Chapter 15
LUCAS
“This way, do you think?” Kendra asked. She was wearing another pretty sundress, this one white and printed with tiny lemons, paired with flat sandals.
Her hair was down around her shoulders, and her cheeks sparkled a little, probably from some kind of makeup.
Though Lucas wouldn’t put it past her to be sparkling all on her own.
He was in another pair of shorts and a button-up, not what he would have chosen for a date with a beautiful woman. Not that this was a real date.
“Probably.” Lucas squinted through the darkness. “Yeah, I think I see something.”
After their surf lesson and lunch, Susie had taken them to play a mini-golf game, which, it turned out, neither of them was good at.
After that, she’d instructed them to follow signs to Seaside Cove for their dinner.
They’d both assumed it was a restaurant, but the signs were leading them toward the beach.
The light was fading as the sunset lit up the sky above, and it was hard to see where they were walking.
“Do you think this is Susie’s way of taking us out?” Kendra asked. “Like, by luring us away from the others to kidnap us or something?”
“Yes, definitely. It’s always the really enthusiastic ones who have a dark side.”
Kendra looked a little worried, so Luke nudged her with his shoulder. “I’m obviously kidding. See? There’s light up there.”
They descended a short wooden staircase onto the beach. Kendra tripped on the last step, and Lucas instinctively grabbed her arm to keep her upright.
“That’s the second time I’ve saved you,” he said. “Or the third, if you count me coming to the resort in the first place.”
“I’ll be forever in your debt,” Kendra joked, threading her arm through his. “That must be it, right?” She pointed ahead, and Lucas nodded.
“Definitely.”
In front of them, on the beach, there was a small table surrounded by white curtains that billowed in the evening breeze.
Several candles waited for them, unlit, and the delicious smell of food wafted back to them.
Kendra and Lucas picked their way across the beach to the table, where Lucas pulled out Kendra’s chair for her.
“Okay.” Kendra swept her gaze over the table and the ocean. “This is very romantic.”
“Would you like some wine?” Lucas asked, taking a bottle out of an ice bucket.
“Sure.” She opened the serving dish on the table, and the scent of fresh fried fish wafted out. “Fish tacos!”
Lucas smiled at her enthusiasm as he poured a little wine for her and some for himself. They toasted each other and each took a sip.
“Not bad. Now let’s have some tacos.” Kendra took a fresh tortilla and began filling it.
Lucas did the same. Even he had to admit that this beautiful atmosphere — and the beautiful woman across from him — were making him feel…
something. He struggled to put into words exactly what it was.
His instinct was to play it off with a joke, so he did.
“Fish tacos on the beach must have been a nightly dinner for you, growing up in LA,” he joked.
“Sure.” She winked, but she didn’t seem as happy about the teasing as she had previously.
Lucas bit his lip and took a sip of the wine.
“You know, times like this, when the sun is setting on a good day, it always makes me a little reflective.” She waved a hand as if dismissing her own words. “Sorry.”
“Don’t be.” Lucas hesitated. “What are you reflective about?”
She met his eyes across the table and set her taco down. “I know we agreed not to get to know each other, but that hasn’t really been working, has it?”
Lucas smiled. “Not really. I guess we do know a few things.”
“But there’s a big gap missing.” Kendra smiled, but it looked hollow. “And I don’t know if I should tell you, because I’m worried it’ll change things.”
Lucas’s stomach gave a flip-flop, and he braced himself for whatever she planned to share. “What is it?”
“Well, you know that I was supposed to be here on my honeymoon.” Kendra fiddled with her cloth napkin, pinching and smoothing it between her fingers. Instinctively, Lucas reached over and put his hand on hers. She stopped and looked up at him.
“You don’t have to tell me.”
“I know, but I feel like…” She trailed off, but Lucas thought that she was feeling the same thing he was — that there was something between them. Something too difficult to put into words.
“It’s okay.” Lucas smiled at her. “I already know you were supposed to be married. I just don’t know why you aren’t.”
“Well, it was my parents’ idea for me to get married in the first place.
” Kendra looked up at him. “You might have heard of my family, actually. The Morans? We’re industrialists who’ve had a big presence in almost everything in California for the last hundred years or so.
My great-uncle was even a governor. Because we’re so influential, in my family, it isn’t uncommon for people to have semi-arranged marriages. ”
Lucas’s eyebrows rose. “You agreed to an arranged marriage?”
She nodded. “A semi-arranged marriage. It felt like the right thing to do.”
“But you believe in grand, romantic love stories and all that,” Lucas pointed out. “How were you satisfied with someone your parents chose?” Slowly, he was starting to understand her lack of belief in love, despite her romantic nature.
“I believed that I should put my family first. So, I did. My parents found a fiancé for me, Aaron Louis, the son of another family of industrialists.”
“Aaron Louis?” Lucas wrinkled his nose. “I remember hearing his name at check-in. But having two first names is just so pretentious.”
Kendra chuckled. “We were a great match on paper, but I never really felt a spark between us, and I guess he didn’t either.
When we were at the wedding, when I was poised to walk down the aisle, he sent me a message that he didn’t want to get married.
” Kendra’s cheeks were pink, and she looked away from Lucas. “I got left at the altar.”
Lucas’s head spun. He’d known that Kendra was supposed to get married, but he hadn’t known she was left at the altar. Who would leave a woman like her at the altar? It was inconceivable to him.
“That’s awful. I’m so sorry.” No wonder she’d said she was having a really bad day at the check-in counter.
“That’s the thing.” Kendra sighed. “I was embarrassed and upset, obviously, but I wasn’t heartbroken that he didn’t want to marry me — because I didn’t really want to marry him, either. He never made my heart race or my head spin. I rarely thought about him when we weren’t together.”
“Were you going to leave him?”
“Probably not,” Kendra admitted. She sighed.
“I felt I had to do what was right for my family. I love my parents, and they asked me to do this. They had an arranged marriage, too. They really thought it was the best thing for me. That’s why, when Aaron stood me up, I jumped in the car, went straight to LAX, and left the country.
I couldn’t bear to see how upset they were. ”
“They wouldn’t have been upset with you, though. Right?”
“I don’t know.” Kendra shrugged as she let out a slightly nervous laugh. “This mattered a lot to them, and I ran off. I could have stayed to fix things, but I didn’t.”
“That’s why you haven’t been checking your phone much,” Lucas filled in.
Kendra nodded. “I’m not ready to hear from them yet.”
“I still can’t believe anyone would leave you at the altar.
You’re amazing.” His words were a little too true and a little too deep.
Kendra’s eyes met his across the table, and Lucas felt as though some invisible force was tugging him toward her.
He didn’t give in, though. Kendra had been honest with him, and the least he could do was return the favor.
“I haven’t told you why I’m here, either,” he said.
“The truth is that I don’t just work at a tech company.
I’m the CEO of one — Omegron. I hardly trusted anyone to help run the company except one of my closest friends, Jim Adams. He was my CFO.
And it came out last week that he’d been embezzling hundreds of thousands of dollars from Omegron over the last five years or so.
It’s a huge scandal, and my team recommended that I leave the country until things blew over so that I wouldn’t make anything worse. ”
Kendra’s eyes were wide. “I can’t believe your friend betrayed you like that.”
Lucas nodded. “And I’m worried that the company I’ve spent a lifetime building is going to fall apart because of it. I had no idea what he was doing, but the press doesn’t seem to believe that.”
“And that’s why you’ve been checking your phone so much,” Kendra filled in. Lucas nodded.
“Exactly. I’ve been hoping for news about Omegron since my team says they can’t give me much information yet. It’s horrible. I’ve barely taken a day off in the last decade, and now I’m on a forced two-week vacation.”
“Has it really been so awful?” Kendra began fiddling with the napkin again, and once again, Lucas reached over and placed a hand on hers to stop her.
“No. That’s the thing. I think, in the end, the problems with Omegron may have been a blessing in disguise.
For the first time in years, I actually stopped working and enjoyed my life a little.
It’s been great, even though we’ve been forced into honeymoon activities the whole time.
It’s nice to see that there’s life beyond work — sunsets and good food and beautiful scenery and all that.
I’ve really enjoyed spending time with you. ”
“Me too.” Kendra’s hands stilled. “I think Aaron leaving me at the altar may have been a blessing in disguise, too. After all, I really didn’t want to marry him, and if I had married him, we wouldn’t be here.”
“Was he balding and short?” Lucas asked.
Kendra laughed. “No, he was handsome and everything. He had a good job, and we shared similar goals in life. But no matter how perfect something looks from the outside, it isn’t necessarily perfect on the inside.
Anyway, I got to come on the honeymoon, so at least I got something out of it. ” She grinned.
Lucas laughed. “I like that. One week ago, I would have laughed at the idea that anything good could come out of my CFO embezzling from my company, but there’s a silver lining to everything.”
“That’s true,” Kendra said thoughtfully. “You know, I really feel like we aren’t strangers anymore.”
“No.” Lucas shook his head. “We aren’t. Now, should we eat? The food’s getting cold.”
Kendra smiled and picked up her taco. “Let’s eat.” They both took bites of the tacos, which were delicious and only a little cold. Then another question occurred to Lucas.
“What happens when you go back to LA?”
Kendra groaned. “Please don’t ask about that. I’m trying not to think about it. I’m worried that my parents will want to try another arranged marriage.”
Lucas’s stomach hurt at the thought of Kendra in a white wedding dress, marrying some stranger, her mouth smiling but her eyes sad.
“Would you do it?”
“I don’t think so. I think I have… higher standards now.” She tilted her head. “What happens when you go back to LA?”
“I’m trying not to think about that, either. I’ll probably have to give lots of apologies and comb through years of financial records to try to put things right.”
“So, what you’re saying is that we need to enjoy this vacation, because when we get back to LA, things are going to suck for a while?”
“Exactly.”
“Then we need more wine.” With a smile, Kendra lifted the bottle and poured a little more into each of their glasses. “And we need to enjoy this vacation. Even if we’re doing kayaking and sensual pottery and couples’ massages the whole time.”
“I really need to know what this sensual pottery thing you keep talking about is.” Lucas smiled at her. He liked how she looked at life, as though there was always a silver lining to every situation.
“You don’t want to know.” She sipped her wine.
“I’m sure I do.”
“No, you don’t want to know, because I’m almost certain that I made it up.”
He laughed. “You know, I’m sorry to say this, because I know how terrible it must have been for you, but I’m glad that Aaron didn’t realize how special you are.
If you two had gotten married, we’d never have met.
” He winced internally as soon as he spoke the words.
Even if she hadn’t wanted to marry Aaron, there was still a good chance that she’d rather be on her honeymoon with her husband or a friend instead of Lucas. But she nodded.
“And I’m kind of glad your CFO friend embezzled money from you.” She winced visibly. “That sounds horrible to say. I’m so sorry.”
Lucas laughed. “I was the first one to say something terrible, so I think we’re even. What should we do next to enjoy this vacation? We’ve finished the tacos.”
“How about a walk on the beach?” Kendra suggested. “Then we can see if any of the hotel restaurants are still open to give us dessert.”
“Perfect.” They got to their feet, and Kendra glanced back at the table.
“It feels weird to walk off and leave this here.”
“I know, but it’s not like we can carry the table back to the resort ourselves.” He held out his arm. “Shall we go for a walk?”
She slid her hand into the crook of his elbow. “Yes, milord.”
He laughed. “Let’s go, milady.”
Some part of Lucas’s mind realized that he’d really let things go too far with her. They had nicknames for each other, for goodness’ sake, and he’d told her something that he’d decided he was never going to tell anyone. He didn’t know what he was thinking.
A stronger part, though, reminded him that this whole honeymoon vacation was only temporary. All too soon, he’d crash back into his life in LA and spend his days worrying about how to save Omegron, not about whether he was getting too close to a beautiful woman who made his heart race.
So, for now, Lucas would do as Kendra said and enjoy the vacation.