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Chapter 7

Hand in hand with Nick, Claire led the way through the beach house, ooh-ing and ahh-ing at everything around her. The house Nick had rented for the two of them to stay in with AJ and Mary was amazing. Located right on a private beach in Maui, it was beautifully decorated in earthy shades of beige and white, with tropical accents. Large windows in every room framed picturesque views of the ocean on one side of the house and distant mountains on the other. Claire, used to staying in hotels on vacations, was enchanted. The beach house was more wonderful than even the finest hotel, and she knew Nick had to have pulled some strings to get it for a whole week on only three weeks’ notice.

“Ours?” she asked, leading Nick through the doorway of what she assumed was the master bedroom. They had already been through one of the two bedrooms, and it had been very nice, boasting a queen size bed and a bathroom with a large, marble tub. But this bedroom was even better. It had an ocean view, and the bed was a king, draped with a fluffy, Hawaiian flower-printed comforter. Claire ducked into the bathroom and squealed when she turned on the light. “Jacuzzi! This one’s definitely ours!”

“For sure,” Nick agreed with a casual grin. “We got here first, so we get to pick first.”

She nodded. “Makes sense to me. Come on, let’s go check out the beach.”

“Okay. Um… lemme, um, change my leg first.”

Claire couldn’t help but burst out laughing as she processed that line. It just sounded so… well, funny. She immediately felt a little bad though and looked at him quickly, but he was snickering too. Phew. “Make sure you say that again when AJ’s here; he’ll get a kick out of it,” she said with a wink in Nick’s direction. He grinned and nodded as he walked over to the foyer, where they had dropped all of their luggage.

She heard him rustling around and knew he was getting out his other prosthesis, the “water leg,” as he called it. This leg was specially designed to go in the water and on the beach, something the C-Leg he normally wore could not do. He’d found this out the hard way a few months ago, when he’d gone for a walk on the beach and gotten sand inside the prosthesis, which messed it up and left Nick spending a few days on crutches while it was being repaired. The prosthetist that had fixed his leg suggested investing in another leg that he could not only walk on the beach with, but swim with as well. Nick had agreed to be fitted for one, and within a couple of weeks, he’d convinced Claire to come swimming with him so he could try out the new prosthesis.

“Looking good,” she said to him now as he returned, having swapped his pants along with his artificial leg. He’d worn long khakis on the flight (he always wore long pants in public, and she knew he was still uncomfortable letting everyone see the prosthesis), but now he was dressed in a baggy pair of tropical print board shorts that exposed the water leg. It was not as advanced as the C-Leg, nor did it look it, but it did its job. He could walk on it (though not as well as on the better prosthesis), and in the water, it kept him more balanced than he would have otherwise been.

Nick rolled his eyes at her comment and just said, “Okay, let’s go.” They made their way outside through a pair of sliding glass doors and ended up on a sunny deck. They descended the steps that lead to the beach slowly, Nick’s arm tight around Claire’s waist. He released his grip on her once they had reached the sand, but she kept her arm lightly draped around him anyway, not wanting him to fall in the soft sand, uneven in places from the wind. Not like he’d get hurt, landing in the sand, but she wanted to save him the embarrassment.

“This is beautiful,” she commented as they neared the water, gazing out at the ocean. It looked so blue compared to the Gulf back home. She dropped her arm and took Nick’s hand instead, turning her head to smile at him. “Thank you for bringing me.”

“My pleasure,” he returned with a charming smile. “Isn’t this way better than when you came with Tim?”

“Way,” she agreed, her eyes sweeping over the view. The only other houses in sight were in the distance; when Nick had told her the vacation home was on a private beach, he meant private. It was wonderful to think that they had all of this to themselves. She and Tim had stayed in a nice hotel right near a beach on the island of Hawaii, but that beach had been packed with people, not at all like this. Being on a crowded beach with Tim had made Hawaii seem a lot less pleasant than it was now, as she stood on a secluded strip of beach with Nick, letting the breeze tousle her hair and the salty air fill her lungs. This was what Hawaii was supposed to be like, she decided, a cute little beach house with a view of the ocean, not a view of the water in the toilet as she knelt on the floor of her hotel room, trying to rid her body of the bad seafood she’d already brought up hours ago.

“Are you getting hungry?” Nick asked out of the blue, making her stomach churn after what she’d just been reminiscing on.

“Um… I dunno, are you?” She knew he hadn’t eaten much on the plane. Neither had she. He had to be starving, and deep down, she probably was too.

“Yeah,” he said, “but we should probably wait for AJ and Mary to get here before we go out to eat, huh?”

“Yeah, probably,” she replied. “Maybe we could just run to a convenience store and get some snacks?”

“Sounds like a plan. Lemme just go inside and change again.”

“I swear, you’re worse than Dianna,” Claire teased as they headed back toward the house. “You don’t see me changing my pants every five minutes.”

“I wouldn’t want you to. Your ass looks cute in these,” Nick said with a grin, and she felt his hand grab the back of her loose-fitting capris. She reached back and pried it off (okay, flung it off), inadvertently sending him backpedaling. He stumbled in the sand and fell, landing right on his own ass.

She tried hard not to laugh, but it was nearly impossible to say “I’m sorry,” without giggling. “Now you’re really going to have to change your pants,” she said, reaching her hand out to help him up. “Your butt’s gonna be all sandy.”

He retaliated by hurling a handful of sand at her legs. The grains that didn’t make it far up enough to hit her pants stung as they bounced off her shins, but she didn’t show it. With the devilish grin she loved, he said, “Now you’re gonna have to change too.”

Not even bothering to brush off her pants, she bent down and scooped up a large handful herself. He scrambled to get up, but she was too quick for him; before he could get too far, she had grabbed him and dumped a small mountain of sand down the front of his shirt. “Truce?” she asked with a pleasant smile as he squirmed and wriggled, grabbing at his shirt to try to shake out some the sand.

“Truce,” he muttered, and she could tell he was trying to sound more annoyed than he really was. She held out her hand again, and he reached for her with his middle finger extended, grinning widely before allowing her to help him up. “I can’t believe you did that,” he said, stretching out the hem of his shirt and watching as grains of sand fell from beneath it.

“Yeah, well, you threw sand on me first – payback’s a bitch, buddy. And at least you don’t have boobs for that stuff to get stuck between.” As soon as those words left her mouth, she wished she hadn’t said them – one look at the wicked gleam in his eyes, and she knew she’d end up with a cleavage filled with sand the first time she ventured out in her swimsuit.

They walked leisurely back to the house and went inside, leaving Nick’s shirt draped over one of the deck railings to be shaken out properly later.

***

Nearly an hour later, a bright yellow jeep came trundling up the narrow road that led to the beach house. It lurched to a stop beside the black SUV that was already parked in front of the house, and the two small doors opened as Nick and Claire climbed out.

“They must have gotten here,” Nick said, pointing out the SUV that had not been there earlier as he struggled to get down from the jeep without landing flat on his face. Maybe a cramped vehicle that was high off the ground wasn’t the most practical choice for him, but Claire had fallen in love with the Crayola yellow jeep at the rental place, and with its removable top and windows, it had seemed perfect for driving around Hawaii in. Definitely more exciting than the plain black SUV AJ had apparently rented.

As Claire was grabbing the bags of groceries they’d picked up, Nick heard the screen door of the house bang shut and looked to see AJ striding across the front porch.

“Nick-ay!” AJ called, jogging over to meet him. “What’s goin’ on, dude?” he asked, as he pulled Nick into a brotherly embrace.

“Not too much, man,” Nick replied, patting AJ’s back warmly. “Did you guys just get here?”

“About twenty minutes ago, yeah,” AJ nodded. “Where have you two been? Hey, Claire!”

“What’s up, AJ?” Claire said with a smile as she appeared at Nick’s side, juggling three paper sacks of groceries.

“Lemme get those,” AJ said, taking the sacks from her. “Christ, Nick, you’re making your woman carry all your shit?” He shook his head with exaggerated exasperation and promptly set the brown grocery bags on the ground. “C’mere, girl,” he said to Claire, holding out his arms. She gave him a friendly hug and pulled away just as the screen door opened and slammed shut again.

Nick looked up to see another woman walking slowly across the front porch. As the stranger came up to stand beside AJ, Nick got a better look at her. She was a nice-looking woman with a tanned, curvaceous body and long, chestnut colored hair that was streaked with golden highlights. “Hi,” she said to Nick, holding our her hand. “I’m Mary.”

Nick offered her a half-smile and immediately took her hand. “Nice to meet you, Mary,” he said. “I’m Nick.”

“I know,” smiled Mary. “I’ve heard so much about you from AJ.”

He kept the smile pasted on his face, wondering the whole time what exactly AJ might have said about him. He wished he could say the same to her, but the truth was, he knew virtually nothing about her, having only found out she even existed a few weeks ago.

“And you must be Claire?” asked Mary, now extending her hand to Claire.

“Yep,” said Claire, shaking her hand. “Has AJ been telling you stories about me too?”

Mary smiled. “Only the good kind.” She winked. “At least that’s what he told me to tell you.”

Claire laughed lightly, and Nick relaxed. Mary seemed cool so far, and he was relieved.

“Well, whaddya say we go inside and sit down, maybe have a drink?” AJ suggested, picking up the grocery bags again. Nodding, they all followed him inside the house.

***

Exhausted and jet-lagged from their flights, Nick, Claire, AJ, and Mary stayed in that night and went to bed early. Nick couldn’t help but wonder what AJ and Mary were up to in the next room as he sat up in bed, his back pressed up against his pillows, the covers pulled up to his waist, hiding his stump. But he could hear nothing from their bedroom, only water running and rummaging sounds coming from the master bathroom. After a few minutes though, the noises stopped, and the bathroom door swung open. Shutting off the light, Claire emerged, dressed in a black tank top and faded pink sleep shorts. She padded across the bedroom in her bare feet and came around the bed, climbing onto it on Nick’s right side, her usual spot.

It was sort of weird, Nick thought, having her slide under the covers beside him. They had slept in the same bed several times before this, but never really intentionally… it was something that just happened, usually because she had fallen asleep there while watching a movie. Never had they actually gone to bed together like this, like they were some married couple… or at least a live-in couple.

But as he, too, lay down, and she snuggled up against him, her head against his shoulder, her body nestled in the crook of his arm, he realized there was no reason for him to mind – he loved having her there.

“You want me to turn off the light?” he asked softly.

She raised her head so she could see his face and nodded, smiling. “I’m so sleepy,” she said, “and I can’t wait for tomorrow. It’s going to be wonderful.”

“It is,” he agreed. “I’ll make sure you’ll have the time of your life.”

“And I’ll owe it all to you…” she jokingly sang what he thought was part of the Dirty Dancing song, but between the fact that she couldn’t sing worth a crap, and the fact that he hated that movie, he wasn’t entirely sure. Still, he chuckled and took her soft, freshly-scrubbed face in his hands, turning it up as he leaned down to gently kiss her lips. He could smell her breath, minty sweet from brushing her teeth, and he longed to taste her. But he held back and reluctantly broke the goodnight kiss, leaning over to turn off the lamp on his side of the bed.

Darkness enveloped them, and until his eyes adjusted, he could not see her there beside him. But he could feel her. He tightened his arm around her, bringing her even closer to his side, wanting to feel her there all night. “’Night, baby,” he whispered.

“Mm… goodnight,” she murmured, sounding as if she was already half-asleep. Smiling to himself, he lightly squeezed her shoulder and ran his hand down her bare arm and side and back up again, eventually lulling her to sleep. When he heard her deep, even breathing, he closed his eyes and let sleep wash over him like the warm, tropical waves on the beach outside his window.

***