...A gentle nudge roused me from a sound sleep.

I blinked a few times, trying to orient myself. My surroundings came into focus, and the moments before I’d fallen asleep came back to me. Getting on the plane. Taking a seat in the spacious business class area instead of the confines of coach. Sitting beside…

My heart skipped.

Derek.

I turned to him, and he glanced up from putting his laptop in its case.

“Hated to wake you up,” he said. “But we’re getting ready to land.”

“Already?”

“Already?” Derek laughed and stood to put the case in the overhead bin. “You’ve been out for hours.”

I looked at my watch. Holy Christ, I’d slept away most of the six and a half hour flight. “Damn.” I tilted my head to work out some stiffness while I tried like hell to ignore the vague tightness in my gut, that first niggling worry that I was making a huge mistake by being here.

So this was real. I was doing this. I’d cancelled my reservations in Oahu. After we got off this plane, we were getting on another one to Maui. To spend two weeks together. At his place.

Two weeks with Derek. The fellow passenger I’d met yesterday after a snowstorm stranded us in the terminal. The man with whom I’d spent last night in a passionate, insatiable embrace. The man with whom I’d be spending the vacation that would have been my honeymoon if my fiancé hadn’t—

I rubbed my eyes. What the hell was I thinking?

My mind wandered back to last night. Just the memory of his kiss, never mind the sex that had kept us awake half the night, was enough to remind me why I’d thought this was a good idea. It didn’t make it a good idea, but I could sure remember what I’d been thinking. More sex like that? Hell yeah. But…crap, Elliott, this could be a total disaster.

He took his seat again and glanced at me as he reached for his seatbelt. “You all right?”

“Yeah.” I looked at him and forced a smile. “Still waking up.” And wondering what the hell I’m doing.

He cocked his head slightly. “You sure?”

I nodded.

He put his hand over mine on my armrest. “If you’re having second thoughts about this, it’s not too late to change your mind.”

Something deep down relaxed. That was one thing that had swung the pendulum in his favor from the get-go: no matter what he wanted, he was willing to back down and back off if I showed the slightest hesitation. Last night, when I got cold feet in the heat of the moment, he’d given me a few minutes and some breathing room. Didn’t push me at all, and in fact let me make the first move to get things started again.

“I’d rather go to sleep frustrated,” he’d said, “than try to sleep knowing I’d pushed you into something you weren’t ready for.” If I was going to have some reckless rebound fun, I could do worse than committing myself to two weeks with someone like him.

I turned my hand over and slid my fingers between his. “I have second thoughts about everything.”

He offered a cautious smile. “Okay, but do you still want to go with me? You can always—”

“I do want to go.” That was no lie. I didn’t doubt for a second that I wanted to. He didn’t need to know about my internal debate over whether “want to” outweighed “shouldn’t.”

“Well, if you decide you’re not sure about staying at my place,” he said, “it won’t hurt my feelings if you want to get a hotel room.”

“You trying to kick me out before we even get there?”

Derek chuckled. “Not a chance.” His humor faded. “I just don’t want you thinking you’re obligated to stay with me.”

“If I do stay with you, does that mean you’re obligated to sleep with me?”