Page 27 of Forbidden Hawaiian Nights
When she thought about that, she couldn’t resist smirking, but the tension was back full steam when, at a little after two in the afternoon, she heard the deep roar of his car as his driver pulled up outside her house.
The torrential rain of the day before had disappeared, replaced by the usual bright skies and warm sun. The weather here could be like that. All sound and fury one minute, gently caressing the next.
She opened the door and, even though she was well prepared, she still felt that automatic racing of her heart as she was confronted with him. Groundhog Day. That was what it was beginning to feel like. Whatever bracing talks she gave herself about self-control, one look at him and back she went to square one.
‘How’s the foot?’
Mia looked down then raised her eyes to his. ‘Much better.’
‘I’ve brought you this. Consider it a present.’ He held out a fancy crutch. ‘I’ll obviously try to ensure that you put as little weight on your foot as possible, but that’s not going to be possible much of the time.’ He watched as she hoicked the crutch under her armpit. ‘Unless,’ he drawled, ‘you want me to carry you…?’
‘I’ll be fine,’ Mia said hurriedly.
He’d taken her rucksack and hoisted it over his shoulder.
He looked sinfully, wickedly sexy. Denim jeans, the usual tan loafers and a fitted, V-necked grey tee shirt that did amazing things for his body.
Mia averted her eyes. Somehow, in the muddle of being talked into this trip, she had failed to pin him down on the details, and as she settled into the back seat of the car she turned to him and said, urgently, ‘I don’t even know where exactly we’ll be going…’
Max angled himself so that he was looking at her. ‘To see a bit more of the islands,’ he murmured. ‘Wasn’t that the recommended piece of advice so that I could have an idea of why all my dull and anodyne ideas were jettisoned? You told me that I needed to see the real Hawaii, so I’m just obeying orders.’
‘I can’t imagine you ever obeying orders,’ Mia said under her breath, but not so quietly that he didn’t pick it up, because he grinned and raised his eyebrows.
When he grinned like that, she thought distractedly, he was so…engaging. She could feel her natural defence mechanisms wobble a little. Four days! And she still didn’t know what those four days were going to look like!
All about work, of course, because this wasn’t a holiday, and he was a workaholic who would get his pound of flesh whatever the cost—but what was going to happen during downtime? There was only so much work they could reasonably be expected to do. What happened when the laptops got closed, the briefing was done and the accounts were put to bed? Even with his promise, she would remind him that after five her time would be her own to do with as she saw fit.
‘Do you have an itinerary?’ she asked briskly and frowned when he grinned a bit more.
‘Of sorts.’
‘What does that mean?’
‘It means that I got someone to run through what I should be expecting on the various islands and I made sure they sorted out our trip accordingly.’
‘You got someone…?’
‘Nat was very helpful, and his suggestions were reinforced by what the tourist guide at the hotel had to offer. In the absence of knowing anything about the place, I went with the flow and booked various venues accordingly.’
‘You should have asked me,’ Mia said accusingly and his grin widened.
Dammit, she wished he would stop doing that. It was all she could do not to be seduced into thinking that this was going to be fun, when his expression was light and his eyes were amused and the harsh, ruthless, arrogant self-assurance that wound her up so much was not in evidence.
‘I would have done,’ he said on a rueful, insincere sigh. ‘But I thought it best for you to focus on recovering after your little mishap. We can talk about the itinerary when we board the plane to Maui. That’s our first port of call.’
‘You do know that Maui is nicknamed the Beverley Hills Island, don’t you? Which is not exactly what I had in mind when it came to showing you the inspiration behind Izzy’s reworking of the hotel.’
‘But we have to start somewhere,’ Max murmured. ‘Actually, when it comes to luxury, we’ll be starting somewhat sooner…’
He jerked his head and Mia—who had not taken in where they were going, or even how much distance they had been covering in the smoothly purring luxury car—now saw that, yes, they had certainly arrived at the airport. But this was not the section of the airport with which she was familiar.
They were being driven to a shiny black jet and her mouth dropped open in amazement.
‘We’re getting there in this?’
Max nodded, already swinging his long body out of the car while his driver sprang into action and pulled open her door. Hand on the bonnet of the car, he leant in and met her eyes. ‘Less stressful than battling with the stampeding hordes at the airport.’
Impressed to death, she hobbled alongside him into the jet. It was ridiculously opulent, big enough to fit up to twelve people, but it was soon obvious that they would be the only occupants.
