Chapter Four
Kayla slept through most of the flight, but turbulence hit once they started their descent. Not exactly her favorite way to wake up, especially from a dream that prominently featured Skye and the incredible stamina her life as an adrenaline junkie and extreme athlete facilitated.
“I really hope those noises you were making were snoring and not something else,” Mack said, her voice a rough grumble.
Kayla dug her knuckles into her eyes and rubbed hard. “I hope so, too. What did it sound like?”
Mack snapped her laptop closed and tried to fish her backpack out from underneath the seat in front of her. The lack of leg room and her tall frame made the process difficult, and she ended up having to smoosh her cheek against the chair in front of her. “You don’t want to know.”
Kayla was tempted to let Mack continue to struggle, groping around blindly for the strap of her backpack.
It was really cute how she refused to ask for help.
Her best friend had always been independent to a fault.
After biting back her giggles for longer than she really should have, Kayla took pity on her and bent awkwardly to retrieve the bag.
Mack gave her the ghost of a smile. “Thanks. I don’t know why you wouldn’t let us book first class. These seats are tiny.”
“Because one, those seats are insanely expensive and I’m not a fancy high-powered executive like my wife-to-be.” Kayla put a teasing emphasis on the title, earning a scowl from Mack. “And two, the only flight with seats available in first class was the late flight.”
“I still say the later flight would have been fine. Maybe you wouldn’t have been so damn grumpy.”
“Oh, and you were the picture of contentment when you picked me up this morning?”
“Better than you. You fell asleep bringing your suitcase out to the car,” Mack said.
“Oh my God, you’re such a liar.” Kayla playfully slapped Mack’s arm.
“I didn’t lie. I exaggerated.”
“Which is just a big lie.”
“It was for dramatic effect.”
“So, you admit that you’re a drama queen?” Kayla asked.
“It takes one to know one.”
As they teased back and forth, they poked and tickled like the teenagers they’d been when they first met.
It was the routine they always fell into, and one that never failed to bring Kayla out of whatever funk she’d been in.
It usually worked for Mack, too, but this time, as their laughter died away and they settled back into their seats, the scowl settled back onto Mack’s features.
Kayla leaned against her shoulder, looking up into Mack’s eyes. “What’s wrong?”
“Huh? Oh. Nothing.”
Kayla gave her a single sharp poke, earning a yelp. She held on tight when Mack tried to pull away. “Come on, spit it out.”
“Nothing’s wrong.” After a moment of avoiding her eye, Mack said, “Just work stuff.”
“What work stuff? You’re practically the CEO. Don’t you just play golf, flirt with secretaries, and cash paychecks big enough to buy a house?”
Mack rolled her eyes. “Yep. That’s me. Jeff Bezos in a better suit.”
“And with much better hair.” Kayla reached up and tucked a lock of hair behind Mack’s ear where it had escaped from her ponytail.
“And I’m not the CEO. Even if I was, folks at the top still work, you know?”
“I know you do. You work harder than anyone I know,” Kayla said.
If anything, that was an understatement.
At thirty-seven years old, Mack was wildly young for the success she had in her professional life.
It was true, she wasn’t CEO yet, but she was head of the women’s wear arm of the world’s third-largest sportswear company.
And that was despite her being not only a woman, but a masculine-presenting lesbian who wasn’t afraid to make her opinions known.
She was ambitious and articulate, and somehow managed to lead without being intimidating or bowing to the pressure to antagonize and compete against other powerful corporate women.
Unfortunately, that drive didn’t shut off.
They’d bonded over their boundless energy and lofty goals in their youth, but, as an athlete, Kayla had been taught to take care of her biggest asset: her body.
Mack, while she worked out every day, hadn’t had the benefit of professional trainers to tell her how to eat, sleep, and hydrate.
Kayla had always valued a good night’s sleep in complete darkness like most elite-level athletes, but Mack had never been the type to turn off for eight hours.
In fact, four hours was a long rest for Mack.
Her diet mostly consisted of coffee and health shakes.
At least she made them herself to avoid tons of chemicals and additives, and she’d rather die than drink an energy drink, but that didn’t make up for the rest.
She also didn’t relax. Mack’s idea of a fun night was a salad at home for dinner, followed by a mug of detox tea and paperwork until midnight.
She rarely went out, and Kayla could count on one hand the number of times she’d seen Mack drunk.
She could also count on one hand the number of girlfriends she’d had.
When Kayla secretly called to schedule this time off, Mack’s secretary said she hadn’t used a single vacation day in the previous five years.
At first, Kayla had been appalled, then mortified that she hadn’t known just how little R&R her best friend had been getting.
In that moment, she’d decided this trip had two purposes.
She would win Skye back, and Mack would actually relax her body and brain. Kayla would make sure of it.
“I’ve got a big project launching in a month. I really can’t believe you talked me into this. They need me at the office,” Mack said.
She probably should have felt guilty, but this close, she could see the strain around Mack’s eyes and mouth.
In Kayla’s experience, nothing could cure that like a week of sand and sun, complete with a swim-up bar.
“You’ll work much better after a little time relaxing. I promise. Besides, I need you here.”
Mack met her gaze, and there was a guarded, almost worried look in her light green eyes. “Do you? You’re here to seduce Skye away from the altar. How on earth could I help you with that?”
“Hey, we’ve talked about this.” Kayla rubbed a soothing hand up and down Mack’s arm.
Despite the seriousness of the situation, she couldn’t help but notice that Mack must’ve been picking up extra arm days.
Her bicep strained against the cuff of her short sleeve button up. “You’re the key to the whole plan.”
“You honestly think Skye will be so jealous she’ll leave her fiancée to steal you away?”
“Absolutely.”
Mack said, “But she hates me almost as much as I hate her.”
“That’s why it’s so perfect. Not only does she get the woman she loves back, but she also gets to stick it to her hated rival. Double win.”
“And a double loss for me,” Mack grumbled.
“Is that what you’re worried about? Looking like a fool? I promise it won’t be like that.”
“No? So, I’ll look like the cool one whose fiancée goes off to bang her ex in the bushes?”
“Maybe you can soothe your ego by seducing her fiancée,” Kayla said.
“No thanks.”
The short answer was more troubling than any angry speech would’ve been. “Hey, seriously. What’s going on?”
Mack sighed and dropped her head back onto the headrest just as they burst out of the cloud cover, offering them their first view of the Caribbean. Mack focused on the surface of the ocean racing up toward them. “It’s nothing.”
“Don’t make me tickle it out of you.”
Mack jerked away from her fingertips and held up her hands in surrender. “Fine. Fine. I’m worried about losing you, okay?”
“But that’s the whole point of this fake marriage thing.”
“That’s just it. Skye doesn’t know it’s fake, and I’m guessing that you won’t tell her if you manage to pull this off, right?”
Kayla said, “Well, it probably wouldn’t go over well to tell her it was all a lie to manipulate her into remembering she loved me.”
“Exactly. So, she’ll always think you and I were engaged. That we dated. Probably had lots of sex. She won’t want us to go back to being friends, you know?”
A strange tingle shivered through Kayla at the words.
So much of this plan she had thought through, but she hadn’t thought of what a relationship with Mack would truly be like.
Somehow it had seemed abstract, but now she examined it the way Skye would.
Would they have gone on a first date? They’d known each other over twenty years, so a first date would be weird.
They were best friends and spent time together.
Wouldn’t it be more likely that they would have been hanging out one night, watching a movie and drinking a glass of wine and then suddenly they’d been kissing.
Would they have gone to bed together that night?
The rules of relationships wouldn’t really apply after all.
An image as vivid as any Kayla had ever conjured erupted in her mind.
She and Mack, each holding a glass of red wine, dancing barefoot in Mack’s living room to one of the embarrassingly bad songs they’d sung as kids.
Imaginary Kayla held up her glass and spun as she belted the words, then she laughed so hard she fell backward into Mack’s arms. Instead of teasing her and pushing her back onto the carpeted dance floor, Imaginary Mack held her.
Looked deep into her eyes. Ran her thumb along Kayla’s jaw.
Then she cupped the back of Kayla’s head and pulled her into an earthshattering kiss.
The glass dropped from Kayla’s hand and red wine sprayed across the carpet, but neither of them cared.
All they cared about was the way their lips fit together like lock and key.
The warm musk that was unique to Mack took on a new dimension.
Her body, firm in some places and deliciously soft in others, felt brand new as Kayla explored with fingertips and tongue and bare skin.
The plane jerked as the tires touched down, jolting Kayla out of her fantasy. Her eyes shot to Mack. Sweet, caring Mack. Mack, who would do anything for her. Mack, who had been there through it all. Not sexy Mack from her fantasy, but Her Mack. Real Mack. The Mack she couldn’t live without.
She grabbed Mack’s hand and squeezed it hard. “I’m not letting you go. Even if Skye is pissed. I’d rather tell her the truth than lose you. I can’t lose you.”
Panic gripped Kayla’s chest at the thought. Air seemed too thin as the pilot slammed on the brakes to slow them after the landing. There was a roaring that might have been the engines or might have been fear rushing in to fill the empty spaces around her deflated lungs and clenched heart.
Mack squeezed her hand back and smiled, and just like that, the roaring stopped, and air filled the cabin again.
Kayla looked away, hoping Mack hadn’t seen her fear.
Hell, she hoped Mack hadn’t seen the glimmer from the fantasy either, but the panic attack was the more pressing matter.
Mack had nursed her through far too many of those to be fooled, though.
“It’s okay, LaLa. I don’t want to lose you either.”
“Okay. Good. Let’s not do that then.”
Mack’s smile widened and filled the whole space. “Works for me. First things first, though. Let’s go win back that jerk’s heart, shall we?”