“You are very weird,” Daniel commented as he took his seat to the right of her. He reached for the bottle of white wine in the middle of the table and twisted the bottle to show her the label. “I found this in the cellar. It’s nonalcoholic. Would you like some?”
“Drinking nonalcoholic wine is like drinking coffee with no caffeine,” Alex grumbled.
Ignoring her, Daniel merely lifted a brow. Alex pushed her crystal wine goblet toward him. “Oh okay, then.”
His mouth twitched as he poured the wine. Or, more accurately, grape juice. Alex gestured to the food. “Thank you for preparing dinner again. You’re spoiling me. It’s going to be difficult going back to Houston and having to look after myself. I’ve been living in the lap of luxury at the Lone Wolf and now here, with you. Real life is going to be a bit of a shock.”
Daniel handed her a glass of wine and lifted his beer bottle in a silent toast. Alex sipped her wine—not too shabby, as it tasted like a decent chardonnay—and watched him in the low light, courtesy of the single candle between them and the firepits dotted around the pool. She sighed. How could she not look at him? They were on a private island in the Caribbean, her surroundings were absolutely exquisite, but still they paled in comparison to Daniel.
Graceful but masculine, mysterious and sexy with a thick layer of smart. His body was a masterpiece, and she could literally gaze at that face forever. She craved to hear his laughter fill the air, his lips drawing patterns on her skin. She wanted him. She would for the rest of her life.
And that was why she’d mentioned Houston, spoke about life after Galloway Cove. Because she needed a reminder that having Daniel in her life on a full-time basis was impossible. Deep down she knew this, and she couldn’t allow herself to be seduced by a hot man who cooked for her.
She wasn’t that weak.
Okay, she was, but wasn’t identifying the problem the first step to finding the solution?
Daniel, bless him, helped her pull herself together by changing the topic to one she expected. “Tell me about your job offer.”
She could talk about work—it was a nice, neutral topic of conversation. “Mike and I joined the company I still work for shortly after we left college. He left about six months ago to start his own business. He’s asked me to join him—”
“This is in PR?”
Alex wrinkled her nose. “We don’t handle public relations in a traditional sense. I specialize in creating social media strategies that best display and promote a brand or a company’s image in the digital space.”
Daniel grimaced. “Sounds like hell.”
She flashed him a quick smile. “It would to someone who has absolutely no social media presence.”
Daniel smiled at her and her stomach flipped over. “You stalking me, Slade?”
She’d never admit that in a thousand years. “I cyberstalk lots of people. But you should be embarrassed that your grandmother is very active on social media and you are not.”
“Yet I’m not embarrassed.” Daniel reached for the lobster salad and the serving utensil. He spooned food onto the plate in front of Alex before dishing up his own food.
“And this guy, Mike, wants to give you a partnership,” Daniel asked, returning to the subject at hand. “Why would he do that?”
Alex forked up some lobster and groaned when the creamy sweetness hit her taste buds. Midchew, a thought hit her and she gripped Daniel’s arm, her nails digging into the exposed muscle beneath his rolled up shirt sleeve.
“Problem?”
“I don’t know if I should be eating shellfish,” Alex said, pulling a face. “I think I read something about it not being safe for pregnant women.”
Surely that was an old wives’ tale. How could she be expected to walk away from all that bright, tasty, luscious salad? Resisting Daniel was hard enough, and now life was throwing another temptation in her way? Two words.
So unfair.
“I checked and it’s safe to eat during pregnancy as long as its fresh and properly cooked. I caught and cooked it, and it’s fine.” Daniel waved his fork at her plate. “Eat.”
Alex felt touched that he’d checked. It had been a long time since she felt protected, cosseted, fussed over. It was a nice feeling but dangerous. She couldn’t allow herself to get used to being the center of any man’s attention. Especially since that attention, along with love and respect and commitment, had the tendency to vaporize.