“You’re making this really difficult,” Trey said, frowning.
“Then maybe we should stay at this boring party a little longer,” Sophie suggested. “And get to know each other better.”
“So I’m going to have to charm you?”
Sophie nodded slowly, a smile curling her lips. “Yes. And maybe, if you’re lucky, I’ll let you take me home at the end of the evening.” She smoothed her hands over the front of his shirt. “So, Pete, what do you do for a living? I want to know everything about you.”
7
THE STORM RAGED OUTSIDE, the wind rattling at the old shutters and threatening to blow in the front door. It was raining so hard the sound from the tin roof had almost become background music. The darkness was broken only by the flashes of lightning and a wavering light from the old lantern Trey had found.
Sophie handed Trey the empty champagne bottle, then launched into another verse of “The Twelve Days of Christmas.” They’d begun singing Christmas carols after the effects of the champagne had set in, Sophie standing before him in her pareu and fumbling through “pipers piping” and “geese a-laying.”
Though Sophie wasn’t much of a singer, Trey found her performance endlessly charming. But when she got to “five golden rings,” Trey pushed off the wall and playfully covered her mouth with his hand. “No more,” he cried. “I can’t take it.”
She threw her arms around his neck and kissed him playfully. “It’s Christmas Eve. What else are we going to do?”
In truth, there were plenty of things that they could have been doing. They had one condom left and Trey intended to make passionate love to Sophie before the sun came up in the morning. And this time, he was determined it would be more than just a physical release for them both.
The doubts and insecurities that they’d both felt building had been banished by their argument. Like a valve releasing steam, they’d simply let go. They were laughing and having fun, dissolving into silly giggles and outrageous teasing, then taking time out to kiss and tease each other.
Trey couldn’t remember the last time he’d felt this close to a woman. Maybe he’d never experienced it. He felt her laughter in the depths of his soul, as if the sound of her voice was vital to life. Like eating or breathing.
He couldn’t stop touching her, couldn’t seem to stop watching her every move. Every time she looked at him, he found some new facet of her beauty to explore. And when he finally realized what was happening, Trey wasn’t surprised or even concerned. He was falling in love with Sophie and it was the most natural thing in the world.
“Damn,” he said, rubbing his forehead. “I forgot my presents.” He pressed his finger to her lips before she could begin another song. “Stay right here.”
“I thought we weren’t going to open them until tomorrow morning,” she said.
“If it will get you to stop singing that ridiculous song, then you can open them tonight.” He walked over to the front door, where they’d piled all their belongings to get them out of the rain. Bending down, Trey grabbed his bag then returned to the center of the room. He sat down on the floor, pulling her down with him, then handed her three small packages. They looked rather festive, wrapped in yellow legal paper and tied with palm fronds.
“Where did you get presents?” she said.
“Didn’t I tell you? There’s a Bloomingdale’s on the other side of the island. You can take the subway right to the front door.”
“What is Bloomingdale’s?”
He nodded. “A department store? In New York City? At Christmas, they have the most wonderful window decorations. Someday, maybe we’ll go there and see them together.” He pointed to the smallest package. “Go ahead. Open that one first.”
The thought of them spending Christmas together in New York was almost enough to make up for the pathetic trove of gifts he’d managed to find. He wanted to show Sophie the world, all the wonderful things she hadn’t yet seen. And then he wanted to show her all those that she had, so they might experience them together.
“Pretty wrapping paper,” she said as she tore open the first package. Inside, she found a chocolate bar. A gasp slipped from her lips and she seemed genuinely surprised. “Where did you get this? Oh, this is wonderful.”
“It was in my bag. But it had your name on it.” He’d given expensive jewelry to women and never gotten such an enthusiastic reaction.
Sophie wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him, lingering over his lips for a long time. “Thank you. We’ll have it for dessert.”
Trey handed her the next package. “And what’s this?” she asked.
“That’s actually yours already,” he said. “I figured, at least you’d like it.”
She pulled away the paper to discover a bottle of nail polish that had been sitting at the bottom of her purse for the past few months.
“It fell out of your purse when you pulled out the
“I’d like that,” she said with a laugh. “What a nice present.” Sophie held up the last package. “Maybe I should save this for tomorrow morning.”
“Open it now,” he said.
Trey had thought long and hard about this gift, but in the end decided to give it to her anyway. After all, at this point, he had nothing to lose. She glanced up at him as she ran her fingertip over the plastic card.
“It’s my frequent-flyer card,” he said. “I have a lot of miles. I thought you could decide where you wanted to go and…just go. I’ll get you a ticket. Paris, London. Wherever you want.” He paused, then reached out and took her hand. “We could meet. I could show you the sights. We could drive up to Malibu or shop at Bloomingdale’s or visit the Eiffel Tower.”
She stared down at the card and Trey said a silent prayer. If she accepted, then he knew there would be a time for them off this island-a chance at just a few days, maybe a week together in the real world.
“Thank you,” she murmured, her voice soft and filled with emotion. “It’s a wonderful gift.” Sophie glanced up, tears glistening in her eyes. “I’m sorry, I don’t have anything for you.”
He shrugged, surprised by her sudden emotion. “That’s all right. It was just something silly to do.”
“But it was nice,” Sophie said. “It was a very nice thing to do. It feels like Christmas now.”
“All right, continue with the song,” he said, hoping to cheer her mood again. “I believe you had stopped at five golden rings.”
“I don’t feel like singing.” She slowly got to her feet and walked to one of the windows, peering through the shutters at the storm outside. “This isn’t how I expected to spend Christmas Eve.” She glanced back at him, forcing a smile.
“You miss your father?”
“Yes. But that’s not it. The past few Christmases, my father and I would open gifts and then he’d drink too much and fall asleep in his chair. And I’d sit there and wonder if there was anyone else in the world quite as lonely as I was.” She sniffled, brushing away her tears with the back of her hand. Then a smile broke through. “But I’m not lonely now. This is the best Christmas I’ve had in a long time.”
The truth was, Trey didn’t want to be anywhere but here, with Sophie. And try as he might, he couldn’t feel guilty for finding some kind of pleasure in this time marooned on the island.
Trey got to his feet and joined her at the window. “Everything is going to be all right, Sophie. I promise.” It was the only thing he could think to say that might stop her tears. And yet Trey knew it was the truth. He would make everything right for her. And she’d never have another lonely Christmas again. Not if he had anything to say about it.
Sophie wrapped her arms around his waist and nuzzled her face into his chest. Running his hand over her hair, Trey kissed the top of her head. It was so easy to lose himself in the feel of her body touching his. But every kiss, every embrace was filled with more meaning and more intensity.
He drew back and wiped her cheeks with his thumbs. “Don’t cry.” He wrapped his arm around her waist, then
