31. Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty
Scarlett
This island is amazing. I can’t help but soak up the details as we walk through the trees. Birds are singing out of sight, there are so many bright and pretty flowers I’ve never seen before, and I’m alone in this paradise with the four hottest, most talented men on the planet.
It’s like the start of one of my naughty daydreams.
Except I’m not me, of course.
Gotta remember I’m my shy and retiring sister.
Well, yeah, but Saph never would have walked into the sea. She never would have even taken her shoes off to feel the sand under her feet, and she absolutely never would have gotten on that jet in the first place.
That’s why I switched with her, after all.
Thank God I did after that crash landing.
For a second, I thought we were done for.
But we made it, and now I’m stuck out here with my dream guys, while I try to be a good sister and ignore every impulse that’s inside of me that’s screaming at me to grab hold of this once-in-a-lifetime chance with both hands.
I can see the jet a few feet ahead as Kian carries a cooler toward us.
“Oh, hey, did you come to help?” Kian asks, eyes lighting up as he hands the cooler off to Trick.
“Uh …” Trick murmurs.
“If you carry the beer, I can grab the food,” Kian continues. “I’ll be there in a sec.”
He winks at me and I can’t help but smile.
If any of them are likely to make a move on me, I think it’s Kian.
I’m gonna have to be extra careful around that guy.
I was already mentally begging him to kiss me on the plane, and again when we were in the water.
Yeah. I seriously need to be more guarded around him.
“I just need to grab my purse,” I tell Trick, who still seems thrown by being roped into carrying stuff. “I’ll be right back.”
I climb the steps into the plane’s main cabin, and I see Xane is in the cockpit, head right back against the seat’s headrest. He lets out a soft groan that makes my stomach flutter.
Clearly, he’s not happy with how things are going.
But any sound he makes is so sexy I can’t help but get a little turned on.
How the hell I’m going to make it through the day when I’m on the edge of arousal the whole time, I don’t know, and I probably shouldn’t think about it.
I try to sneak past, thinking I can grab my purse and get out of there before he notices me.
Unfortunately, the floor creaks as I move, and he turns in his seat, straightening up as his gaze connects with mine.
“Oh, hey,” Xane murmurs, frowning deeply. “I was just …”
“Taking a break?” I guess when he trails off.
“Uh, yeah,” he agrees, giving me a wry smile. “That’s it.”
I nod. “Sounds like a plan. Kian and Trick are bringing food and beer to the beach. You should come have lunch with us. I was thinking about starting interviews afterwards.”
He looks back at me like he’s amazed.
I’m not sure what’s so awe-inspiring.
The urge to check what he’s feeling comes and goes.
That’s none of my business.
I need to quit caring about what they’re feeling.
A lifelong habit is a hard thing to curb, but I’ve gotta try.
“Sure. Maybe I’ll work better on a full stomach.”
“Sounds smart. I came in here to grab my purse. Give me a second.”
I move toward my seat, scanning the area until I notice Sapphire’s small purse on the floor under the table. It must have fallen during that landing, when I was too busy screaming my lungs out to notice anything but the sudden force of gravity pinning me to my seat.
The strap gets caught in the arm of the chair as I start to move away with it in my hand.
My sister really needs to get a bigger purse. This little thing is a major pain in the ass.
Stepping back, I untangle the strap, tugging it back hard enough to knock my other hand into the side of Riley’s chair. My grip loosens and the bag’s flap opens. I catch it with a quick snatching grab, but not before something falls out onto the floor.
The suppressants!
Oh no!
The prescription pill bottle slides toward the cockpit like it’s on a mission.
I’m frozen in shock as the bottle rolls to a stop at the toes of Xane’s boots.
It’s got to be the worst thing that could have fallen out of my purse.
And it has to be in front of the lead Alpha of this pack of musicians.
Xane must have left his seat while I was picking up the bag.
He crouches to grab the bottle, making me wince.
“I’m so sorry!” I blurt.
I was too frozen to grab it, so of course he picked it up for me.
No Alpha would let a woman pick up something she dropped.
I try to catch his gaze to stop him from reading the label.
Please don’t look! Please, please …
His gaze fixes on the bottle in his fingers, and my heart feels ready to leap out of my throat as the seconds pass until he looks up at me.
One. Two. Three. Four …
“Those are just …” I start, panic starting to overflow.
His gaze meets mine, and I know it’s too late to lie.
The excuses die on my lips.
He knows my secret.
Well, one of them, at least.
Two, if he also read my name.
“These are your business, not mine,” he tells me as he passes the bottle to me.
“Uh, yeah, thanks,” I murmur, wondering what he thinks of me now that he knows.
I should have done what Saph always talked about doing. I should have moved the pills into an aspirin bottle. No one ever questions those. He wouldn’t even have blinked if that was what fell out of the purse.
Now he knows I’m an Omega.
And he might know my real name.
I messed up, and it’s bad.
Sapphire trusted me, and I’m already screwing her over.
I’m so dumb. I should have taken that nightmare as the warning it was.
I knew these stupid pills would come back to bite me.
“Let’s eat,” he tells me, motioning to the exit.
For a second, I’m too stunned to move or speak.
Then, I remember, I was telling him we were getting ready to have lunch.
“Uh, sure,” I agree, stuffing the pills deep into the small purse and keeping it closed with a tight grasp. Winding the troublesome strap around it, I let out a breath. “Let’s go eat.”
He waits for me to exit before he follows.
I try to calm my racing heart as I lead him back to the beach.
No more thinking about these guys like you’re you.
It’s time to think about what Sapphire needs you to do out here, Scar.
It is, and I fully intend to write an article she’ll be proud of, so when she accepts her promotion she’ll get off on the right foot with her boss.
All I need to do is be Sapphire.
It’s that simple.