Chapter 4
The Deception of Looks
“Hi, Lexi. I’m Neil. What are you drinking?
” He pointed to her drink, going straight for the jugular.
Guy wasted no time moving in. Not that Josh cared—this was what Lexi wanted after all—but Christ!
Where was the discretion? And where the hell was the bro code?
What if Josh wanted her? Which he didn’t, of course.
“I’m having …” Lexi hesitated.
“Pina coladas,” Josh interjected before she could trip over her tongue again. He contained a small chuckle inside.
“Yes, those. They’re delicious,” she added cheerfully.
Neil’s lips curved in a grin that bared his pointy canines. “Looks like you’re running on empty. How about I get you a refill?”
“I’d like that. Thank you.” Her eyelashes fluttered—actually fluttered.
Oh, for fuck’s sake!
Neil stepped away, and Lexi seemed to remember she had been on a mission before she got derailed by the penis coladas because she started rapid-firing questions at Josh—about his supposed buddy.
The fact that she was obviously into Neil amused him.
It also annoyed the hell out of him. What was he?
Chopped liver? Other women found him attractive on the regular, but obviously not this redhead.
If Neil hadn’t been her ulterior motive, she wouldn’t even be sitting next to Josh. Not that he gave a flying flip.
Why not have a little fun with this? He could play along, pretend he and the object of her attraction were actual friends, and watch their mating dance from the sidelines—all while keeping himself clear of any entanglements and enjoying a few laughs.
A decent distraction to pull him out of his pissy mood.
Plus, her eyes were a little glossy, and it occurred to him she might be tipsy.
Best stick around and make sure the shark she was angling for didn’t take advantage while she wasn’t in complete command of her faculties.
Look at you, being all chivalrous.
Josh replied to her questions as best he could, repeating the few tidbits he knew about the guy.
This approach, he reasoned, technically kept him out of the “deception” category.
If he did this right, he would be playing Mr. Matchmaker.
They could uncover the truth about each other later, maybe as they shared pillow talk after sex, and have a good laugh.
Maybe they’d invite him to their wedding.
Eyes cast to the side, she seemed to process his flimsy answers for now, though a thoughtful look etched her features as she sipped her fruity drink. Or was that skepticism?
She moved her hair off her shoulder, flipping it behind her and drawing his eyes to spun-gold threads woven within her lustrous auburn strands. It was shiny and silky, begging to be touched. But not by him.
When her lips closed around the straw and her cheeks hollowed, though, the image arrowed to his cock, rousting it from its dormant state.
He sucked in a silent breath, willing himself not to get distracted by the sensual way that mouth of hers moved and how it might feel on him.
Instead, he zeroed in on how her long eyelashes feathered against her ivory skin and the sweet blush kissing her cheeks.
Bad choice. This merely led him to wonder what shade of pink her skin turned when she came—which then led him to stare down her neckline while he pondered whether her nipples were rose-colored like her mouth and how they would taste with his lips wrapped around them, his tongue teasing them into tight little pebbles. What kinds of sounds did she make?
Fuck!
What in the hell was wrong with him?
She looked up at him—probably wondering the same thing—her eyes a soft bottle-green with depths he could drown in.
He nearly jerked in his seat like a thirteen-year-old caught with his dad’s porn in one hand and his dick in the other.
His gaze roamed over a dusting of light freckles on the bridge of her delicate button nose, landing once again on that rosebud mouth, ripe for kissing.
His ridiculous musings reminded him his dry spell had lasted way too long.
It was damned unhealthy. He was having all sorts of inappropriate thoughts about this girl, yet he wasn’t even attracted to her.
Well, that wasn’t entirely true because she was attractive, and he wasn’t the only one who had noticed.
A few guys had nearly sprained their necks watching her sway from her table toward the bar, and Josh had enjoyed a modicum of pride when she’d chosen the seat beside him.
With that copper hair, a killer smile, and curves a man could sink into, Lexi attracted a lot of male attention, though she seemed completely oblivious to it, only adding to her appeal.
A lot of guys would kill for her to throw her attention their way.
And she smelled really, really good.
Despite his lusty haze, he admitted to himself that Lexi had been pretty when she’d held up the bus and slammed into his back.
While he’d been annoyed with her at first, he had no complaints about her now.
She was easy on the eyes. Up close, with her perfume and her expressive eyes and her musical voice carrying him away to pleasant places, the effect she was having on him verged on hypnotic.
Yep, he was horny.
Maybe he needed to follow his brother’s advice and climb aboard the train to Hookup Town and get himself good and fucked. He scanned the crowd, but none of the women captured his interest. Lexi, on the other hand, looked like the perfect candidate to star in his X-rated movie.
No, she’s not. Don’t go there. He needed to examine why he was fixating on her later, but not now. Later, when he was alone in his hotel room.
He threw back the rest of his drink, tempted to drop the ice into his pants.
Her chestnut brows knitted together, causing little pleats to form. “What was that?”
“Uh, what was what?” Pay attention, dumbass.
“You were about to tell me something about Neil—I think—but then you seemed to check out.”
Oh yeah, he’d checked right out. Stripped her down, tossed her onto her back, and lowered himself between her legs as they quivered with anticipation. His vibrant imagination was great at weaving ridiculous narratives.
He cleared his sticky throat. “You should ask Neil your questions. He’ll have better answers.”
“You’re right,” she sighed. “I’m sorry if I’m being nosy. I just … I’m so bad at this stuff, and I get nervous around men I find fun and interesting.”
Fun. Interesting. Descriptions that definitely did not fit Josh these days. Maybe he could fix that and put his downer self on ice.
“Do you have any plans for dinner tonight?” he blurted.
A shy smile curved her mouth. “Not yet.”
“Want to join us?”
Those green eyes of hers danced with delight. “You and Neil? I’d love to!”
Her enthusiasm made him grind his back molars.
“Or not Neil. I’m not sure when or if he’s coming back.” Her face crumpled, and his heart thudded against his chest wall, making him backpedal.
“I’m sure he’ll be back soon. He only left to get you a cocktail.
” Never mind that the guy had left so long ago he could have ordered her cocktail, sucked it down himself, and gotten a fresh one—or that the ever-attentive Matt was only a wave away.
If Josh had been in Neil’s sandals, he’d have asked the bartender to fetch the drink while he spent time getting to know the beautiful woman wanting to get to know him. But he wasn’t in Neil’s sandals.
“Look, I’m hungry, and I’m guessing you are too, so we could get a table for three, and if Neil joins us, he joins us. If not, we still get to eat.” There. That sounded reasonable, didn’t it?
“Oh. So just you and me?” She shook her head.
“Sorry. That didn’t come out right.” She flipped out her hand, presentation style.
“Introducing Miss Awkward. No wonder I’m single.
” Awkward? More like adorable, but he kept that to himself.
“I don’t want to butt in on dinner plans between two friends, especially with it being your first night here.
I’ll just fend for myself. Maybe I’ll order room service. ”
“What? No way. I don’t think I could eat knowing you’re sitting alone in your room while Neil and I are enjoying a meal surrounded by waving palm trees and tiki torches.”
“Ooh. Waving tiki torches. Isn’t that a fire hazard?”
Her quirking lips told him she was joking, and he ran with his sales pitch. “Besides, any pina coladas they bring to your room will be watered down and warm.”
“Who says I’ll order pina coladas?” she scoffed, her tone playful. “I think I’ve hit my max sugar intake for the day.” She executed a silly shimmy-shake thing, her entire body getting into the act. “Buzzing over here.”
“Fine,” he laughed. “Whatever you want to drink is on me.” He continued selling her, sweeping his hand behind him as if presenting her the sparkling sea. “You won’t get a view like this from your room.” He peered at her when she hesitated. “Come on. We’ll have a great time.”
He clamped his jaw tight to keep from needling a woman who obviously wasn’t into him, and in whom he definitely had no interest. This was all about getting her and Neil together.
She pursed her rosy mouth. “Are you sure? I really hate to—”
“Butt in. Got it. You already said that.” Impatience showed itself in the harsher edges of his voice, and he instantly regretted it because he wasn’t annoyed with her as much as he was annoyed with himself for sounding so pathetic.
His brilliant self decided to muddy the waters further. “Honestly, you won’t be interrupting anything. I just met the guy.” Christ, could he not shut the fuck up?
The confession seemed to short-circuit her. “Just met him in your hometown before the trip? Or on the plane?”
He shook his head.
“So you’re not friends?”
“We’re as friendly as two guys can be when they just met at a bar an hour before.”
She tapped her chin. “Oh. Why did I get the idea you guys came to the resort together?”
“No idea.” Except I might have tried to lead you down that path.
She thought she was awkward? He was outskating her by miles.
Maybe he could salvage whatever low opinion she must have of him by now.
He pulled in and released a fortifying breath.
“Actually, the real reason I’m here alone isn’t so different from your story.
My brother was supposed to join me, but he got sick and had to bail.
It was so last-minute I couldn’t find anyone else to take his place.
The money was nonrefundable, and I hated to let the trip go to waste, so here I am. ” Sounding even more pathetic.
“Well, why didn’t you just say that in the first place?”
“I have no idea. Maybe because I’m going for a man-of-mystery vibe?”
She burst into a fit of laughter that made him chuckle in spite of himself. Soon he couldn’t stop, but neither could she, and she bent over at the waist, gripping her sides.
When they came up for air, she fizzed, “God, I needed that!”
“Me too. I can’t even remember what got us started.”
She pointed at him and started giggling again. “It wasn’t even that funny, but it tickled my funny bone! It was y-you being a m-man of mystery.”
“Hey! I think I’ve just been insulted.”
“That’s fair. I don’t know you well enough to make that call, do I?”
Suddenly, he didn’t want to be alone, and he couldn’t stop himself from saying, “No, but you could get to know me better over dinner tonight.”
“With or without Neil?”
“Whatever your heart desires. I’m fine either way.”
A devilish gleam came into her big green eyes. The look should have scared the shit out of him, but somehow he found himself pulled a little tighter into her orbit. This girl had some intriguing layers underneath that goody-two-shoes exterior.
“You know, this could work. If Neil sees you and me having an intimate meal together, maybe it’ll pique his interest.”
He didn’t bother asking how that was supposed to work when Neil was nowhere in sight to see her spending time with someone. Instead, he said, “So you want to pretend we’re into each other to make him jealous?”
“I don’t know if jealous is the right word—”
“Semantics.” A blur of motion over her shoulder caught Josh’s eye.
“But you know what? Let’s ask him. Here he is now.
” And exactly why Neil’s sudden reappearance bugged the shit out of Josh, he couldn’t say.
It might have had something to do with the big smile on Lexi’s face as she turned toward Neil.
“Ask me what?” Grinning like a fool—and standing way too close to Lexi—the dipshit looked between her and Josh.
“Lexi and I were talking about going to dinner.” Josh clenched his jaw. “Want to join us?”
“I’d love to,” Neil replied in an oily voice.
Josh had taken one for the team, and suddenly he wasn’t so hungry.