Page 36 of Margot

“You don’t have to apologize.” I shrugged my shoulders and crossed my legs. His eyes zeroed in on that too. I knew I wore the right dress.

He’s married, Margot. He doesn’t want you.

After the bartender brought our drinks over, Lennox finished his in no time flat.

“Do I make you uncomfortable or are you tired of drinking chardonnay all the time?”

The way he laughed made me tingle all over.

“A little bit of both.” He ordered another round of drinks for us and before I knew it, we were laughing and talking like we’d known each other forever.

“I’m going to head over to the beach and let some of this liquor wear off. I can’t walk back to my villa this drunk,” I stood up from my seat at the bar and pins and needles flooded my legs.

Fuck, how long had we been sitting there?

I stumbled backward a bit and without warning, I felt Lennox’s strong arm across my lower back. I thought I would fucking explode.

“Woah, you alright, Margot? See, that brown liquor got you drunk.”

“I’m fine.” I stabilized myself and pressed my palm to my chest. My head was swimming and my thoughts were whirring by at a rate I couldn’t fathom.

“Where’s your villa? I can walk you back.”

“I’m gonna sit on the beach for a minute,” I tried to catch my breath but standing that close to Lennox made it hard.

“You mind if I sit with you?”

“Of course not,” I smiled. It wasn’t until I was standing beside him that I noticed how tall he was. “God, I don’t know how your wife isn’t down here climbing you like a fucking tree,” I blurted as I looked up into his blazing copper eyes.

He rubbed the back of his neck and chuckled.

Way to fuck up a good night, Margot.

I watched as Lennox pay for our drinks and my pulse quickened. The way his forearms flexed when he put his wallet back in his pocket made me want to put my panties in his mouth.

The beach was much less crowded. The breeze ruffling the palm tree leaves and flower petals cooled my hot skin. I couldn’t tell if I was hot from the liquor or from sitting in the sand next to Lennox’s fine ass.

“Thanks for sitting out here with me. It’s not every day that I get to hang out in Hawaii with someone as chocolate and sexy as you,” I said without a care in the world. “And there I go again not having a filter.”

“I like you not having a filter, Margot. It’s refreshing as hell. Sutton is…” He pushed out a long breath then looked at me. “Sutton has been leaving me hanging lately and that shit hurts. It makes me feel like I’m a failure as a husband because I can’t get my own wife to open up to me.”

I couldn’t get past the pain in his eyes. It hit me so hard in my chest that I nearly toppled backward. My eyes stung and I turned my head toward the breeze so that the wind would dry the tears begging to fall.

“How could anyone hurt you?” I asked him quietly. “I’ve literally known you for a few hours and you’re the sweetest man. You’re agoodman, Lennox. It oozes from you. That’s rare.”

“Thank you.” His Adam’s apple bobbed in his throat when he looked at me. “I’m sorry for dumping all of this on you. It’s the liquor.” He rubbed his face and sighed. “Tell me why you think you fumbled your relationship.”

“Um…I can get kind of self-absorbed and just…I don’t know. He was a good guy like you.” It was hard to recall my last relationship. I only saw it in slices and it was for the best.

“Do you regret being self-absorbed?” Lennox asked.

“I do. I’m just now learning that there’s life outside of myself. If I had it to do over, I’d do it right. Now I realize how rare it is to find good guys…like you.” A knot swelled in my throat and I opted to look anywhere but at Lennox. He brought out every feeling I was trying to stuff down.

I ran my fingers through the soft white sand and concentrated on the water lapping at the shore. Without my knowledge, my fingers traced a clunky and awkward heart in the sand. I erased it immediately and looked over at Lennox.

“Can I walk you back to your villa, Margot?”

“Um…yeah. Sure.” Lennox stood first then he held his hand out for me. I grabbed on and a surge of electricity burned through me like white-hot fire.