driveway since no one else was supposed to show up for a few days. He’d deliberately gotten Julia out of town early enough so she could settle in and maybe get over her shell shock before his family arrived.
She waited hesitantly at the path leading behind the tall lava stone wall that surrounded the housing complex. Her nose wrinkled—damn, adorable to the core.
He wrapped his arms around her and squeezed tight until the tension in her began to fade.
Zach tucked his lips against her cheek and nuzzled against her softly. “Feel better?”
“Still a little nervous,” she confessed. “Please tell me there’s nothing hugely valuable that I might accidentally break.”
He curled his arm around her, keeping her tight against his side as he went toward the main doors. “Remember I said my parents have the entire family here over the holidays? That includes children from toddlers to age nine, and the house is very childproof. I promise there’s nothing you can break that I haven’t broken at least once before.”
Punching in the security code for the front door, he pushed it open then gestured her ahead of him.
Julia stepped inside slowly, a quivering wow escaping her lips.
There was no getting around the fact the place was impressive. The open-area family and living rooms stretched the length of the main house. Two kitchens, a main one that faced toward the island and the second for the bar closer to the pool and ocean.
“Those windows are incredible.” She gasped and twirled toward him. “They slide, don’t they?”
“Come and help me. You may as well get the full effect.”
It took about fifteen minutes to unlock and slide all of the floor to ceiling partitions aside. With the front door wide open, and the windows facing the water parted, the entire house felt one step off the beach.
Julia poked her head around corners but came back to him, shyly slipping their hands together. She smiled. “I am very overwhelmed, but to hell with it. Lisa told me before to pretend I’d walked in on some kind of fairy tale, and that’s exactly what I’m doing.”
“Good for you.” Zach pointed toward the section she hadn’t yet explored. “Those two hallways lead to the north and east wing of the house. My parents’ master bedroom is down one, plus there are a couple of two-bedroom suites with bathrooms that my sisters’ families take over. Yes, it’s a big house, but it’s very nice that when so many people get together, everybody has their own space.”
She nodded, then to his surprise, she stepped into him and wrapped her hands around his waist. “Does that mean we have space to ourselves?”
“Right now? The entire house. And I always stay in the guest house. This way.” He walked them past the edge of the swimming pool, headed toward the cabana that was quite a bit smaller than the cabin they shared in Heart Falls. “There’s no kitchen, and the bathroom’s tiny,” he warned. “But there’s nothing wrong with that view.”
He turned to take in Julia’s expression as she stepped into the place for the first time. The sense of awe was there, but the biggest thing he saw in her expression was happiness.
“Oh my God.” She pulled him through the door and to the opposite wall of the cabana. “These open, don’t they?”
“Just like the house,” he agreed.
Minutes later the entire front of the cabana was open. A low-level wall that provided privacy without blocking their view divided the property from the public walking path. Beyond that lay lava rocks and a coral reef, the ocean waves rolling in a steady rhythm as if Mother Nature herself were breathing peace into the room.
Julia quivered on the spot then threw herself into his arms, kissing his face. She crawled up him, as if desperate to hug him even tighter. “I love it. It’s gorgeous.”
His heart pounded, and that gut feeling that something wonderful was very close by struck all over again. “Bonus, for the next ten days, you don’t have to worry about it snowing.”
She pressed her lips to his, softer now. Running her fingers through his hair. “I feel very spoiled.”
“Good.” He nibbled on her bottom lip. “Hungry?”
Julia shook her head. “I want to go for a walk on the beach. And hop in the swimming pool. If you can wait.”
“Whatever makes you happy.”
She slipped on her swimsuit in the bathroom, but before she could cover up with shorts and a T-shirt, Zach crooked a finger. “You need sunscreen.”
Which led