“Guys, this is silly.” My voice is now hoarse from all the crying. “We aren’t going to find her, let’s just cut our losses and go to the resort. Maybe she’s at the Boise airport and someone found her.”
We had searched the entire airport as well as notified security. There was nothing else we could do.
“Meow…Meow…Meow.” Now I hear her in my head; just perfect. “Meow…Meow.”
Wait, is that...
My heart stops as Preston walks up with Mrs. Butterworth in his arms amidst several fresh scratches. “She was in the plane still. I had to pay the pilot to go back in and search for her in the cargo hold. She wouldn’t come to him so I had to crawl in there and get her out. Thus the scratches. I think she’s okay, just a little scared.” My hero.
Running to him, I pull her from his arms and plant a kiss right on his lips in front of Kristin and Brad, not only shocking myself but Preston and Mrs. Butterworth, considering she let out a low hiss. I didn’t expect it to feel like this. His lips are warm and oddly comforting, yet there’s a controlled passion behind them. Abruptly, I pull away and clench my fistsas his face smirks.
“Remind me to do you favors more often.” Preston answers, wiping an escaped tear from my eye. And I know it's cheesy, but I start crying again. Not because I’m sad, but because he cares enough to climb back into a plane and find my lost cat. Unfortunately I’m still shaken by the kiss, enough to walk in the wrong direction for my luggage.
Kristin and Brad both lift up their eyebrows in surprise before exchanging smug glances between themselves. Please, as if they had anything to do with this, plus it’s not like I’m marrying Preston. I’m just thankful and I wanted to show my thankfulness in a good way. But I’ll admit his lips did feel good against mine, in a platonic way of course. It wasn’t so great that I’d think about it the entire way to our resort, maybe.
****
“Holy cow!” I yell as we enter the town of Kaanapali. It’s the most beautiful place I’ve ever seen. Honest, I want to live here, just think! Then Mrs. Butterworth wouldn’t need sweaters anymore. Looking out the window, I take in the smell of fresh cut flowers and ocean. Does it always smell this nice here? I close my eyes in ecstasy as the car takes us around another corner down into the valley. The water is so blue it doesn’t even look real. Though I’ve complained about having to share this vacation with Preston, that’s the last thought in my head as I absorb the beauty of this place. Somehow it seems like a small sacrifice in comparison. Although I do wish I was with someone who wasn’t so infuriating, that way I would have a friend to explore the island. The look of love between Kristin and Brad tells me I won’t be seeing them much. After all, they’re in a penthouse suite, while Preston and I are in separate rooms. Hopefully, our rooms won’t have connecting doors, and perhaps they’ll be separated by a few stories as well.
Chapter Ten
We pull up to The Westin where we’re staying, and I gasp, letting my hand cover my mouth. It’s gorgeous. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a resort this pretty in my entire life. And to top it off, there’s a waterfall in the pool. My traitorous thoughts lead me to thinking about what Mr. December would look like swimming in the pool, and under the waterfall. I begin to overheat, compliments of my sinful thoughts, when I hear Brad start talking to the front desk manager.
“Brad and Kristin Holland checking in for four,” Brad says as he and Kristin approach the giant desk in the lobby. My mouth is still open. Mrs. Butterworth is now back in her cage patiently waiting for me to free her in the room.
Preston comes up beside me and asks, “What do you think? Beautiful, right?”
I smile and get ready to answer, but instead of words all I can do is nod. How can he already be that tan? We’ve been here five minutes and he already looks more tan than me. Guys should not be allowed to be prettier than girls; it just isn’t right, or fair.
My assumption about his good looks is confirmed as I watch several girls in swimsuits walk by and drop open their mouths. I even hear someone whisper “celebrities”. They can’t be talking about me, only him. The dark-hair-blue-eyed look I have is quite exotic, but that’s all I have going for me considering I’m shorter than most kids in middle school. He, however, has a whole lot of everything going on, from his tall build to his perfect hair and teeth. He needs to be humbled. And I now feel the need to be the person through whom that humbling comes. Not that I haven’t tried, mind you. It’s just hard not to get sidetracked around him.
“So,” Kristin says with a strained voice as she approaches us. Uh-oh, something is definitely wrong. “They double booked everything, which is fine.” She puts up her hands so I don’t panic, “It's fine. It’s just that you guys didn’t get the rooms you wanted. Actually, none of us did.”
I look to Brad for some sort of hint as to what is going on, but he just shrugs and smiles; figures.
“Where are we staying then?” I ask.
Brad and Kristin laugh awkwardly before giving us our room keys. Kristin hands me mine then says, “You’re both staying in their resort huts outside. Well, have fun. Meet us for dinner at five. Bye.”
And then, just like that, they’re gone, leaving me and Preston with Mrs. Butterworth.
“What exactly,” Preston muses while opening his pamphlet with the key card, “is a resort hut?”
“Well, I guess we’re about to find out.” Pointing at the little sign that says, ”Resort Huts this way”, I motion to him and grab my stuff. As long as there are no bugs, I’ll be fine.
Upon arriving at our little hut, I realize I’m more than fine. It’s beautiful! Except…“Preston?” I ask, trying not to sound scared. “What number does your hut key have?”
“Five. Why?” He asks leading me down the pathway.
I’m going to kill them. I’ll absolutely kill them.
“Oh, no reason…well, except mine says five, too.”
“We can’t stay in the same hut, Amanda. It’ll look bad,” he says shrugging, as if to say, “Find somewhere else to stay. I’m taking the hut.”
“I agree.” I catch up to him. “But she said it's overbooked.”
“Let’s at least go inside before we jump to conclusions,” Preston answers while unlocking the door.
And I know it’s silly to hear music when you see things as if you’re in a good movie, but I could swear at this moment, I hear music.
It isn’t just hut number five. It is honeymoon hut number five. Awesome. This could not get any worse. My only saving grace is the fact that there are two bedrooms in the hut, meaning I can lock my door every night. The entire living room is open to the outside, but there are nets you could pull down at night. It also leads directly to the pool, giving us a fantastic view of the waterfalls.
“This—“I start to say.
“—is awesome,” Preston finishes. “We have to stay here,“ He adds as he throws his stuff into the main room.
“Um, excuse me,” I say, putting my hands on my hips.
“What?” He asks truly not getting my sarcasm.
“What makes you think you get the big room?”
He shrugs. “Easy, because I’m bigger.”
He has a point. I’m not going to back down without a fight. “Okay fine,” I say, throwing my stuff onto the couch. “Let’s paper rock scissor for it.”
“You’re on.” He puts his hand into position then glares at me with those green eyes.
“Paper, Rock, Scissor,” we say at the same time.
“Hah! Scissor.” I yell as I cut through his paper. We go two more rounds, and I win. Then he does the most uncharacteristic thing I’ve ever seen him do. He takes my hands in his and gives me puppy dog eyes. He makes himself cry one single tear then leans in close and says, “Please, Amanda, pretty please may I have the room.”
My heart has stopped. Somebody call a paramedic; blood is no longer pumping through my system. “You irritate me,” I say breathless, willing the blood to return to my face and legs. My legs go weak and I collapse. Unbelievable, I can’t believe I just did that.
His body is so warm so inviting and strong. I hate myself for wanting to be held by him. Instead he steadies me onto my feet and winks. “I was just kidding but maybe I should try that trick more often on you. It seemed to work considering you were putty in my oh so capable hands.”
He should be slapped. I lift my hand to slap him just as he grabs it in his own. Then before I know it, he’s kissing me, and not a friendly kiss either. It’s a fireman kiss. A big girl kiss, if you will. The kind that leaves you breathless and aching for more. His lips are hot and possessive as he cups the back of my head with his hands. I should be pulling away, but I can’t seem to find the will power to do anything except return his intoxicating kiss. The pent up tension from the plane ride threatens to escape as he deepens the kiss. Alarms are going off in my head, yet I’m finding it difficult to remember my own name. The thought hazily occurs to me that he’s kissing me to provoke me.
I force my lips to pull from his, even though my entire body screams in protest, and successfully slap him across the face.
He’s breathing heavily as he answers, “That didn’t hurt.” He turns to walk into the small bedroom then laughs to himself. “I told you so.”
“What do you mean you told me so?” I yell after him.
“I knew you wanted to kiss me.” With that, he closes the door leaving me still stinging from the touch of his lips on mine. What was that?
Growling out of frustration, I slam the door to my bedroom. Once there I decide that now is as good of time as any to put on my bathing suit and soak up some sun. I put on my brand new green swimsuit from Guess and wrap my towel around my waist. Then I grab my sunglasses and stroll from my room only to stop dead in my tracks. In the living room is a very bare-chested man waiting for me.
“There you are,” Preston says, putting his Armani sunglasses on. What is it with this guy and name brand everything? I scowl as I notice that he’s dressed to go swimming as well. “I thought we should go swimming before dinner. Get a little bit of that aggression out, if you know what I mean.”
I nod my head and follow before he turns around to face me. “Plus, I think there’s a lot of tension between us. It might be good for us to swim for a while, unless you had other activities in mind.” His smile deepens as my face turns crimson.
“Nope. Swimming’s fine,” I answer and stride out toward the pool as fast as possible.
“Where’s the fire?” He calls, trying to catch up to me.
“Ha, ha. So funny.” I put on my large black sunglasses, looking to hold on to a little of my dignity.
He winks in return and leads me to a few lounge chairs. The air is thick like honey making it pleasurable to breathe. It feels good to relax. As I check my phone for messages, I notice Bobby has emailed me again, but after the infruriating kiss from Preston my heart just isn’t in it. It occurs to me that this is one path better left untaken, again.