The Island Arrangement

Chapter 9

nine

. . .

BLAKE

“Whose idea was it to go hiking?” April called from her place at the back of the line, wiping sweat from her brow as we stumbled along a barely-there path up a mountain in the jungle.

“Kelly’s,” Honor, Hudson and Spencer said in unison, the chorus making them laugh.

My invitation to Honor to spend the day by the pool just the two of us had gone out the window the moment I’d suggested to Hudson and Kelly over breakfast that we might opt out of group wedding activities for the afternoon. That suggestion had been vetoed faster than Kelly could down her drink and politely demand we participate.

Which meant hiking in the heat.

So far, it was sweaty, sticky, and all-around exhausting.

The only positive was that the girls had gotten so hot they’d discarded their t-shirts about a mile ago, opting for their sports bras and hiking shorts.

I’d been trying my best to be a gentleman and keep my eyes trained on the trail as we hiked, but it was damn hard when Honor was in front of me, her peach of an ass swaying with every step in her skin-tight purple bike shorts. The sports bra matched, and was so form fitting it was a wonder she hadn’t spilled out of it yet.

Fuck. I needed to get a handle on my damn thoughts.

She wasn’t mine to drool over. This was a fucking business deal. I needed to think with my brain and not my damn dick.

“Gotta say, this was not your best idea, Kells. You couldn’t have picked drinking by the pool instead?” April whined, her chest heaving with the exertion of the hike.

“If you weren’t fit enough to manage an outdoor activity, perhaps you should have stayed back at the resort,” Reyna said from behind me.

Honor glanced back, narrowing her eyes at Reyna. “You’ve got this, April,” she called.

Honor turned to face forward, and muttered something under her breath about ‘Little Miss Negativity’.

I couldn’t help the smile that pulled at the corner of my mouth.

Honor tried hard to play the role of the congenial, doting girlfriend, but sometimes the act slipped and her true personality shone through. She was sharp and sweet, with an edge of sass when something pushed her buttons. Her obvious disdain for Reyna had caused the act to slip more than once already. Honestly, I appreciated the loyalty. It was a refreshing change after being with someone like Reyna who had ruined my trust in anyone.

Sure, I was paying for Honor’s loyalty in cash, but I appreciated it all the same.

We reached a particularly steep part of the trail, where a giant tree root cut through the mud. Hudson stopped, reaching back to offer Kelly a hand to get over it. Spencer followed suit, offering help to April.

“You need h—?” I started to call to Honor, but she gripped the trunk, choosing her footing carefully and getting herself over. “Never mind, then.”

Reyna sidled up to me, her fingers landing on my bicep. “I could use a hand, handsome.” She gave me that same sultry smile that used to have me dropping everything to take her on the kitchen counter, and I swallowed, clenching my jaw at the unwanted memory.

I held out a hand, and she took it, ambling over the root. She immediately lost her footing and slipped, bending down to stop herself from falling face first, her tight ass in my face.

“Oops, I’m so clumsy today,” she said with a smile at me over her shoulder. “Lucky I had you to hold onto me.”

Reyna had been a dancer until she was nineteen. There was nothing clumsy about her.

“That’s what I’m here for,” I said, working to keep my tone neutral.

If she thought a few flirty remarks and sultry smiles were going to get me to forget that she tried to sleep with my brother, she was delusional. But I couldn’t help the tightness in my chest that having her attention brought. I didn’t want Reyna back, but I also didn’t know how to turn off temptation when it came to her. I’d spent the past two years shutting out everything that resembled a feeling in an effort to forget her. Yet my body still reacted in some kind of way to her.

It was fucking irritating.

Reyna moved up the path to join the others, Honor falling back to wait for me. “Everything okay back here, sugar nips?”

I slid my gaze to her as we walked side by side. “Not feeling that nickname.”

Her lips puckered as she considered it. “Pickle schlong?”

That one didn’t even warrant a response, so I grunted my disapproval.

“Saucy ass?”

I scrubbed a hand over my face in annoyance. Feigned annoyance. I wasn’t such a humorless ass that I couldn’t see the amusement in it. The faces she pulled as she tried to come up with another ridiculously cutesy and wholly inappropriate nickname were cute as fuck.

No, there’s nothing cute about the fake girlfriend you’re paying to be here.

Don’t get it twisted, you idiot.

“Shame you don’t like that one,” Honor said with a shrug. “Because you do have a pretty sweet ass.”

She glanced down at said ass, then gave me a knowing smile before she lengthened her stride and upped her pace to catch up to the girls, leaving me frowning after her.

Had she just complimented me? Had that compliment bordered on flirting?

I shook the thought from my head, commending her on being exceptionally good at her job. That’s all it was.

We climbed higher, the conversation ebbing and flowing as we went. Several more times on our way to the top, Reyna had pouted at me as she held out a hand for my help.

Honor didn’t ask for it once.

When we finally reached the top, we were all parched and sweaty, sucking on our water bottles as we took in the view.

“Gotta say, it was a bitch getting up here, but this view is incredible,” April puffed, wiping sweat from her brow.

Honor made a sound of agreement from beside her. “It’s like a postcard.”

Hudson wrapped an arm around Kelly, tucking her to his side. “Another excellent choice of activity, my bride.”

Kelly beamed up at him, and I turned away.

Since Reyna’s betrayal, seeing couples as blissfully in love as my brother and Kelly had something twisting inside me. Because I’d never have it. In order to get that you had to let people in, but letting people in came with the risk of getting your heart shredded and your life turned upside down. Didn’t seem worth it anymore.

We spent another ten minutes hydrating and taking pictures with the view.

“Well,” Spencer said, clapping his hands together. “After all that effort, should we make our way back down?”

A collective groan went up from the group, except Reyna, who practically skipped back to the trail. She’d dedicated herself to pilates and spinning classes every week like they were a fucking religion when we were together. I assumed nothing had changed given the lithe way she bounded down the hill.

Again, Honor refused my assistance at every rocky outcropping or protruding tree root on the way down. We were almost to the bottom when we hit a particularly steep section of the trail, now muddy after last night’s summer storm.

Spencer and April went first, Spence practically carrying April under his arm as he stomped through the mud. Hudson and Kelly went next, Kelly riding on Hudson’s back as he carried her through.

Reyna sidled up to me, a small smile on her face. “You’re not going to leave me to fend for myself, are you?”

I glanced at Honor behind her, but she turned away, taking a sudden interest in her water bottle. Reyna stepped closer, her body pressed to my arm, and her familiar scent washing over me.

“Please, Blakey.”

They were the same words she’d used with me so many times when we were together. She’d call me Blakey, and I’d cave and give her exactly what she wanted because I’d feel guilty for working too often and not giving her enough attention.

At least that’s what she’d claimed.

“Sure, hop on.” I motioned for her to get on my back, but she hesitated.

“Could you carry me instead?” She practically batted her lashes at me as she said it, and I was instantly taken back to the time when we were together.

Annoyed with myself for being such a fucking pushover, but not wanting to spend another second discussing this, I gripped her around the shoulders, sliding my other arm around the backs of her legs, and picked her up to carry her honeymoon-style. I took off through the mud, throwing a quick glance over my shoulder at Honor.

I could have sworn I saw a flash of hurt in her eyes, before she bit her lip and glanced around at her feet, looking for the best way to make it through the mud.

“Just wait there, Honor, I’ll come back for you,” I called over my shoulder.

“No, it’s okay, I’ve got it,” she said, like the stubborn thing she was.

I wanted to roll my eyes at her response. Of course she was determined to make it across on her own. She didn’t need me or anyone else to help her, she’d made that clear on the way up and she seemed determined to make it just as clear on the way down.

“Will you just wait for me?” I shouted back, adjusting Reyna in my arms, the mud squelching under my feet. “Wouldn’t want you to slip and muddy that ass of yours.”

I didn’t miss the snort of laughter from behind me. “Good to know you’ve been thinking about my ass.”

I smirked even though she couldn’t see it. “Hard not to when it’s been swaying in my face for the last hour.”

Honor let out a mock gasp, calling down the slope. “That must have been such a difficult time for you. My thoughts and prayers for the hardship you’ve endured.”

I made it across the mud, set Reyna on her feet, and turned back to Honor.

Reyna made a noise of annoyance. “Next time, don’t flirt with a four while you’ve got a ten in your arms, Blake.” Then she walked off to find Kelly.

So much for a thank you. And in what world was Honor a fucking four?

She was a sixteen. At least.

When I turned back to Honor, she’d already taken several steps through the mud, her arms splayed out in front of her to keep her balance.

I started back towards her. “I told you to wait.”

“And I told you…” she said, pausing to assess where to put her foot next. “... that I didn’t need your help.”

Undeterred by her protests, I continued to make my way back to her. “You’re a real pain in the ass, has anyone ever told you that?”

Mud squelched between us as we moved in opposite directions.

“You’re a real domineering asshole, has anyone ever told you that?” she cut back.

“Often, actually. My business rivals. Staff who work for me. Ex-girlfriends.”

She took another tentative step, scanning the mud patch for her next footing. “Wow, your mother must be so proud.”

Another two steps and I’d close the space between us. “Given the level of success my domineering asshole tendencies have brought me, I’m sure she is. But you can ask her when we get back to the hotel, just to be sure.”

We stopped in the middle of the mud patch, now face to face. I towered over her, but that didn’t stop her glaring up at me.

“I said you didn’t have to help me. I don’t need it. And I don’t want it,” she said firmly. “I’m not Reyna.” That last bit she muttered almost to herself.

I scrubbed a hand over my face in frustration. “I know you said you don’t need my help, but you’re getting it.”

I moved to pick her up, but she scooted away from me, her laugh ringing out at the expression on my face.

“People don’t say no to you often, do they, pretty boy?”

My brow quirked. “Good to know you think I’m pretty.”

She stepped further into the mud, and I moved closer, herding her like a spooked horse.

“Of course I think you’re pretty, I have eyes,” she said, widening them at me to exaggerate the point. Her gaze roamed over me, and I didn’t miss the small swallow in her throat.

“Like what you see, Honor?”

“No.”

“Liar.”

A small smile pulled at the corner of her mouth as I finally reached her. I moved to take her hand, and she tried to dart away again, but this time she chose her footing poorly. Her foot slipped and her arms flailed almost comically. I reached for her again, just as she slipped.

Her fingers closed around my arm in a vice-grip as she fell, taking my feet out from under me and bringing me down with her. We slid down the hill a ways, her on her ass and me on my front, mud covering us as we went.

“Oh my god!” Honor cried out in surprise.

I pulled her towards me, and we collided, our limbs tangled as we slid down the hill, coming to a stop near the bottom.

We stared at each other for a beat, before a smile spread across her face and she burst into laughter. I couldn’t help my own smile.

We were covered in mud—her hair. My neck. Her chest. My shorts.

Spencer clapped from further down the hill. “I’d give that a four for execution, but an eight for entertainment value.”

“Are you two okay?” Kelly called, the concern that was lacking from Spencer’s voice lacing hers.

“We’re fine!” Honor called back, attempting to untangle herself from me. She slipped in the mud, landing on top of me, making me grunt and her laugh again. The sound lit something inside of me and I stared at her, head tipped back, pure joy on her face.

She sobered to find me staring at her. “What?”

I was all too aware of the way she was lying across me, her hips plastered to mine and my arms around her waist to stop her sliding any further.

I shook my head once. “Nothing.”

She tilted her head. “You stare at everyone like that when you’re not thinking about anything?”

I sighed. Of course she wasn’t going to let me get away with a single thing.

“You have a great laugh.”

Her expression turned serious, those blue eyes locked on mine. “Thank you.”

As though she suddenly realized how close we were, she glanced down at our joined bodies, scrambling to untangle herself in an instant.

My body chilled with the loss of contact, the heat from her instantly evaporating as she pushed to her feet. I stood tall, both of us staring down at ourselves, mud caked over every inch of us.

We glanced at each other, and both burst into laughter.

“That’s one way to end a hike,” she said, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand and smearing more mud there.

Even like this, there was no denying how beautiful she was.

We gathered outside the resort lobby after the hike that had almost taken us out.

Honor and I had opted to rinse the mud from our clothes in one of the outdoor showers by the pool nearby, and our clothes were already almost dry thanks to the heat.

“Showers and meet back at the bar?” Hudson said, glancing at each of us in turn.

Honor looked back at the pool deck and the glistening water. “I don’t know… that pool looks mighty inviting.”

“It really does,” Kelly said wistfully, practically slumping while still managing to remain upright. Hudson wrapped his arm around her shoulders. “A weightless soak for my sore muscles would be amazing right about now.”

Spencer eyed us all. “Well, then…”

He strode for the pool, whipping his shirt over his head and dropping it on the closest vacant lounge chair. Then he cannon-balled into the pool, coming up for air and shaking his hair out like a wet dog.

“It’s as refreshing as you think it’s going to be,” he said with a grin.

Honor didn’t hesitate, tossing her shirt aside, discarding her shoes and stepping off the edge. She resurfaced with a satisfied sigh, slicking her hair back from her face.

“He’s not lying. It’s amazing.”

The rest of us stripped down, even Reyna, tossing our shoes and getting in the water. I let out a groan as the weightlessness took over, easing the tension in my feet and legs.

Only Hudson remained on the side, striding for the bar. When he came back, he stripped down and joined us. A few moments later, a waitress appeared with a tray of frozen drinks in a red and orange ombre like a sunrise.

“Hudson, you’re an angel,” Honor said, happily accepting the drink.

“Now this is more like it.” April floated on her back in the water, careful to keep her drink aloft. “This is what we should have been doing all day.”

Reyna rolled her eyes, sipping on her drink in silence.

“Oh, I don’t know,” Spencer said, a glint in his eye. “All of Blake’s fantasies just came true getting dirty with Honor in the mud. I’d say it’s been a great day for him.”

I raised my drink at him in agreement, relishing the small smile accompanied by a blush that bloomed on Honor’s cheeks.

She was pleased at my show of lust and loyalty to our fake relationship. And I was pleased at having pleased her.

God, I was so fucking pathetic.

“Why don’t you focus on your own love life?” Honor teased Spencer, holding her drink high in one hand and gripping his shoulder with the other, jumping on him in an effort to dunk him.

Spence was a man-mountain, so of course it had very little effect. But he humored her, dropping down into the water as though she’d successfully overpowered him.

A squeal tore from her throat when Spencer emerged beneath her, her legs over his shoulders as he lifted from the water.

“Who’s up for a game of chicken?” Spence hollered.

“I’m going to go over to the swim-up bar,” April said absently, eyeing the trio of guys who had taken up residence there, and moving in that direction.

Kelly placed her glass on the edge of the pool in an instant. “I’m in!”

Hudson let out a sigh, discarded his drink the same way like an obedient husband.

“Good boy, Hud,” I said with a smirk as I sipped my own.

He scowled in my direction, ducking under the water to hoist Kelly onto his shoulders.

“I don’t care if this is your wedding trip, I’m sending you into the water,” Honor taunted Kelly with a smile, as Hudson and Spencer brought the two women closer.

“We’ll see about that, won’t we?” Kelly pointed to her own eyes with two fingers, then turned them on Honor.

They reached for each other at the same time, both women laughing as they tried to wrestle the other one into the pool.

Strain appeared on Honor’s face. “Oh my god, Kelly, what the hell is your workout routine? You’re so damn strong for someone so tiny!”

“She’s small but mighty,” Hudson called from beneath them, pride evident in his voice.

I propped my elbows on the edge of the pool and leaned back, content to soak up the sun and watch these fools play children’s games.

Reyna appeared at my side, her arm brushing mine in a move that was no doubt intentional. “So juvenile,” she said, watching Kelly and Honor go at it.

I didn’t take my eyes off Honor, her arm muscles straining in an effort to unseat Kelly.

“I don’t know. It’s kind of hot.”

Reyna rounded on me, expression slack with surprise. Then she shook her head.

“What?” I asked, brow pinched.

“You’ve really changed since we were together.”

The way she said it didn’t make it sound like a good thing.

“A lot changed the day I learned you’d propositioned my brother.”

Reyna’s expression remained as neutral as I’d ever seen it. “Really? Didn’t seem like you cared at all from the emotionless way you showed me the door. Is this you admitting that you actually felt something for me back then?”

My eyes narrowed as I stared down at her. “I proposed to you. You know I cared about you, Reyna.”

She angled her body towards me, successfully stealing my attention from the game still going on. Her hand landed on my bare chest. “Then that means you could care about me again.”

I let out a disbelieving sound. “What makes you think I’d ever give another chance to someone who tried to cheat on me with my own brother?”

Her expression still gave nothing away, but her hand slid from my pec and she turned back to the entertainment in front of us, clearly annoyed that her ploy to get me to flirt with her—maybe even sleep with her—wasn’t going to work.

“I’m with Honor now,” I added.

Reyna made a snobby little noise, sipping from her own drink. “We both know that won’t last. She’s not right for you. She doesn’t have what it takes to be a billionaire’s wife.”

It had taken our relationship ending for me to realize that Reyna cared more about my financial status than she did about me as a person. I was an accessory to her. She looked good on my arm and got to spend my money or have it open doors for her, that’s what mattered to her. Not me, or my needs, or my feelings. But I was still surprised to hear her say it out loud so damn blatantly.

“Oh, and you do?”

A small smile spread across her face as she looked up at me. “Of course I do, Blake. Don’t act like we weren't great together for a while. When we were good, we were really, really good.”

She shifted so her body was brushing mine.

“I still remember all the things you like. All the ways I could make you come undone. You always loved it when I had your cock in my mouth.”

I choked on the sip I’d just taken, practically coughing up a lung.

Honor’s gaze snapped in my direction, her brows pinching at Reyna’s proximity.

Reyna wasn’t lying about that. The things she could do with her mouth were all kinds of insane.

It was a shame she was a liar about almost everything else. Like wanting to spend the rest of her life with only me.

Honor’s distraction cost her, and one strong shove from Kelly sent her toppling from Spencer’s shoulders, hitting the water with a splash.

I placed my now-empty glass on the edge of the pool. “Whatever memories you want to revisit don’t matter anymore, Reyna. Because the one thing you forgot to remember back then was how to be committed.”

Sliding away from her, I made my way to the middle of the pool, just as Honor resurfaced.

“Come on, Spencer, you’re ripped like a professional bodybuilder, and you can’t keep one small woman on your shoulders long enough to stop Kelly and Hudson gloating?” I called.

Hudson was moving around the pool, shouting in victory, Kelly whooping on his shoulders and double-fisting the air like they’d just won an Olympic medal.

“Get on,” I directed Honor, squatting in the water so she could climb aboard.

“Aye, aye, Captain,” she said with a smirk, clamoring onto my shoulders.

I gripped her knees, relishing the feel of her thighs around my head.

It’d be better if she was the other way around.

I shook off the thought, holding onto Honor as we edged closer to my brother and his bride.

“Rematch,” I called, staring Hudson down.

“Oh, you think you can best me, big brother?” Hudson shot back.

“I know I can.” I planted my feet apart on the bottom of the pool in a power stance. “Take her down, Honor.”

She ran her fingers through my hair. “Whatever you say, my sexy little ab muffin.”

I pressed my lips together at the latest of her ridiculous endearments.

Hudson and Kelly burst into laughter.

“That’s a cute name, Blake.” Hudson had a shit-eating grin on his face, and I knew what was coming. “She call you that when you’re between her legs too?”

Like I needed another reminder of Honor’s legs and how they were currently wrapped around me, but not in the way I wanted. Not in a way I’d ever have her, because that wasn’t what this was between us.

“Shut up and get ready to lose,” I clapped back.

Kelly and Honor went at it, Honor’s thighs rubbing against my jaw. I tried to ignore that she was also pressed against the back of my head, as she battled with Kelly.

I worked to steady her, giving her a solid base, and within minutes she had Kelly tumbling into the water with a splash.

“Hell yeah!” Honor called, hands raised in celebration. “Talk about a power couple, Blakey .”

This time she’d used the same name Reyna had on the hike when she’d been trying to get me to carry her through the mud.

I reached up and gripped Honor’s waist, bringing her down and swinging her in front of me so I could see her face. Her arms draped around my neck, and we were face-to-face in the water.

“Don’t tell me you’re jealous of me being chivalrous, sweetheart ?” I asked, voice low, gaze trailing over her face.

An indignant expression twisted her features. “Jealous of that viper? Please. The damsel in distress routine is hardly original.” She moved in closer, her half-naked body brushing against mine in a way that shouldn’t turn me on when she’d just had her pussy pressed against my head, but it did. “I’d just appreciate it if my boyfriend didn’t look so enamored with his ex.”

She may have been playing around, but I didn’t miss the slight edge to her tone.

I nodded once. “Noted.”

She patted my shoulder. “Good boy.” Then she turned to face the group. “Who’s next to take us on? Anyone game enough or are you all running scared?”

Hudson snorted a laugh. “You’ve only won one out of two, I wouldn’t get too cocky.”

“Technically,” Honor cut back, clearly enjoying being on top, at least for now. “We’re the current reigning champs.”

Hudson grinned, splashing her, and she splashed him back. They were like children in a water fight, but I couldn’t help thinking about how Reyna would never do something as carefree as splashing around with my brother after giving him a hard time about losing a ridiculous pool game. She would be exactly where she was now—perched on the pool’s edge with a drink in her hand, focused more on looking good than having fun.

I glanced back at Honor, who had come up spluttering and laughing after Hudson had dunked her.

“I’ll take a whack at it,” Reyna called, and we all turned to her in surprise.

She placed her drink on the edge, moving further into the pool. “What?” she asked, taking in our stunned expressions.

“I assume you want Blake to be your base?” Honor said, her tone flat.

Reyna gave her a forced smile. “How exactly would I beat the reigning champs if I were to steal Blake from you?”

The sentence was so loaded that silence hung over the group for a moment.

Reyna turned to our cousin. “Spencer, I need you. Those ridiculous muscles are required.”

Spencer must have been as surprised as the rest of us at Reyna actually participating, as well as her thinly -veiled barb at Honor, that he moved towards her like a well-trained pet.

“Hop on, Your Highness,” he said, ducking into the water and positioning Reyna’s legs over his shoulders.

He popped back up, Reyna looking bored and like she belonged up there all at the same time.

“This should be interesting,” Hudson muttered, Kelly smacking him in the chest.

“Well? Are we doing this?” Reyna looked at me expectantly, her gaze cutting to Honor before she glanced away like even looking at her was an annoyance she was annoying.

I turned to Honor in question, and she nodded, motioning for me to turn around so she could climb up.

Once she was seated, I moved toward Spencer. There was no friendly trash talking like there had been with Kelly. The two women eyed each other with barely concealed dislike.

Honor made the first move, gripping Reyna by the shoulders and attempting to shove her backwards. Reyna’s pilates obsession came into play again, her core strength keeping her seated. Reyna went for Honor’s midsection, opting for a lower center of gravity to get Honor into the water. I gripped Honor’s thighs when I felt her wobble, helping to re-steady her.

“Damn it,” she muttered, clearly annoyed that she hadn’t been able to best Reyna in an instant.

They went at it for another minute, Kelly and Hudson calling directions from the sidelines. Ever the diplomat, Kelly was careful to support both women, offering encouragement or praise. Hudson, however, was clearly out for blood, cajoling Honor to “rip Reyna’s throat out!”

Honor gripped Reyna’s shoulders with renewed energy, shoving her so hard I had to work to keep my feet under us. Reyna’s eyes widened at the show of force, and she slipped from Spencer’s shoulders, hitting the water with a splash.

“Whoop! Whoop!” Honor called, doing a happy dance on my shoulders.

“Damn it,” Spencer swore, his competitive streak evident.

Reyna resurfaced, wet and bedraggled.

“Well done, Rey. You tried your best,” Kelly offered.

Reyna didn’t reply, brushing her wet hair back from her face. “I’m going to my room.”

Honor snorted, still atop my shoulders. “Oh, come on, Reyna. Nobody likes a sore loser!”

Reyna climbed the steps, not bothering to turn around, giving Honor the finger over her shoulder.

Honor grinned like she’d won the lottery. “Do you think that means she likes me?”