Page 75 of Resorting to Romance

But my life is better than I could have ever planned it—because I have Noah.

“Mila’s dad was our baby brother,” Joan’s eyes are wistful as if she’s traveling back in time to days when they were all young. “He loved Mila’s mom with an uncommon devotion. We put that girl through the wringer trying to see if she was good enough for our Bo.”

I’ve heard the story of how my aunts grilled my mother when she and Daddy were dating so many times, but it never gets old.

They carry on, telling how I came to them, and then what itwas like raising me. No embarrassing detail is spared. By the time we’re pulling trays of dessert out of the spare refrigerator in the pass-through room that leads to the garage, we’re surrounded by over twenty guests who have converged on my aunts’ front room. Kai still has his arm around me. He’s been touching me all night, and I’d be lying if I weren’t leaning into him for support and strength—and, more.

More. It’s a dangerous, dangerous word. Especially for me and Kai.

Connie jokingly asks, “So you two, when are you going to tie the knot?”

“Connie!” Joan chides.

“What? They’re not in their twenties. Mila has Noah. She swore off men. If they’re dating, they’re serious. I’m just planning ahead so I make sure Ethan and I are on the island for the wedding.”

Bless Kai’s heart, he sputter-coughs on his drink. But he regains composure. “We’re taking things as they come for now.”

I nod, unable to even think of a reasonable response that wouldn’t reveal my panic. Kai’s answer couldn’t be more accurate. Though, for us, taking things as they come feels like we casually stepped into a blow-up rubber boat and found ourselves on a class five whitewater rafting trip. Maybe a little preparation would have been advisable.

After dinner, Kai walks me outside. We simultaneously blow out long gusts of breath as if we’ve only been partially breathing all night. Then he looks down at me and starts to chuckle. I catch the bug and giggle along with him until we’re standing in front of my aunts’ house in a fit of uncontrollable laughter.

Alana steps out behind us. “One day …” she muses.

“What?” I ask, wiping a tear from my eye from all the laughter that just overcame me.

“Nothing. Just … one day. Maybe after I’ve had my fill of being on the big screen, I’d love to find this—what you two obviously have. It’s lovely.”

There’s a sadness in her voice. But I can tell she’s genuinely happy for us. And, I agree. Kai and I do have something special. Sure, we’re faking a romance. But the friendship that caused him to step up in the first place is one of my favorite things on earth.

“Thank you,” I say. “It will come. I believe it. You’re an amazing woman, and like you told my aunt earlier, it’s not your accomplishments that define you. It’s just you.”

“Thanks.” Alana’s smile is sweet and sincere. She reaches out and brushes her hand down my arm.

Kai jumps into fix-it mode, as he’s prone to do. “I could hook you up … I know some guys.”

“No, thank you.” Alana smiles. “I believe in fate or … something like that. Besides, I don’t think the guy I will fall for is here on Marbella. I know nearly everyone, even though I live like a hermit. He’s not here.”

We all say goodnight, and Kai offers to walk me home. His hand lands on the small of my back almost instinctively, and I wish he had some reason to leave it there, but he realizes at the same time as I do that he doesn’t. So, it falls away and we stroll side by side, two magnets, resisting the urge to snap together at every charged point between us.

“Hey,” Kai says when we approach my front gate. “I had a question to ask you. A favor, really.”

“What is it?”

“It’s a lot to ask.”

“As if faking a romance so we can throw off my ex isn’t a lot? I’m pretty sure I owe you.”

“I don’t want you to say yes because you owe me, Mila. You don’t owe me anything.”

“Okay,” I say, looking up into his golden-honey eyes and wondering what he’d do if this were an actual date and we were standing right here in this same spot.

Would he kiss me? Of course he would. He’d kiss me fully on the mouth. He’d pour all that quiet intensity into a kiss I’d been waiting for probably longer than I’ve allowed myself to admit it.Knowing Kai, he’d be respectful at first, as he always is. Careful. Gentle. Attentive. But then, he’d take charge with that possessive side, the part of him that is all man. He’d hold me up, as he always does, and lean in. And once he got a solid sign that I wanted him, he’d pour all the physicality he uses on the water, all the tenderness he shows when he’s looking out for me, and possibly the desire I imagine I see flickering in his eyes on occasion into our kiss. It would be a kiss I’d never forget. One I’d almost risk crossing my carefully drawn lines to experience.

Only I can’t.

So I don’t.

I blink up at Kai. “What do you want to ask me?”

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