Hawaiian Holiday: Destination Desire, Book 2 (12 page)

Her hand touched his shoulder. “Hey, you okay? Did I wear you out?”

“Hardly.” He tossed her a quick grin. “Though it was a little out of character for me.”

“Me too, but it sure was fun.” She bit her lip. “Wanna do it again? In bed, this time. Or in a room that locks.”

He could picture many different ways to have her in his hotel room. On the desk, against the wall, in the shower. Not to mention the variety of positions that were possible in his king-size bed. His body reacted predictably to that line of thinking and he shifted in his seat. “Yes.”

“So cooperative.” She hummed her approval. “What do you do for fun when you’re not in Hawaii?”

He blinked at the sudden change of topic, but considering the constriction in his shorts, he was grateful for it. Getting his mind off getting in her pants was a good idea. At least until they reached the hotel.

Before he got his brain in gear enough to respond, she answered her own question, “I read a lot. Actually, I listen to a lot of audio books while I’m knitting or crocheting. I also like old movies. Hanging out on the beach, obviously, since I live in a town right on the coast.”

“Have you been to the Stanford Theatre in Palo Alto?” When she shook her head, he continued, “It’s a restored Art Deco theater from the silent movie era, so there’s an organ that comes up out of the stage. They play music during the intermission between movies. One ticket and you’re in for two movies, plus the popcorn is the most delicious thing you’ve ever tasted. It’s addictive.”

“Crack-sprinkled goodness, huh?” Interest laced the amusement in her voice.

He chuckled. “Yeah, something like that. I can’t believe you’ve never been there.”

“I’ll have to check it out some time,” she remarked, her tone casual.

She didn’t mention going with him while she did so, but it quivered on the tip of his tongue to ask her. He could try to deny it, but he wanted to share one of his favorite activities with her. He loved coming to Hawaii, and he’d loved sharing it with her the last few days. Would the Stanford Theatre be any different? He somehow doubted it. Her endless zest for life would make anything entertaining.

She flicked on her blinker to switch lanes and passed a slow-moving car. “What about you, Professor? What do you do for fun?”

“Other than catching a showing at the Stanford Theatre?” He creased his shorts between his fingers. “I like to swim and I rent a catamaran occasionally for some sailing in the bay. I spend a lot of time on my research, writing articles for publication, advising students. It’s not just teaching classes, you know?”

She nodded. “Yeah, running a business takes a lot of time too. I get having a job that consumes much of your life.”

“Academia does that.” Something several women he’d dated in the past had complained about, especially when he’d been struggling to establish himself in the field and maneuvering through campus politics to get tenure. His work had had to take precedence over a lot of other things, which hadn’t exactly pleased the women in his life. He swallowed and decided that wasn’t something he wanted to discuss. Topic change. “Have you ever been sailing on a catamaran?”

She stirred in her seat, glancing at him quickly. “Not on a catamaran, no, but I do like sailing. My mother made me take lessons with her when I was in high school, and it was one of the things we enjoyed together. I haven’t been out on the water in years though.”

Could she be any more perfect? The woman knew how to sail. It was like some strange deity had fashioned a woman that would appeal to him the most and then tossed her into his life. Just to tempt him with what he could never have. “They do sailing trips here, so maybe we should go. There are snorkeling trips and sunset cruises.”

She sighed, and he thought there was a hint of disappointment in the sound, but when he looked at her she was smiling. “Let’s check the prices and see how steep it is.”

“The concierge would know all that, so we can ask when we get back.”

It would give them a good reason to spend more time together. Julie didn’t seem to need a reason, but Lukas liked having the excuse anyway. It made it easier to justify his sudden craving to have someone around all the time. He was an introvert by nature, and enjoyed time he had to himself, which was what he’d thought he’d be doing after his conference. An opportunity to recharge from the constant barrage of scholars in his field, but he didn’t have any trouble being with Julie.

He still wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing, but he suspected the latter.

After a shower, Julie hustled to change into jeans and a T-shirt. Lukas was meeting her downstairs in a few minutes and they were going to check out a nearby café called the Wailana Coffee House. She’d taken more time in the bathroom than she should have, but after changing a tire and doing the deed on a beach, she’d needed to scrub every crevice of her body. It was amazing the places sand could find its way into. There’d even been grains buried in her bra. She knew that part of her anatomy had come nowhere near the ground, but it had turned into a sandbox anyway. Gross, but that was what showers were for.

Yanking a brush through her wind-tangled hair, she winced when she hit a snarl. She winced again when her phone rang and Anne’s ring tone blared out. She’d managed to avoid her friends’ messages the day before, but that couldn’t go on forever without them getting worried. She went into the bedroom and picked up the cell to answer it. “Hey, Anne.”

“Sorry, it’s Meg on Anne’s phone.” Meg’s voice was filled with undisguised glee. “She lost a bet with Finn and has to give his tomcat a bath. I decided to use the opportunity to steal her phone and call you. I figured you’d be too scared not to pick up a call from Anne.”

“Jesus, I’m not that scary!” The echoing sound of Anne’s voice came from the background. She must be in the bathroom scrubbing the cat now. Julie had met that tom before and she wouldn’t get within ten feet of him. He was one mean kitty.

“And yet, she picked up your call,” Meg retorted.

The only response was a decidedly feline yowl, and Julie bit back a horrified laugh. Poor Anne. That must have been one hell of a bet to lose.

Meg snickered. “So…inquiring minds want to know who occupied the man-sized shoes beside you in the picture. Your feet looked rather chummy.”

“She found a cabana boy,” Anne shouted from the background.

Sighing, Julie gave in. She wasn’t sure she was ready to share everything she’d been feeling and doing with Lukas—perhaps because she hadn’t sorted it all out for herself yet—but her friends were smart enough to know when she was hiding something and persistent enough to pry it out of her. “He’s not a cabana boy. He’s a physics professor.”

“Oh, nice.” Meg hummed. “Smart is sexy.”

“Who’s smart?” Anne asked. “At least put the phone on speaker so I can hear too.”

“Hang on,” Meg said. There was a soft beep and then the connection became a little more static-filled. “Julie said the guy was a physics professor and I said that smart is sexy. There, you’re all caught up, Anne.”

A hiss and snarl came through the line, then Anne asked, “The really important question isn’t what he does for a living, it’s did you bang him yet?”

“Yes, I did.”

She whooped gleefully. “Go, Julie! I knew you could do it.”

“We really need to muzzle her,” Julie said, rolling her eyes even though her friends couldn’t see it.

Meg snorted. “Tell me about it. We can get a matching one for the drama llama mama.”

“She’s being extra bad this year?” Though how much
extra
Anne’s mom could possibly get in the bad department, Julie wasn’t sure. The woman was a world champ of drama. Julie picked up her brush and went to work on her hair again. She still had to finish getting ready for dinner.

Meg groaned. “I have never been so grateful to get an impromptu visit from anyone when Finn’s dad and his girlfriend showed up at his house. They were planning a skiing trip, but there’s a snowstorm in Banff, so they switched their tickets to SFO.”

“Thank God for bad weather, then.” Julie got the last tangle out of her hair and then went to dig through her suitcase for a bra and panties.

“Uh. Huh.” Meg’s voice dropped. “Karen’s not been so lucky. She and Tate had a huge fight. She’s camping out on Anne’s couch. I think…they might be breaking up.”

Julie’s knees went weak and she stumbled back to plop on the side of the bed. Her stomach tightened. “Oh no.”

“Are you really surprised?” Meg asked quietly.

“No, but I’m really sad for her.”

She sighed. “Hugo seems positively cheerful compared to her.”

Since Meg’s depressive basset hound always seemed borderline suicidal, that was really saying something. Julie shook her head. “Ouch.”

Anne answered, and her voice was clearer, as if she was closer to the phone. “If that idiot could have taken a few minutes away from his work to pay attention to Karen, this wouldn’t have happened. It’s too bad. I always liked Tate, even if he was an all-work no-play workaholic.”

“Me too,” Julie and Meg said.

Julie remembered being a bridesmaid at the wedding, and Karen had looked so damn happy. It was hard to remember exactly when that happiness had faded and the discontent had begun to reflect on her friend’s face whenever she talked about her husband. Poor Karen. All that promise and love and it had gone up in smoke. Julie had had her fair share of breakups, and they were never easy, but a divorce had to be so much worse.

Her chest squeezed tight in sympathy. “Is there anything I can do from here? Would a phone call help, or would she rather not talk about it right now?”

“I think she asked to stay on my couch instead of Meg’s because she knew my family would be a distraction…and because Finn and Meg being all love birdy would have made her feel worse.” For once, the indomitable Anne was subdued. “She hasn’t wanted to talk about it at all, so if you do call her, make sure you discuss anything else, okay?”

“Okay.” Julie let out a slow breath. “You’ll give her a hug from me?”

“I will,” Meg promised.

“Do you guys know what the fight was about?” Splitting up during the holidays had to be hard. That must have been one nasty blowup, especially since Karen was usually pretty even-keeled. Which had always been a nice balance in their group. Meg and Karen were the ones who found a way out of trouble when Anne decided to try something crazy and Julie had egged her on because she wanted to know if it would be any fun.

Fun. The word hadn’t been part of Julie’s vocabulary for the last year, but as she’d told Lukas, she was doing better. She’d bet if she talked to him about what was going on with Karen, he’d understand. He’d been through a divorce, and he might have some ideas for how to help her friend get through this. It was amazing how easy Julie found it to confide in him. She’d told him things she’d never even told her best friends.

Meg broke into her thoughts. “We haven’t heard what they fought over, no. Karen hasn’t said and we’ve been too afraid to push. She’s looking pretty fragile right now, so we’re just trying to keep her occupied with holiday preparations. Anne’s nutty sisters have actually been a big help on that score. You know they need a full-time referee when they get together.”

“Yeah, and that’s usually my job, but I’m letting Karen handle them this time,” Anne said. “It’s been entertaining to watch. They’ve never seen her lay down the law before. My mom was doing her drama queen routine, and she was so shocked she about crapped her pants when Karen told her to suck it up and grow a pair.”

“Ha.” Julie giggled. “I’ve been telling people for years that she’s tougher than she looks.”

Meg huffed. “She had to be to deal with the two of you over the years. We’d both have been gray-haired and locked in a loony bin before we graduated high school if we
hadn’t
grown a pair.”

Julie dissolved into laughter, while Anne protested, “Ah, come on. We weren’t
that
bad. We never got you guys arrested or anything.”

“Well,” countered Julie, “there was that one time Auntie Eloise had to talk the cops out of impounding my car because we were speeding down Highway 1 so fast.”

“Only because we were trying to get away from that motorcycle gang who didn’t take it so well when I hosed them down with grape juice.” Anne’s voice rose. “It was an accident, I swear!”

That did it. Gales of laughter followed Anne’s claims of innocence, and Julie had to wipe tears from her eyes. “We had some good times, didn’t we?”

“You called that a
good
time?” Meg queried. “Karen and I were shitting bricks in the backseat.”

“No, what made it a good time was telling Auntie Eloise what happened and watching her try to be stern and not laugh.”

Meg chortled. “Okay, yeah, that was funny. You’re just lucky your parents were out of town that weekend and that Eloise didn’t snitch on you.”

“She didn’t have to. The cops did, remember?” Julie had been grounded for two months for that one. It probably would have been worse, but her parents had been shocked that she’d gotten into serious mischief like that. Normally, their high jinks had been a little less illegal.

“Yeah, but if your parents had been there, your car would have been impounded,” Meg argued. “Which is worse than being grounded.”