to hear about her past with her ex, which he did, then he needed to be ready. A run would do just that for him—clear his head and prepare him to listen so he wouldn’t be thinking about kissing her some more.
He’d said they needed to talk, and that’s what they were going to do.
After his run.
As his feet pounded against the sand, the grains squishing beneath his jogging shoes, he wondered about the Hartford deal. There wasn’t anything quite like the thought of business to keep his head in the game. But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t focus on it. He might have screwed the whole thing up by postponing that meeting. Somehow, that didn’t feel as important as what had happened between him and Alexis.
The way she’d swum toward him.
The way she’d cupped his face.
The way she’d pressed her lips to his.
The way she’d tasted like saltwater and home.
She was a little piece of Montana he wouldn’t mind going back there for.
When he got back, he’d listen to what she had to say. Then he’d tell her all about his past. He’d mentioned Emily, but he hadn’t told her about growing up in Montana. How he’d been away at college, which his parents had worked tooth and nail for him to attend, when he’d gotten the phone call about the house fire. His parents hadn’t made it out alive, and he’d never bothered to return to that state again. There’d been nothing there for him.
Now, there was. And even though that scared him a little bit, he’d felt the same way before big business deals that had gone his way. That gave him some hope, some confidence that this would go his way too. Things with Alexis could work. He had the money, so he hoped she had the…
What? The love?
That word hadn’t crossed his mind since he’d thought he was in love with Emily. He hadn’t known what love was back then. He’d simply been trying to forget the fact that he hadn’t been there when his parents had died. That maybe he could have saved them if he’d been home instead of away, pursuing a better life. Which was ridiculous. The one they’d given him had always been enough. But once they’d passed, he’d decided he wouldn’t waste his new life. He wouldn’t let them down by not making something of the chance they’d given him.
