by Tamie Dearen
Her lips turned downward. “You know, Gary, I hope you realize I’m not ever going to be adventurous like you are.”
“I’m not trying to change you, Katie.”
“Well, good. Because I’m not changing.” She jammed her spoon into her ice cream bowl and came up with a huge scoop, too big to fit in her mouth. With a grunt of frustration, she dropped it back in her bowl and spooned off a smaller bite.
“Is that what you think I want? To make you into someone else?”
“It seems like it.”
He thought he caught a glimpse of moisture pooling in her eyes before she looked away. Had he put that much pressure on her?
“Katie, I think you…” He swallowed. “I think you’re great, just like you are. I’m sorry if I made you feel—”
“No, I shouldn’t have said that.” She waved her hand to cut him off. “You didn’t do anything wrong. It’s not your fault I’m dull.”
“Just because you have a few phobias doesn’t mean you’re dull.”
“Call me something else, if you want. Boring. Tedious. Uninteresting.”
“How about smart? Beautiful? Determined?”
“If I was all those things, Joseph wouldn’t have gotten tired of me.” Her harsh laugh didn’t cover the pain in her voice.
“Who is Joseph?”
“My ex-fiancé. We dated for five years. Evidently, he got bored with me after two, but didn’t realize it for another three. Or maybe he thought I would go through some miraculous transformation and become an interesting person.”
“Your fiancé said you were boring?” Gary had the urge to pound his fist against the wall and pretend it was Joseph’s face. “Who was he to judge?”
“I guess he knew me better than anyone.” She shrank before his eyes, as if her pride had leaked out through an open valve.
What kind of man would purposefully hurt such a sweet soul and tear her confidence to pieces?
Fury furled inside him like steam inside a kettle, but he kept the lid on tight. She’d already been wounded by this ex-fiancé. Losing his temper wouldn’t help anything. Gary stood and walked around the table to offer his hand. “Come sit on the couch with me. I want to tell you something.”
As he held her trembling hand and led her to the living area, Gary could only feel hatred for the man who’d put the slump in her shoulders. She sat beside him and made no effort to resist when he put his arm around her and tucked her against his chest.
“I’ve only known you a few days, and I think you’re fascinating.” He was telling the truth—he only hoped she would believe him. “So if Joseph thought you were boring, I’d say he didn’t know you at all.”
“You think that because I’m not being me, right now,” she muttered, her chin tucked down. “I got on a plane. I paddled a kayak. I got highlights in my hair. I’m even going on a zip line tomorrow. That’s me pretending to be someone I’m not. The real me would be curled up on her couch in her apartment right now, eating pizza and ice cream and binge-watching an entire TV series in one night.”
“What TV series?”
She looked up through her lashes, confusion in her eyes. “What?”
“I asked the name of the TV series, because the rest of that description sounds pretty good to me. I love pizza. And you saw the size of that bowl of ice cream I just inhaled. So I want to know if I’d like the TV show you’d be watching.”
A smile flitted across her face. “I like a lot of shows. Maybe A Walk in the Dark. Or Jim and Gym. Or Earth 5050.”
“Are you kidding me? You watch Earth 5050, and Joseph said you were boring? There’s got to be something wrong with that guy.”
She giggled, but then her face grew sober. “I know you’re trying to be nice, but you don’t have to pretend. You probably spend more time doing dangerous stuff every day than the stunt men in Earth 5050.”
“You mean dangerous stuff like riding the subway in New York? Because that’s about as exciting as my life gets on a normal day. That’s why I push the limits when I take a vacation.”
“Oh.”
Was she finally starting to believe him?
“And didn’t you have a little bit of fun yesterday, once your arm muscles quit shaking?” he asked.
“It was fun looking for birds.” She groaned, slapping her palm against her forehead. “I can’t believe I said that. I’m turning into my mother.”
He tightened his arm around her shoulder and lifted her chin with his other hand until he could look deep into her eyes. “Do you know what I really think about you, Katie?”
Her eyes grew large and round. “No.”
“I think I like you.” He let his fingers slide along the edge of her delicate jaw, and her eyelids closed halfway.
“Gary, I don’t think this will work,” she whispered. “We’re too different.”
“Different can be a good thing. We’re not committing to a lifetime. Just one day at a time. That’s all we have, anyway.”
“What if I’m not good for you?”
“Trust me—you will be.”
But, will I be good for her?
Was he setting Katie up to be hurt again, like Steven had warned? Would he wound her as badly as Joseph had?
He brushed the pad of his thumb across her quivering lips, dying to taste her. He bent his head closer. Her face lifted toward him, lips parted, inviting.
Just one kiss… What can it hurt?
10
Katie held her breath so long, she thought she’d pass out. Was it actually going to happen this time? Thank goodness she’d brushed her teeth.
With her heart thumping hard and fast like the end of a long workout, her hand rose of its own accord to rest on the hard planes of his chest. His heart pounded against her fingers, in time with her own.
His face was so close she could feel his heat radiating to her skin. Still he held back, as if he thought she might be too fragile. She lifted her hand to his cheek, relishing the contrast of the masculine stubble along his jaw against her soft fingertips. As her fingers slid around the back of his neck, she drew him to her.
Their lips touched and time stopped. It felt as if they belonged together. Heat and energy pulsed from his contact. Tingles bubbled at the top of her spine and traveled like lightning to the tips of her curling toes.
His mouth moved on hers. Seeking. Hungry. With the ravenous press of his lips alone, he possessed her. And she was his. Completely. In that moment, the world disappeared, burned away in the scorching heat.
She knew in that instant, she’d gone over a cliff, from which there was no return. He was like a drug, and she was already addicted. Even now, she couldn’t get enough of him. He would be gone at the end of the week. And when he left, her oxygen supply would go with him. Her heart, budding to life for the first time, would shrivel and die.
But for now, he’d awakened a hunger she hadn’t known existed. As his hand gripped her shoulder, she moved closer, wanting to melt against him. Then his fingers tightened, his arm pushing back. His lips ripped their warmth away, leaving her empty… barren… desolate… mourning.
He stared at her with wide eyes, his chest rising and falling with rapid breaths. Locked in his penetrating blue gaze, her soul was laid open for his leisurely inspection.
“What was that?” His voice was barely above a whisper.
“A kiss,” she answered. “The best I’ve ever had. Let’s do it again.”
“No!” He scrambled backwards to the end of the couch, like she would at the sight of a spider. “If we start again, I won’t be able to stop.”
“Just one more?” she pleaded, moving closer, not caring that she sounded desperate.
“No.” His stiff arm blocked her way. “We’re not going to take this too fast and ruin everything before it has a chance.”
“What are we ruining? You said one day is all we have.”
She reached toward his neck, ready to rein him in, but he caught her wrists and brought them down, snared in hi
s unrelenting grasp.
“Katie, I know what I said a minute ago, but I changed my mind.”
Her heart began to tear, ripping open the old scar. She remembered when Joseph had stopped kissing her. At first, his formerly passionate kisses had grown shorter and less frequent. Then he would only linger for a short peck on her lips, progressing to a brotherly kiss on her cheek. Finally, he avoided physical contact altogether, claiming a headache or exhaustion. She’d assumed it was his way of keeping their relationship pure during an engagement that he’d extended, refusing to set a wedding date.
She could tell Joseph was losing interest and she’d tried to find ways to capture it again. But nothing she’d done was ever quite good enough. Her meals hadn’t quite been seasoned correctly. Her hair had been too stiff with product. Her clothes had been too tight or too loose or too revealing or too matronly.
She should’ve given up years earlier, but quitting wasn’t in her makeup. As long as there was a chance, she’d been determined to make it work. Though he hadn’t made a similar effort, she was convinced, if she tried hard enough, she could rescue the relationship.
Only when Joseph had explained why he was leaving her, his dry-eyed emotionless tone ripping more tears from her flooding eyes, had she realized what a fool she’d been. And she’d examined every aspect of that failure and devised a plan to be certain it never happened again. Number one was dropping her idealistic dreams of happily-ever-after with a man.
Once she’d accepted the idea that she’d be single the rest of her life, the pressure had gone away, leaving her free to simply be unapologetically herself. Yet already, with Gary, she was breaking her rule, trying to change to be the woman he needed.
“Katie? Are you okay?”
Unable to bear the pitying expression on his face, she looked away. “I understand.”
“I don’t think you do.” His hand cupped her cheek, gentle pressure turning her face back toward him. “I have to tell you something.”
“You don’t have to explain. I get it.” She tried to pull away, but his hand slipped behind her neck and held fast. “We can end it now. It’s probably for the best.”
“Wait! That’s not what I meant.” His hands released her to push through his hair. “I don’t want to end anything. I want to see if we can make it work.”
Her breath caught in her throat. “You do?”
“Yes.” His eyes squeezed shut like he was in agony. “But the last time I tried this, it didn’t go well.”
Her chest clenched. She’d been so wrapped up in her own hurt, she hadn’t considered the pain he’d experienced.
“The girlfriend who broke it off when you got cancer?”
“Not her.” His eyes closed. “This happened two years ago. Her name was Deanne, and we had everything in common. We were meant to be together, or so I thought.”
“What happened?”
“I was stupid. I waited to tell her about the cancer until we were serious. I honestly didn’t think she would care.” He took a deep breath and blew it out, slowly. “She did. She freaked out.”
“I’m sorry that happened.” Katie laid her hand on his arm.
“It wasn’t her fault. No one wants to marry somebody who’s only going to live another fifteen years or so.”
“First of all, you could live a lot longer than fifteen years, you know.”
“That’s true, but after fifteen years, my chances start going down.” He shrugged. “I have to be realistic.”
“If you’d take a couple of those crazy items off your bucket list, like climbing Mt. Everest, you’d probably live a lot longer.”
“You could be right.” He gave a hoarse chuckle. “But you can see how dating is kind of like surfing in shark-infested waters for me. I’d decided never to go in deep again.”
“That sounds like the way I would handle it,” Katie said. “But you’re different. You’re fearless, so you shouldn’t quit. You should just keep jumping back in until you catch the perfect wave.”
“That’s what I was thinking.” His mouth quirked in a crooked smile. “I know it’s early, but I think you could be my wave.”
“Are you saying you want to try dating when we go back to New York?” Her mouth felt like it was stuffed with cotton balls.
“Yes. No pressure. But I think we could be good together.
“I’m sorry, Gary, but it’s not going to work.”
His face fell. “Oh. I shouldn’t have assumed… I mean, I guess it’s asking a lot when I don’t know how much time I have.”
“I don’t care about that,” she said. “Well, I do care—I don’t want you to die—but that’s not why this relationship won’t work.”
“I don’t understand.”
“I can’t keep this up when I go back to New York.” She emphasized her words with a shake of her finger. “Did you forget what I said about how I’m not being the real me, right now? When I ride my pumpkin back home, I’m going to turn back into Cinderella. You don’t think you’ll get bored with me, but I promise, you will.”
He smiled, as his hand moved to caress her cheek. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to give it a try. Who knows, I might like you even more when you’re wearing rags and covered with ashes.”
“You’re a nice guy, Gary. Too nice, in my opinion. Except for maybe the teasing thing… you could back off a little on that. But in every other way, you’re about as awesome as the real Superman.”
He wore a gleaming smile that showed his even white teeth. “I’ll take that assessment.”
“I’m trying to tell you that Superman needs to end up with Superwoman. And no matter what you say, I’ll feel like I can’t be what you need.”
“But Katie—”
“You aren’t going to change my mind.”
“I have another idea… What if we agree to date, to really give this relationship serious effort, but only while we’re here in Indigo Bay.”
“That’s what I thought you wanted to begin with,” she said. “Clone-Katie would enjoy dating Superman as long as he knows she’ll disappear when we get back to New York.”
“In that case,” he said, “Superman would like to kiss Clone-Katie, again. But maybe a short one, since I almost lost control the first time.”
The blood rushed into her face until her cheeks felt like they were on fire. “I have to admit, that was a pretty amazing kiss.”
His voice went husky. “The last time I got an adrenaline rush like that, I was bungee jumping in New Zealand.”
Her pulse throbbed in her ears, drowning out thoughts of anything but Gary, who drew closer, moving at an agonizingly slow pace. When his hands slid into place, sandwiching her face with a gentle touch, she resisted the urge to scream at him to hurry. At last, his lips descended, sending her heart into calisthenics. His lips contacted hers, so gentle, she surged forward, seeking more. And he answered her in kind, firm and demanding, sending starbursts under her eyelids. As he pulled away, she lifted her hands to her happy swollen lips, knowing she’d been forever ruined for any other man.
She rested her head against his shoulder, while his hands caressed her back in light strokes, painting shivers with his fingertips. When she recovered enough to speak again, she whispered, “I think I might like bungee jumping after all.”
11
Katie had hardly been able to sleep that night. It wasn’t nervousness about ziplining that had kept her brain firing, but replaying those two amazing kisses. Subsequently, she was not only keyed up about flying through the air, suspended by a small cable, but also exhausted. Plus, she felt a little bit awkward with Steven around, like she and Gary were teenagers, hiding their relationship.
At the moment, though, her only thought was staying alive.
“Be sure it’s tight enough,” Katie told their zipline guide, Andrew, as he fastened the strap around her waist.
Behind her, Gary chuckled. “Any tighter, and your legs will go numb.”
“I don’t care if I can’t fe
el them, as long as I can’t fall.”
“You need to be comfortable enough to hike from one station to the next,” Andrew explained. “Your weight pulls downward on this when you’re zipping, so it gets tighter when you sit down.” He demonstrated by grabbing the hook on the front of her belt and yanking upward.
“Oh. Yeah, that’s feels plenty tight.”
Standing on the ground in the forest, she craned her head, but saw no sign of a zip line. “How high off the ground will we be?”
“Not too high,” said Andrew as he handed her a helmet. “I promise you’ll have fun.”
“Have you ever had anyone die?” she asked. “Any broken bones?”
“Nope, not ever. No deaths. No trips to the hospital. One lady sprained her ankle while she was hiking. It’s almost impossible to get injured, as long as you follow the rules and stay clipped in. The only way you could get hurt is if you don’t let me do my job.”
Katie decided then and there she would be the most obedient zipliner Andrew had ever had.
“I told you it was safe,” said Steven.
At least he’d arranged for a private tour, so there wouldn’t be an audience of people watching her freak out.
Gary walked up behind her, his gear already in place. “Andrew said he’d take special care of you, since you’re afraid of heights.”
“I’m not afraid of heights,” Katie said. “I’m afraid of falling from up high.”
Gary rested a casual hand on her shoulder, his fingers caressing the skin on her neck. All her fears were occluded by the rush of shivers that came from that touch. In truth, her current nervousness was more from being close to Gary than thoughts of impending death. But she had to hide her reactions, especially with Steven around. She was way too embarrassed to let her boss see her acting like a schoolgirl with a silly crush. He might even remind her that she swore she was going to remain single the rest of her life. And at the moment, she didn’t want to hear it.