She closed the door behind her and ran the length of the corridor to meet him at the elevator, her eyes shimmering like jewels underwater, her face slightly flushed, her smile contagious.
“Hi!” she burst out.
He didn’t smile. His eyes were narrowed and quiet and he looked down at her for a long time before he spoke. “It’s been quite a while since anyone was that glad to see me,” he murmured absently.
She flushed scarlet. “Oh...uh, I just didn’t want to keep you waiting,” she explained.
“Sure.” He helped her into the elevator that had just arrived and punched the ground floor button.
“Hard day?” she asked.
“Honey, when you’re dealing with any government, they’re all hard days,” he said with a faint smile. He studied her slender body in the beige leisurewear and the smile grew. “Are we reading each other’s minds already?” he mused.
She laughed. “I was going to ask you the same thing,” she admitted. Her eyes held his shyly for an instant before the elevator doors slid open.
They passed a smiling, nodding group of Japanese tourists as they walked down the long corridor to the patio bar.
“You sounded breathless when you got to the phone,” he remarked. “What were you doing?”
“Watching the French navy,” she replied dryly. “Wondering what it would be like to go on liberty in a foreign port.”
He cast an amused sideways glance at her as they passed the showcase at the entrance to the bar, where artifacts were displayed—like the old cannonball found in Nassau Harbor by divers.
“What will you have?” he asked as he seated her by the window overlooking the hedged swimming pool and walkways out behind the huge hotel.
“I can’t hold my liquor,” she admitted sheepishly. “So I don’t drink anything stronger than wine usually. But I’d love to try a piña colada.”
“Had supper?” he asked, and when she nodded, he added, “It shouldn’t give you any trouble. Of course, if you try to get up on one of the tables and do the flamenco, I’ll do my best to stop you.”
She laughed delightedly. When he stopped being the high-powered executive, he was such charming company. She watched him walk to the bar, all rippling muscle and power. Two older women sitting at a table across the room watched him unashamedly, whispering back and forth, and Nikki couldn’t blame them for those intent stares. She liked looking at him, too.
He was back minutes later with two tall, frosty glasses full of a milky substance with cherries in them.
“A piña colada,” he said, handing hers to her as he took the seat beside hers. “Coconut rum, milk, pineapple, dark rum and a cherry.”
She sipped it and her eyes grew wide. “It’s very good,” she said, surprised. “I thought it would be bitter, but it’s faintly sweet.”
“Liquor doesn’t have to taste like medicine, you know.” He chuckled. “And in this heat, a ‘tall, cool one’ is almost de rigueur at the end of the day.”
She took another sip and sighed contentedly, her eyes going past him to the patio with its neat little white wrought iron tables, where a flower-scented breeze shifted in through the open sliding doors.
“We can sit outside if you’d rather,” he suggested.
She was on her feet almost before he finished the sentence. “I was hoping you’d say that,” she said, leading him outside into the delicious-smelling breeze. The bay was just visible through the palms and sea grape trees and the hedge around the huge swimming pool.
Cal seated her again and settled down into the chair on the other side of the small table, idly watching the waves curling white and foamy onto the beach beyond.
“Peace,” he murmured, “I’d almost forgotten what it was. You’ve made me slow down, Georgia.”
“I just pointed your eyes toward the sights.” She laughed. “You slowed yourself down. Mmm, isn’t it lovely here?” she asked, closing her eyes to savor it all. The wind ruffling her hair, the scents, the faint buzz of conversation from inside the bar, the swish of the palms.
“It reminds me of Miami,” he said.
She opened her eyes and took another sip of her drink. “I’ve never been to Miami,” she remarked. “Mike and Jenny—my aunt and uncle—flew down for some convention not too long ago. They said it was hot.”
He chuckled. “In more ways than one,” he murmured. “And crowded. And maddening to get around in. I’d rather take my chances on New York.”
“I’ve never been there, either.” She sighed. “I guess before now, the