Chapter 6
six
. . .
HONOR
I tossed the sheet off and wriggled around in bed, my skin slick with sweat.
It was an incredibly hot night, despite the breeze blowing off the ocean. But it wasn’t just the weather keeping me awake. It was sleeping in a bed that wasn’t mine and pretending to be Blake's girlfriend that was keeping me from a blissful night's rest. Despite doing this for a job for quite a few years now, I didn’t find it any easier to sell a lie.
Padding to the bathroom, I filled a glass with water and crept out of my room. Unlocking the back door, I slipped out and settled in one of the armchairs on my end of the porch, letting the breeze brush over my skin as I listened to the sound of the ocean in the otherwise quiet night.
It had been another near-perfect day in paradise that had started with breakfast with Blake’s family, his parents regaling us with stories about the boys when they were young. We followed it up with a lunchtime jet ski around the island with Hudson, Kelly, April, Spencer, and unfortunately Reyna, who spent the entire time acting like a damsel in distress who needed Blake’s constant assistance.
It was clear as the turquoise waters of Antigua that Reyna was still obsessed with Blake. Maybe she really cared about him, but a big part of me suspected that she just loved the thrill of the hunt. Blake was suddenly unavailable, making him twice as interesting as he’d been in the past. Not only would she gain his attention, she’d cause a scandal in the process. I didn’t need to know the woman well to know that, negative or not, she craved attention.
If she wasn’t such a horrible person, I might have felt sorry for her. But the truth was, she had almost ruined the happiness of several people I was starting to care about.
Whether I liked it or not, I cared about Kelly’s feelings, or what it would have done to Hudson when she’d propositioned him. Most of all, against my own better judgment, I cared about what happened to Blake. For all his buttoned- up bravado, there seemed to be a soft, caring heart beneath it, and he didn’t deserve to get played by someone as conniving as Reyna.
At that moment, Blake’s phone rang in his room. I jumped—the sound was startling in the quiet night. His windows were wide open at the other end of the porch, which meant I could hear his deep voice when he answered.
“It’s late, Reyna.”
I stiffened at the sound of her name, then strained to hear their conversation.
“Now?” Blake sighed, silent for a long time. “Fine. Give me five minutes.”
The sheets of his bed rustled, followed by a zipper. The light clicked on, flooding his end of the porch. The sound of running water filled the night, then the light disappeared again.
I sat perfectly still, knowing it was dark enough that he wouldn’t notice me out here. He passed through the suite in a pair of light khaki shorts and a navy linen button-down shirt. Only, he hadn’t finished buttoning it yet, and I bit my lip at the sight of his perfectly chiseled abs and pecs. The guy spent a lot of time at the gym, and boy did it show.
I imagined for a moment what it would be like to press my lips to the hard ridges. Would he groan? Maybe even make that caveman noise Reyna had thrown in my face? I shook my head, snapping myself out of it. We were partners in a business deal. I didn’t need to be fantasizing about using my fake boyfriend as a chew toy.
The suite door closed quietly behind him, and I stared over the sand towards the ocean, listening to the waves hit the shore.
Reyna had called in the middle of the night wanting him to come to her and he’d gone running.
It bothered me and I really didn’t want to examine why.
Maybe it was the fact that we were supposed to be dating. Women like Reyna were competitive; they thrived off getting the upper hand and going after a guy just to prove they could. As far as Reyna knew, Blake was mine, which meant she’d won this round.
Only it wasn’t just Blake jeopardizing our arrangement that bothered me. It irked me that he would even consider giving her his time after what she’d done to him.
She was the worst kind of person and had betrayed him in the worst kind of way. Why would he even take her call, let alone agree to meet with her? He deserved better.
But then again, he was a full-grown man. If he was willing to accept her terrible behavior because she had a pretty face and a nice body, then he deserved whatever he got.
None of this should mean anything to me.
Yet somehow it did.
And that was mighty inconvenient.