awareness sinking in gradually with a sense of delicious comfort. When I finally open my eyes, I discover that Richard is still stretched out beside me. I know he napped too because he fell asleep before I did, but he’s awake now and focused on me.
I catch his eyes resting on my face, and I smile.
“Did you have a good nap?” he asks in a husky drawl.
I make a face at him. “Don’t say it like that. You had a nap too.”
“I did. I’m not sure why. I haven’t napped in... in ages.”
“People nap when they’re tired, and you were tired.”
“Right. I was tired. Because I’ve done so much hard work for the past two days.”
I roll over onto my side and pick his hand up from the bed so I can play with it. I really love his hands. They’re a lot bigger than mine. Long fingers. Trimmed nails. No rings. They’re always really warm. “Well, you have exerted considerable effort in at least one capacity.”
His blue eyes warm up in that way I love. “I have, haven’t I?”
“Yes. You have.”
“You certainly seemed to appreciate the efforts, if all the uninhibited displays of enjoyment were anything to go on.”
I huff. “You seemed to enjoy it too.”
“I did. More than anything I can remember for a really long time.” He’d turned toward me when we started talking, but now he shifts to his back, staring up at the canopy above us.
“Good. So I don’t think we need to go on and on about my displays of enjoyment when you’ve given plenty of your own.” I give him a little poke on the side that makes him jerk and smile. “You’re just as loud as I am.”
He chuckles. “I’ll give you that, as long as you admit that yours is sustained for quite a bit longer than mine.”
“That’s just because you enjoy torturing me.”
“Torture, is it?”
“Something like that,” I reply with a sniff.
This makes him laugh again.
“So all this to say that you deserved the nap as a reward for all your efforts. It’s good for you to unwind a little.”
“What makes you think I don’t?” He turns his eyes back to me as he asks the mild question.
“I don’t know. What do I know about your life in between our weekends together? But something makes me think you don’t really relax very often. You eat great food and drink great wine and stay at all the best establishments and live a luxury life, but it’s like you’re...” I trail off as I realize what I’m saying. How presumptuous it is.
“Like I’m what?” He still looks warm and sleepy, but something has changed underlying it. Something urgent, like he really wants to know.
I shrug. “I don’t know. Like it’s all still work to you. Like you’re going through the motions. Playing a part or something. Like you’re not... you’re not doing it because it’s what makes you happy.”
He doesn’t reply to that. I didn’t really expect him to. It’s too intimate. Saying it was a huge risk even if he was the one who asked.
I wait in silence for so long that I’m afraid I might have ruined everything between us.
Then he finally murmurs, “Maybe you’re right.” He’s not looking at me, so I’m not really sure if he’s talking to me or to himself.
“It’s just the impression I get. It’s nothing I know for sure.” I want to move us back to the relaxed warmth of before, so I add, “Regardless, I really appreciate this weekend. I’ve never had a weekend like this in my entire life, and I’ll remember it forever.”
He turns his head toward me again, his mood shifting with my attempts to change the subject. “Really? So none of your previous boyfriends took you to the Caribbean for a sexy vacation.”
I laugh. It’s more of a burst of sound.
He frowns in response to it. “What does that laugh mean?”
“Nothing.” I’m embarrassed now. Like I’ve revealed too much. I look away from him.
He turns my face back so I can’t hide. “Gillian?”
“It’s nothing. Just that, no, I’ve not had any boyfriends who have taken me on sexy Caribbean vacations.”
“Have you dated a bunch of losers then?”
“Not everyone can afford vacations like this, you know. It doesn’t make them losers.” I’m evading, and I’m afraid he’s going to recognize it. My cheeks are starting to get hot.
He does recognize it. He’s far too smart and observant. “I know that. But if that was the issue, you wouldn’t have said