Diving In (26 page)

After a short pause, Nicki took her hand. “Hi.”

The three stared at each other.

“You should’ve seen the look on your face when you opened the door,” Diane said to him.

“It’s that flower,” he said, reaching out to poke it. “That sucker must weigh two pounds.”

Diane tilted her head and stuck her tongue out at him. “I bought it in the gift shop downstairs while I was waiting. And waiting. And waiting.”

“Ansel agreed to come with me on one of those boat tours, to go snorkeling,” Nicki said without looking at him. “I’d never done anything like that before.”

“Then we drove down to Wailea,” he added. Maybe because it was a Monday, a day he should’ve been working, he got a little defensive. Diane worked eighty-hour weeks, had slept at the office more often than she’d admit, and teased him ruthlessly about his casual lifestyle. “I wasn’t expecting company.”

“I did call,” Diane said.

“I left my phone in the car,” he said. “I don’t like to risk it on the beach, let alone on a boat—”

“I called days ago. More than once. But let’s move on. I decided it would be fun to surprise you. I wish I could’ve made it for your birthday, but I couldn’t get away until today.” She turned to Nicki. “I booked the ticket before I found out the second bedroom was occupied.”

He translated Diane’s implied question:
Has it recently become available because you’ll be sharing his?

“The sofa bed’s pretty nice,” he said. “My parents say so, anyway.”

Diane laughed. “Your parents sleep in hammocks and tents with dirt floors all over the world,” she said. “I can’t compete with that. I’m a princess. You know that.”

“All right,” he said, clapping his hands together. He didn’t know why he was in such a hurry. Nicki would be in her room, alone, without him—by request.

“I’ll take the sofa,” he said with a sigh. “You can have my—”

“Don’t be silly,” Diane said. “I got my own place. I’m right down the hall.”

“Oh.” He ran his hand through his hair. Something odd was going on, but his brain wasn’t functioning at its best. Nicki had just tucked her hair behind her ear, which reminded him of how he’d licked, nibbled, and kissed that lobe just hours ago.

“You two probably want to catch up,” Nicki said. What must she be thinking? “I’m wiped out. Time for me to crash. Thanks for your help today, Ansel. Nice to meet you, Diane. See you both tomorrow, I suppose.” Then she waved at them both, as if they were a unit, and walked off to her room.

I suppose?

Diane kicked his bag off a chair and draped her sweater off the back of it, smiling at him over her shoulder. “How about some herbal tea?”

“Sure.” Rubbing his jaw, he went to the cupboard for a mug. How much was he going to tell Diane? He wasn’t a kiss-and-tell kind of guy, but he wasn’t a sneak, either. Deciding he’d figure it out tomorrow, he said, “Did you really come just for my birthday?”

“Not just any birthday. You’ve been freaking out for months. How’d it go?”

“It wasn’t so bad.” He wondered if Nicki would be willing to go back to that waterfall and finish the drive.

“You’ve been dreading it all year,” she said. “How could I let my best friend suffer all by himself?”

He filled Diane’s mug with water and put it in the microwave. “I wasn’t by myself.”

Knowing him as well as she did, she read his look and smirked. “What’d you do?”

“Hana Highway.”

“Again?”

“She’s never been here before.”

“Ansel to the rescue.” She wagged her finger at him. “Hey, I got you something.” She marched over to her laptop bag, took out a package wrapped in silver paper, and held it out to him with a confident smile.

He took the mug out of the microwave and dunked the tea bag into it before taking the present from her. “Another book?”

“Be quiet. Just open it.”

“Your tea’s ready.”
 

Leaning against the counter, he tugged off the ribbon and tore apart the paper to reveal a best-selling book on executive mind control and world domination. A smooth-faced old man with gleaming eyes like laser beams was on the cover. Ansel looked up at her; she watched him eagerly. “Thanks,” he said.

“To help you with your business,” she said.

“Right. It looks great.”

“It really helped me. I know it looks cheesy, but there’s some really profound stuff in there. Promise me you’ll read it.” She poked him in the shoulder. “Promise.”

Diane was great, of course, but she was at it again. What did she want him to do now? Apply to law school? Run for Congress? It was always something. “I don’t promise you anything, you know that. You’re too pushy.”

Her smile tightened. “You love me and you know it.”

“I do. I’d probably be stoned and pregnant without you,” he said. “Like the day we met.”

“That’s better. Now where’s that tea?” She got it and found a chair in the living room. “This unit’s a lot smaller than I remember. You should upgrade, get your own place.”

“I’ll get right on that.” He reached into his back pocket, pulled out his wallet. “Let’s see… I’ve got about fifteen bucks. Guess I’ll have to give up the ocean view.” His dark, hot thoughts drifted to the cabana.

Worth every penny.

She reached over and slapped the book. “Read it. Imagine what you want and go for it.”

What he wanted didn’t involve vacation property. Unless Nicki was inside it, naked and aggressive again. “How long are you staying?” he asked.

“At least a week, maybe longer. Can you believe it? I haven’t had a real vacation in years,” she said. “And by the way, you really should act happier about seeing me.”

“Sorry,” he said. “Long day.” He took the couch next to her. Diane had been one of the first friends he’d made after he’d left his fraternity—the morning after he’d almost slept with “Mickey”—and as overwhelming as she could be, he’d always liked her. Their brief fling had been comically awkward, two complete sex acts in as many weeks, but they’d recovered. Now she treated him like a brother, which was a familiar relationship for him, and over the years he’d appreciated her loyalty. His family’s money didn’t impress her, since she was driven to amass her own, and he never got the feeling she wanted anything from him but himself.

“I hope you had a decent birthday.” She smiled at him over the rim of her mug. “You were nice to me on mine. I wanted to return the favor.”

He frowned. “I didn’t do anything.”

“You did.” She sipped.

“What?”

“You got me chocolate.”

“I do that every year,” he said.

“Well, I like it.”

“I do the same for Rachel.” He flinched. “Shoot, I forgot this year. I better overnight her something from Belgium.” He got out his phone and pulled up his favorite online chocolate supplier in the browser. Giving chocolate to women was like giving hundred dollar bills to criminals. Always the right gesture.

There’s an idea.

Diane caught him staring at the wall of Nicki’s bedroom as he wondered if she liked dark or milk. And would nuts be too provocative?

“Well, I am wiped out,” she said, getting to her feet. “I’d hoped to get here in time to take you to dinner, but let’s make it brunch, all right? There’s a place in Lahaina that got written up in the
Times
.”

He didn’t register what Diane had said until she was pulling open the front door. “I’ll come by at ten,” she said. “You should probably wear a suit jacket. No tie, it’s the islands, but it never hurts to look good. And invite your roommate. I’m curious to talk to her.”

It was an old joke that his mother and Diane had a few personality traits in common. He didn’t usually put up a fight, but he could when he needed to. Jumping up to catch her at the front door, he said, “No, just us.” He could save Nicki that discomfort, at least. “And it’ll have to be later, more like one. I have plans in the morning.”

“Really?”

“Yep.”

“All right, see you then.” She started to walk away, then turned suddenly and kissed him on the cheek. “Happy Birthday, Ansel. Your life is just beginning.”

* * *

Nicki moved away from her bedroom door, where she’d been listening to Ansel’s conversation with his BFF on the other side.

Not her proudest moment, eavesdropping like that, but at least she’d managed to overcome the temptation until just a few minutes before Diane had left.

Just us?

She ran a hand through her tangled hair.

Your life is just beginning?

It had been a very long, exhausting day. She’d overcome her deepest fears to save a boy from drowning and then made wild love in a luxurious tropical cabana.

Just thinking about it made her skin tingle.

In fact, if she hadn’t freaked out, they’d still be there right now. Diane would be knocking fruitlessly on the condo door, waiting, waiting, and waiting some more.

An unfamiliar feeling came over Nicki. She’d had what—whom—another woman wanted.

But did she really have him? Maybe she should find him right now and climb in bed with him to stake her claim.

Just us
, he’d told Diane. He’d made a date with her.

No
, Nicki thought, getting out her pajamas. She’d spend the night alone. If he hopped into bed with Diane tonight, he wasn’t a claim worth staking.

Chapter 21

A
ROUND
MIDNIGHT
, A
NSEL
GAVE
UP
trying to sleep. He pulled on shorts and went down to the lobby before he did something stupid. Nicki’s room was quiet. She’d closed the door. He got the message.

Downstairs, he found a padded wicker armchair under a palm behind the fountain and called Brand.

His friend picked up on the fifth ring. “Ansel?” he croaked.

“Oh, did I wake you?”

“I’m still in Chicago. Do you realize what time it is here?” Brand let out a noisy sigh. “God, I’d just fallen asleep, too.”

Justice was sweet. Ansel put his feet up on an ottoman. “I need some advice.”

“Don’t do it.”

“Don’t do what?” Ansel asked.

“Whatever it is.”

“What if I was talking about the property you want to buy, and I was thinking maybe you were right?”

“Actually, I’d just decided to cave on that,” Brand said.

“Really?”

“I asked around. Apparently, it’s not just the tourists who like to look at the ocean. Stupid to buy a property on the beach that faces the wrong way.”

Shoot. The afternoon with Nicki had reminded him how nice it was to have buckets of surplus cash lying around. If he put up his share for the oceanfront unit, he’d have just enough savings to live on for the rest of the year. “On the other hand,” Ansel said, “it’s a lot more money up front. Money we don’t necessarily have.”

Brand cursed under his breath. Ansel could hear a bed creaking, footsteps, a door banging, then the sound of pee striking a toilet bowl. “Couldn’t this wait until the morning?”

“Now you know how I feel.”

The line went dead.

If his ruthless friend hadn’t woken him up so many times, he might’ve let him sleep. But that was so very much not the case. He pressed Brand’s number again.

“There’s something else,” Ansel said when he answered.

“I’m turning off my phone,” Brand said. “You only call me this late when you’re about to get laid.”

“Hey.” Ansel looked around to make sure he was alone. “If that were true, I would’ve called you yesterday.”

Brand groaned. “And now you want to gloat.”

“I don’t know what I want.”

“All right. What’s her name?”

“That’s a funny story right there,” Ansel said.

“Do you realize what time it is here?”

“Buy me a watch. For my birthday.”

“Sounds like you need a calendar.” Brand’s voice was muffled, perhaps by a pillow.

“Can’t you pretend to listen to me for a second?”

“Dude, I’m tired. I had dinner with a guy who spent two hours trying to sell me a thousand stainless steel commercial kitchen sinks. For you. I assured him your friend Jordan was unlikely to be expanding at that level for quite some time, but he had me pinned in a corner and refused to believe it."

“Maybe he found you attractive. You’ve got that scar on your chin. Very sexy.”

“Shut up.”

“Seriously, I need your help,” Ansel said.

“I’ve been helping you all day.”

Time to pull out the ace. “Diane is here.” There. Brand wouldn’t hang up on him now. He hated Diane the way an ex-smoker hated cigarettes. One night had ruined him for life, Brand liked to say.

“‘Here,’ where?”

“Here in Maui,” Ansel replied. “At the resort.”

“Why?”

“She’s visiting me.”

“Just happened to be in the neighborhood?”

“She wanted to surprise me. In honor of my birthday. Unlike some people, I might add.”

“
I
sent you something.”

“Your assistant sent an email. Very thoughtful. No wonder the restaurant men love you so much. All that sensitivity so close to the surface is hard to resist.”

“At least it was on time,” Brand said. “How long is she staying?”

“I’m not sure. A while, I think.”

“What about her job?”

“I didn’t ask.”

“Don’t you think it’s strange she would show up on a weekday?” Brand sounded fully awake now. “When’s the last time she took a vacation?”

“It’s been a while.”

“Five years,” Brand said.

“So, she was overdue.”

“Yeah,” Brand said. Then his voice dropped. “Is
she
the woman you slept with?”

Ansel recoiled. “Of course not!”

There was a long pause. Brand’s tone returned to normal. “Then who’s the lucky lady?”

“A friend of Rachel’s. I’ve been sharing the condo with her.”

“Since when?”

“Didn’t I tell you about that? Rachel gave her the family condo for the summer. I’m not really supposed to be here. So, we had to share.”

“And then you had sex with her.”

“It’s more complicated than that.”

“You strain my imagination,” Brand said.