His Perfect Match (16 page)

L
iz awoke to a heavy weight on her hip bone, and the sound of the television in the background. She yawned and stretched and the dead weight shifted with her.

“Morning, sweetheart,” she muttered, burying her head beneath the covers to cling to the last tiny remnant of sleep.

“Morning, Mommy. Hey, did you know they have
SpongeBob
here?”

“No, I did not,” she muttered. “Lucky us, huh?”

“Uh-huh, and a lot of other stuff, too.” The weight lifted from her hip and Marc's bright, cheerful, fully awake face suddenly appeared over her. “I'm hungry.”

She looked up at her son, knowing her respite was now officially over. “Of course you are.”

“Can we order room service like they do in the
movies?” His eyes lit up as if ordering room service was some great adventure.

“Why not?” Ignoring her stiff body, Liz sat up in the bed. She reached beside the bed and grabbed the large cloth menu. “Go see if Aunt Dee wants something.”

Marc scrambled off the bed and took off into the other room. Liz only shook her head, wondering if she'd ever had that kind of energy. Within two minutes he was back.

Gone was the happy smile, his young face looked solemn. “There is something wrong with Aunt Dee.”

Liz was on her feet in an instant and hurrying into the other room. As she approached the bed, she heard her aunt moan. “Aunt Dee? What's wrong?” She tried to pull the covers back to see her aunt's face.

Dee held the covers up. “Nothing, I'm fine.”

Liz used her greater strength to slowly peel back the covers. “No, you're not. What's wrong?”

Dee looked up at her sheepishly. “Remember how you told me to go easy on the salmon last night?”

Liz's mouth twisted in understanding. “If I remember right, it wasn't just the salmon. It was the katsu, and the char siu and pretty much anything else that passed you on a tray.”

Dee's eyes narrowed on her niece's face. “You don't have to be so smug about it.”

Marc was standing beside the bed, his worried eyes going from his mother to his aunt. Liz turned to her son. “Remember when we went to the carnival last year and you ate all that junk food and your tummy hurt?”

He nodded in understanding.

“Well, Aunt Dee ate too much junk food last night.”

His brow smoothed in understanding. “Oooh.” The
frown reappeared. “Are you gonna have to give her one of those things in her bottom, Mommy?”

Dee's eyes widened. “Say what now?”

Liz laughed. “No, Aunt Dee's a little old for a children's enema. But there are other things we can give her to help.”

Liz rested her palm on her aunt's forehead just to assure herself that there was no fever. “I'll call room service and see if they have some kind of antacid tablets.”

Dee nodded before burrowing back under the covers. Liz quickly called room service and asked for the antacid tablets as well as breakfast for Marc.

When the breakfast and medicine arrived, they were not brought by room service. Liz just stared in dumbfounded wonder as Darius pushed the cart into the room. Dressed in another of the linen tunics he seemed to favor, today he'd matched it with another pair of long stone-colored safari shorts and black open-toed sandals.

“Morning, Uncle Darius.” Marc raced to the man and wrapped himself around his waist as if they hadn't seen each other in years and not just a few hours.

“Morning, champ, I brought your breakfast.” He sat the tray of cereal, toast and orange juice on the table before turning to Liz with the bottle of antacid tables. “Everything okay? I heard someone has an upset stomach.”

“It's Dee. I'm afraid she enjoyed the luau a little too much last night.” Liz accepted the bottle from him and went in to give a couple of the tablets to Dee, who gratefully took the chewable tablets and quickly burrowed back under her covers.

A knock on the door caused Liz to turn and Dee to peek out from under her covers. “How are you feeling, Dee?”

“Miserable.” She groaned. “You know, there should
be some kind of limit to how much you can eat at a luau, like how much you can drink at a bar before the bartender cuts you off.”

Darius chuckled. “Well, the bar was well-watched last night, but I guess I should've kept my eye on the caterers, as well.”

“No, it's not your fault, Darius.” Liz glanced back at her aunt. “Most people know their own limitations.”

“As you can see, I'm not going to get any sympathy from her,” Dee grumbled.

“Well, I was coming to get you all for our tour, but I guess that's going to have to wait a couple of days.”

Dee shook her head. “No, please, don't let me stop you.”

“I'm not going to leave you like this,” Liz insisted.

Dee arched an eyebrow at her niece. “No offense, but being alone is better than seeing ‘I told you so' in your eyes all day long.”

Liz was torn between wanting to spend the day with Darius and caring for her sick aunt. “No, Aunt Dee. Really, I couldn't.”

“Please, Darius, help me here. I mean, I love the girl but Florence Nightingale she is not.”

“Hey!” Liz frowned at her aunt. “That's mean.”

“Look, I'm just going to keep taking these tablets, sleep and let this thing work its way out of my system. There is absolutely no reason why you should sit around here watching that happen.”

Liz glanced at Darius who was remaining strangely quiet and found his eyes tracing over the features of her face. She looked backed at Dee. “Are you sure?”

“Absolutely. And if I need anything, I'll just call Mr. Helpful from last night.”

“That would be Alika, he's my assistant,” Darius added.

Fighting down the guilt of wanting to be with Darius, Liz was still hesitant to leave her sick aunt.

“Darius, can you give us a moment?” Dee said.

He glanced at Liz and then Dee. “Sure.” Without another word, he turned and walked back into the living room of the suite.

Dee stretched out her hand and Liz took it as she came closer to the bed.

“Sit.” Dee tugged gently.

Liz sat on the side of the bed.

“I appreciate that you want to stay here with me, really I do. But we only have a few days here and you should try to live those days to the fullest.” She looked directly into Liz's eyes. “Who knows when you're going to have another opportunity like this, Liz.” She glanced toward the doorway.

Liz huffed. “Probably never,” she whispered more to herself than Dee.

“Go.” Dee leaned forward and placed a soft kiss on her cheek. “Have a good time. And don't worry about me. I'll be fine.”

Liz rose from the bed. “Okay, but I have my cell phone if you need me.”

“Don't worry about me—go.”

A little over an hour later, Alika had been assigned the task of checking on Dee throughout the day, as Darius, Liz and Marc climbed into the Range Rover that would take them around the area on their tour.

“This area is called the Coromandel Peninsula,” Darius said, guiding the truck down the driveway away from the resort and onto the main highway. Before long, Liz realized the island was covered not just in beautiful
flowers but in lush greenery of every kind. Tall, ancient trees with leaves as green as emeralds hung over the road, shading it from the bright afternoon sun. Within an hour, they'd come to a huge waterfall, and she could only imagine how many gallons of water poured over the huge brown rocks in the course of just one day.

“Can we go swimming in it?” Marc asked.

Liz laughed. “That may not be the best idea, sweetie.”

“Definitely not the best idea,” Darius seconded.

So instead they stood on the cliff top just enjoying the view. Marc tossed the occasional rock toward the huge waterfall, and then they were off to the coast to catch a ferry to Pauanui Wharf for lunch.

On the ferry ride, Liz was once again struck by the deep blue of the water and the rugged beauty of the surrounding islands. Although most of the local islands were inhabited to some degree, man had yet to leave a mark on the area. In this small corner of the world, nature was still winning the fight.

They stopped at a small restaurant that Darius swore served the best seafood he'd ever had, and after several minutes of deliberation, they ended up trying everything from oysters to squid to blue mackerel.

Later they crossed back over to Tairua Island and Darius explained how Tairua use to be a stand-alone island but was now connected to the mainland by the tiny strip of land that they crossed going back and forth to the hotel resort.

They drove in the Range Rover for little under a half hour until they came to a place called Hahei Beach to swim. Marc raced ahead, eager to get to the water and swim for the first time since arriving. He left the adults to find their own way.

“Marc, be careful,” Liz called to his back as he sprinted to the beach.

Marc paused only temporarily as he passed by a huge opening in the side of the mountain. “Uncle Darius, what's that?”

“Cathedral Cove. It's like a mini cave.”

“Cool!” For a moment the boy was torn between exploring the cove and swimming, but the blue water won him over and away he went.

“You would never imagine he'd just had major life-changing surgery less than four months ago, would you?” Liz asked with a shake of her head.

Darius smiled at his son as he stopped to collect rocks and twigs. “No, you wouldn't.” As they were passing by the cove, Darius stopped Liz, pulling her against his body. He wrapped his arms around her waist. “One night we're coming back here, just you and me, and we're going to make love here.”

She smiled seductively. “Promises, promises.”

They spent the afternoon swimming in the cool Hahei waters, Darius and Liz mostly avoiding being constantly splashed by Marc who never seemed to tire of the game. By the time they pulled up in front of the hotel later than evening, Marc was sound asleep.

Darius turned off the truck and turned on the seat to face Liz. “Well, I was going to give you a tour of the hotel next, but apparently that's going to have to wait for another day.”

“Apparently,” she chuckled. “But this was a terrific day, even without the hotel tour. Thanks for taking us around.” She glanced back at her sleeping son. “I think I can speak for both of us when I say we had a great time.”

“Think you could live here?”

“What?”

“You heard me.”

“I heard you, but I don't think I understood you.”

He stared at her for several seconds before nodding. “No, you understood, you just don't want to answer the question. Fair enough, you didn't say no right off.”

She reached over and touched his arm. “Darius, what exactly are you saying?”

“I'm asking you to marry me, Liz.”

She frowned, then looked at her son.

He shook his head. “No, no this is not about Marc. This is about you and me. Of course, having him in my life every day would be perfect, but that is not why I'm asking so don't confuse the matter.”

“Then why else?”

His eyes widened as if surprised by the question.

“Because I love you, of course, and I thought—”

“I do,” she confirmed quickly. No matter whatever else was said, she would not have him walking away once again believing she felt nothing for him.

“Then what's the problem?”

“We could never have a regular relationship, Darius. Not after everything that has happened.”

“How can you…” He paused, leaned closer to her and lowered his voice to a whisper. “How can you sit here and say that after last night?”

Liz folded her arms across her chest and simply stared at him.

“What?” he asked, his brows scrunched in obvious annoyance.

“I'm just amazed. You haven't changed at all. Here
I was worried that you had changed too much, and you haven't changed at all.”

One of the thick eyebrows shot up. “Neither have you apparently. You still don't know what the hell you want.”

Liz had had enough. She got out of the car and closed her door, but before she could open the door to the back seat to carry Marc back to their bungalow, Darius had gotten out and come around the car.

“You are as controlling as ever!” she hissed at him. “You still think that just because you want something a certain way, it should be that way.”

“If it makes sense—why not?!”

“Darius, you can't just expect me to drop everything and move around the world because we were together one night.”

“If you had no intention of having a relationship with me then what was last night about?”