Chapter 50
Lily had planned to drop Shay off before heading back to work and checking in with Erin about last-minute preparations for tomorrow night’s sunset party.
But when they turned into The Palms’ main entrance, Shay announced he had a gift for her and wondered if she had time to come to the room with him to get it.
While she was flattered by the thought of him choosing something for her to show his appreciation for keeping him company this last while, at the same time she felt a little wary.
Being alone with Shay in his hotel room would definitely be considered a step too far in Dee’s books, even if it was for something innocent.
What are you doing? Don’t you know what happens when men invite women up to their hotel room? Not a game of dominoes, I can tell you that.
She imagined her friend’s voice in her head as she locked the doors to her car and followed him inside the hotel.
He’s vulnerable and you have a fatal weakness for broken hearts. Be careful.
Lily quickly shut the voice out of her head.
Nothing was going to happen.
They were laughing when they got off the elevator at Shay’s floor after he cracked a joke about having had to move room so many times during the stay he wasn’t actually sure where it was.
He casually caught Lily’s hand as they turned the corridor to walk down to his current room, still holding it, even as he unlocked the door.
Ever the gentleman, Shay stepped back slightly, allowing her to enter first.
‘Finally,’ a female voice suddenly echoed from within and, a second later, a tall redhead with mile-long legs and a shapely figure in shorts and a T-shirt stepped out of the en-suite bathroom. ‘I was honestly wondering if you …’
All three froze in place. Lily knew this face well from the few times she’d seen it in photos online.
Sarah.
The silence was stifling as none of them seemed to be able to find words to speak.
Lily hadn’t let go of Shay’s hand when she walked in, but as she watched his ex-fiancée’s gaze alight on their clasped fingers, she quickly pulled away.
‘What the hell is this?’ Sarah demanded, her voice high-pitched. When no one answered, she repeated herself. ‘Shay, what’s going on?’
‘What are you doing here, Sarah?’ he spluttered, as he moved ahead of Lily as if to block her from Sarah’s gaze.
Lily was thankful for it; the way the other woman was looking at her made her want to crawl into a hole and disappear. She wasn’t doing anything wrong, but the way Sarah’s gaze burned through her almost made her feel as if she’d been caught in bed with him or something.
‘Like I said in my message …’ Sarah stepped closer and her expression softened as she looked up at him, ‘I made a mistake,’ she said, and her voice cracked.
Lily’s gaze quickly shifted to Shay’s face to gauge his reaction but he didn’t flinch. Though now she knew what had upset him on the beach the other night. The text had obviously been from Sarah.
‘When you didn’t reply, I took the next flight out,’ she admitted. ‘I was afraid that maybe … actually, no, this is between us,’ she said, shaking her head and looking daggers again at Lily. ‘First, answer my question, what’s going on here? Why is the hotel wedding planner in our room?’
‘Nothing,’ Shay replied coolly. ‘And it’s not our room, it’s my room. How did you even get in here?’
‘Both our names are on the reservation. And stop trying to distract from this. Mere days after our planned wedding day, you walk in here laughing with some other woman, and you want to tell me nothing is going on? Why is she here? And weren’t the two of you just holding hands?
’ Her eyes became slits as she then rounded on Lily.
‘I … honestly,’ Lily began but her throat closed over, too nervous to speak, let alone defend herself.
‘Maybe you’d better go.’ Shay turned to her with a pained look and, again, she couldn’t respond; it was all too much at once and she was completely overwhelmed.
‘I—’
‘You heard him, get the hell out of here.’
‘Sarah, don’t speak to her like that.’
‘Oh, so you’re defending her too?’ Sarah continued to rage. ‘Our so-called wedding planner outright trying to steal my fiancé with no remorse and you’re bloody well defending her? Seriously, what the hell is going on here?’
Shay ignored the question, instead focusing on Lily as he led her back to the door, and ushered her outside into the corridor. ‘Sorry. Probably best you let me calm her down.’
‘Shay …’ Lily began but couldn’t finish as Sarah’s furious head once again appeared around the open doorway and he quickly backed in.
‘We’ll talk tomorrow, OK?’ he urged, quickly closing the door behind them and Lily could hear their raised voices from the other side.
She stood there in the corridor, alone.
The fantasy was well and truly over now. And what a finale. Sarah was here, not only in St Lucia, but obviously to get Shay back. He had wanted to marry her; there was no way he would turn her down if she wanted to fix things between them now. No way.
Shay was a man of his word, and he’d made a commitment to Sarah and had gone above and beyond in his plans to make the wedding perfect for her.
Whatever Lily had secretly hoped for was pure fantasy. The last week or so meant nothing really; it was just a bit of fun, a holiday fling. And it wasn’t as if Shay had ever even said he felt anything for her in return. Or done anything other than held her hand.
No, she’d been an idiot. Again. Lily’s heart twisted as she understood that all that she had hoped for, had foolishly dreamed about with Shay, wasn’t just over.
It had never even existed.