and tried to sniff discreetly at her armpits. She hadn’t taken a shower yet that morning, but it couldn’t be that bad. Could it? Here she was fantasizing about the sexy hotelier while he was noting how bad she smelled. She was marching straight upstairs and scrubbing every inch of her body with the provided coconut soaps.
“Relax,” Mano added when she didn’t respond. “It’s not a bad scent, just a distinctive one.”
She wasn’t sure how he knew she was silently panicking, but she was glad she wasn’t recognizable by her trademark funk. “Thank goodness,” she said with a sigh.
Mano smiled, revealing his blinding white teeth against his rich, tanned skin. He truly was an amazingly handsome man. Last night, she’d wondered if perhaps she’d embellished him in her mind. No man could really be that attractive. But now that she looked up at him again, she realized it was true. Paige had thought Wyatt was good looking, but he couldn’t hold a candle to Mano. Not even the T-shirt and slightly askew morning hair could dampen his masculine appeal.
He was a strange juxtaposition of traits that seemed incompatible in her mind. He had heavy, sharp eyebrows over his sunglasses, one with a scar that sliced through it. It made him look more like he should be an ancient warrior or in some badass motorcycle gang instead of the suit-clad owner of an exclusive hotel. Upon closer inspection, she could see that his forearm tattoo was of some kind of black triangle design. That sealed his bad-boy appeal in her mind. It also made her wonder what else his professional suit and polite demeanor were hiding.
Paige had always had a thing for the bad boys. It wasn’t practical, or really even smart, but most of the time they didn’t give her a second glance, so she couldn’t get herself in too much trouble. Wyatt had been the first bad boy to look back at her. Giving in to that attraction had landed her on the path to single parenthood. Even knowing that didn’t make her take the step back from Mano that she knew she should.
He never looked at her directly, but she could feel his attention completely fixated in her direction as though he knew she was admiring him. “Do you have plans this evening, Paige?”
Paige frowned. She really didn’t have plans for the week. The only thing on the books was the memorial service on Friday. “I don’t have plans at all. I figured I would talk to the concierge about booking a few things this week, but right now, I’m winging the whole vacation.”
“Are you the kind that normally wings a vacation?”
“God, no,” she admitted. “I’m a super planner, but this was a bit of a last minute adventure for me. I read some of a travel guide on the flight over, but that’s about it.”
“A last minute trip to Hawaii to stay in the penthouse suite, eh? There are worse things, I suppose.”
Well, she supposed that some people lived a life with random tropical vacations, but Paige wasn’t one of them. “I’m not complaining, that’s for sure. I do feel a little like I’m flapping in the trade winds, however. I’ll feel better once I have a plan.”
“Well, start your plans with having dinner with me tonight,” he said.
Paige narrowed her gaze at him, wondering if perhaps she’d heard him wrong. It was one thing for her to fantasize about him, but why would a Polynesian god like him want to have dinner with her? Was he just being polite because he knew she was here alone? “You want to have dinner with me?”
Mano chuckled and shoved his free hand into the pocket of his jeans. “Why is that such a ridiculous proposition? You eat, don’t you?”
“Well, yes, of course I eat. It’s just—”
“And you don’t have plans, do you?” he interrupted.
“No plans,” she confirmed reluctantly. She wasn’t sure why the idea of having dinner with him unnerved her so much. She should be relieved. This was one meal she could have with a man where she wouldn’t have to worry about him watching her critically across the table the whole time.
She could just imagine her family’s response if she told them she was having dinner with a blind man— “He’d be perfect for you!”
Perhaps that was the key to his interest. He didn’t know what she looked like. Her sister, Piper, had once suggested she try dating one of her blind patients. The helpful idea in Piper’s mind had only sounded cruel in her own head. Maybe her sister was on to something, though.
“Excellent. I’d love for you to join me tonight at the owner’s table of The Pearl. It’s our seafood restaurant and was rated as one of the best on the island the last five years running. You’ll love it.”
The owner’s table? That made more sense to Paige than the idea of a date or something, although she had to admit she felt a pang of disappointment that went straight to her core. This was some kind of “schmooze with the rich hotel guests” kind of thing. With her luck, he’d probably try to talk her into buying a time-share or something. Mano would certainly be disappointed to find out she wasn’t the usual wealthy penthouse guest. Of course, a nice dinner with him was certainly better than anything else she had planned, which was a big nothing all by herself.
“I can give you some suggestions on how to spend your time here,” he added almost as if to sweeten the deal, as though a free meal and looking at his handsome face all night wasn’t enough.
“Okay,” she said at last. “You’ve talked me into it.”
“I usually don’t have to try this hard to get a woman to have dinner with me,” Mano said with a wry smile. “I was about to be offended.”
Paige felt a blush of embarrassment rise to her cheeks. “I didn’t mean anything by it. I just can’t fathom why you’d want to spend your evening with me.”
For the first time, Mano looked at her, as though he were looking into her eyes. Even with his gaze hidden behind his dark glasses, she felt an unexpected connection snap between them and her body reacted. Her tongue felt thick in her mouth as her lips dried out like a desert. Her heart started racing in her rib cage and she suddenly wished this dinner was more than just politeness and tourist tips.
“Why wouldn’t I want to spend time with you?” he asked.
Paige didn’t want to list out all her flaws. Normally, she didn’t have to tell a man what was wrong with her. They knew all too well just by looking at her. “You’re busy. And you don’t even know me,” she replied.
“Hōkū likes you. He’s the best judge of character I know. Anyway, by the end of dinner tonight, we won’t be strangers any longer. I’ll meet you at six.”
Paige stood dumbstruck on the lawn as Mano and Hōkū continued on their morning walk. She wasn’t quite sure how any of this had happened, but now she was having dinner with him. A bolt of panic shot through her, sending her on a fast path back to her hotel suite.
What was she going to wear?
* * *
“She’s traveling alone, sir. Her reservations were made and paid through a travel agency. I tried to Google her and I didn’t come up with anything but an obituary for her grandfather, who died a few weeks ago in Southern California. She doesn’t even have a Facebook account.”
Mano listened to Chuck report back on his penthouse guest
