Chapter 7
seven
. . .
Evan had his pants rolled to his knees and his shoes kicked off before they reached the dock.
He didn’t even like the beach. It was always hot, usually crowded, and much of the New England coastline was rock.
If he was going to visit the ocean, he generally preferred to be on it, because nothing beat a dinner cruise.
But something about the island’s pristine sand called to him, demanding he sink his toes into it immediately. Who was he to argue?
This was the sort of beach you wanted to walk along. All those sunset images of cozy lovers strolling barefoot through the surf made sense here. The sand was soft and clean. Waves lapped gently along its edge. Perfection as far as the eye could see.
There wasn’t a soul outside. All the sleek wooden loungers sat empty, and not a single butt occupying the bar cabana’s stools. The silence doubled the pace of his relaxation. He just needed Ginger and Mary Ann to get this deserted isle story rolling.
“Did you rent the entire island?”
Do you have a mode other than snide?
“Obviously not, since you’re here.”
Lennox’s responding huff was satisfying.
At the entrance to The Great House, the resort’s main building, a woman with wild, curly brown hair and a bright smile stood waiting for them.
Her dress, patterned in coconuts, pineapples, and other assorted tropical flora, swung off her hips and fluttered in the gentle breeze weaving up from the water.
“Welcome, gentlemen! I’m Marta, concierge and issue fixer. I’m so sorry about the snafu with our reservation system. Gracie, our hotel manager, has updated your info and ensured nothing else went awry. With that out of the way, who is Evan and who is Heath?”
Ah, so Heath was the name he hadn’t bothered to ask for. Well, mystery solved, but he’d still be calling him Lennox, as befitted an archenemy.
Evan held out his hand to Marta and introduced himself. She clasped his fingers in her warm hands and gave him a wink. “Welcome, Evan. Your special requests have been taken care of. Everything is all ready for you.”
Tension crept up the back of his neck. Special requests? Lucy had handled everything. Had insisted on it, actually. What subliminal fuck you had she specially arranged for him?
Marta next turned to Lennox and repeated the hand-squeezing gesture. “And welcome to you, Heath. We are so glad you chose us for your special trip.”
Evan’s curiosity piqued. What sort of special trip was this for Lennox? Did he have a dramatic backstory of his own?
“Yes, well, I wasn’t really given much choice.”
Marta’s smile wavered, and Evan shrugged when she looked his way. How the hell was he supposed to know what the guy meant? That wasn’t his native dialect of snark.
Lennox dragged his hand down his face, then brushed back his hair and smiled. “I’m sorry; that was incredibly rude. I’m very glad to be here, honest. It’s just been a terribly long day.”
Marta gave Lennox’s hand a few gentle pats. “Don’t worry. Peace finds you one way or another on this island.”
“Well, that’s a bit threatening,” Lennox muttered, trailing behind as Marta led them into the Living Room, a large and cozy space where guests were welcome to relax with a game or book from the small library.
It could also serve as a cocktail lounge if the evening’s weather wasn’t feeling agreeable.
It was comfortably cool inside, thanks to heavy wooden shutters and ceiling fans that worked in unison to circulate the air and buffer the afternoon sun. Evan relished the chill of the tile against his sand-scalded soles.
Another wooden archway led to where a slender blonde woman stood behind a tall desk, sorting through a stack of papers. She looked up at their entrance with a beaming smile.
“Welcome, gentlemen!”
“This is Gracie,” Marta explained. “She’ll get you situated with room keys and fill you in on the day to day of the resort. If you need absolutely anything, don’t hesitate to ask. My office is two doors that way, up the stairs.”
Gracie clapped her hands together and clutched them to her chest as the spotlight shifted her way. “So, hello! We’re so glad to have you with us on Stout Rock. I hope the trip here was uneventful.”
Evan scratched a prickle on the back of his neck, his bare toes curling atop the tile. “Flights were a little choppy, but I’m mostly in one piece.”
Beside him, Lennox let out a rough, choking cough, and Evan swore he was laughing. That would require his having a sense of humor, however, which wasn’t possible.
Gracie eyed them with a curious smile. “Well, you’re safe and sound now, and hopefully ready to relax. Your villa is ready, and Carlo gave your cart a quick spiff before bringing it over. Oh, let me go grab the key.”
She dashed out the opposite doorway, her sandals slapping on the stone path as she called out to Carlo, and Evan ran a hand through his mop of wavy hair, scratching at the renewed tingle dancing across his scalp.
Something felt off, and he couldn’t get his mind to settle. It was probably Lucy and her special requests putting him on edge, but he scooted a little closer to the desk, curious to see if the guest list was in sight.
“That’s how people get athlete’s foot, you know.”
Evan looked down at his feet and wiggled his toes. “My feet are dry and happy, thanks. No fungus amongus.”
The corner of Lennox’s mouth twitched upward for a tenth of a second before settling back into a haughty frown. “It’s a little uncouth, is all I’m saying.”
“Uncouth?” Evan now knew a third thing for certain, and it was that Lennox slept fully clothed, like a starchy Victorian matriarch. “You surprise me.”
“I do?”
Evan gestured at the weathered Adidas on Lennox’s feet. “Improper footwear at the beach? That’s a pretty serious violation.”
“A violation of what, exactly?”
“Vacation law.”
“Vacation law,” Lennox repeated, the corner of his mouth twitching upward again. He was in serious danger of showing an emotion other than annoyance, and Evan felt it was his duty to make it happen.
“Yes. International vacation law, no less. I can’t believe you’re not aware.”
“Alas, I am but a humble English teacher.”
Evan almost choked. Lennox was actually a schoolmarm? Oh, this was too good.
“You’re lucky I’m here then. You strike me as the sort who takes these things seriously.”
“Footwear?”
“Rules.”
The annoyance flared back to life, radiating off Lennox like hot concrete. He glared with pursed lips and sunken cheeks, his eyes narrowed to slits. God, pissing him off was addicting. If Evan wasn’t careful, he’d form a new habit.
“I suppose you’re a lawyer?”
“I am. Why, you have something against lawyers?”
“Doesn’t everyone?”
“Okay, fair.”
Gracie reentered the room with a flourish, a silver key dangling from a chain wrapped around her fingers. “Okay, key acquired.”
She rummaged through one of the desk drawers. “I’ll just get you a map, and you can be on your way.”
Evan looked at Lennox, who looked back with a similar expression of oh, no. The cause of his unease was coming into focus with terrible clarity.
Lennox approached the desk, his face twisted into a tight smile Evan recognized as him trying to remain polite while very much wanting to throw a tantrum. The guy would be a terrible poker player.
“Um, Gracie?”
Gracie looked up from her search, and her smile faded immediately. “What’s wrong?”
Lennox cleared his throat and folded his hands on top of the desk. If he thought that made him look less uptight, Evan had news for him.
“It’s just… I can’t help but notice you’ve only referred to one room and cart.”
She gave her keyboard a few rapid taps and frowned at the freshly awakened screen. “The villas typically have only one vehicle. Did you request a second?”
“Um, no. That’s not the problem.”
“I don’t—”
“Do you have a reservation under the last name ‘Lennox?’” Evan interjected. He’d be waiting until the expiration of the sun for them to finish dancing toward the damn point.
Gracie bit her lip. “Are they part of your group? I can’t really give out guest information.”
“It actually might not be under that name,” Lennox muttered to his sneakers.
So Lennox did have a story. Evan filed that information away for later and flashed Gracie his most honest and unassuming smile. “I’m not looking for details. Just a yes or no, if you can provide that.”
He watched the battle of hospitality propriety play out behind her oversized tortoiseshell glasses. Had he lost his touch? Was Gracie on Team Schoolmarm?
Her eyes darted from side to side before the click of her mouse brought up the full guest list, and Evan breathed a relieved sigh. His irresistible ginger charm still had it.
“So, there was actually a little snafu with the registrations for this week, but we sorted it out.”
“Marta mentioned an issue, but I don’t think—”
Turning her monitor, Gracie pointed to Evan’s reservation, where it clearly listed Misters Evan and Heath Westin under the guest names.
Lennox’s face turned a splotchy combination of ashen and puce, and Evan reluctantly handed the winner’s trophy to Gracie, because it was a thing of beauty he surely couldn’t replicate.
“We’d somehow put Heath under another reservation, which was canceled, so we’d missed it until Juan radioed from the airport.”
Lennox gave up all pretense of calm at that news. “Canceled? When?”
“Oh, um, just yesterday. We can’t accommodate solo travelers, so the booking guest canceled the entire reservation.”
Lennox unleashed a whispered tirade at the news, while Evan focused on the second half of the news. “No solo travelers?”
Gracie looked at him as though he’d sprouted a second head. “Correct. That’s what makes us special. There are hundreds of resorts that cater to singles and families. We offer couples complete solitude. A true escape from reality.”
An escape was what he’d been looking for, and he agreed that reality had certainly taken an unexpected turn since he’d arrived.
“So say someone made a reservation, but then the full party isn’t able to attend?”
“We make the occasional exception, usually for guests we’ve known for a while, or friends of the family. Otherwise, we have agreements with some sister resorts who are happy to accommodate, if the guest wishes.”
“But they can’t stay here?”
“Oh no. That’s against policy. It’s in the acknowledgment you sign when you book.”
Evan let that information roll around in his brain for a moment. Did Lucy know he’d be screwed the second he arrived? Was that her special arrangement? No, it couldn’t be. That would mean the resort was in on it, and fuck over your ex would be a dicey marketing campaign.
Though not necessarily an unsuccessful one.
“Thanks for the information, Gracie. Would you excuse us for just a moment?”
“Oh, sure. Take your time.”
Evan nodded to Lennox to follow, and when the stubborn goat ignored him, grabbed his upper arm and dragged him into the adjoining room.
“What are you—? Take your hands off me this instant!”
“Shut it. We have a problem.”
“We?”
“Yes, we. You have no room, and I have no wife.”
“That sounds like a you problem to me.”
Evan sucked in his lips and counted to five. “You’re just gonna go home then? Back on the little plane?”
A visible shudder rolled across Lennox’s shoulders. “You heard her. They have sister resorts.”
“Right. So, are you going to the singles shack full of spring breakers, or the shut up, we’ll do Disney next year family spot?”
Lennox uttered the most miserable of whimpers. This time, the shudder went all the way down his spine. “Okay, so we have a problem. What’s the solution?”
“We get married.”
You’d have thought he’d asked the man to eat a live squid.
“You can’t be serious.”
“Well, no. Not literally. You’re not exactly my type.”
“So, you want to lie?”
Evan rubbed a hand over his face and gritted his teeth. “Yes, Lennox. We’re going to lie. I’m not crawling back to Boston with my tail tucked when I have a perfectly good spouse I can rent for a couple of weeks.”
“Rent? I’m not some two-bit floozy.”
“Will you take four?”
That earned him a derogatory sniff.
“Five is my final offer.”
“How would this even work?”
Evan smiled as the sweet scent of victory wafted closer. Time for the killing blow.
“We can work out the details later. Are you in, or are you admitting defeat to whoever screwed you over on that reservation?”
Lennox choked back whatever rebuttal he’d had on deck, his face dropping into a stony, neutral stare so intense that Evan took a step back. Whoever the guy was, he pitied him when Lennox got to him.
“Fine, honey. Let’s go.”