And sticking close to Audra would have the added benefit of making sure she kept to that other pledge she’d made—not to see Alec again.
He had no right to be so damn gorgeous! Even in jeans and a shirt, cuffs rolled up, tails out, and with a pair of battered leather deck shoes on his feet. She’d be fooling herself if she didn’t admit to being severely tempted by the idea of a one-night stand, not to mention those “few nights” he so generously—hah!—offered, but she’d held strong.
Thank goodness, because in the blink of an eye he’d been tackled by a blonde with a pair of fake knockers and veneers that should come with sunglasses for anyone near enough to be blinded by them.
Thank goodness, because now that she’d had the cold splash of a wake-up call in the form of Audra’s broken engagement, Lilly realized she’d barely dodged the threat Alec posed. For whatever reason, she knew this man could damage her.
“What should we do now?” she asked Audra, slapping her palms against her thighs. “You name it, you got it. We could start learning bridge like we promised ourselves so long ago or watch that new TV series everyone raves about or—”
“Jacob,” Audra said, her gaze lifting to Lilly’s face.
“Jacob…what?” Lilly asked warily. “I’m all for entertaining ourselves with revenge plots or—”
“I need to know he’s okay.”
Lilly grimaced. “Of course he’s okay. He’s the one—”
“I realize I shouldn’t contact him.”
One of the reasons Lilly didn’t regret throwing her friend’s phone into the ocean. “Good.”
“And I realize you shouldn’t contact him either.”
“Great, because I erased his info from my contact list.”
“But you could ask Alec.” Audra leaned closer. “Would you find out what he knows? You can reach him, right?”
“Um…” Lilly had removed the best man’s data from her list also, right after seeing that chick practically smother him with her breasts.
“He’ll tell you what he can, I’m sure of it,” Audra said. “Alec really seemed to like you.”
Here was the natural opening. Lilly could tell her friend that Alec was actually staying at their same resort and even get into how he made all her inner alarms sing so she should avoid all further contact with the man. But the entreaty in Audra’s eyes made it impossible for Lilly to say no.
“Haven’t you heard of that test?” she grumbled instead. “The one that points out how seldom two women talking together have discussions that don’t involve men.”
“Speak to Alec, please,” Audra said. “Then I promise we’ll switch subjects. For as long as you like we can consider the continued elusiveness of world peace or debate how many cats I’ll collect in the next three years.”
Grimacing, Lilly got to her feet. “Why does that still sound like we’ll be talking about men?”
Still, she showered and headed out of their bungalow again, telling Audra she was going out to get them sandwiches from the on-site deli. On the way, she stopped at the front desk and once more found herself facing Jessie Hathaway. “I was wondering if I could leave a message for Alec Thatcher,” she said, feeling a blush crawl up her neck. Just saying his name aloud made her think people could tell how outrageously attracted she was to him.
The woman didn’t blink an eye, however. “Well, you could, of course, but I just saw him hanging out at the bar by the pool.”
Lilly hesitated, but then nodded, unwilling to look like a coward in front of the other woman. Surely she could encounter him one more time and come out unscathed.
As Jessie said, she spied him lounging on a stool, his back to her, his lazy attention on a group of people gathered at the other end of the bar. The half-empty glasses in front of the stools around him seemed to imply his companions had momentarily wandered away.
As a matter of fact, in that knot of guests nearby, Lilly glimpsed the processed blonde locks of the woman who’d leaped upon him earlier. Whether he was contemplating that woman’s charms or just lost in the enjoyment of the warm air on this beautiful May day, she managed to approach without Alec noticing.
“Ding-a-ling-a-ling,” she said.
He swung around, a swift glance of male assessment taking her in—face lightly made-up, shoulders bared by a flowered sundress, feet shod in short-heeled strappy sandals. The look of unguarded pleasure entering his eyes shot a hot thrill through her bloodstream. So sweet, that heat. So seductive. She fought the follow-up shiver.
He smiled, slow. “Well, hello there, little kitten. Did you change your mind?”
About one night, or a few nights with him, he meant. That soft gleam in his eyes didn’t make it any easier to refuse. So she bristled, just because defensive was her natural go-to response when she felt unbalanced.
“Don’t flatter yourself. This isn’t about us—you. That…that thing you’re talking about.” She regretted the babbling and felt more heat, this time on her cheeks.
One of his brows lifted. “What is it about then?”
Lilly cleared her throat, folded her arms over her chest, then realized it pushed her breasts together, and some cleavage was already exposed by the V neckline of her dress. Her hands dropped to her sides. “Audra wants to know about Jacob. How he’s doing, I guess.”
Alec’s expression turned pained and he forked his fingers through his hair. “Really?”
“Yeah. I’m all for hearing he took a long walk on a short pier, but…” She shrugged. “Audra is Audra. She’s concerned, despite what he did.”
After a long moment of quiet, Alec sighed again. “Who understands love?”
“Not me. What I get
