Zara

After ensuring Spike was comfortable and all set at Lance’s place, we headed out hand in hand for dinner.

“I just don’t get it.” I said what I was thinking as he pulled the Jeep away from the bungalow.

“Get what?”

“Marshmallow’s behavior. At home, if I leave him alone in the house I can still hear him complaining about it a mile away. With you, he’s a different dog.”

He cut his eyes toward me and smirked. “What’s not to understand? He loves me. I wasn’t kidding when I said we’d have to share custody.”

“I can’t afford to fly to the mainland every time I want to see my dog.” An extended period of silence between us forced me to ask, “Are you okay?”

“Yeah. I was just wondering which room in my house I would make Spike’s bedroom,” he teased.

My concerned frown morphed into a wide smile. Impulsively, he lifted our entwined hands to kiss my knuckles. And in that moment, the awkwardness between us disappeared.

“So where are we going?”

“Nobu. I hope you like Japanese. I guess I should have asked.” He glanced my way again, before focusing on the road.

“Yes, I love it.”

“Good. Where did you tell your parents you were going tonight?”

“Out to dinner with a friend. Isn’t that where I’m going?”

“Yep,” he said with a tight smile. “So, when do they find out the tourist they met at the luau is your said friend?”

“Soon.” I squeezed his fingers, forcing his gaze back my way. “I promise.”

Appeased, he dropped it. The short drive was filled with me educating him on the history of Lanai. As I pointed things out along the way, he chuckled at my enthusiasm for the place I loved. During my commentary, he pulled our entwined hands into his lap, and damn if that didn’t rile me up some.

By the time we pulled up to the Four Seasons valet, I was pulsing with desire for Lance.

Lance was stunning. I was used to seeing him in casual shorts and T-shirts, and even then he could take my breath away. But the way he confidently strode through the lobby of the Four Seasons while holding my hand was the sexiest thing I’d ever seen.

The hostess proved my point when she looked up and gawked. “Hello, welcome to Nobu. Do you have a reservation?”

“Lance White.”

Her fingers flew over the keys on her laptop. “Oh, yes, welcome to Nobu, Mr. White. Right this way.”

She led us past the intimate tables of two and four, through an opaque glass door, and onto a small square balcony. One side was open with a few steps to the beach below. The other three frosted-glass walls afforded complete privacy from the rest of the patrons in the restaurant. The intimate table set for two, complete with candlelight and fresh flowers, sat centered in the space. Two upholstered rattan chairs positioned side by side faced the ocean. The crashing waves provided soothing background noise to our little private haven.

“This is lovely, Lance,” I said as my eyes scanned the romance that surrounded us. He pulled out my chair, and once I sat, he then sat beside me.

With our eyes pinned in some sort of trancelike stage of yearning, he said, “You’re lovely. Thanks for indulging me tonight.”

“I didn’t want you to cause a scene because of me saying no,” I quipped. The shimmer in his crystal-blue eyes flickered vividly from the candlelight, or maybe it was the setting sun. The way they drilled suggestively right through mine made it hard to look away. “Can I admit something?” I asked quietly.

“You love me?”

I couldn’t help but giggle. “Not quite. What I was going to say was I feel strange when I’m with you.”

“Am I causing your stomach to flip again?”

“No, not that.” I looked off toward the ocean and paused.

“Strange in a cringe-y kind of way?” he prompted. “Or a strange, you-don’t-know-what-you’re-feeling kind of way?”

“Yes, that, the second one, strange in a confusing way. When you look at me, my heart pounds faster.”

“Zara.” He held my jaw with his thumb on my cheek and his fingers in my hair. Pulling me closer until our faces were a whisper apart, he waited a long pause while staring into my eyes. The pounding I’d felt a few seconds ago paled in comparison to what I felt now.

“When I touch you, my heart pounds faster, too.”

He kissed me softly until our waitress entering the patio interrupted our moment. She busied herself filling water glasses and taking our dinner order, her eyes focused on my date the entire time.

“She likes you,” I said with a raised brow.

“You’re one to talk. Did you see the long line of whiplash victims you left in your wake just by walking through the lobby?”

I shoved him playfully. “Stop it.”

He captured my hand before pulling it back into his lap. “It’s true. I’m going to have to take up boxing to keep the vultures away. You’re too beautiful for the likes of me.” His eyes scanned over my features, as if he was trying to memorize every detail of my face.

“Now I know you’re insane. I mean seriously, have you looked in a mirror? You ain’t so bad yourself, Mr. White,” I added quietly.

“Imagine how gorgeous our babies will be.”

“We’re talking children already, are we?”

“Sure, why not. I’d like at least four. Of course we’d have to get Spike a sibling because the kids would fight over him…but it should be a golden retriever to balance Spike’s size. We’d have to live on the beach, because I’d have to have you in a bikini more often than not. Oh, and we’d need to honeymoon in Tuscany. There’s a remarkable winery I must take you to.”

“Wow, you have us all figured out. Will I be allowed to pick out my own wedding dress, or do you have one hanging in your closet waiting for me?”

“You can wear just what you’re wearing now. But if not, I am a traditionalist. So no seeing the bride before the wedding.”

“Good to know. I’m glad I’m learning tiny little snippets about the man I am apparently spending the rest of my life with.” I reached for my water and took a much-needed sip. I knew he was kidding, but the conversation was causing my skin to warm in all the right places.

“You know me better than you think you do.”

“I don’t know you at all.”

Although he smiled, he wasn’t able to hide the uncertainty in his eyes.

Just as I was about to speak, the waitress appeared with our wine and the edamame appetizer he’d ordered.

Once we were alone, he said, “I want you to feel comfortable with me, Zara. So ask me what you want to know.”

“What do you do in New Jersey?” I asked while reaching for a peapod. Our eyes met as I dragged it through my teeth until his gaze moved down to focus on the peapod.

After a long, heated pause, we both reached for our wineglasses at the same time.

“I have my own business, but it’s not in New Jersey.”

“Wait, I thought you were from New Jersey.”

“I am, originally. I now live in California.”

“What kind of business? Please don’t tell me you’re a male stripper or an escort.” I scrunched up my face in distaste.

A laugh erupted at my theory. “What makes you think that?” I shrugged before biting my lip. “Really, I’m curious.”

“You’re gorgeous.” I raised a palm toward his torso. “Your body is amazing. Just a hunch.”

“Well, I hate to disappoint you but no, not a stripper or a gigolo. I’m an accountant.”

“Oh, thank God. Where did you go to school?”

“UCLA.”

“That’s really far away from New Jersey. Why UCLA?”

He glanced out at the ocean briefly. “I love California. We visited when I was a teenager and I fell in love with the climate and the attitude. It felt like the Jersey shore feels at summer, but all year long. I despise winter and snow.”

“Your family must miss you.”

I lifted my wine and waited patiently with my gaze fixed on his face.

“They do, but they visit often. I’ve been trying to convince them to move. Mom isn’t ready to leave the East Coast yet. How often do you see your sister?”

“Every few weeks. I miss her. Besides, Marshmallow loves my brother-in-law.”

“As much as me?”

“It’s close,” I said with a sideways glance.

“I call bullshit.” He shook his head adamantly. “What does he call him?”

“Marshmallow,” I responded with an eye roll. “It is his name.”

“Now I know you’re lying.”

“Fine…he hates him.”

“Ah, I knew it.”

His stunning smile stole my breath, stole my thoughts, and slowly was stealing my heart. Whatever this was between us was going way too fast, and I feared if I didn’t slow things down I’d lose my heart to this gorgeous man whom I barely knew.