Page 27

G inny lurched forward as Nico hit the brakes. Though relieved to be at a standstill, adrenaline pumped through her veins and hammering heart.

Nico craned his head forward as he searched the area just in front of the truck. “Was I about to hit something?”

“Why did you gun the engine?” she said, eyes wide.

His face held a confused grimace. “I was trying to get you there quickly since you seem so uncomfortable.”

She pointed forward out the windshield, where there was only blue. “All I see is sky, and you were gunning us straight into it. I thought you were about to Thelma and Louise us all!”

“I’d never!”

She undid her seatbelt and unlocked her door. “All the same, I could use some fresh air. I’ll walk the rest of the way.”

“I’ll get the dogs and follow you,” she heard him say in a tone both confused and hurt as she got out.

A quick look to the back reassured her all three dogs were fine.

They pranced and whimpered at her, just as ready to escape the truck as she had been.

She patted the nearest, which happened to be Mick. “I’ll see you in a bit, buddy.”

Rapid steps propelled her up the steep incline to the lot Nico seemed so excited to show her.

The gravel drive had blocked the ocean view since they’d turned onto it, but the water had to be visible just beyond this rise.

A few gulls swirled high overhead, their calls sharp and lonely in the dry air.

The hills around her glowed with their temporary spring blanket of wild yellow poppies, and California sage scented the breeze.

The pleasant burn in her legs, combined with the solidity of the earth beneath her, slowed Ginny’s heart to a more natural rhythm.

Why had she reacted like that back in the truck?

She was excited to see the lot, and they’d had such a nice conversation on the drive.

Most people’s eyes glazed over the minute she started talking about art—let alone bugs—but Nico had seemed sincerely curious and engaged throughout.

He was surprisingly easy to talk to. It was probably just that her emotions in general were completely out of whack lately—well, ever since a man dripping with periwinkle paint had demanded her house.

The driveway ended in a circle of exposed dirt no more than fifty feet wide and sixty feet deep.

Spotting it, Ginny couldn’t help but gasp aloud.

Except for the narrow driveway she’d just walked up, the edges of the small plot dropped off on all sides, creating a plateau in the sky.

She walked right to the center of the space and turned, giving herself the full panorama.

Next, she stepped toward the line of medium-sized rocks marking the edge that faced the sea, the steepest drop-off of all.

At her feet lay a bowl of blue sky and bluer water.

To her right and left, mountain ridges rose and fell into the distance like soldiers at attention.

In short, the place was incredible. For a moment, she just breathed.

It still made no sense why Nico would bring her to a lot like this, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t enjoy the view.

She’d grown up in the city, but being in nature had always suited her best. She’d learned that on those summer family camping trips.

Wild spaces engaged her ever-sparking mind and soothed her anxious thoughts.

In Japan they called it ‘forest bathing.’ The phrase had made innate sense to her the moment she’d first heard it, no explanation needed.

A minute later, she turned at the sound of jangling leashes and panting pooches. Nico had once again ditched his suit for jeans and a long-sleeved tee, but out here in the hills, something about him remained a little fish-out-of-water. It was cute.

Annie and Jack pulled at their leashes, gripped tightly in his hand.

Mick was conspicuously missing. She shouldn’t have walked off without helping.

Managing three large, excited dogs up that driveway was asking a lot.

He must have left Mick in the truck for the time being.

Wrangling him was the same as wrangling three normal dogs.

He nodded at her expectantly as he swept his free hand over the scene. “What do you think?”

She punched one fist onto her hip. “I think you’re tricking me again .”

He let out a defeated breath, a chagrined smile on his face. “I can’t win.”

“Come on. There’s no way you’re giving me this incredible spot. It must be worth millions.”

“It would be if it were bigger, but this is the only buildable area in the whole six-acre plot. It’ll barely hold a seven-hundred square foot house. The types of people shopping for lots around here wouldn’t build a potato shed that size.”

“Then why did you buy it?”

He looped the ends of the dog’s leashes over a nearby, waist-high tree stump, then moved to join her near the edge.

“I didn’t. It was a consolation prize thrown in to try to sweeten a terrible deal my brother fell for.

It’s just been sitting here while I fumed about it.

” He raised his hands in a gesture of surrender.

“But, hey, maybe it was all for the best? Maybe now it has a purpose.”

She tried to imagine her house here at the edge of the world, a rainbow iced cake held high on a waiter’s silver tray.

She would be an hour’s drive from her sisters, but she could manage that for Sunday brunches.

Malibu proper was only minutes away, and she wouldn’t have any trouble finding mansions to clean or dogs to walk.

The peace and quiet would be incredible, not to mention the stars at night.

Her gaze fell on the narrow, steep driveway.

She nodded toward it. “You think we could actually get the house up here though, up that ?”

“I checked with a friend who does this sort of thing, and he thought we could…barely.” He bent and picked up a stone, then whipped it, rock-skipping style, off the edge.

As always, his movements were fluid and sexy.

She could literally watch him do ordinary things all day long and be fully entertained.

They both waited, but wherever the rock finally landed, it made no sound.

She picked up a stone too, a smooth one, and rubbed it between her fingers. “But I’m guessing we wouldn’t want to move it up here on a windy day?”

He gave her a playful wink. “Maybe you could work your magic, and the next Santa Anna will deposit the house here for you.”

She clicked her heels together in the dirt as she closed her eyes and chanted, “There’s no place like Malibu. There’s no place like Malibu.”

Nico laughed loudly enough that Annie and Jack lifted their heads, then he offered his hand for a shake. “So, we’ve got a deal?”

She paused for effect, then pumped his hand twice. “Deal.”

As the handshake ended, they continued to stand face-to-face, the space between them crackling with an electricity that hadn’t been there before.

She felt her face flush. Was she just sensing his relief over his precious real estate deal moving forward again?

Probably. But what if there was something more?

Her heart skipped a half-beat as the realization dawned—once the house was moved, she’d rarely, if ever, see Nico again. He said he’d bring his mother by, but would he really? Never seeing him again was exactly what she’d wanted, so why did the prospect bother her now?

“Hey, uh,” he said, as if reading her thoughts, “I meant it when I said I’d like to bring my mom for visits. You really okay with that?”

“Of course, and...” Should she say it? Was it too forward?

Again, he seemed to read her mind. “And maybe I could stop by other times too, or we could meet up in town? You know—just to annoy you now and then, so you’ll feel alive.”

She tried to make her face serious, but a flirty smile broke through. “You are expert at annoying me, Nico Vitale. And maybe now and then, you could leave something lying around for me to hold onto long enough that I can claim it?”

He reached out and took her fingers lightly into his. “You have a knack for that.”

Eddies of happiness swirled through Ginny at the realization that he might be feeling something between them too, but the eddies felt equally dangerous.

She and Nico had entirely different values and life philosophies.

And even if she didn’t care about Great Aunt Lydia’s million dollars, she promised her sisters she wouldn't date. Granted, it was a stupid promise given that she would never marry anyway. Breaking it for a man whose way of living was the polar opposite of hers seemed doubly stupid. It was probably the open spaces affecting him. Once they returned to civilization, he’d be all Mr. Deal Maker and Return-On-Investments Guy again.

She took a small step back. “Um…we should probably start heading home.”

As if stung by a bee, he dropped her hand and stepped back too.

She expected to see shock, and maybe even anger, in his features—how could someone he considered so lowly and pathetic possibly reject his advances?

But his eyes dimmed with hurt, and he seemed to shrink a few inches in all directions.

He quickly adopted a stiff smile, but for that fleeting moment, she was sure she’d seen the hopeful little boy in the photo from the family album, only all grown up and no longer hopeful.

“I didn’t mean…,” he stammered.

“No, it’s okay, I…” Her mind and heart battled inside her.

Had she just made a huge mistake? The electricity crackling between them was long gone now, and she had no idea how to get it back.

They still stood no more than two feet apart, but it might as well have been the distance between her and the Pacific Highway as it ribboned round the skirts of the Santa Monica mountains far below.

A commotion in the direction of the driveway drew their attention.

“What was that?” she asked.