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Derek turned to her, his face stoic. “Your father kind of sprung this on me. I didn’t have time to properly shop for clothes.”
“Neither did I. After breakfast we can go shopping.” She slipped on her beaded sandals. They were the most comfortable sandals she owned. She’d found them at a little shop on Broadway. Man, she missed New York already.
Derek rose and opened the door for her. They walked to the resort restaurant and were seated almost immediately. Nara opened the menu, scanning the breakfast items. When she didn’t see pancakes, she almost pouted, but that would have been childish, so she chose an alternative and folded the menu.
Derek sat, his back straight, his hands resting on the table. Why was he so uptight? Oh, wait. That was the way he was. “You look uncomfortable.”
“This situation is kind of uncomfortable.” He shook his head and wiped his forehead. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s not your fault. This is all my crazy father’s doing. But I figure, we can make the best of it, right? Dad’s paying for this vacation.” She stressed the word so he would know she had no intention of calling it a honeymoon. “He can make sure we have a good time. What would you like to do today? I was thinking some beach time was a must. But then I think we should see if we can rent a yacht or something and take a sunset trip out into the ocean. Pops can handle it. We should splurge.”
He slowly nodded, like he hated all her ideas, but didn’t want to say it. “Whatever you’d like.” He seemed relieved when the server came to take their orders. What, was he glad he didn’t have to talk to her for a minute?
Nara sighed and crossed her legs. This was going to be a long week. If His Imperial Majesty couldn’t even stand to talk to her, she didn’t know what she was going to do. This situation was already bad. Couldn’t he just make the best of it?
The server left and Nara picked up the saltshaker. She turned it, watching the salt run down the little landslide she’d created. “Oh, thanks, by the way. For the duct tape. That was smart.”
“That was the owner’s idea.” He shrugged. “She seemed surprised we wanted to cover the door. She said most couples don’t mind it.”
Nara set the saltshaker down. “I’m sure they don’t. Most couples are married.” When she realized that they, in fact, were married as well, it struck her as funny and she burst out laughing.
An older couple at the next table turned to stare at her, but she couldn’t stop. Her giggles grew into a fit of laughter that grew louder. The Emperor just sat there, his jaw clenching, which made her laugh even more.
Derek looked around, then leaned forward. “What’s so funny?” he said, his voice low.
She pointed between them. “We’re married,” she managed to say when she was able to get in breath in. When Derek just stared at her, she burst out again. She laughed so hard tears ran down her cheeks. And when she had no more laughter in her, she sat back and wiped at her face.
“That funny, huh?” Derek said and picked up his water to take a sip.
“Did you ever think we’d be married?”
Derek got a strange look on his face and shook his head. “No.”
“Well, then, you know why I’m laughing. It’s just so absurd. I don’t even really know why Dad insisted we do this.”
“He wants to pass down the company to me—”
Nara waved, cutting him off. “I know that answer. The one he says all the time. But what I don’t know the underlying reason. The one that makes more sense.”
Derek shifted his weight, then shrugged, not offering up any more conversation. Nice. So, this is how things would go. A honeymoon full of awkward conversation, or even more awkward pauses. Just what she was hoping for.
Not.
Chapter 4
Derek fiddled with his fork as he pushed his omelet around on his plate. He was not cut out for this. He once again cursed his decision to tell Richard Claymore about his feelings for Nara. This was not going to go down the way Mr. Claymore was hoping, that he’d be smooth and Nara would fall in love with him. Instead, he was anxious and twitchy, and altogether much too sweaty for anyone to like him.
He wiped his brow again, trying to be discreet. What he needed was a game plan. Something actionable so he could concentrate on that, rather than sit and be uncomfortable with Nara. The problem was, he couldn’t think of anything.
Nara plucked a substitute sugar packet from the tray and shook it so it made a noise like a tiny maraca. “Have you ever wondered what exactly is in this?”
He stared at the packet, his mind blank. “Splenda?”
“Yeah, I know Splenda is in it.” She ripped it open and dumped a pile of it onto her plate. “It looks like sugar.” She licked a finger and dipped it into the white mound, then licked it off. “It tastes like sugar. But it’s not sugar. What exactly is it?”
Derek had stopped listening much after she licked the Splenda off her finger. He swallowed and tried to get that image out of his head. “I think it comes from sugar. They just do stuff to it so it changes it.”
Nara made a face. “Oh. I was hoping it was chemical residue left over after some science experiment gone wrong, and the people were like, ‘Ooh, this tastes just like sugar.’ So they packaged it up and sold it.”
