Page 47 of Duty and Desire

He nodded. “Aulani suggested I might like the place. I did. I also liked the bartender. That day, I hardly noticed you. And then Kai came up with a suggestion of his own. If I wanted a main character for my book, I should think about you, because, as he put it, ‘there’smore to him than meets the eye’. He said there had to be a story. He also piqued my interest when he said you could be on the island because you were running from something.”

“Kai said that?” Then I reasoned Gio wouldn’t lie about something like that, not when all I had to do was ask Kai himself.

He nodded. “And then it felt as though everywhere I went, I saw you. On the beach, driving a boat, shopping, at a bar… And something about you aroused my curiosity.” Gio took a breath. “Your expression. It had this… lost quality to it, and it reminded me of myself.” His face contorted. “Because I was lost too.”

His words rendered me spellbound.

“I came back here, and for the first time in a long while, I wanted to write. You’d given me so many ideas, and I had to commit them to paper before the moment passed.” Gio waved the notebook. “Did you read the first pages?”

“Not in any depth. Seeing my name shocked me.”

“Yeah, I can understand that. I shouldn’t have used your real name—and if I’d created a character, he wouldn’t have been called Nick—but I was so excited to have ideas after going through a writing desert. I had you as a traveler with a broken heart, an artist seeking inspiration, a witness to a crime being tracked down by the bad guys, the survivor of a shipwreck, someone escaping from a cult, a scientist…”

I couldn’t help but smile. “You came up with all that—before we’d even spoken?”

He nodded. “And when we finally did, you intrigued me even more, although I felt bad about the trip around the island. I saw you sitting there, reading from your Kindle, and I couldn’t pass up on the opportunity to talk to you. The jaunt around the island was the perfect excuse.”

I pointed to the boat tied to the jetty. “Where was that at the time?”

“Moored at the ferry point.” He coughed. “With all my groceriesin it. I didn’t even think about them until we’d gone out into the lagoon.”

“And what about the hike? Was that research for your book too?”

“Initially yes, but there was another reason.” Gio met my gaze. “I’d met you, and I wanted to know more about you, because…”

“Because?” I prompted.

He didn’t respond right away, and I waited, my skin prickling.

“I wanted to know what it was about you that drew me in. Why I wanted to letyouin, when I hadn’t done that in years. And that hike we did? You’re right. I’d wanted to be inspired, but the more time I spent around you, the more I wanted it to continue.”

And I wanted to believe him.

“What about your notes? Me coming here to escape my repressive family?”

A heavy sigh rolled out of him. “That was wrong of me. But you need to understand.Noneof it would have ended up in a book.”

“Then why write it down?”

“Because I was trying to get back into the habit of writing again!” The words rang out, laced with an undercurrent of pain. “For the first time in ages, I wanted to write. It was like flexing a muscle that had been dormant for far too long.” He pointed to my cup. “Drink that before it gets cold.”

I picked it up without thinking and drank.

“You need to understand something. For as long as I can remember, I’ve loved writing. Getting up early to start work, crafting a story, honing it… That was everything to me—until it stopped. And although I tried to rekindle that flame, I couldn’t. So when the ideas finally started flowing again, even though they amounted to nothing more than a trickle, it felt so, so good. For the first time in several months, I had hope.” His Adam’s apple bobbed. “And when I realized you’d read my notes, when you left… Everything I’d been feeling, the positivity, the hope, the excitement… I lost it all. I didn’t want to write another word.” Another sharp bob as he swallowed once more. “But worse than any of that was the thought that I’d lost you.”

Oh God.

Gio walked toward me. “I know I’m only here for a short while, one of hundreds of people you must meet all the time, but… I can’t escape the feeling we could have something here. There’s a connection, and Friday night I thought we’d severed it. So I guess what I’m asking is… Doyoufeel we have a connection?”

I pushed my chair back and stood, my head spinning. I’d come there convinced Gio was a threat, but now?

“If you think you can’t get past this, I’ll understand.” The tremor in his voice undid me. “But you need to know. I never meant to hurt you.” His voice wavered again, his expression pained. “If only I?—”

I moved before he could finish, gripping the soft cotton of his tee, tugging him to me. We collided, both of us breathing erratically, and then I claimed his mouth.

The kiss was fierce, almost brutal. I crushed my lips against his. Gio’s hand met my jaw, holding me there, and I poured every ounce of longing into that kiss. I wanted it to erase the hurt, the anger, everything that could break us again. I let go of his tee and dug my fingers into his shoulders, anchoring myself, clinging to him, because in that moment, Gio was the only thing that mattered. I lost myself in that kiss, in the heat and the ache of it, hoping it had the power to heal, to say what words could not.

Then Gio broke the spell, his forehead touching mine, his breathing still ragged. “Thank you,” he whispered.

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