mention at such a young age. I’m allowed to think you’re impressive for the way you’ve survived it.”
“Thanks,” she says softly as amusement overtakes her expression. “It does mean a lot coming from a brain surgeon.”
I smile and roll my eyes at her. “This music is annoying me. Let’s go find somewhere quieter.” I hand my credit card to the bartender, who runs it through and returns it to me. After I sign the slip, we take a walk into the hotel. She shows me photos of how it looked when my parents were here.
“That seems more their speed than the jet-set vibe it has now. I saw a sign for luxury car rentals. Want to rent a Lambo?”
“Nah, my friend has a Porsche. What do I need with a Lambo?”
Laughing, I put my arm around her as we walk through the fancy, upscale, contemporary hotel to the exit that leads to the beach. We kick off our shoes and walk along the water’s edge. It’s a warm, sunny late afternoon, and I feel a sense of peace come over me that reminds me of before scandal exploded my life. Not that I had a lot of peace or quiet in that fast-paced life, but it suited me.
Carmen’s hand brushes against mine, and I take hold of it, wanting to touch her now that she’s let me know I’m welcome to. After a long walk down the beach, we find a place to sit and watch the sunset.
“Let me get a picture of you on the beach,” she says. “Give me pensive and contemplative.”
I make faces that have her laughing before I get serious and give her what she needs.
When she’s seated beside me on the sand, I can’t wait any longer to address what she shared with me outside her family’s restaurant. “What you said before . . . I want you to know, it means so much to me.”
“Ever since Tony died, I’ve wondered if that was it for me. If he was it, and after a couple of years, I decided if that was it, I was lucky, you know? Some people never get what I had with him.”
“I’ve never had it.”
“I thought I was being greedy to hope it might happen again. But the downside is that once you’ve experienced the real thing, it’s hard to settle for anything less.” She laughs and looks out at the vast ocean. “I don’t mean to be making this into some big heavy thing the day after we met. It’s just that there hasn’t been anyone else who truly interested me, so I’m glad to know I can still feel that. I don’t want you to think I’m turning this into something—”
I kiss her because I can’t wait another second to do what I’ve wanted to do almost since I first saw her. I take it slow and easy, holding back to give her time to catch up, fully aware that this may be the most important first kiss of my life. Raising my hand to her face, I wait for her to join the party, and when she does . . .
Holy shit.
The kiss goes from sweet to hot as hell in the span of a second when her hand curls around my neck and her tongue connects with mine. Dear God, she’s adorable and sexy and smart and . . . I can’t find the words I need to describe what it’s like to kiss her, to touch her, to breathe in the rich, fragrant scent of her hair as the warm breeze washes over us.
We kiss for a long time, our bodies straining to get closer. I pull back from her only when I begin to worry about us getting arrested—again. Kissing her is almost worth the risk, but I don’t think she’d agree.
“I feel it, too,” I whisper against her lips. “In case you were wondering.”
Her nervous laughter is the best thing I’ve ever heard. “I don’t do stuff like this.”
“Stuff like what?” I shift my attention to her neck, which is every bit as appealing as her lips.
She shivers and buries her fingers in my hair. “Make out like a teenager on Miami Beach.”
I’m unbearably aroused by her, so much so that I feel even the most innocent of caresses everywhere. “You should do it more often.”
“Spoken like the devil himself, leading me astray.”
Smiling, I lean my forehead against hers, counting backward from one hundred as I remind myself to go slow with her,