He signaled to the waitress and when she came over he ordered a bottle of wine. This conversation would require some assistance of the alcohol variety. Holly had been oddly quiet since they left the hostel and now she leaned back in her seat across from nibbling on her lower lip with a decidedly wary look in her eyes.
She was probably waiting for him to apologize. He cleared his throat a bit and that seemed to bring her to life. She leaned forward so her elbows were on the table and she fixed her gaze directly on him. He tried not to notice the way her V-neck T-shirt inched down, revealing just a hint of cleavage. She raked her hair back and her blond curls spilled over her shoulders in a haphazard way—he had a momentary flash of what she would look like in bed in the morning with tousled hair and a sleepy smile.
But she was not smiling now and her blue eyes were terrifyingly direct. She seemed to see everything about him. Was it his imagination or was she looking into his soul?
Okay, now he was officially psyching himself out. Be a man and apologize already. He sat up a little straighter in his chair. “Look, Holly, I just—”
At the same time, Holly started, “Jack, I think I owe—”
They stopped and shared an awkward laugh.
The waitress arrived with their bottle of wine and they waited in silence as she poured two glasses. Jack all but lunged for his when she was done.
When she walked away he tried again. “I’m sorry I left you that night.”
“I’m so sorry I ran away that night,” Holly blurted out at the same time.
He was sure his look of surprise matched the wide-eyed shocked on Holly’s face as they each registered what the other had said.
“Wait, what?” he said.
“You left me?” Holly repeated.
They stared at one another again. She ran away? So she hadn’t been waiting for him to come to her bed that night? All this time he’d been picturing her lying there on the bed, perhaps naked, depending on the particular daydream, waiting for him to return once he’d gotten protection but she—
“You never came back that night?” He couldn’t tell if she sounded angry or amused. Or both.
He shook his head. He opened his mouth to speak but was stuck on where to begin. How to explain that he had never wanted a woman more than he’d wanted her that night. The kiss they’d shared had been so hot, she was so passionate. But the moment he’d stepped out of her guest room at the villa and into the bracing night air, the reality of what he was about to do hit him. He was going to seduce his friend’s sister, a sweet, innocent young woman who’d had too much champagne and was high on wedding romance. He knew he couldn’t go through with it no matter how badly he wanted her. “I had a crisis of conscience,” he said. One of her brows arched mockingly and he added, “You weren’t waiting for me?”
She shook her head and her lips were twitching upward. Amusement seemed to be winning out. “I guess you could call it a crisis of conscience.”
Their eyes met again and this time they both burst out laughing.
“So you’re not mad at me then?” he asked.
She shook her head. “Not as long as you’re not mad at me.”
He reached a hand out across the table to shake on it. “Friends?”
She slipped her hand into his to shake on it and he knew then he’d made a mistake. The touch of her warm little hand was all it took to be overwhelmed with awareness of this woman. She jerked her hand back quickly. Had she felt it too?
They sipped their wine for a moment and then she looked up at him with an adorable little wiggle of her nose. “Hey Jack, what are you doing here?”
* * * *
Holly watched Jack toy with his wine glass. Comprehension dawned—Mister Too Cool for School was actually nervous. She’d thought he was here to here to give her hell for running away on him but now she was even more intrigued. She leaned over the table and caught his eye.
“If Ivy and the baby are okay…” she prompted.
“Well, uh,” he paused as a steaming tray filled with entrees passed by their table. “Are you hungry? I’m hungry. I’m going to grab us some menus.”
“Um, okay,” she drawled. She wasn’t trying to be rude, but really, finding the guy she’d jilted a month earlier in a foreign city, in her hostel of all places…well, it was a tad disconcerting.
She was still coming to grips with the fact that he hadn’t returned to her bedroom that night. She could still feel the nervous anticipation as he’d walked out of the bedroom, promising in that sexy voice of his that he would be right back. She was lying there, clothed but thoroughly disheveled, and more turned on than she’d ever been in her entire life. She had been so excited for what was to come—and then it had happened. Panic struck. The sound of her heartbeat warred with the whirring of the overhead fan. She’d landed in the world of reality with a thud and she was overwhelmed. And then she did what she’d always done best. She ran.
And all this time she’d thought that he’d come back to her room only to find an empty bed and her favorite pair of earrings that she’d accidentally left behind. But no, he had left her there. What if she hadn’t fled? She would have lain there for hours wondering what had happened, what had gone wrong…maybe she should be pissed.
She tried to cling to the anger but she couldn’t make it stick. It seemed the height of hypocrisy to be angry with him for something she’d done as well. Still, she couldn’t help but feel a little hurt, whether it was rational or not.
She watched Jack trying to get the waitress’s attention. He still hadn’t answered her. Had he really come all this way to apologize?
Ugh, that was equally embarrassing and sweet.
Or maybe…maybe he was just looking for an excuse to see her again. Maybe he hadn’t been able to stop thinking about her either. What if he too had been fantasizing about that night, wondering what would have happened if they’d seen it through. If they hadn’t run.
She had a flash of his hands on her, caressing her through the gown as his lips moved over her neck, her shoulders. Maybe he’d spent the past month reliving that night too. A wave of heat coursed through her, so intense her mouth went dry.
She took a sip of the wine. She should probably eat some dinner before she drank much more.
The waitress handed them their menus and it was all Holly could do to concentrate on the words. Her mind couldn’t seem to focus; it was too busy obsessing over the man sitting across from her. When the server came back to take their order, Holly picked the first item that caught her eye and handed back the menu.
Alone once more and without the distraction of food, Holly and Jack squared off. Holly forced a smile despite the butterflies that threatened to overtake her stomach. If there was one thing she knew how to do it was fake confidence no matter how bizarre the situation. “So tell me, Jack, you didn’t really come to my hostel just to apologize, did you?”
One side of his mouth turned up in a grin that made the atmosphere seem a million times thinner. There was not nearly enough oxygen in this restaurant. He’d been thinking of her, too. That was it. He had come after her. She couldn’t name the emotion that was wreaking havoc with her senses, making it difficult to breathe or see or hear. It was excitement and fear and lust and nerves all rolled into one.
“So the reason I’m here,” he started. “Your sister did send me. Er, I mean, I offered to come here on your sister’s behalf….”
Jack’s awkwardness made Holly’s anxiety increase a million times over. Toying with the napkin in her lap, her voice came out sharper than she intended. “Just spit it out.”
“Benjamin’s