Doris Rangel - Moonlight Magic

Maybe she was. Daniel stilled. He didn’t trust this cove.

But her answer couldn’t have been more normal.

“Yes and no. I came for a pediatrics convention in Honolulu, but I have a brother here with the marines. He’ll be leaving for Japan soon, so I’m taking the opportunity to spend time with him.”

“Pediatrics? You’re an M.D.?”

“Pediatric nurse. How about you?”

“Small world. I’m a doctor. Just finished my residency.”

All true, but how many years ago? Four? He wasn’t sure anymore.

“Oh, were you here for the conference, too?”

“Um, no. So how do you like Hawaii?”

“It’s beautiful, what I’ve seen of it. I haven’t had a chance to be a tourist yet, except for a visit to the cultural center.”

She wiggled her toes in the sand, and Daniel thought he’d never seen anything so lovely as the shine of pale nail polish on the sweetest feet in the islands.

He smothered an inward grin at this new appreciation of feet. If nothing else, the past years had been a lesson in what to appreciate. Things once taken for granted he now considered in a whole new light. He could hardly wait to go home.

But there was something else he’d learned in the Kamehanas’ back garden.

Enjoy the moment.

And at this moment, he was on a beautiful beach—as long as one stayed out of the water—enjoying a beautiful night, talking nothings with a breathtaking woman.

Talking? On a night like this? What was he thinking!

After years of isolation, he wasn’t greedy. But a modest little kiss with a moon goddess wouldn’t be asking too much, would it? Would Ellie be willing?

Sifting sand through her fingers, Ellie idly watched it catch the breeze, very much aware of being observed.

On a deserted beach with a total stranger, she should be afraid. But fear was the farthest thing from her mind. It was all she could do not to stare back.

Something about Daniel attracted her as she hadn’t been attracted in years, though he wasn’t her type at all.

Too handsome, for one thing. She’d never been susceptible to handsome men. Fashion-model looks and muscled physiques might be the stuff of most women’s fantasies but not hers.

The touch of vulnerability she sensed that had her wanting to reach out to him was another thing. Normally she found vulnerability a turnoff in men because she equated the word with “needy.” Her ex-husband sprang to mind.

If you love me, you’ll stay home with me. Let someone else take the extra shift.

Ellie shook the memory away. It wasn’t that kind of vulnerability she sensed in Daniel. Behind the easygoing charm that said he’d been practicing it for years, she sensed strength in him. And sadness.

She shook that thought away, too.

So what was the attraction? The man was just too perfect for her taste.

Handsome, charming and a doctor? Yeah, right. Surely he’d made that last up. What were the odds? Most likely he was the male equivalent to a beach bunny.

Aha! Ellie swallowed the urge to laugh outright. That was the attraction.

On a lovely beach on a moonlit night in Hawaii, she’d met the perfect kind of man for her—a studly beach bum. Here now, gone with the tide.

And she’d bet the ranch this particular stud-muffin wanted to kiss her.

She would let him, too, Ellie thought. What fool ignored perfection? And after a kiss or two, she would put on her sandals and return to Chad’s apartment.

Alone.

If Daniel found her tomorrow or in the days ahead and wanted to continue where they left off, maybe she would.

Maybe she wouldn’t.

It depended on Chad’s duty schedule and how much free time he had. Ellie planned to spend as much time as possible with her brother, but when Chad was busy, Daniel might be fun to hang out with. He apparently knew the island well.

Perfect. A vacation flirtation.

Something to laugh about over coffee with her colleagues when she got home.

“Ellie.”

Even knowing this scene for exactly what it was, and knowing that Daniel was getting ready to exercise his best come-on, when he said her name like that, low and a little bit rough, Ellie shivered.

Make that sizzled.

“Umm?”

“I…” He cleared his throat. “Uh, where are you from?”

Was that shyness she heard? Couldn’t be. Didn’t fit the image.

“Texas,” she said, and slowly turned her head from her study of the sea so that she could look at him.

What she saw made her breath catch. “S-San Antonio,” she added in a husky whisper.

“Ah.” His gaze never left her mouth. “Would you mind if I kissed you?”

He had to ask? “Please,” Ellie managed to breathe. Her eyes fluttered shut.

But it wasn’t Daniel’s lips she felt next.

The stroke of gentle fingers brushing the side of her face took her completely by surprise before their trail down the contours of her jaw lured her into a sensual wonderland.

Warm, firm, but infinitely light, his thumbs traced the slope of her nose and traveled on to outline the fullness of her lower lip.

Her lips parted in a silent plea for more.

“God, you’re beautiful,” Daniel whispered.

Perhaps he whispered.

By now his light caress had Ellie’s senses so adrift she didn’t know if he actually spoke. Only her sense of the tactile still operated, working overtime as her body gave birth to nerve endings born singing beneath this man’s hands.

His fingers whispered that her skull was perfect, her skin flawless, her facial muscles works of art. Ellie knew she was lovely because those fingers said it.

They twined through her hair, combed slowly through it to its ends, and she understood her hair was a silken glory, a perfection of color and texture.

When Daniel’s thumbs traced the curve of her ears, brailing their contours, the geography of their hills and valleys and hiding places, she became aware that he’d found paradise.

Lifting her face to give those magical hands greater access…she felt one of her earrings hit her shoulder.

Shocked, Ellie opened her eyes. Dear God in Heaven! What was she doing?

This was no tropical interlude. The man had her emotions zinging in another way completely.

Daniel, too, looked dazed.

“Are you out of your mind?” she snapped at him, rearing back. “I said you could kiss me. Not—not t-touch me. Look what you’ve done. You made me l-lose my earring.”

Frantically, fighting tears she couldn’t explain and angry at herself for being such a sensual pushover, Ellie searched for the silver flower, using her fingers to lightly brush the sand between them, trying not to disturb it overmuch—and trying not to remember another set of fingers that had also lightly brushed, but disturbed very much indeed.

The hibiscus blossom she’d placed in her hair earlier in the evening dropped to the sand, but she swatted it away.

Why was she crying, dammit?

She couldn’t find the earring.

Had she only imagined it falling? A subconscious warning, perhaps? Reaching up, she touched the lobes of her ears just to make sure it was truly gone. It was. The other was still there, however.

Taking it out of her ear, Ellie dropped it in the pocket of her skirt so she wouldn’t lose it, too, then slowly, carefully stood, trying not to shift any more sand than she must.

As she rose, the lost earring tumbled to the sand.

Snatching it up, she turned to face the man who’d sent her emotions careening out of control.

How dare he presume to…to do what he did! She’d only given him permission for a little nothing kiss between two strangers, a meaningless acknowledgment brought about by a lovely tropical night, not…not something else altogether.

Something that made her want to turn her face into Daniel’s broad chest and weep.