Her Perfect Getaway (4 page)

Elizabeth closed the door and
leaned against it.

“Who was that?”
Sullivan asked, tugging his t-shirt down.

“Joslyn. She has the completely
wrong idea.”

He grinned. “Well, we can correct
her assumption, or we can make it true.”

Her heart kicked, hard, and she
stared. Was he offering to fulfill her fantasy? Was she willing to
let him, with her friends waiting downstairs?

No, if she acted on her desires,
she wanted the time to focus on him, not worry about her
friends.

“I should wash the salt water out
of my hair,” she murmured, and slipped past him into the
bathroom.

***

Sully had never signed on to be the
tour guide for a bachelorette party. He’d figured it would be easy,
show them the sights, let them have a spa day, taken them dancing,
whatever. Pretty easy. He hadn’t expected to actually like any of
them, and the serious brunette more than the others.

He’d been impressed with her
determination this morning on the surfboard, even when he could
tell she was starting to hurt. And the fact that she’d looked
damned fine in that bathing suit—which she’d now exchanged for a
tank top and shorts—hadn’t helped. Now he couldn’t take his eyes
off her as she interacted with her friends, and the petite brunette
who’d showed up at the door just when he’d been about to kiss her
couldn’t stop watching him, and Elizabeth didn’t look at him at
all.

She had to know what he was
thinking. Gorgeous woman. Tiny hotel room, naked in the
shower.

He shifted in his chair and fought
his reaction to her.

Just then she sent him a glance
from beneath her eyelashes, her cheeks turned a little pink, and
the battle was lost. At least he was sitting down.

“So what time is our helicopter
tour?” Bailey asked, popping a strawberry into her
mouth.

“One. Then we’ll get back here, you
ladies can change for the sunset cruise, and we’ll go meet the
boat.”

“And we’ll get to see the volcanoes
and all that from the helicopter?” Haven asked.

“No, those are on the Big Island.
We’ll see the Diamondhead crater, though, which used to be a
volcano. We are going to see some pretty incredible sights. The
flight’s about an hour. None of you get sick flying, do
you?”

The women shook their
heads.

“Good. But to be on the safe side,
I have some Dramamine if you get sick either flying or on the boat.
And don’t forget your cameras.”

***

An hour and a half later, Sully
stood on the tarmac and watched the ladies shuffle about while the
pilot, Kahale, waited patiently.

“One of you want to sit up here
with me?” Kahale asked, looking at Sully.

“I will,” Joslyn volunteered,
practically vaulting into the passenger seat.

Sully shrugged and looked at the
spot she’d vacated, right next to Elizabeth. Elizabeth was buckled
in, otherwise Sully was pretty sure she would have traded places
with one of her friends. As it was, he’d be sitting right next to
her, leaning over to point out places of interest. Yeah, that
suited him just fine. He hauled himself into the helicopter and
plopped beside her, making a big show of buckling in. She hadn’t
spoken to him since they joined the other women at brunch, but he
was pretty sure she’d been just as interested as he was in that
kiss. Would it have led to something more? Right now he really
wanted to find out.

He let his knee ride against her
knee as Kahale’s partner closed the helicopter door and Kahale
started the engine. She didn’t move away immediately, which made
him wonder—interested, or saving face in front of her
friends?

She gripped the arm of her seat as
the helicopter lifted from the tarmac. He shifted a bit so his hand
was in grabbing distance, if she wanted. His shoulder touched hers
and she relaxed a bit.

***

It should be a sin for a man to
smell so good. What puzzled Elizabeth as his scent wrapped around
her, was that he’d used her soap and her shampoo. He should smell
like her. Instead, that outdoor scent that must be bonded to his
DNA came through, and she wanted to bury her face against his chest
and breathe it in.

The way his knee rested against
hers didn’t help, either, and he seemed to be almost curved toward
her. Well, of course, he wanted to look out the window, but he
seemed closer than necessary, and his breath was warm against the
side of her throat. Her nipples just had to respond by tightening,
not to be missed in her knit top.

“There’s your hotel,” he said as
the helicopter flew toward the beach.

“Lots of people on the water now,”
she said, recognizing the shakiness in her own voice, hoping he
attributed it to the vibrations of the helicopter.

“Gorgeous day,” he
replied.

“I guess you come on a lot of these
tours.”

“About once a week during the
summer, weather permitting.”

“Does the weather ever not permit?”
She looked over her shoulder at him.

He grinned. “Very
rarely.”

She turned her attention back to
the window. It might have been her imagination, but she thought he
shifted closer. She could feel the heat of his chest against her
back. She was vaguely aware of her friends taking pictures, of him
pointing out other sites, like some bay that was good for
snorkeling, steep cliffs, and a mountain with the un-politically
correct name of Chinaman’s Hat. But his leg rested fully against
hers now, and every time he pointed out another attraction, his arm
brushed hers, no doubt on purpose. She sensed the heat of his gaze
on her nipples, which ached with arousal. If they were alone, she
would have crawled on his lap and let him end this torture. Was
there a helicopter equivalent of the Mile High Club?

Maybe if Joslyn hadn’t interrupted,
he would have kissed her and would have been terrible at it and she
could stop letting her thoughts wander that direction.

Only she was pretty sure he
wouldn’t be terrible.

The helicopter turned inland, over
mountains, less and less populated the farther they
went.

“Where do you live, Sully?” Haven
asked over the roar of the rotor.

“In Honolulu, a little house
there.”

“I sort of pictured you as living
in a little house on the beach,” Elizabeth said. A sharp glance
from Bailey told her she’d revealed too much, and she bit down on
the inside of her lip.

“Would love to, but not on what a
teacher gets paid. It’s not a bad bike ride to the beach, though.
And I don’t stay home too much.”

“Bike, as in motorcycle?” Bailey
asked.

“Yup.”

Elizabeth’s head spun a little at
the image of him straddling a motorcycle. She hated the things as a
rule, but the idea of him zipping toward the beach to surf, sent
tingles all along her erogenous zones.

What was she doing, getting turned
on by this guy with an obvious Peter Pan syndrome? He had to be
thirty, living in a small house, surfing, leading guided tours.
Sure, he was a teacher, but he seemed like one of the students he
taught.

She turned back to the window,
determined to squash all those errant thoughts.

They flew through the greenest,
most impressive mountains she’d ever seen. A sliver of white
appeared amid all the green and she leaned closer to the window,
frowning.

“Sacred Falls,” Sullivan said,
close to her ear. “Thirteen hundred feet. Pretty
amazing.”

“I don’t see a river.”

“It’s there, beneath the canopy.
You used to be able to hike to the bottom, but there was a
landslide a few years back so the area is closed.”

“They didn’t get it
cleared?”

“People died. And it’s in a canyon.
It was never very safe, from what I understand.”

“You never went?”

“We moved here in 1997, and that
happened in 1999. There was a lot to see, and Mom was busy with her
surfing. We spent most of the time on the beach. Pretty soon we’ll
be seeing the Waimea Falls Park. I’ve been to a couple of weddings
there. Breathtaking,” Sullivan said.

“We thought about having our
wedding there, but settled on one on the beach instead,” Haven
said.

Sullivan settled back in his seat.
“Why did you choose Hawaii for your wedding?”

“My fiance loves tropical settings,
but usually in South and Central America. We thought this would be
a treat for both of us.”

“And her parents promised her the
world,” Bailey added with a wink at her friend. “She decided to
take them up on it.”

“It’s once in a lifetime,” Haven
declared with certainty.

“There it is,” Sullivan pointed,
and all the women craned to see as Kahale circled the venue. “More
spectacular up close, of course, with the flowers and the peacocks
wandering around.”

They flew from the park inland,
over the plains, and he explained that the Dole pineapple farm was
somewhere below them. Then they circled around and flew over Pearl
Harbor. Elizabeth’s heart clutched unexpectedly at the sight of the
Arizona Memorial.

When they landed, it was almost
three.

“Check-in for the sunset cruise is
at four thirty,” he reminded them as they got into the van. “You
don’t have much time to get ready. I’ll be back around four
fifteen.”

“My wedding planner is joining us.
You knew that when you made the reservations, right?”

“I did know that.”

He sounded less than enthusiastic.
Poor guy, surrounded by women talking weddings.

“Do we dress up?” Joslyn
asked.

“Nothing here is dressy, but maybe
a dress.” He looked at Elizabeth when he said it. “If you’re not
too tired afterwards, maybe I can show you a couple of
clubs.”

Joslyn squealed. “That would be
awesome. Okay, let’s go.” She grabbed Elizabeth’s hand and dragged
her toward the hotel.

“So I’ve been dying to ask since
brunch,” Joslyn said, shoving Elizabeth into the elevator and
dragging Haven and Bailey in, too. “How was it?”

“How was brunch?” Elizabeth asked,
deliberately obtuse.

“Sex with Sully!”

Haven and Bailey stared. “You had
sex with Sully?”

Elizabeth waved her hand in front
of her face, knowing her blush belied the truth. “No, I did not. I
had surf lessons with Sully and he came up to shower before brunch,
so he wouldn’t have brine and sunscreen on him all day.”

“And you didn’t join him?” Joslyn
asked.

“I’ve known him for, what, twelve
hours?”

“He’s nice, he’s hot, and he seems
interested,” Haven said.

“Yes to all those things,”
Elizabeth said. “And he’s got the developmental age of about
sixteen.”

“So? All you want is good sex. Give
it a shot. We’ll make ourselves scarce tonight,” Joslyn
said.

“And what if it’s not? Then we’re
stuck with him for four more days. Talk about awkward.”

“It will be hot. Those man-boys are
really into sex. And he’s a teacher. Maybe you’ll learn
something.”

Chapter Three

Sullivan had changed, too, into a
solid blue shirt that made his eyes almost glow, and khaki cargos
and brown boots. When Elizabeth passed him on the gangplank, she
could still smell her soap on him, so he hadn’t
showered.

“You look nice,” he said, taking in
the red floral print halter dress that bared her back and ended
above her knees. Then he looked past her. “You all look nice,” he
told her friends.

A little shiver of delight at being
singled out ran through her, and she let him put his hand on the
small of her back to guide her onto the boat. Haven hung toward the
back, chatting excitedly with her wedding planner,
Jennifer.

The yacht was an odd-looking thing,
as if it had been designed for space travel instead of ocean
travel.

“It looks like a giant stepped on a
cruise ship,” Bailey said, and that was exactly it.

It was wide and short, and almost
rectangular. The deck was covered. Windows lined both levels,
which, once they walked in, were lined with chairs on the lower
deck and tables on the upper. Sullivan saw the women to their
table, took their drink orders and walked to the bar at the end of
the ship. Elizabeth was glad the bar was behind her because she was
afraid she wouldn’t be able to tear her gaze from him.

Joslyn nudged her beneath the
table. The trouble with having best friends was that they saw way
more than they should. In a short time, he returned with the
drinks.

“Seems like today we’re doing a lot
of sitting and looking,” Sullivan said, sitting back in his own
chair and taking a sip of his beer. “Tomorrow, snorkeling before we
drive out to the Waialae Beach Park with Haven. Any of you ever
done that before?”

None of them had.