13. Ashley
ASHLEY
“ A re you moving back into the villa with us?” Fliss asked as we walked to the elevator. “Grandma said you would.”
I bit back a hard, Dear God no . “I’m going to stay in the suite.”
I wanted to look at Fox for confirmation. His offer to cover the cost was really generous, but even if he had changed his mind, I would max out my credit card and treat myself. He was right. I needed my own space right now.
Fox used his room card on the elevator and pushed his hands into the pockets of his robe as he joined us inside. Definitely naked under there. And no worries about the bikini line. He kept things tidy around the mast.
I wanted to fan the self-conscious heat from my cheeks. It was so dumb! I’d seen him in his underwear before, including a few hours ago when he’d jumped into the water at the beach. When we’d been sharing a house, I’d had to avert my eyes from his morning wood. I hadn’t grown up with men in the house, but I knew erections were a normal, frequent, uncontrollable thing. Heck, he’d probably seen my nipples loads of times, when it was cold out or I’d been braless under a pajama T-shirt.
Okay, that didn’t help. Now I was blushing with embarrassment, wondering if he had ever been this disconcerted by my nipples as I was by his boner.
No. I didn’t think he’d ever noticed I was a woman. Not in a sexual way. Izzy was his type, all sensual and pretty and colorful with golden eyes and high cheekbones and buckets of bedroom confidence. Sure, he was nice enough to say, “You scrub up well,” if I put on a dress and some lip gloss, but he never flirted or acted like anything more than a friend who happened to be a straight male.
He was probably feeling better from his hangover. That’s all . Maybe reacting to generic breasts and butt, not specifically my chest and chassis.
And I wasn’t reacting to him. Why would I? Everything was normal.
Why wasn’t everything normal?
“Oliver wants to go on a hike to a waterfall tomorrow,” Fliss said gloomily.
“Hmm? Oh. That sounds nice.”
“No, it doesn’t.” She curled her lip. “I don’t want to go and Mom was like, ‘Leave Ryan with Fliss and we’ll have some couple time.’ I told you she only brought me to babysit.”
“Ugh. Been there,” I teased. “Little kids are the worst.”
Fliss narrowed her eyes in a warning look. “You are required by law to devote yourself to your niece. Ryan is my mom’s boyfriend’s kid. I barely know him.” She bit her cuticle. “At least Oliver said it was a family vacation and we should do something together. Then he asked me what I wanted to do.”
“What did you say?”
“I dunno. What is there to do? Do you want to come with us? Walk through a botanical garden and see a waterfall or whatever?”
“Mmm...” I pushed my mouth to the side, not keen to watch Whit and Oliver rub noses when I was feeling so scorned.
“See?” Fliss charged.
“We could take Ryan to the beach,” Fox suggested as the elevator arrived on our floor. “Get some boogie boards and mess around in the surf.”
Fliss flashed him a surprised frown.
He shrugged as we stepped off the elevator. “Kept me entertained as a kid.”
“Still does. Let’s be honest,” I said.
“Guilty as charged. Who wants coffee?” He detoured to the side of the lounge we were passing through.
“ Yes .” I was still fuzzy from my nap.
“That’s how I feel. Like I’m this close to being human again.” Fox pinched his fingers in the air. “Coffee and a shower and I’ll be there. I got it.” He waved me off as I started to put down the gift basket from Inga. He dropped a cube of sugar into my cup with a healthy dollop of cream and handed it to me, then started to pour the next one. “Fliss? How do you take yours?”
“No, thanks.” Fliss seemed to be taking note that Fox hadn’t had to ask how I take my coffee. She sent a frown of confusion between us as I hung back, waiting for Fox to catch up before continuing down the hall.
When Fox used his room card as we came to the door, Fliss halted in the hall. “Are you guys sleeping together?”
“ No . When would we even— He just got here.” I rolled my eyes, pretty sure these robes were made of a non-breathable polyester because I was suddenly so hot I was sweating to death inside it. “It was a dumb mix up. They thought Fox was Shane and gave him a key.”
“I still have to sort that out,” Fox recalled.
“I still have to call off my wedding.”
“Want me come with you?”
“Would you mind?”
“Happy to.”
I smiled, relieved. “Thanks.”
“It’ll cost you a shower, though. I gotta wash off this oil.”
“Go for it. Enjoy your resurrection.” I heard it as I said it and bit my lips.
He took a circumspect sip of his coffee. “Always do.”
“Don’t use all the hot water.” My voice sounded like I was being strangled. “I want to rinse, too.” Which was practically a suggestion for him to invite me to join him.
He didn’t say a word, but his tongue bulged his cheek as he disappeared into the bathroom.
I watched him go, then noticed Fliss was watching me with one brow quirked.
“Fox was kind enough to order the honeymoon package as a wedding gift,” I said as a distraction and waved at the pageantry.
Fliss wrinkled her nose in pity at what a tone-deaf move that had turned into, but she quickly brightened with awe.
“This is a really nice room. Can I go out here?” She rolled open the door and let in the scent of a salty breeze, stepping to the rail and peering out to the horizon. “This is amazing!”
“I haven’t even been out here yet.” I joined her. It was pretty fabulous. A panoramic view of white beards and gulls and puffy clouds, sky blue to sea blue, west to east. The wafting palms and shush of the waves immediately soothed me.
I set my coffee on the glass-topped wicker table that sat between matching chairs then went back for one of the snack baskets.
“Are we going to ruin our dinner? Noice .” Fliss sank into the cushions on the loveseat. “Or, are you, like, buying my silence?” She glanced back into the room.
“Fox owns the beach house with Shane. You know I lived with both of them. It’s no big whoop that he asked to use my shower.”
“But were you sleeping together when you were there? Okay, I’m sorry!” she hurried to say when I withdrew the chocolate bar I was about to offer. “You have to admit it was kind of freaky for me to find you guys like that, though.”
I shoved a square of ethical trade, dark chocolate into my mouth before offering one to Fliss. I chased mine with a sip of coffee so the mocha flavor melted on my tongue. We both groaned in enjoyment.
“So what happened?” Fliss asked, reading the label on a kombucha and sending me a glance. I nodded and she opened it. “Did Fox say why Shane called it off?”
“Fox talked him out of it.”
“Are you serious ?”
I shrugged, stinging all over again. “Shane had doubts and Fox said if he wasn’t sure, he shouldn’t do it.”
“So why are you being nice to him?” Fliss thumbed toward the rail. “Over and out with that guy.”
I bit back a smirk and a sigh. I was always pretty honest with Fliss, but I wasn’t sure how to explain this when I was still sorting through it myself.
“I don’t think he was entirely wrong,” I was forced to admit. No matter how hurtful it was, “Fox had a point. Should I marry someone and move around the world for him if it only takes one conversation with his buddy for him to walk away?”
Fliss flattened her mouth and wrinkled her nose in acknowledgement. “What are you going to do, then? Aren’t your clothes and stuff on the way there? Are you still moving?”
“I don’t know. I guess I’ll spend the week trying to figure it out.”
Fliss ate another piece of chocolate. “What did he even say, though? Shane, I mean. Because I thought you and Shane were like, in love and everything.”
“So did I.” But did I? Did I? I bit my lip. “There’s a difference between thinking you’re in love and being in love, I guess.”
“Like Mom,” Fliss said with a scowl.
I was honest with Fliss, but I was also prudent about what I said to her. Whatever reservations I had about Whitney’s relationships were my own. I would always listen to Fliss vent about my sister, but I didn’t pile on. Whit was Fliss’s mom and, for all her sometimes flighty ways, Whit worked very hard to provide for Fliss and be the best parent she could be. She was way more relaxed with Fliss than our mom had been and I knew that was a direct result of the tight leash Mom had kept on us.
I opened the tin of mixed nuts. Offered them.
“Has she said she loves Oliver?” I asked. “I haven’t spent much time with him, but he seems like he has his life together.”
“Maybe. I don’t know,” Fliss mumbled. “I like it better when she tells me she’s seeing someone, but that she isn’t ready for him to meet me. Or if I only have to say hi to some stranger at the shop. Oliver is always around. Am I supposed to be friends with him? What do I have in common with a guy who unplugs toilets and makes pancakes on Saturday morning?”
“I thought those creatures were a myth. Like a sasquatch.”
“Right?” Fliss chewed a handful of nuts. “I was really looking forward to being able to come see you in Australia. Maybe live there with you and go to school. I want to do something with my life.”
Oof. My heart panged so hard it left a crack. “I hear that,” I said wistfully.
“Mom wouldn’t have let me anyway.” Fliss slouched lower on her spine and took a pull off her kombucha. “She would say I could only go if she could go. Grandma would never let that happen.” She sighed heavily. “At least if you stay in Pine Grove, I could go live with you if Oliver starts hanging around too much.”
“Oh, Fliss.” I squeezed her arm. “She’s your mom. Whatever happens, she loves you and wants you with her. I do, too,” I added to soften the blow. “But I’m only worth half a vote, like Grandma. One quarter if we gang up with you against your mom. Been there and lost, haven’t we?”
Fliss wasn’t in a mood to be teased out of her sulk.
“I hate being a kid,” she announced, kicking her legs out straight. “It’s so hard . And it’s going to be years before I can do what I want.”
“Yeah, well, here’s news.” I sat back in my chair. “Being an adult blows too.”
“Looks pretty good from where I’m sitting.”
Looks could be deceiving, but in this moment, as the tropical breeze wafted over us and the crash of the waves was the soundtrack to our moment of zen, she wasn’t wrong.