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The way he was hopping around made her giggle. She stuck her hand down by the sprayers, getting it wet, then flung it at his face.
“So not fair,” he said, reaching for her. She jumped out of the way, and Derek chased after her.
She turned and ran down a path, making sure she didn’t step on any flowers. Derek’s legs were longer, and he easily caught up to her. His arm snaked around her, bringing her to his chest. “You’re going to get it now,” he said, his breath hot on her ear.
She was laughing so hard she could barely speak. “But now we’re away from the sprayers,” she managed to get out between giggles.
He stared down at her, his expression pensive. “Huh.”
His tight hold on her didn’t relax. She became acutely aware of every point of contact with Derek. The way his hands were warm against her back. The skin on her arms touching his biceps. Her chest pressed against his. Her laughter subsided and her heart picked up speed. He was so muscular. When had the lanky teenager she used to know turn into this Dwayne Johnson lookalike? She went to say something snarky about it, but as her gaze met his, she found her breath pulled out of her and she was powerless to say anything.
Did he just grow more handsome in the last fifteen seconds? His jawline was so striking. And his cheekbones were sharper. She wanted to rub her eyes to clear them, because she was sure she wasn’t seeing things right, but her hands wouldn’t move. All she could do was stare at Derek and wonder what was happening to her brain.
The light shined in his blue eyes, making them almost look aqua-marine. He peered down at her, his expression unreadable. What was he doing? Why was he looking at her like that? Like he hadn’t ever really looked at her before?
Or maybe it was the other way around. Maybe she had never really seen him before. Because all her life she’d known Derek, but right now, she had the strangest feeling that she didn’t know him at all.
She swallowed, and her brain grew fuzzy. Her fingers hummed with some unknown electrical current as they skimmed across his arms. He leaned down, closer to her. For a split second she thought maybe he was going to kiss her. The thought surprised her, and she jerked back.
He let go of her and stepped away. A flash of disappointment skittered through her body. Wait, what? Had she wanted him to kiss her? What kind of crazy thought was that? Derek kissing her? Why did that make her knees weak all of a sudden? Weird.
Her heart didn’t calm down and she wondered what in the world was going on. Was she attracted to Derek? Or was it just his muscles? What would happen if she did kiss him? She brushed her hair from her face, confused about everything in her world now.
“So, you have a gym at home or something?” She tried to say it nonchalantly, but it came out sounding funny, like she was breathless or something.
Derek got a funny look on his face. “Yeah. Why?”
Nara tried to think of something to say that wasn’t insulting. He went from skinny kid to rock hard wall of muscle. How do you put that politely? Finally, she just blurted, “You’re buff.”
That tiny smile-but-not-smile pricked at his lips. “Buff?”
Heat assaulted her face and she turned from him, embarrassed that she’s gotten flustered over it. “Yeah. Just figured you had a home gym. Which is good. Because I need to tone up a bit. I’m feeling the flab coming on.” Now she was rambling. She faced the breeze, hoping her ears weren’t too red.
“You? Hardly.”
That made her smile. “Yeah. I ate too much over the holidays.”
“I’ve seen you in a bathing suit. There’s no flab anywhere on your body.”
She swiveled around, squinting at him. “You were checking me out?”
Now it was Derek’s turn to blush, and she held in a laugh. His face turned a lovely shade of crimson. It was adorable. “No,” he said, shaking his head, his eyes wide. “I wasn’t. It was just hard not to notice…”
“So, you noticed my body?”
“No. I mean…” He pointed. “Let’s head over there. They have the blue iguanas in that direction, and I was hoping to get some photos of them.” He stepped around her and started down the trail.
Nara bit the inside of her cheek to stop from busting out. She’d successfully made The Emperor embarrassed. That, and she also got him to laugh out loud earlier. Well, maybe not an actual laugh, but it was a chuckle and she’d take it. Before the end of this honeymoon, she was going to get an actual gut-busting laugh. She’d make sure of it.
As they walked, the image of Derek’s face coming closer to hers flashed through her mind, and she wondered if she hadn’t jerked away, would he have kissed her? What would that have been like? She’d never thought about Derek that way before, but now, she couldn’t get the thought out of her mind. If her body reacted to touching his arm with such a strong attraction, what would kissing him really be like?
They were married. At least, they were married on paper. And they were supposed to make the company think it was real. Maybe kissing Derek wasn’t out of the realm of possibility.
Chapter 10
Derek snapped a candid shot of Nara crouched down, reaching out to touch an iguana, then zoomed his camera in to catch the smile on her face. It carried up through her eyes. Warmth enveloped him as he watched her inch closer to the creature. Her fingers made contact and the iguana jumped and scurried away. Nara squealed and hopped back, laughing. “Did you see that? It took off like a rocket. I didn’t know iguanas could move so fast.”
He lowered his camera and swallowed. She looked radiant in her yellow sundress. He hoped it came through the lens. He wanted to remember this feeling that was spreading through him. It was comfortable. Happy. He didn’t want it to fade.
