A light tapping sounded at her door, followed by Jorge wheeling in a cart with the promised afternoon repast.
“Would you care for a limonada?” he asked, averting his eyes while draping a small towel around a hand-blown glass pitcher the same shade of Pacific blue used throughout the resort.
She pressed her body against the interior wall of the small pool. “Yes, please.”
He focused on mixing and pouring the Mexican version of lemonade, made with fresh-sliced limes, sugar syrup, and mineral water.
“Anything to eat?” He lifted bowls of guacamole and chips for her approval. Anna nodded. Her personal server fixed a small plate, added it to a tray, and presented it as though guests enjoying an afternoon in-room plunge was an everyday occurrence at the resort.
Which, actually, it was. Every day, every hour, round the clock.
“Buen provecho.” He grinned and gave a curt bow. He placed the tray by the edge of the pool and draped the bathrobe he’d grabbed over a nearby rattan chair.
“Gracias,” she responded. She’d practiced a few basics and hoped her first word in Spanish was understandable.
“Por nada,” he said, smiling in surprise. “I will return at four to light your fire.”
Anna stifled the urge to giggle. Well, if the chemistry between her and Daniel fizzled, there was always Jorge and his fire-lighting skills. Without noticing when it happened, she realized she wasn’t nervous anymore. At least, not in this moment.
She was floating in her private pool, licking the world’s creamiest guacamole off her fingertips, and who knew something as simple as a drink made from mineral water and fresh squeezed limes could taste so damn good. The gorgeous setting injected its influence into the waves of pleasure lapping at her floating limbs.
Anna left her pool experience before she wrinkled beyond recovery and wrapped herself in the plush robe. She perused the toiletry offerings, uncapping the shampoo and lotion and reveling in the tropical scents. Another text had come in from Daniel. He’d be at the hotel by five and hoped to join her for a beach walk before they were seated for their dinner reservation.
After applying sunscreen, Anna put on a fresh set of underthings and pulled her new linen dress over her head. She wanted to scope out the resort before Daniel arrived and see if she could procure a more stylish pair of sandals. The pedicure she’d gotten in Vancouver the day before begged to be shown off.
Before leaving her room, she stepped onto the balcony. The sun streamed onto her head, warming her scalp, while the breeze lifted the hem of her dress and caressed her ankles.
She wondered what Liam was doing.
After shopping and a long walk down the beach and back, Anna found a spot where she could watch the water and keep tabs on the main walkway into the resort. Her already erratic heartbeat pounded in her ears when Daniel stepped onto the beach, walked away from her perch and headed toward a woman perched on blanket. He paused, they spoke, and he stepped back. She read his body language. Curiosity. Eagerness. Disappointment. Frustration. He continued to shade his eyes and search the beach, his back to her.
Taking a deep breath and willing her heart to relax already, because she really wanted to live through the coming moments, she pushed herself off the chaise lounge, hooked her fingers through the straps of her new, bejeweled sandals, and sank her feet into the sand on her way to meet her past.
Daniel didn’t let on whether he was aware of the fine crunching sound of feet coming closer. She had to touch him. When she did, catching his shirt at the back of his waist, she was the first to cross the threshold she knew they both had been anticipating from opposite ends of the continent.
Her former flame tilted his head, closed his eyes, and smiled. Reaching behind, he found Anna’s hand and slid his fingers between hers.
“Hi,” she said. “Looking for a dinner date?” Her heart was back to its loud, insistent pounding. It threatened to make a hole in her chest, reach through, and grab hold of Daniel’s arm so she could spin him around to face her.
The front of his body remained facing the ocean. His eyes stayed closed, his smile deepened. “As a matter of fact, yes,” he said. “Are you available?”
“Available and famished.” She pressed her face against his upper arm, giggling, nervous, and waited for Daniel to look at her. She was pleased with how he’d dressed—casual, elegant—and how his body felt against her right side. She wanted him to be pleased too, with how she looked and felt, all the effort she’d put in to this reunion.
A string of lights powered by hope lit up her heart.
“You made it,” she whispered, as a voice in her head, maybe Liam’s, maybe Gaia’s, reminded her to breathe out. She followed the advice.
Daniel turned, bringing his chest to face hers. “I did. Do you like your room?”
“It’s beautiful. This whole place is beautiful.”
I’m beautiful too.
“Would you like to take a walk, or have a drink, or go right into dinner?”
Anna gave the slightest tug, felt her need register in Daniel’s body. He finished turning and opened his eyes, giving her everything she was asking for in that moment, which was, simply, something solid for her frantic heart to beat against.
She untangled their fingers and slipped both arms around his waist, sighing when he followed her lead and drew her head to rest against his chest.
“Annalissa. I have no idea how to act. I know how to buy plane tickets and make hotel reservations, but I have no idea how to do this.”
Thump, thump, thump. He wasn’t lying. He was every bit as nervous.
“I don’t either,” she said. She looked at him, alternating flashes of fear and optimism and desire with every waver and blink of her eyes. “Let’s walk on the beach before it gets too dark.”
He took her
