Chapter Nineteen
Dinner was strained again that night, with Mack and Skye sniping at each other from the moment the four of them sat down.
Kayla couldn’t even pick out what harmless statement of Skye’s had set the whole thing off, but Mack was on it like Mr. Pebbles on snack food and wouldn’t let go.
Kayla and Amy tried to keep the peace, but it was a losing battle from the start.
With all the bickering, it was impossible for Kayla to do any meaningful flirting with Skye.
By the time they all waved away the dessert menu, Kayla was at the end of her tether.
Skye and Amy didn’t even bother to turn around to say goodnight as they headed off toward their villa. When Mack would have turned toward the stairs to their room, Kayla yanked her arm toward the darkened beach. Mack’s only response was a disgruntled yelp, which only infuriated Kayla more.
She dragged Mack across the sand until she felt foamy water on her toes. She wheeled around and banged her fists on her hips. “What in the hell is wrong with you?”
Mack teetered on her sandals, nearly falling into the inky surf. “Me? I’m not the one who dragged you down to the ocean in the middle of the night. What’s wrong with you?”
“What’s wrong with me? What’s wrong with me? I’ll tell you what’s wrong with me, McKensie Elizabeth Bristol. You’re acting like an asshole.”
Mack’s head whipped around in search of anyone listening. “Whoa. Don’t use that name.”
“If you weren’t acting like such a child, I wouldn’t use your whole name. Why are you making this so hard on me?”
Moonlight sparkled off the whites of Mack’s eyes, and they flashed like knife blades.
Kayla was getting used to the darkness now, though, so she could see the angry set of Mack’s jaw, not to mention the furious squint of her eyes.
Despite her anger, her answer was just a mumbled, “It’s not so easy on me either. ”
“What?” Kayla practically shouted the word. “Speak up for once, dammit. Say what’s on your mind.”
Mack’s jaw flexed twice like she was chewing back a reply, but then her shoulders slumped, and all the air went out of her. “No, I’m sorry. It’s fine. I’ll do better.”
Mack tried to turn away, but Kayla grabbed her arm again. No way she was letting Mack stalk off without saying her piece. “Would you stop bottling everything up and just tell me what the hell you’re feeling?”
For a moment, Mack looked like she might continue to deny and walk away. Kayla was preparing another impassioned plea when Mack threw her arms into the air. “Fine. You want to know what I think? I think you’re being a jerk.”
“Because I want you to talk?”
“No, because it’s not right to try breaking up a couple right before their wedding. Amy is really nice, and I hate lying to her about everything and being complicit in destroying her life.”
Molten hot shame poured through Kayla’s body.
Part of her knew Mack had felt this way from the start.
Mostly because she had felt this way from the start.
It had been so easy to make this plan when Amy had been some faceless, nameless enemy.
The villain in Kayla’s story. Now that she knew Amy a little better, it was hard not to see that Amy had a story, too.
In fact, every day it was harder and harder to wake up and stick to her plan.
But if she didn’t have a plan, what did she have?
She couldn’t think about that. She couldn’t think about a life where she was alone.
Kayla took a deep breath and pushed the doubt aside. “This isn’t about her. I don’t want to hurt her either, but this is about Skye.”
“You’re right. It is about Skye, and that makes it worse.”
Kayla said, “What do you mean?”
“She’s a toxic partner for you. She doesn’t respect your boundaries or your health.
All she cares about—all she’s ever cared about—is herself.
She just wants to have a good time, and she doesn’t give a fuck who she runs over to get it.
Well, I care. I fucking care a lot when it’s you that she’s running over. ”
“I know you care about me, but—”
“It’s also about you. How you’re willing to plow over everyone else’s feelings to get what you want when she’s involved. She makes you just like her.”
Kayla said, “I already said I’m sorry about hurting Amy.”
“Not Amy. Me.”
Mack’s words echoed into the still night air. Even the ocean seemed to whisper rather than crash as the words settled over them. Kayla’s mind went blank, and her heart clenched so hard in her chest she nearly doubled over. “Mack?”
Mack let out a sigh laced with obvious pain. Her shoulders slumped, and she ran a hand through her hair. Kayla could see the regret and conflict in her every movement, and it broke her heart. She had done that. She had made Mack—sweet, loving Mack—hurt, and she hated it more than she could say.
Mack dropped into the sand, sitting with her forearms propped on her knees.
She spoke to Kayla but looked out at the ocean.
“Every time you start flirting with Skye, Amy gives me this look. It’s just so full of pity.
I know this isn’t real. I know it’s a part I’m playing, but it still feels like I’m being cheated on right in front of my own eyes. ”
Kayla dropped down into the sand next to her.
She hadn’t noticed. Whenever she was flirting with Skye, all her focus was on the two of them.
She hadn’t thought of Amy. That she would see it and know what was happening.
Worse, she hadn’t thought of Mack and how it would make her feel.
She hadn’t thought of anyone but herself.
Mack said, “I look like an idiot in this whole scheme, and I hate it. I never wanted to be a part of this, and that was before the kiss.”
“The kiss?”
Mack’s head dipped lower, and her words came out mumbled again. “On the balcony.”
“I remember.”
How could I ever forget? The thought blossomed in her brain even though she hadn’t wanted it to.
She had felt a glimmer of something when she kissed Mack, but she’d been distracted by Skye’s reaction.
She hadn’t taken the time to examine how that kiss had felt, and she was pretty sure she did that on purpose. Like she didn’t want to process it.
Mack’s whole body seemed to shrink in on itself. “I…liked it. It was a good kiss.”
Kayla couldn’t help smiling. She couldn’t help feeling all sorts of things she didn’t want to name. “I agree. It was a good kiss.”
“For a minute, I thought you were kissing me for…well, for me. So, when you said you were doing it to make Skye jealous, I felt like shit.” Mack’s words trailed off, and Kayla had no idea what to say to make the pain in her voice go away, but she would do anything, anything in the world, to make it disappear. “And now I feel even more like shit.”
Kayla could barely hear her own voice when she asked, “Why?”
Mack looked up, and the moon caught her eyes. The green was so pale in the moonlight that they looked gray. Gray and fathomless as a storm cloud. “Because I would kiss you like that again. Even though I would know it wouldn’t be real, I would do it again.”
Air stuck in Kayla’s throat. Every nerve ending in her body buzzed to life.
Was she imagining the pleading in Mack’s voice?
The pull was so real. The need to kiss her again and see if she was telling the truth.
Not just for the answer, but for the feel of Mack’s lips on hers.
Mack’s arms around her body. The warmth of Mack’s breath in her mouth.
A throbbing ache of need like she had never felt in her life coursed through her and made her lightheaded.
Then, in a heartbeat, the moment broke. Mack pushed to her feet, running her hand through her hair again, nearly pulling the strands out by the roots.
“I’m sorry. Fuck, I’m sorry. All this mixed-up emotion.
It’s the part we’re playing, and I’ve been single for so long.
My head knows this is fake, but sometimes my heart and body don’t get the message.
” She paced around the sand for a long, silent moment before stopping.
“Can you just be a little gentler with my feelings so my body can get the message?”
Kayla was on her feet and sprinting across the sand before deciding to move.
She flung her arms around Mack and held on so hard.
It was as much to hold her own heart together after it had shattered into pieces at the pleading in Mack’s voice.
How could she have been so cruel? How could she have done this to Mack?
Mack deserved all the best, kindest, most wonderful things in the world, and Kayla had broken her.
She would never forgive herself if the damage was permanent.
“Of course, Mack. God, of course. I’m so sorry. I’ve been such a jerk. I’m so sorry I hurt you. I won’t do it again. I won’t. I’m so sorry.”
Kayla forced herself not to cry. Crying right now would make this about her.
It would force Mack to comfort her, and that was not right.
Not after being so thoughtless. Worse, she had known Mack was feeling weird about the kiss, but she let it go and focused on seducing Skye while the person she cared most about in the world suffered.
So, she couldn’t cry now, even though her heart was broken.
After a long moment, Mack relaxed in Kayla’s arms. The tension that had suffused all day bled out as Kayla held her close.
After another long moment, Mack wrapped her arms around Kayla, too.
Then she settled her chin on top of Kayla’s head, and everything was right with the world.
Kayla’s heart burst again, but this time with joy.
The tiny acknowledgment of Mack’s chin meant that she had wordlessly accepted Kayla’s apology.
Mack said, “I’m sorry for being such a baby and yelling. You’re right, I should have said something ages ago.”
“You don’t have to apologize for anything. You’re such an amazing friend. You always have been, but this week is so much more than anyone else would ever do. I can never thank you enough.”
Mack chuckled, and Kayla could feel the rumble of it in her bones. “Name your first-born after me.”
Kayla leaned back so she could look up into Mack’s smiling eyes. “Sure thing. I’ll name her Elizabeth.”
Mack’s jaw dropped open, but there was obvious teasing in her shock. “How dare you?” Then she attacked Kayla with a torrent of tickles. “You take that back.”
Kayla was laughing so hard she could barely breathe. “Gah! Stop!”
“Not until you take it back.”
“I take it back! I take it back!” Mack laughed and gave her another squeeze before releasing her. Kayla said, “I really am sorry.”
“It’s okay. We’re good.”
Kayla lifted an eyebrow. “I knew I was a good kisser. I should have been more careful to only use my powers for good.”
Mack laughed again. “You’re so conceited.”
Kayla cocked her hip and gave her a fake pouty look. “Are you saying I’m not a good kisser?”
Mack went still for a moment, then closed the gap between them.
Her gaze drifted down to Kayla’s lips. Suddenly, the oxygen was gone again.
There was such hunger in Mack’s eyes. The spark between them that she had felt on the balcony that day lit again and surged into a bonfire.
The power of it was undeniable, and Kayla’s knees went weak.
Fortunately, Mack kept her from falling.
She reached out and ran her thumb across Kayla’s jaw.
The motion subtly shifted the angle of her face, allowing Mack to cup her head beneath her ear.
Mack lowered her face achingly slow. So slowly that, by the time their lips met, Kayla wanted to scream with frustration and need.
Had she thought the need would be sated by a kiss?
God, was she wrong. Mack settled them into a slow, blazing kiss.
At first, Kayla wanted to press into Mack harder, to speed up the tempo of their lips, but she bowed to Mack’s lead without hesitation.
Her lips were soft and firm, the press of her body inviting rather than insistent.
She kissed like a woman who knew she would leave her partner wanting to chase her down for more. And Kayla would.
A droplet of worry slid into Kayla’s blood. She shouldn’t be feeling this. Not with this kiss. Not with Mack. The burning heat of her desire evaporated the droplet. Turned it to ash and steam with the power of their kiss.
Mack’s lips slid from hers, slowly grazing against her skin to settle on her jaw and then her neck.
Her teeth scraped ever so slightly against Kayla’s skin.
A groan that was embarrassing in its neediness tore through her.
Every instinct in Kayla’s body told her to press for more.
To set her hands roaming over Mack’s incredible body.
Then Mack retraced the path to her lips, and the fire burned hotter and hotter in her blood.
If her body had its way, she would fling Mack to the sand and rip her clothes off.
But Kayla held herself back. She had hurt Mack once by pushing this game into something too intimate, too fast. She wouldn’t do it again.
Instead, she would enjoy every second of this kiss while knowing it wouldn’t lead anywhere.
It was a hard sell for her awakened libido, but she knew how to wrangle her body into submission by sheer force of will.
Mack ended the kiss as softly and smoothly as it had begun. She took a half-step back and waited for Kayla to open her eyes. “You’re a good kisser, LaLa. But I’m a great kisser.”
Well, obviously, but she couldn’t let Mack have the last word. She forced out a laugh and smacked Mack’s arm. “Now who’s conceited?”
“What? You don’t think I’m a great kisser?”
As much as she wanted to tease, Kayla’s thrumming body wouldn’t let her lie. “No, you’re an amazing kisser. But I’m worried about the kissing.”
“Why?”
“I don’t want to hurt you again. Or lead you on.”
Mack’s smile was back to the old crooked, cocky grin. “I think I can keep my heart and body in check. But maybe we should limit the kissing. I don’t want to set an expectation Skye could never live up to.”
Kayla laughed and slapped her shoulder again, but as they walked back to the room hand-in-hand, she couldn’t help thinking that Skye had never once in nine years made her toes curl like that just from a kiss.
That night, for the first time in a decade, Kayla’s thoughts had turned away from Skye to someone else.
A whisper in the back of her mind asked if that change was permanent, but she tried with all her might not to listen.