Adrian

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I snatched up the schedule, folded it and shoved into my back pocket. The last thing I needed was for Victor to catch wind of the plans and schedule for the hotel. The last thing I needed was to have any of my plans released out into the public before I was ready. Not that I thought Victor would reveal my plans to the press, but I didn’t trust him enough not to have the idea in the back of his mind.

“I was hoping I’d find you still here dining. Forgive the intrusion, Miss...” Victor held out his hand for Reese to shake. He was dressed in casual khaki shorts paired with a green and white striped golf shirt. On his feet, he wore brown sandals. He was a decent enough looking guy, at least the women usually thought so. He never had any problems getting dates.

She seemed reluctant to put her hand out at first, probably because I wasn’t too pleased to see him and I’m sure it showed on my face, but then she glanced at me, and I gave her a small smile to indicate it was okay. Then she looked back at Victor and extended her hand. “Reese Briden.”

“Ah, Reese. And how do you and Adrian know each other?”

“I was just hired as the new interior designer of his hotel.”

“Yes. The new designer. It’s such a pleasure to make your acquaintance. I’ve heard wonderful things about you.”

Victor was a lady’s man. Charming, with thick, light brown curls that always fell right into place. No matter if they were combed or not, it always looked like that was the way it was supposed to be. Something I’d always hated about him. I’m not jealous, even though half the time my hair looked like I took a dip in the ocean and scrubbed it with a towel and called it good.

But Victor had stolen my girlfriend at one time. He never seemed to have any problem “getting the girl.”And now here he was attempting to swoon Reese off her feet.

Not if I have anything to say about it. Not this time.

I recognized that fucking calculated look in his eyes, presently set on her. I had no doubt he’d try to steal her away, not only as an employee but as a love interest. Reese was too beautiful not to be on Victor’s radar.

“I’m Victor Rossi, a close associate of Adrian’s. Adrian and I went to school together. I’m sure he mentioned me.”

She shook her head and gave me a puzzled look as if to ask, why didn’t you? I had a bad feeling about the way this evening was turning. Why couldn’t Victor just stay away?

“No, actually, I hadn’t. I thought it best to spare Reese the ugly facts of life.” I stared at her, frowning, then I decided I better clarify. “Victor and I attended the same college, but that’s about as far as any friendship we may or may not have had,” I supplied and left it at that. It would be a waste of time correcting Victor on the terms of our relationship. The man refused to accept the fact that we had no relationship—business or otherwise. Plus, I wasn’t in the mood to talk about the snake. I just wanted him gone. “Victor, how did you know we were here?”

Reese’s eyebrows briefly knitted together, until Victor began talking again. Then she sat back in the chair, and her shoulders seemed to relax. Pressing her lips tightly together, she studied the creep.

“Don’t you remember? I was in your office when Janet confirmed the reservations with you.”

Fuck. He had been. I was annoyed that he even knew my Admin’s name, let alone overheard the short conversation over the intercom. “Right.”

“And of course, I was hoping I’d find you here with your new designer.” He sat in the chair on the side of the square table, which put him right between us.

“Adrian and I went to the same college, then later we were business partners. When I heard he hired a new designer, well, I simply had to meet her. And a beautiful designer she is.” He smiled, and I wanted to punch that grin right off his face when Reese smiled in response.

“You said you were business partners?” Reese asked.

“Yes. We parted ways when I inherited my father’s company. I had obligations that Adrian didn’t care to invest in.”

“If I recall, you left because you didn’t think the undersea hotel was going to make it.” And because you stole Lissa right out from under my nose.

“No, no, no. Not at all. You know I had obligations to the family business. But let’s not dredge up bad blood.”

Bad blood, indeed.

“Not when there is this beautiful creature here,” Victor continued in his charming way. “Besides, that’s all water under the bridge and completely forgotten. Reese, are you new to the island?”

“Yes, I just moved here from Oregon.”

“Oregon? That’s quite a change. Are you enjoying your new life here in Kauai?”

Victor had a way of weaseling private information from just about anyone, and I had no doubt he’d already drilled some of my employees about Reese. “So far I love it.” Reese glanced at me and gave me a half smile before returning her attention to Victor.

“Have you been to the production of Ulalena yet? It’s in Maui, but with a helicopter ride not so far.”

Fuck, was he going to ask her out? I wouldn’t put it past him. My dragon shifted uncomfortably inside and my teeth clenched with the tightening of my jaw. I reached across the table and placed my hand on top of hers. It was a bit forward, but I wasn’t about to let Victor steal her too. Her gaze flicked to mine in surprise, then to my hand, but I left it there until she casually slipped her hand out from under mine and ran her fingers through several strands of her hair as if to calm any strays.

She glanced back to Victor, who sat between us smiling. “No, I haven’t.” This idle chit chat of his was irritating to say the least.

“Well, you must go. It’s a sensational production of the Hawaiian culture.”

“I’ll be sure to check it out.” She glanced at me and smiled, and I half wondered if that was an invitation for me to take her? Maybe someday, but not at the suggestion of Victor.

He glanced at me and I glared at him. He looked at his watch and cleared his throat then stood. “I’ve taken up enough of your time. I really should be going. It’s been a pleasure to meet you, Reese Briden. I hope to see you again soon.” He took her hand in his and pressed his fucking lips to the back of it.

Reese smiled, and her cheeks turned pink as he kissed her hand. “Nice to meet you also, Victor.” I didn’t particularly appreciate the unwanted competition, but this was Victor and I should have expected it. It was obvious to me that she was enchanted by him and now I had to up my game in order to convince her she wanted me more than him.

To my relief, he finally headed to the door and was gone as quickly as he made his unwelcomed appearance.

“You don’t like him, do you?” Reese said as I watched Victor leave, glaring at his back. Bringing my gaze back to her I smiled. “Let’s not talk about Victor. You asked me a question about color schemes?”

She blinked and smiled. “Yes.”

I hadn’t planned on diving into work so early in the evening and I certainly wasn’t prepared to talk about Victor. I was hoping for a casual dinner to get to know Reese. However, I wasn’t sure where her head was now. Was she even attracted to me or were her thoughts now on Victor? Truth was; discussing things such as color schemes sounded a hell of a lot better than the subject of Victor Rossi. 

At least I had a small opportunity to get to know a little about her. I had to hide my astonishment when she said she enjoyed swimming. Though I teased her slightly about being the type to sit on the beach and read, she did strike me as a female who wouldn’t mind getting her hair wet—and I liked that—but I didn’t think she was a very good swimmer, considering I’d needed to give her several nudges on her very fine derrière to steer her back to the boat on New Year’s morning. Then again, her inability to swim well could have been because she’d injured her shoulder when she fell in the water.

“I thought I’d leave the colors up to you. I have a tendency to go with too many blues when left to my own devices.”

She laughed. “I noticed.”

I nodded and chuckled. “I like blue. What can I say? Maybe I did go a little overboard with that color. But that’s why you’re here.”

“Okay. Aside from colors, what style of furnishings are you thinking for the hotel? Is there a certain theme you have in mind?”

“This is your area of expertise, so I’m going to leave it up to you.”

“Any dessert?” The waiter stood by our table with a hopeful look in his eyes.

I glanced at Reese. “Your choice.”

She quickly perused the dessert menu and smiled. “Will you share a Tiramisu?”

“Absolutely. Good choice.” I smiled at the waiter and handed him the menu.

“I’ll be right back with that.”

When the server left, she asked, “About the design ...”

I smiled. “I’ll leave that to you, as long as it’s comfortable. Now, that’s enough about work. I want to know more about you.”

“Okay. Well, you seemed shocked that I like to swim. I grew up by the beach, and though I do enjoy relaxing in the sun with a good book occasionally, I also like to snorkel and surf. The water along the Oregon coast is rather cool though. We had to wear wetsuits most of the time, even in the summer.”

“You surf?” My eyebrows rose, and so did my interest. I hadn’t pegged her for a surfer girl. Snorkeling, sure. Everyone who liked to swim usually enjoyed snorkeling. But surfing was something I’d definitely like to see her do.

“Sure. And that surprises you, too.” Irritation coated her voice as she placed her wine glass down and sat back and glared at me. “Why is it I’m beginning to think that you’re having a difficult time picturing me doing anything athletic? Do I appear to be delicate or something?”

“Hmmm ... is that a trick question?” I grinned.

“What do you mean?”

“If I answer ‘yes, you appear to be delicate,’ then you’re going to get mad and think it’s an insult. If I say ‘no, you don’t seem to be delicate,’ then you’re going to take offense and think I don’t think you’re attractive.”

Her gaze briefly shot to mine, and she rubbed her hand over her upper arm as she quickly glanced back to her wine glass on the table, avoiding eye contact with me now.

The waiter brought our dessert and placed it in the middle of the table. We both ignored him and the tiramisu.

“I’m not delicate, as in fragile.” Her voice hummed with annoyance. I was blowing this entire evening now.

“I never meant to imply you were.” I smiled, trying to lighten the awkward turn this conversation had taken. “As a matter of fact, I’m rather impressed that you surf. When did you start?”

“When I was three. My Uncle Cael taught both my twin sister and me.”

“You have a twin? Identical or fraternal?”

“We’re identical.”

“That must have been fun growing up with a twin. Did you fool your teachers and parents a lot?” I had this sudden image of two adorable little girls, both with long reddish brown braids hanging down their backs, wearing identical red dresses, pretending to be each other and convincing their third or fourth grade teachers they were the other child.

“Not teachers. We were homeschooled when we were small, and later, the school we attended was very private, and there weren’t many kids. We did fool a boy once, though. Quinn had a crush on a boy we grew up with, and she was too shy to talk to him, so she asked me to approach him for her.”

“Ah, you must be the older sister.”

“No, actually, I’m not. Just more assertive, I guess. Though Quinn’s overcome most of her shyness now that we’re adults.”

“Should I be concerned that I might be talking to her someday thinking it’s you?”

She laughed. “No. No worries there, I assure you. Quinn darkens her hair. She thinks it makes her eyes pop out more. So it’s very easy to tell us apart these days.”

“So, the auburn is natural?” I’d always been attracted to redheads.

“Yes.”

“Good to know. And I like the red. It suits you. When the light hits it just right, it sparkles a bit.”

I reached for one of the forks on the table beside the tiramisu at the same time she did, our fingers grazing. I wanted to latch on to her hand and bring it to my lips. But I didn’t want her to think I was copying Victor. My gaze flicked up to her gorgeous green eyes and I couldn’t look away from the tiny speckles of gold that glimmered in them. 

She took in a breath and brushed her cheek with the back of her finger. I made her nervous. Maybe just a smidgeon but it excited me. The beast inside me fidgeted. I shifted my body a bit to help settle him down.

“Maybe we should finish going over the schedule. I noticed you quickly put it away when your friend came over to the table. Is there a reason you hid it from him?”

Her voice broke the trance, and I glanced at the dessert. “No. He’s just an annoyance. Here, let’s eat this first. I don’t want to mix business with pleasure.”

She let out a nervous sounding laugh. “Good idea.”

Eating a tiramisu had never been so sensual. The sexy way she slid the mousse covered fork into her mouth and tightened her lips around it gave me ideas that I shouldn’t be thinking about. In fact, I’d never given the decadent dessert much thought before, but with each forkful I couldn’t help watching Reese as her lips covered the silky chocolate. I envisioned myself as the cake, sliding over her tongue.

A delectable smidgeon of chocolate lingered by the dimple at the corner of her mouth and before I realized what I was doing, my finger was there, wiping it away. Her gaze instantly flicked to mine. I couldn’t look away as I struggled to find the self-control that would keep me from licking the sticky sweetness from my finger. But in the end, I decided self-control was for wimps as I stuck my digit in my mouth and sucked.

“I’m sorry. That was rather impulsive of me.”

She tilted her head to the side. “Do you normally act on impulse?”

“Sometimes. Apparently.” Shit. I was acting like a teenage boy and an idiot one at that.

She glanced down at the half-eaten dessert and sighed. “Well, impulse tells me I should stop eating this or I’m going to need to run five extra miles tomorrow morning.”

“Do you run every day?” I was suddenly intrigued even more to learn she was so athletic. A surfer and a runner.

“I try to, but sometimes life gets in the way.”

“Ah. Life. Gotta love it. Do you still surf?”

“I haven’t surfed for quite a while.”

“Define ‘quite a while’.”

“Well, let’s see ...” she raised her head up toward the sky as if the answer was written across the stars. “I think the last time I surfed was four years ago before I left for college. Colorado State isn’t exactly close to the ocean.” She grinned.

“It sounds to me like you need to get your sea legs back.”

She shook her head. “I don’t have a board.”

“Have you forgotten where you are? This is Kauai. There’s a surfboard shop practically on every corner. Come on, let’s go.” I grabbed her hand and tugged her up out of her seat. My body was itching to get wet.

“What? Wait. What about the bill?” She stumbled into me and I had to wrap my arms around her waist to steady her before pulling her along and out of the restaurant.

“I’m good for it.” I waived at Demetri, the owner, as we left. I’d pay my tab later on the personal online account I had with the restaurant. I never carried a wallet, since I never knew when I’d need to ditch my clothing. I kept my identification in the glove box of my car along with one visa card, and I carried very little cash. Things like money and charge cards were too easily lost when you shifted as often as I did. Demetri knew I was good for the meal and he knew he’d have his money within the next day or so.

“What about the schedule and the room designs?”

“I told you, I’m leaving the designing up to you and we can talk about the schedule another time.” I honestly had intended to keep things strictly business, but dammit, I was too attracted to her. Now, business was the furthest thing from my mind. Not just now, the entire evening.

Mixing business with pleasure wasn’t the smartest idea I’ve ever had. I should just give up the struggle of trying to keep things with Reese “strictly business,” because I was definitely losing that battle.