Hawaiian Holiday: Destination Desire, Book 2 (13 page)

“True,” Julie conceded.

“All’s well that ends well,” Anne said cheerfully. “And, Jules?”

“Yeah?”

“You sound better than you have in a while. I think getting laid agrees with you.”

“Me too. A hot island romance is just what I needed for the holidays.” Julie didn’t mention that Lukas lived close by, so her friends would have no idea how plausible seeing him after they left the island would be. She didn’t want to admit how appealing that option was.

She’d laughed more in the last couple of days than she had in the past couple of months combined. She felt like she was rediscovering parts of herself that had been dormant for the last year. Maybe she wasn’t as vivacious and audacious as Eloise had been, but she knew how to have a good time. Not that she wanted to be as big an instigator as she had been in high school, but she’d been a pretty happy person before the depression of losing her great-aunt had engulfed her life. She could get back to that. She
needed
to get back to it.

“All right, ladies. I have a dinner date with a certain professor. Take care and tell Karen I’ll call her later. Give her my love.”

“We will,” Meg replied. “Have a good time, sweetie.”

Anne was blunter. “Get your groove on for all of us. With Meg’s future in-laws in town, even she’s not getting any play right now. It’s a sad sexless bunch back home.”

What did you say to something like that? Anne had a way of leaving everyone speechless. Julie rolled her eyes. “Well, I guess I’ll have to take one for the team, huh? Night, guys!”

Meg and Anne were still giggling when Julie hung up on them. Time to go meet Lukas and take one for the team. It was a tough job, but somebody had to do it.

Chapter Eight

Christmas Day was pure bliss. They did nothing but stay in bed together, watch TV, make love, and order room service when they got hungry. Sure, it didn’t have all the trappings of the holidays—there was no tree, no presents, but the day was perfect anyway. Lukas let contentment unfurl inside of him.

They lay sprawled across the sheets, still naked from the last round of mattress gymnastics. Her head rested on his shoulder and he was flipping through channels. “How about
It’s a Wonderful Life?
It is a Christmas classic.”

She nodded, and her hair slid against his skin. “True, and it ends just in time to get ready for dinner.”

 
“Do we have plans to do anything other than stay right here?” He stroked a lazy hand up and down her side.

“Yes, we do.” She sat up and pressed a palm to his chest.

“Oh?” He lifted one eyebrow. “Care to let me in on the plans?”

“Well,
I
have plans anyway.” She offered up a gamine grin. “Since you let me horn in on your reservation the other night, would you like to do the same with me? I’m having Christmas dinner at the Royal Hawaiian—I’d love to have you join me.”

He hummed quietly. “And I would love to join you.”

It sounded as good as anything else, and it meant he’d be with her. He couldn’t think of anything he’d enjoy more.

“Good, then.” She scooted to the edge of the bed and grabbed her cell phone. “Let me just change my reservation. They might be pickier about it that the Rainbow Lanai was.”

He watched her make the call, which he’d done several times today as she’d rung her father, her shop assistant, and each one of her friends. She’d been cheerful and upbeat after all of those calls, except one.

When she hung up, she bounced on the mattress. “Reservation changed.”

“I forgot to ask how your friend is doing today. Karen, isn’t it?”

It was getting easier to ask those kinds of questions—personal, prying questions. It was getting easier to answer them when she asked, too. He’d stopped beating himself up over it. The woman had gotten under his defenses. Hell, he wasn’t even sure he’d had any defenses when it came to her. She’d disarmed him the moment he’d seen her laughing at the rain, before she’d ever said a word to him.

His only saving grace was this would be over in two more days. He ignored the stab of pain in his chest at the thought.

“Yeah, her name is Karen.” Her face softened. “She’s keeping busy. My friends are with her, and I’ll be back in a couple of days to lend a hand.” She pushed her rumpled hair back from her forehead. “It’s funny, I thought I was going to have the shittiest Christmas, being without Eloise, but Karen easily has me beat. Isn’t that sad?”

“Yes, it is.” He held out his hand, and she crawled over until she could settle against him. “It’ll get easier for her, just as it will for you. It’s just a different kind of loss.”

Simple words, but he still hadn’t managed to overcome all of his hang-ups from his divorce. He knew his circumstances with Lilith were extreme, but he could only hope the recovery was smoother for Julie’s friend. A breakup was difficult even under the best of circumstances.

“How long did it take to get easier for you?”

There was a question that cut right to the quick. He fought a wince. “With my father, it took a year or two before it stopped hurting so bad every time I thought about him. I still miss him though.”

“I meant—”

“My divorce, I know.” He heaved a sigh, sliding his palm up and down her bare back. The last thing he wanted to talk about when he was in bed with Julie was the downfall of his marriage. But if it helped to ease her worry for her friend, then he couldn’t deny her. Maybe that made him an idiot, but there it was. Even then, he couldn’t tell her the whole truth. Very few people knew what had happened with Lilith, how bad it had truly gotten, and he didn’t want Julie to know. That was a stroll down memory lane he never wanted to take again. “I’m sure her breakup won’t be as bad as mine. Our divorce strung out for almost two years before it was settled.”

“Wow, that’s crazy.”

He rolled a shoulder in the most casual shrug he could manage. It felt more like a spasmodic jerk. “Told you it was the divorce from hell.”

 
“I don’t think it’ll be like that for Karen and Tate. If he wanted to hold on to the marriage, he would have tried a little harder while he was in it.” She didn’t seem to notice when Lukas tensed. Her words scraped across old wounds. Some men didn’t try, but Lukas hadn’t been one of them. He’d worked like hell to save his marriage and it hadn’t meant a damn thing in the end. It just made him an even bigger fool for trying so hard. Julie frowned, her fingers curling into his chest hair. “I’m betting Tate doesn’t put up a fight at all, which is sad too. Karen’s worth fighting for. All my friends are. They’re awesome.”

“You’re lucky to have each other.” His voice came out rougher than he meant it to.

Her head came up and she searched his face, but just said, “I know. They had my back when my mom died. And Eloise. I couldn’t have made it through the last twelve months without them.” She lifted a hand and stroked her fingertip down his cheekbone. “What about you? Who helped you get through your divorce? You talk about your colleagues, but not your friends. I’m starting to think you don’t have any.”

Another sore point. “Mmm, yeah, that’s a more complicated question than you think. I met my ex not long after I came to America, so most of the friends we made were…couple friends.”

Her expression was sympathetic, her palm curving over his jaw. “And she got custody in the divorce?”

“Something like that.” The reality was, he hadn’t known how to talk to anyone about what he was dealing with. It was insane and sometimes he’d thought it was making
him
insane too. Not a chat to have with the husband of his wife’s best friend. “I threw myself into my career after that. It was simpler, so those friends and I just drifted apart.”

She nodded. “What about before you came stateside? No old German cronies?”

That made one corner of his mouth tilt up. Better memories there. “I have a few friends from when I was growing up. We keep in touch over email, but being so far apart means that life gets in the way a lot. Though we try to get together whenever I go back to visit my mother.”

“What are their names?” She tapped the tip of his nose.

“Dieter.”

Her brows arched expectantly. “And…that’s it? I only get one name?”

He widened his eyes innocently. “That’s all I have to give you. There were three of them, all named Dieter.”

She propped herself up on his chest and stared down at him. “Your three best friends had the
same name?
How did you distinguish between them when you were talking? ‘Hey, Dieter’ wouldn’t be that helpful.”

“We usually just called each other by last name. It worked for us.” Reaching up, he swept a hand through her hair, just for the pleasure of touching her.

“What are the Dieters’ last names?”

“Schmidt, Hoffmann, and Meyer.”

“Schmidt, Hoffmann, Meyer, and Klein.” She rolled the words out slowly. “It sounds like a law firm.”

That made him chuckle. “One of them became a lawyer. One owns a landscaping business, one’s a urologist, and the other is gainfully unemployed with a very wealthy wife.”

She made a little noise in her throat. “A German sugar mama, huh? Impressive.”

He tsked and shook his head. “Sorry. She’s Swiss.”

“Ah, of course. I should have guessed.” She threw up a hand. “I mean, that’s not special at all. Doesn’t
everyone
have a Swiss sugar mama?”

“Absolutely everyone.” He pressed his lips together. “I have two.”

She buried her face against his chest, her shoulders quaking with laughter. “Oh my God.”

Being reminded of better times, of who he’d been before his life imploded, was both a blessing and a curse. He wasn’t that man anymore, didn’t have that idealistic streak any longer. Perhaps that was why he’d let so many of his friendships go. Not just because he didn’t know how to tell them what he was going through, but because he didn’t want to think about the younger, more innocent him that his friends had once known. He’d have to see the bitter disappointment he’d become reflected back in their eyes. Maybe it was easier to have people in his life who hadn’t known him before. People like Julie, who accepted who he was now, and didn’t expect him to be someone different.

Maybe he just needed to get a life. He fought a self-derisive snort and rolled his eyes at himself.
Suck it up, Klein. It’s Christmas. Save the depressing shit for New Year’s.

Folding one arm behind his head, he waited until she looked at him again before he spoke. “I thought we were supposed to be watching
It’s a Wonderful Life.
”

She leaned up and kissed him. Their lips clung together, and she slipped her tongue in to tangle with his. “Mmm, forget the movie. You can rent it. I have a better idea about what we can do until dinner.”

“Oh, really?” He pressed the mute button and tossed the remote aside. “Tell me all about it.”

The Royal Hawaiian Hotel was pink. Very, very pink. In-your-face
pink
. To emphasize what no one could possibly miss, they had pink Christmas trees scattered throughout the lobby.

 
“Well, it makes a statement,” Lukas commented. His voice was carefully neutral, which told Julie he was probably trying not to snicker.

She arched her eyebrows as she looked around. “I wouldn’t go for this at home, but I think it’s pretty. If you’re going to do pink, do it big.”

“Go big or go home?” He slid his hands in his pockets, eyeing the various shades of rose and fuchsia and mauve and magenta as if they might jump out and bite him.

She bit her lip and shook her finger at him. “Exactly.”

“You look beautiful tonight, by the way.” His grin was boyish. “You look beautiful every night, but especially now.”

“Thank you.” She did a little twirl for him. Her wrap was a pale blue silk, her darker navy dress was fitted and sparkled just a little, and the heels she’d purchased the day she’d arrived went with the outfit even better than the ones she’d forgotten at home.

After pulling a hand free, he skimmed the fringe of her wrap. “You made this as well, right?”

“Right.” She drew the shawl up, knowing that its color complemented her skin. She’d fallen in love with the yarn and just had to have it, and the airy lace pattern she’d used turned out better than she’d expected.

He bent down to kiss the side of her neck. “It’s lovely. And you look lovely wearing it.”

A shiver raced down her skin, and her body warmed, even though they’d gone at it so often today that she should be incapable of response. He just got to her. Turning her head to catch his lips, she kissed him. “
Danke.
”

“
Bitte.”
His hands settled on her hips, not drawing her closer, but making the embrace more intimate. Something about this entire day had felt more intimate, as if she’d seen more of the real Lukas. Not that he’d held back in the days they’d been together—she couldn’t put her finger on what was different, but she liked it.

He nibbled on her lower lip, his blue eyes meeting hers as they pulled apart.

“Ready for dinner?” He offered her an arm, and she looped hers through it.

“Absolutely. We have a few minutes to check out the sea view. There’s a sitting area at the end of the hall that’s supposed to overlook the Pacific.” She led the way and grinned when she reached the massive room. There were white arches, wood ceilings, polished floors and miles of plush throw rugs. Beyond the arches were manicured lawns and then the ocean. The atmosphere of the place was decadent and lush.