“Is that so?” Shanal leaned against the counter and watched him, mesmerized by the movement of his hands and how he managed to keep his fingers clear of the flashing blade. “And you’ve impressed a lot of dinner partners, I take it?”
“I suppose I’ve dazzled my share,” he replied with false modesty, making her laugh again.
“What are you cooking tonight?”
“Me? I’m just doing the grunt work. You’re doing the cooking and it’ll be a seafood stir-fry, okay?”
She nodded. “I love seafood.”
He winked in return. “Me, too.”
He showed her how to prepare the squid and left her to it while he poured them each a glass of wine.
“Life doesn’t get any better than this,” he commented, before handing her wine to her and raising his glass. “To a good life.”
Shanal wiped her hands and took the glass, clinking it against his. “A good life,” she repeated, then took a sip.
The words were so simple, so easy to say, but while she had it good here and now, she had some serious decisions to make soon. She couldn’t keep running away forever, no matter how much she wanted to. It wouldn’t be fair to her parents, after she’d already let them down so badly. Yet Shanal looked up at Raif and realized that she’d happily run away with him forever.
She sighed. This was ridiculous. She couldn’t feel that way about someone she’d actively avoided for so long it had become second nature. But then life wasn’t simple, was it? She’d never have believed in a million years that her normally astute father would have put all his eggs in one very broken financial basket, either. Or that he’d have done something as stupid as risk a life out of pride. But he had, and his mistakes had left him and her mother so terribly weak—financially, physically and emotionally.
Was that what this was for her? A mistake? By running away from Burton as she’d done, she’d acted very irrationally indeed. But as hard as she tried, she couldn’t regret it. And as hard as she tried, she could no longer ignore her attraction to Raif. His good looks were undeniable, but it was the man beneath all that male beauty that drew her like a magnet. That made her dream stupid dreams and hope ridiculous things for the future.
Shanal resolutely turned her mind back to the meal she was preparing under Raif’s excellent and patient tutelage, and tried to ignore the ember of warmth that glowed a little brighter every time their hands brushed, or whenever he accidentally bumped into her as they worked side by side in the small kitchen. She drank a little more liberally of her wine than she would normally, enjoying the delicious lassitude that spread through her veins, and taking pleasure in the moment.
Her life was usually so structured, so detail oriented, that it felt positively sinful to be so relaxed. She’d make the most of it while she could. The meal, when she plated it up, was delicious, and when Raif opened another bottle of wine she didn’t object, instead holding her glass to him for a refill. It was a clear night, although cold, and they took a couple throw blankets outside with them to watch the stars as they enjoyed their after-dinner drink.
It felt completely natural to curl up next to Raif on the wicker two-seater sofa on the front deck, and with the cabin lights off behind them, to enjoy the reflection of the moon and stars on the gently rippling river. Soft drifts of classical music filtered on the night air from inside, and when Raif lifted his arm to drape it behind Shanal’s shoulders, she didn’t object, nor did she pull away.
“Look,” he murmured, “a shooting star.”
“Probably just space junk,” Shanal commented with a tiny spark of her usual levelheadedness.
“Where’s your sense of romance?” Raif chided gently. “Go on, make a wish.”
She thought about where she was and what she had yet to face. A wish? Why not? It was a simple thing, after all, and who knew what lay around the bend? She closed her eyes and wished with all her heart.
“Did you make one?”
“I did,” she replied.
“What was it?”
“Isn’t it supposed to mean a wish doesn’t come true if you tell someone?”
“Are you telling me you’ve overcome your scientific nature and become a believer in wishes now?” he retorted, but without a sting in his voice.
She hesitated a moment, then put her glass down on the deck before turning to face him in the darkness. “I wished for you.”
Seven