Page 16 of An Heir Made In Hawaii (Hot Winter Escapes)

“What’s wrong?”

“My phone’s almost dead.” She sighed. “I forgot to charge it last night.”

“Distracted, Pierce?”

“Terribly. There’s this pompous ass who won’t leave me alone, and he’s keeping me up at night.”

“Do I keep you up at night, Anika?”

Flustered, Anika glanced out the window as the storm continued. His words from the dance floor washed over her. But instead of disgusting her, the memory kindled something deep inside her. A longing for intimacy. A hunger for passion, to experience the kind of satisfaction Nicholas promised with a single glance.

“Anika?”

“Yes?”

The word came out on a squeak.

“Good night.” She heard the smile in his voice, could picture it vividly in her mind. “Sweet dreams, hopefully of me.”

“Dreams of strangling you, perhaps.” She paused. “What will you do?”

“Not much I can do. As much as I enjoy the Bruce Willis movie where he performs some impressive feats in an elevator shaft, I have no desire to be a stuntman or end up a smear on the floor. I know you would prefer otherwise—”

“Don’t say that.”

Silence fell. Anika wanted to take back her words, but she meant them. Much as Nicholas drove her crazy, and as much as she had loathed him before this trip, she’d seen a different side of him the past couple of days. Yes, he was egotistical and cocky and used to getting his own way. But he was also intelligent, confident and even kind. She’d seen him talking to a bartender, some of the employees on the tour boat, the “little people” so many looked past.

“I wish I had a pen.”

“Why?” she asked quietly.

“To mark the day Anika Pierce no longer wished me dead.”

“I don’t think I ever truly wished you dead. Just...horribly maimed.”

His laugh rolled over, pulled the breath from her lungs as she closed her eyes and imagined him lounging in one corner of the elevator, a seductive smile on his lips, a teasing glint in his ocean-blue gaze.

“Progress.”

Her phone beeped in her ear again. She had maybe a minute left of battery if she was lucky.

“Where are you?”

“I told you. The elevator. I’m stuck—”

“I know,” she replied impatiently, “but which one?”

“The last on the right on the east end of the building.”

She mentally pulled up a map of the hotel.

“Stay where you are.”

“Okay,” he said slowly. “Not too hard to do when you’re—”

Her phone died. Before she could lose her nerve, she ran her fingers through her hair and stepped into the hall. Emergency lights glowed white, illuminating her way down to the bank of elevator doors at the far end of the hallway. She walked up to the one on the far right and placed her hands on the cold metal.

“Nicholas?”

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