Page 195 of The Nanny and the Beefcake
Shit.
He couldn’t let her know what he’d gotten up to.
“I didn’t sneak off. You ran into Shandra, and the two of you started talking yoga. It gave me time to wander.”
He wasn’t exactly lying.
“You came back with that look on your face,” she said, watching him closely.
“What look?”
“The very-pleased-with-yourself beefcake smirk.”
“This one?” he asked, curling his lips.
She sighed, dreamy-eyed. “Yes, it seems to have quite an effect on me now.”
“The desire to bang your gong is gone?” He leaned in, ready to let the beefcake in him kiss her into oblivion, but she pressed her fingertips to his lips, thwarting his efforts.
“You never mentioned where you went,” she said or maybe accused. That glint in her eyes was downright formidable.
Good thing the British Beast could match that challenging air.
“I was a six-five guy in a little Hawaiian market. I’m not sure anyone could lose sight of me, plum.”
“So, you’re not going to tell me what you were up to?”
He would—just not yet.
A sparkle had caught his eye in one of the shops across from the open-air market. As if the glittery trinket had called out to him, he’d wandered into the quaint shop to investigate. Minutes later, he’d walked out with a small wooden box.
“I was listening to my chi, love. That’s all. I was a man on a Hawaiian island going with the flow, one with the universe.”
He widened his beefcake grin.
When in doubt, mix in a bit of yoga-speak.
“Is that so?” she pressed, raising an eyebrow.
“Yep, and you would have known if I’d gotten into trouble, like, for example, chucking vibrators in the middle of a tropical flea market. Had I done that, that news would have made it to outer space by now.”
She shook her head. “You’ve made your point. But…”
“What, plum?”
“I’m not sure what we’ll do the day Sebastian learns that I wasn’t throwing mini torpedoes at you.”
That night did seem like it happened eons ago. And look how far they’d come.
“By then, plum, there will have been so many viral videos that ours will be lost in the web of sexual deviancy,” he answered, cupping her face in his hand. For the first time in a long time, he liked thinking about what was to come.
And honestly, screw social media!
He’d only checked his accounts a handful of times while they were away. And yes, he and Libby had garnered some of the internet’s spotlight thanks to Milo’s post. Last he looked, the kid had gotten over a million likes. But he didn’t mind that kind of publicity. The young man was genuinely excited about boxing. And if it brought a bit of attention to the island or his family’s business, nothing would make him happier. When they did venture into town, the people of Moloka’i had been nothing less than discrete and hospitable, allowing them to explore the area without interruption. For that, he was abundantly grateful.
But that bubble of privacy was about to pop.
With the big fight less than a week away, they’d be walking into a media circus once they returned to Denver.
