Josh took a deep breath and sighed, meeting my eyes with a sad smile. “I’m going to miss you, you know.” Tears prickled my eyes. Oh, please don’t do that. Please don’t say the one thing I don’t want to think about.

He put an arm around my neck and pulled me into a side hug. I wrapped my arms around his waist, and we stood looking at the view for a while. “I took some cool pics,” I said eventually, sniffling a little.

“Yeah?” I nodded. “We should get a few more before we leave.”

“Okay.”

“You ready to go back out there?”

I smiled through my tears and ran a fingertip under each eye. “Bring on the cold!” I said a little too loudly. The family stopped talking and looked over their shoulders at me, which made me giggle. I ran out into the cold with Josh right behind me.

We drove back to the resort with the roof up!

*

Our plans for the day having backfired, we salvaged it by spending the afternoon in a hammock for two.

It was my first time in a hammock—yes, really—and I felt like I could stay there forever with my legs entwined with Josh’s, a breeze gently caressing my skin, a good book on my Kindle, and an excellent margarita in my hand. Although, I’ll admit that sipping a margarita while in a hammock is a little tricky, and I did spill some of it down my cleavage. Josh very graciously offered to lick it off when we got back to our room, which made me laugh, and that made me spill more of it down the front of me. It was an expensive—and sticky—way to consume a margarita.

As it was our last night together, Josh had booked us a beach-front cabana where we’d have a super-fancy private dinner. The dress needed a wash after all the dancing we’d done the night before, but I’d packed another one in a floaty red silk chiffon. It was cinched at the waist, then fell in waves to my knees, and it went perfectly with my strappy suede sandals.

This dress was pretty, rather than sexy, but when I stepped out of the bathroom, Josh whistled and looked at me hungrily. “You look amazing.”

“Thank you. You look pretty nice, yourself.” He was wearing his jeans with a fitted grey T-shirt under a navy blazer, and the grey shirt made his eyes even more intense than usual. He came over and kissed my neck, and I was glad I’d worn my hair up.

“Thank you,” he said, his lips moving to my throat. “You know, we could just stay in and order room service.”

“Joshua.” The kisses continued. “Josh.” I pushed him back gently and looked him in the eye. “We’re going to dinner.” A smile curled up the corner of my lip.

His eyes narrowed. “Later, then.”

“Oh, absolutely.”

Dinner was incredible. “Aloha!” called a beautiful Hawaiian woman as we approached. She placed a lei of fresh pink frangipanis around each of our necks, their fragrance heady. Is there a scent that’s more evocative of the tropics?