Page 46 of Pure Temptation

“How long ago did she leave?”

Alana shrugged. “Maybe five minutes before you showed up. She might have heard you if you started calling for her a little earlier. You’re pretty loud.” She smiled at him like she was enjoying this. His ever-optimistic brain took Alana’s smile as yet another reason to hope.

But damn, he had just missed seeing Kendall. He was definitely not going to takethatas a sign. Hell, no. He was going to find her. The Kalani’s peninsula wasn’t big, and he was in great shape. He could cover a lot of territory on foot over the next hour and then turn back for her cabin if he didn’t find her. But this talk would probably go best if they were somewhere private. And that sure as hell wasn’t her doorstep.

Daxon stood up, envisioning the layout of the resort’s grounds. “Did you see which way she went?”

“That direction.” Alana pointed toward the tip of the peninsula.

It was good news. In that direction, there were only a few trails: one up to the restaurant area, one private trail to Byron Keahi’s house, which he could rule out, and one more to the surfing beach where she took him on his first tour of the resort...on the path to the waterfall. Kendall’s favorite spot. She told him how to get there on the tour of the Kalani, and he was pretty sure he remembered...Yes.That’s where he’d try first.

He flashed Alana a smile. “Thanks.”

“Don’t hurt her,” she said, all the mischief fading from her expression. “If you’re going after her, you better do it right this time.”

“I want to do it right, too,” he said softly. Badly. Fuck, hehadto get this right.

Daxon took a few steps and then glanced down at what he was wearing. The button-down shirt and leather shoes weren’t the best choices for running, so he stopped by the red convertible he had rented and tugged off everything but his shorts, throwing them into the trunk. He pulled out a T-shirt and his new pair of running shoes, since his last ones were, in fact, ruined. The challenge was on.

Daxon headed for the resort’s main road. As long as she hadn’t cut out onto the beach, he’d pass her if she was heading back. The road wound past the pool and the tennis courts, beyond the guest cabins and into the undeveloped tip of the island, where it forked. Damn, he hoped he was choosing the right path. His heart was thumping in his chest, but he wasn’t tired. Kendall was close, and he’d finally, finally see her again. Daxon widened his stride as hope burst through him again.

He turned off to the left, up the hill and through the lush forest to the path along the hillside that overlooked the beach. He ran past the spot where he had stood with Kendall, so eager to kiss her that day, and continued to where the path left the beach, veering into the forest. He climbed farther, and then he came to a stop. Another fork. Shit. He laced his hands behind his head, his breaths coming fast, impatience driving his pulse higher. What the hell was he supposed to do now?

“Kendall,” he called, his voice tense.

Then he quieted his breath and listened. No answer...but was that a splash of water in the distance? The waterfall. He started for the trail where the sound seemed to be coming from. Thank God. He was getting closer.

Daxon ran toward the waterfall, speeding up. Like everything else he did, he had planned this day meticulously, but this wasn’t going according to plan. He had been aching to talk to her for days. He had things he needed to say to her in person. But what if he had miscalculated? What if she returned to her cabin while he was running through the forest? What if she took one look at the red convertible parked outside her cabin and left again? Uncertainty was building inside, churning in his gut. He was heading down a path without a map, and still, he pushed forward.

Finally, the forest trail opened, and there, on a rock beside the river, Daxon saw her. Kendall was facing away from him, leaning back on her arms, dressed in a tank top and running shorts, showing off miles of tanned skin. She had taken her shoes off, and her feet dangled into the stream. Above her, the waterfall cascaded, splashing over the rocks.

Daxon slowed to a stop, drinking her in. He missed her. He missed laughing with her and touching her. He missed her soft, warm body, her breath teasing his skin. Kendall looked relaxed, lost in thought. Goddamn. He was about to disturb her peace, and he hoped like hell she’d think it was worth it. He knew he didn’t deserve a second chance with her, but he was a selfish bastard, and he wasn’t giving up. But this time was different. This time, he was willing to listen.

So he took a deep breath and started for her.

“Kendall?”

Slowly, she turned around, her eyes wide, so beautiful and full of hope. At that moment, everything he had planned to say disappeared, and he was left with a single thought:please, please, let me be the one to keep that look on her face.

What made a risk worth taking? Was the tipping point when the want inside became stronger than the fear? Because Kendall’s rising want for Daxon since he had left was spilling over, and now that he had appeared, she was ready to do just about anything to keep him here.

It was this feeling that had kept her from calling him, despite his very public message for her. Hearing that he was backing out of the El Cap climb was an enormous relief, but it didn’t solve the more fundamental issue between them: Daxon loved risk, and she didn’t know if she could live with that. Right now, she was willing to, but what happened when this almost desperate need to see him dulled? What happened when that itch to push the limits came back? It would, eventually, and they needed a way to deal with this. When he made it to the top of Moonlight Buttress, she promised herself she’d figure out how to deal with this, but so far, she hadn’t come up with answers.

And now Daxon had just...shown up. He had found her at her favorite spot, looking so serious and determined, setting her heart into overdrive. A rush of hope and happiness was filling her, leaking out, despite her best efforts. Where was her well-honed sense of wariness when she needed it? Trying to be rational about Daxon was a losing battle.

He walked over and sat down on a rock, so close, facing her. He lifted his hand, like he was reaching for her, but then it dropped. Instead he rested his forearms on his thighs and looked at her. He was so gorgeous, those gray-green eyes stormy, worried and hopeful. But he looked tired, too, and it had been a couple days since he had last shaved. Was he struggling to sleep at night, too?

Lord, she’d missed him.

But she couldn’t forget that the last time he’d sat next to her and proposed a future together, it included two free solos. And despite his heartfelt declaration after his climb, she still didn’t know what their middle ground looked like. But she had promised herself she wouldn’t ask him to quit again.

Daxon ran his hands through his hair and gave her a tentative smile. “So this is your favorite spot?”

She nodded. He looked around at the waterfall and the river that passed by on its way out into the ocean. The trees shaded most of the area, but the early-morning sun filtered through to where they were sitting. There was a rock face beside the waterfall, possibly climbable, but he didn’t seem to notice.

“It’s beautiful.” He was quiet for a long time, hanging his head, as if he was gathering words slowly and carefully. His shoulders rose and fell, his muscles showing through the thin material of his T-shirt. Those muscles were the difference between life and death back on the face of Moonlight Buttress. She wanted to kiss them, worship them, give them her deepest appreciation for the strength that had kept him alive so that they could sit here together at this moment.

“I watched your climb,” she said softly.