Anna stopped mid-fumble.
“You can see me?” Thank God, she continued to maintain her hair, post-spa treatment. And for remembering to add mascara to her morning beauty routine. Abdominal exercises too. Before the mascara.
“Yes, your camera’s working quite well.”
She planted her elbows on the table and threaded all ten fingers through her hair. “You’re going to have to talk me through this.”
Daniel laughed again. “Okay. Let’s start by closing out your browser.”
“My what?”
“Anna, can you see your email?”
“Yes.”
“Click on whatever you would normally if you were going to sign out for the night.”
When she wasn’t flustered, she could navigate her computer with confidence. Anna wiggled her mouse until she located its tiny arrow indicator and closed her mailbox. And there, framed in bright green, was Daniel’s face.
He wore reading glasses, stylish ones with thick, tortoiseshell frames, and he appeared to be handing papers to someone out of the camera’s range. His head turned, and he spoke, something that sounded like, “We’ll take care of this after lunch.”
When he looked at his screen, Anna took a sharp breath in through her nose. The years had been very kind to Daniel Strauss. “It’s you.”
His grin lit her screen, coaxed her into smiling back. “There you are!” he exclaimed. “I’ve been waiting to see that smile. Are you all packed for Mexico?”
Anna giggled. “Almost. Almost.”
“My office is cleared out for the next forty-five minutes. How are you?”
“Slightly frazzled. Yesterday, I spent an hour being upgraded so I could face you today,” she admitted.
“Upgraded?” he laughed. “Are you referring to plane tickets or computers or…what?”
“I went shopping for a new laptop, and I completely forgot the stores were having these massive, post-holiday sales. It was traumatic. But the salesperson also talked me into getting a new phone, so I think I’m fully up-to-date on all things electronic.”
“What holiday is it? Wait…” he said, shifting to the side and back. “My calendar tells me Monday was Thanksgiving in Canada. Did you have a nice celebration?”
“I did.”
He leaned away from the camera, tilting his chair, and rubbed the center of his chest. His first two fingers slipped between the buttons running down the front of his shirt, and his face went pensive. “Annalissa, my entire staff is wondering what’s gotten into me.”
“What do you mean?”
Daniel looked off-camera again, fingers tapping at his chest. “I’ve been distracted,” he admitted, “by you. And seeing you makes me wish I was getting on the next flight to Cabo. You look lovely, Annalissa, and now I’ll be unable to focus for the rest of the day, thereby validating my employees’ suspicions.”
The phone on his desk vibrated. His head and shoulders disappeared from the screen for a few seconds.
“No more distractions,” he promised when he came back into view. “How have you been?”
“Nervous.”
“But you said—”
“Yes, that seeing your face is lowering my stress level. From code red to orange.”
Daniel propped his elbows on his desk and palmed his forehead. A few curls, shot with silver, separated from the artful sweep of hair. Brown eyes sought hers.
“And now I’m back to red,” she admitted. “I swear I could touch my screen and feel your face.”
“It’s the retina display on your laptop. Makes everything look more real. Good thing I had a facial yesterday.”
“Wait, did you say facial?”
He nodded without hesitating. “Annalissa, I’m as vain as the next man, and now I have even more reason to want to look good.” He looked straight at her, one eyebrow raised. “I have a very important date coming up, with a very special woman, and I don’t want her running off with the pool boy on our little vacation.”
“I don’t think there’s much chance of that,” she assured him, giggling, “but if you need me to, I’ll sign a waiver. No pool boys.”
“Deal. Speaking of our trip, I noticed you’ll get to the resort before me, barring any travel delays.”
Anna concurred. “My reservation has me on the first flight out. I plan to stay at a hotel near the airport the night before.”
“Why’s that?”
“One of the curses of living on an island,” she explained. “We’re at the mercy of the ferries and the float planes. It’s too dark for them to fly that time of the day, so I’ll take the last ferry to the mainland on Sunday and spend the night at a hotel.”
Deep lines appeared in Daniel’s forehead. “My assistant made the reservations. Would you like me to have her change yours?”
“No, no, I can’t wait to get my toes in the sand.”
“You sure?” he asked.
“Positive. I’m used to traveling this way.”
The lines eased. Relaxed Daniel returned. “Save some things to explore with me.”
“I will. I promise.”
A chorus of sounds lifted from behind him like a flock of birds taking off at once. His entire mien went from relaxed and attentive to Daniel, the in-demand designer. “That’s my signal,” he said, refocused momentarily on his screen and on her. “I can’t wait to see you, Annalissa.”
The area inside the green-framed rectangle on her screen went to a shade of deep gray. Anna exited the application and stayed seated.
She was meeting that man in Mexico. In four days.
Chapter Twelve
Monday morning’s wake-up call at the hotel in Vancouver chirped at three-forty-five. Anna had showered and laid out her clothes the night before. All she had to do was dress and brush her teeth. She could make a more informed decision on lip gloss and mascara once she was at the airport and her vision was fully operational.
The hotel’s shuttle waited in front of the revolving glass door, the driver insisted on hefting her suitcase into the back of the oversized van, and a cheerful airline employee steered her to the line for First Class passengers once she was at the international terminal.
She really was going to Cabo San Lucas. At Daniel’s insistence, she was making the trip in comfort and style. She liked the wide seats in First Class, the hot face towels, and the fresh lemon
