Chapter 23
brEAKING: BEACH BARBEQUE TURNS INTO PR SPECTACLE Sources question what’s real
Alaia
The second I park my car at the Hideaway Haven Resort, Tanner bounds toward me and opens my door.
“Hey, gorgeous.”
A tremble works its way through me. I love it when he calls me gorgeous. I’m starting to believe it’s true.
He grasps my hand and pulls me out of my seat, straight into his arms.
“Ah,” he sighs. “This is better.”
He presses his lips against mine in a hard kiss but it doesn’t last long.
“Why did you stop?” I pout.
“There are spies everywhere.”
“Don’t you want the spies to think we’re dating?”
Hurt flashes in his beautiful green eyes before he blinks and it’s gone. Maybe I imagined the hurt. Why would he be hurt by me reminding him of our arrangement? It’s not as if he wants a real relationship. Tanner Long doesn’t do relationships.
My stomach curls. I want him to declare he cares for me. That we’re no longer pretending. That this is real. But it’s never going to happen.
He crowds me against the car. “I don’t want any spies to see how you go wild for me. How your passion ignites when I kiss you or touch you.”
My breath catches. I want him to kiss me. To touch me. To ignite my passion.
He kisses my nose. “Not here.”
He laces his fingers through mine and leads me toward the resort. I tug on his hand. “You’re forgetting my bags.”
“Bags? Why do you have bags?”
“Duh.” I roll my eyes. “We’re having a barbecue. You can’t have a barbecue without seven-layer dip.”
His stomach growls. “I love seven-layer dip.”
“This is a Smuggler’s Hideaway specialty. It’s spicy.”
“I do love spicy things.”
“But can you handle spicy things?” I waggle my eyebrows.
“Are you challenging me? You know what happens when you challenge me.”
“I do?” I bat my eyelashes. “What?”
He growls. “Do not tempt me, gorgeous.”
“Why not?”
He scowls. “Belinda tipped off some paparazzi about the barbecue. She wants us to be photographed on the beach together.”
I frown. “This is a PR stunt? I thought…” I blow out a breath. I am not telling him how I thought this was just for fun, the way the bowling alley was.
After he thanked me for defending him to his family by dropping to his knees and worshipping my body, I thought things might change. But they obviously haven’t.
This is fake, Alaia. Fake. Fake. Fake.
My heart protests. It doesn’t want my relationship with Tanner to be fake. Me neither, heart. Me neither.
But it’s better this way. This way, I can continue to believe Tanner is a great guy. If things change, he might turn out the same as all the other men in my life. I’m better off not knowing.
“I’m sorry. I should have warned you. But I didn’t want the vultures to ruin our fun.”
Our fun? Maybe he doesn’t want our relationship to be fake anymore either.
“It’s okay. I agreed to be photographed together.”
He tucks a strand of wayward hair behind my ear. “I know, gorgeous. But I’d prefer to have you all to myself.”
I shiver. Me too, Tanner. Me too.
I manage to keep those words inside. I don’t know if Tanner and I are speaking the same language. He wants to be friends with benefits. I want more. Way more. More than Tanner is willing to give.
I grab my bags from the trunk. I hitch one over my shoulder but Tanner snatches it from me.
“I can carry my own bag, charmer.”
“You can, but you don’t have to.”
He laces his fingers through mine and leads me around the resort toward the beach. A group of his teammates is already gathered around a fire pit.
My feet slow. I don’t want to share Tanner with anyone. I want to enjoy a lazy day on the beach with him. Swimming in the ocean with him. Laying on the sand with him.
Tanner stops. “If you don’t want to go to the barbecue, we won’t go.”
“But Belinda will cover you in blood and throw you to the sharks if you miss a PR obligation.”
He shivers. “Cover me in blood first? The twins are rubbing off on you.”
“I didn’t say I’d be the one covering you in blood.”
“I don’t care about Belinda. If you want to skip the barbecue and do something with the two of us, we can. Rumor has it there’s an amusement park on the island.”
I groan. “Mermaid Mystical Gardens is supposed to be for kids.”
“Sounds fun.”
I rake my gaze over him. “You can’t fit into the seats of most of the rides.”
He grunts. “Bummer. We could always go on the ghost tour of the bank.”
Is he serious? He’d court the wrath of Belinda and ignore his friends to spend time alone with me?
I want to say yes. I want to get out of here. I want to keep Tanner all to myself.
But I can’t. I made a commitment to help him repair his reputation. And I take my commitments seriously.
“It’s okay. I’m sure the barbecue will be fun. Besides, your teammates love me.”
He narrows his eyes. “Which teammates have declared their love? Whose ass do I need to kick?”
I giggle. “Your teammates are too busy falling in love to pay any attention to little old me.”
“Then, they’re fools. You’re the most gorgeous woman on Smuggler’s Hideaway. And the smartest. And the strongest.”
“Strongest?” I flex my non-existent bicep at him.
“Strong as in willing to stand up to my parents. Most people quiver in their boots when they’re confronted by Dr. and Mrs. Dr. Long.”
I lift up my foot to show off my flip-flops. “I don’t wear boots.”
“Which makes you even stronger.”
My entire body warms at his praise. He believes what he’s saying. His gorgeous green eyes are filled with honesty. Maybe he’s not the same as other men. Maybe he wouldn’t try to control my life. Maybe—
“I—”
I’m cut off when a football lands at our feet. Probably a good thing since I was about to suffer a case of verbal diarrhea. Who knows what I would have ended up confessing?
“Great catch, Long!” Nolan shouts.
Tanner picks up the ball and kicks it in the quarterback’s direction. “Can’t catch the ball if you throw it into the ground.”
He leads me to the table next to the fire pit, which is already laden with food. We add my seven-layer dip to the spread.
“Tanner! We need you,” Gage yells.
“Of course, you need me,” Tanner yells back. “The team would be nothing without me.”
“Someone’s cocky,” I mutter.
Tanner frowns. “My family is cocky. Not me.”
Oops. I hit a pain point. I palm his cheek. “There are different kinds of cocky. Cocky as in you must do as I say or suffer my wrath. You’ve met my twin sisters.”
“And you’ve met my family.”
I don’t respond to the comment about his family. He knows what assholes they are. Me reminding him is not helping anyone.
“And there’s fun cocky. The kind where a man who knows his value teases his teammates.”
He puffs out his chest. “I know my value. Although, I’d rather tease you all afternoon.”
I wag my finger. “We agreed. No more sexy times.”
Although we already broke that rule once. Maybe we can break it again?
“But you love our sexy times.”
He’s not wrong. I do love getting naked and sweaty with this man. I’d be a fool not to. Tanner knows his way around a woman’s body.
Because he’s a player. I force the thought away. I don’t need a reminder of all the women he’s been with.
“Tanner!” Nolan shouts. “Come on. We need you. We’re uneven.”
Tanner rolls his eyes. “I’m needed out there.”
I push him. “Go. Have fun.”
“You sure? I can stay with you. It’s no fun being at a barbecue by yourself.”
I snort. “I’m the bartender at Bootlegger. I recognize every person on this beach.”
“If you’re sure.”
“I’m sure. Go. Have fun.” My nose wrinkles. “Maybe take your shirt off, so I have something pretty to look at.”
He smirks before whipping off his shirt and throwing it at me. “Your wish is my command, gorgeous.”
His gaze catches on something behind me and he freezes. His smirk deepens and he swaggers toward me. “Don’t miss me too much,” he says in a loud voice.
My brow wrinkles. What just happened? My Tanner disappeared.
He kisses my cheek before spinning around and hurrying toward his teammates. He kicks sand at Brock, who growls at him in return.
“Uh oh. Mr. Grumpy is in attendance. I’m so scared.” He laughs as he feigns running away from Brock.
What is going on? This isn’t the Tanner I’ve come to know.
I glance behind me. The paparazzi isn’t hard to spot. There are three of them kneeling in the sand with their camera lenses aimed our way.
Ah, they explain why Tanner flipped on the goofball switch. He’s playing a game with them.
When he’s with me, he’s another person. He’s not playing a game with me. He’s real. I get to see the Tanner Long no one knows.
I just hope he’s not playing a game with my heart.