Mai Tai Marriage

by Chris Keniston

  Now Lexie stood in Maile Everrett’s kitchen, and noted the effervescent mood was not diminishing. Instead of redirecting the conversation and downplaying the situation, if anything, Kara and Angela seemed to be getting sucked deeper into the charade. They grinned and teased and toasted with ginger ale along with everyone else.

  Desperately in need of fresh air, Lexie slipped out the side door, and startled when she felt a warm breath on the back of her neck.

  “You okay?” Jim stood behind her.

  She rolled her neck left then right. Whether it was the stress of the day that her all tied up in knots, or having Jim standing so close, she couldn’t say. “Not really.”

  Tentatively, big soothing hands ran across her shoulders. “Do you mind?”

  She should have said yes. Should have stepped out of his reach. But the words stuck in her throat. Instead she barely shook her head. “I don’t know what I expected.”

  “From what?” Strong fingers spread wide kneaded the tight muscles.

  “Everything. It seemed so simple at first.” It took all her concentration to carry on a conversation when she really wanted to lean back and lose herself in his gentle ministrations. “A few days, Graham would go home, Mother would get bored and fly away, and all would go back to normal.”

  “Did your mother give you a hard time today?”

  “She doesn’t believe I’m in love with you.”

  His hands stilled a moment before continuing with the soothing swirls. “But she does believe we’re married?”

  “I think she’s hoping I’ll come to my senses, leave you, return to Boston, marry Graham, and she’ll get the blue blood grandchildren she’d expected to have years ago.” She opted to forego mentioning her mother thought he was after Lexie’s money. She was insulted enough by the accusation for both of them.

  “She didn’t strike me as the sort of woman who was looking forward to being called Grandma.”

  She could hear the smile in his voice; it made her want to smile too. “My mother may look tough on the outside, but she’s a softie on the inside. She loves children. I think she was devastated when she had to have a hysterectomy after my birth.”

  “I’m having a hard time picturing your mother with a house full of rambunctious children.”

  “She did have a hard time with me breaking loose from the nanny and climbing the pear trees in the back yard.” Lexie smiled at the childhood memory. She’d loved playing explorer and scavenging the grounds and coming home covered in unladylike dirt.

  “You were a tomboy?” He chuckled quietly and the soft breath on her neck made her feel tingly in places she had no right to.

  “Oh yeah. Thank heavens for Daddy. He’d been the one to urge me on all the time. I owe him for insisting I was old enough to learn to scuba dive despite Mother’s protests that I was too young.”

  Shifting his thumbs down to her shoulder blades, he increased the pressure slightly. “I’m guessing she’s none too happy with your current career choice.”

  Lexie shook her head. Another massive understatement. Lillian Hale couldn’t begin to fathom how her daughter could have fought so hard for an Ivy League education and a lucrative career in Boston to chuck it all for a job whose only upside was a year-round suntan. Of course, to her mother there was no upside to her new career. All that time in the sun could only lead to bad skin and early old age. The closest thing to a show of support from her mother had been to give Lexie the name of the best dermatologist on the islands.

  Silence hung just long enough for Lexie to wonder what Jim could be thinking.

  “I spoke with Brooklyn today,” he said softly.

  “And?” Lexie tilted her head back to glance at him from over her shoulder.

  “Graham’s family is in trouble. Their business is in trouble.”

  She waited for him to find the rest of the words. He always seemed to choose his words carefully, but he seemed especially cautious at the moment.

  “He needs your dad’s new missile guidance system.”

  The simple statement played around inside her head. She’d known Graham’s showing up had nothing to do with her, not after all these years, but a small part of her had hoped that maybe he’d realized she had more to offer a good man than the sexy bimbo. That he’d learned making love with her had been more honest and satisfying than the sexual games he’d played behind her back. Or that she was one hell of a catch and he couldn’t live without her. Any of the above would have been a balm to her still bruised sense of worth. At least when it came to the bedroom. But just like years ago, it all came down to the same thing. A business merger. He’d probably wanted some patent even back then.

  “Did you hear me?” Jim’s fingers stilled again.

  She bobbed her head.

  “I’m sorry. The man is a jackass not to see how special you are.”

  The way his voice lowered to a near whisper had her chest tightening and her mouth going dry. The memory of this morning’s kiss fanning the sparks she’d been dousing all day. He didn’t have to say anything more for her to be completely sure that this man she’d known less than a month knew her better than any other man she’d ever known. Well enough to realize the truth of why Graham wanted her still hurt. She still hurt.

  And even so, she doubted his words. He’d said the expected platitude. Only she wanted his words to be true. Real. Honest. She had to be worth caring for, caring about, by someone.

  Turning in place, she looked up at those big blue eyes and almost lost her breath. She saw the care and concern every woman dreams of. Like an old Technicolor movie, his eyes held the promise of princes and castles and fairytale happy endings, and then his mouth covered hers. Lips soft as a cloud, yet firm as the muscles that enfolded her against him played with hers. His hands slid into her hair and the simplest touch sent a shock wave of pleasure straight to her core. Her arms wound around him, pulling him impossibly closer. And never in her life had she ever wanted anything more than she wanted this man.

  * * *

  This wasn’t supposed to happen again. Shouldn’t even have thought of happening. Jim knew when he’d set his hands on her shoulders he was playing with fire, but he couldn’t ignore a chance to ease some of her stress. And then, when she turned to him, hurt and hope warring in her eyes, he couldn’t not kiss her.

  “Lexie,” Jim groaned her name against her lips. The sound of his voice rough and raw with need, slammed into what little sense his mind still had. One more caress, another taste, and finally, he managed to draw back far enough to take in a deep breath. His forehead rested against hers. Looking down he could see the heavy rise and fall of her chest, but his mouth still couldn’t form the words he needed to say.

  It was the sound of another voice that forced him to pull fully away and look up over Lexie’s head.

  Emily and Lillian stood in the sliding glass doorway. Emily eagerly cooing like a school girl. “Aren’t they the cutest couple ever? I mean besides my brother and Angela.”

  The enormous grin on Emily’s face was a direct contradiction to the placid expression Lillian Hale wore. Her eyes studied him with such laser-like intensity he was honestly surprised he didn’t have an empty circle cut out of his chest.

  Alex Hale picked that uncomfortable moment to sidle up to his wife. His hand eased around her waist, settling atop her hip as if that were the most natural place in the world for his arm to be. Jim found he liked that. The ease with which her parents moved together, spoke without words, shared a connection that was clearly only theirs despite the separations due to time and differing interests. For the first time, he wondered how much of his parents’ married life was due to contentment with life and how much was formed from nearly forty years of habit.

  All thoughts of life in general fell to the wayside when Alex Hale’s glare met his. While Lexie’s mother’s gaze was sharp and cutting, her father’s made Jim want to take cover. Ever since the incident with the waitress this afternoon, he’d sensed coolness fro
m Lexie’s dad. He wasn’t sure if it resulted from Jim having his hands full of the attractive server or if it might have more to do with the missing details of the conversation exchanged between Graham and Lexie’s father.

  Either way, a smart man would put plenty of space between himself and the protective parent’s only daughter. But no one outside the Navy had ever emphasized his smarts. Instead Jim did what any self-respecting suck up would do. He slid his arm around Lexie’s waist much the same way her father had done to her mother then turned to face the enemy.

  Maile Everrett picked that moment to sail out carrying a huge tray of fruit. “We’re all ready. Billy, you bring the pork platter.”

  So intent on Lexie’s parents, Jim hadn’t noticed the crowd that gathered around at Emily’s exuberant squeals. He also didn’t know what to make of all the smiling faces.

  “I’ll check if there’s anything else to be brought out.” Lexie pushed away from him and he felt unexpectedly empty.

  “Hits you like a fast pitch, doesn’t it?”

  Jim turned to Nick.

  “You might want to put your eyes back in your head and pick your mouth up from the floor.”

  Jim continued to stare at his buddy’s business partner while his jaw slowly snapped shut and he blinked a few times just to make sure he wasn’t attracting attention.

  Nick handed him a beer. “Here. This will help. Some. Now all you have to do is get her to fall in love with you too and my wife won’t have to keep jumping through hoops to unmarry you.”

  With no need for a mirror, Jim was pretty sure his eyes had that scared owl look again, but he’d bit down hard on his teeth so he knew his mouth wasn’t hanging open. Nick took a slow pull from his own beer then grinned at Jim like a jet jock after a dogfight.

  A large bowl of rice in her hands, Lexie strode out the back doors, muttered a quick, “excuse me” as she walked by, her gaze averting his. She couldn’t look him in the eye. He’d most likely spooked her as badly as he’d spooked himself. Not once, but twice today he’d nearly swallowed her tonsils.

  Nick chuckled a little more loudly and Jim realized his gaze had followed Lexie as she walked away, and he was still staring.

  “Yep. You’re not going to need Kara after all.” Nick turned on his heel and headed back to his wife.

  The man was crazy. Jim took a pull of his beer. Obviously he and Lexie had a chemistry he was having a hard time ignoring, but solid relationships were about more than just chemistry. Until he’d screwed things up by taking off for Kona, he and Bridget had been solid. Steady. Stable. And they’d agreed with time and a little work they could get that back, and more.

  Lexie spun about and laughed at something Mrs. Everrett said. Not a polite little chuckle but a head tossed back, eye sparkling, whole-patio-could-hear-her kind of laugh. The surrounding chatter grew dim until all he could hear was the fading lilt of her laughter. And never had he heard a more beautiful sound.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Keep moving. Keep busy. It was all Lexie could do to keep her mind clear. When Jim’s mouth descended on hers, once again she lost her hold on reason and reality. She might as well accept she had no control where this man was concerned. With every taste, every sensation, she wanted to play the game through. Visions of arms and legs tangled in heat and sweat and fueled with the sweetest desire had her melting against him.

  What she really needed now was a cool dip in the Arctic Ocean.

  “What aren’t you telling us?” Kara looped her elbow through Lexie’s and Angela did the same on the other side. Her two friends practically carried her off to the other end of the yard.

  “You’re holding out on us.” Angela let go and excitedly rubbed her palms together.

  “Look who’s talking about holding out. One minute she’s all set for an artificial pop and then next thing I know she’s engaged to my boss.”

  At least Angela had the decency to blush.

  “Besides…” Kara put her hands on her back and stretched forward. She’d taken to doing that in the last week. “…As as your lawyer, I need to know the truth.”

  “I told you the truth. The wedding party got out of hand, we had a pretend ceremony that somehow is legal. We need to undo whatever we did.”

  An amused twinkle shone in Angela’s eyes as she muttered, “Easier said than done.”

  Lexie did her best to shoot Angela an enough-of-that glare before turning back to Kara. “Jim’s an honorable guy. Bridget may have walked out on him, but he’s still committed to her. He wants her back.”

  Both Kara and Angela groaned, but Angela was the one who spoke. “I don’t get why. Waiting until the wedding day to call it off is pretty cold.”

  “Technically it was the night before, but it doesn’t matter what we do and don’t understand. All that matters is nothing has changed. All this is for show.” Lexie needed to set things straight, especially in her own mind. “We’ve had to do a little play acting here and there. I would appreciate your support. You do remember that my parents and my ex have to believe I’m happily married so they’ll all go back home where they belong and leave me alone?”

  “I did momentarily forget about the jerk.” Angela’s grin slipped. “And I do know how challenging your mom can be.”

  “She seems perfectly lovely,” Kara said.

  “You have no idea,” Lexie and Angela echoed before breaking into a fit of laughter.

  “I’m sorry,” Angela said. “I’ll try and be more supportive and not get so wrapped up in the illusion.”

  “Thank you.” Lexie turned to Kara, waiting.

  “Me, too.” Kara took another second to study her. “If you’re sure?”

  Lexie nodded. She wasn’t sure of a damn thing. Except maybe one. She needed to stay the hell away from Lt. Commander James Borden.

  * * *

  In an effort to keep up the pretence, Jim offered his wife an occasional grin from across the room. Once or twice, he braved a peck on the cheek. But for the better part of the evening, he kept his distance and Lexie didn’t seem inclined to make an effort to change that. Not even during the drive home with her parents in the car, did she initiate the slightest physical contact.

  After the awakening of his senses from not one, but two mind-blowing kisses, afraid of what he might see, he couldn’t even look Lexie in the eye. Never mind dare so much as to touch pinkies.

  Alex Hale rambled on about the food and Maile Everrett’s hospitality. Lillian Hale smiled and agreed. It was the most relaxed Jim had seen the woman since meeting her. If she weren’t so bound and determined to marry Lexie off to the worst of Boston society, he might actually like the lady currently laughing with her husband. At least neither seemed to notice the physical distance between him and their daughter.

  With Lexie’s parents chatting in the back seat and the interminable silence in the front seat, Jim pondered what the hell he was going to do when they got to the house. He was such a jackass. Promising a future to one woman and desperately wanting another.

  “I am so ready to crawl into bed,” Lillian Hale said as Jim pulled into the drive.

  “It is late for us,” her husband added. “Jet lag is not my friend.”

  Car doors opened and closed. Alex walked ahead with his wife at his side. Rather than hold hands with Jim as they’d done until now, Lexie used two hands to rummage through her hand bag, pretending to search for her keys, which she conveniently found just as she walked up to the front door a step behind Jim.

  “What’s this?” Alex Hale bent over and lifted a manila envelope. “It’s addressed to you, Jim.”

  He didn’t have any idea who would know he was staying at Lexie’s. “Thanks.”

  Pushing the front door open, Lexie glanced at him, her brow pleated in a silent question.

  “I guess we’ll see you in the morning.” Alex Hale kissed his daughter on the cheek, nodded at Jim and waited a beat for his wife to do the same. Which left Jim and Lexie standing in the middle of the living
room.

  “I, uh…” Lexie waved an arm toward the bedroom.

  “I thought maybe….” Jim pointed to the kitchen.

  Both sputtered a stifled chuckle, looked each other in the eyes, and grew serious again.

  Lexie pointed to the envelope with her chin. “What’s the envelope about?”

  “I don’t know. I can’t imagine who besides Billy and Nick know I’m here.” He undid the clasp and slid the 8 x 10 glossy photos out, one spilling to the floor. Why would anyone send him photos of three naked people engaged in a rather creative ménage à trois. Not wanting Lexie to get a bird’s-eye view of things he was pretty sure she had no first hand experience with, Jim bent over to retrieve the photo that had fallen to the floor.

  Unfortunately, Lexie squatted to pick up the photo at the same time. Her face crumpled in thinly veiled revulsion. “Who would send you this? And why?”

  “That’s what I want to know.” He accepted the picture and turned his back to her. Examining the pictures more closely, he sifted through looking for a note, or some clue as to who had done this and why. He already had an idea of who his star candidate was. Graham Winston Montgomery.

  Since Jim hadn’t been sucked in by Graham’s inference that Lexie was the reason for the breakup, it made sense Graham would target Lexie next. Hoping she would be easier to manipulate. Jim almost wondered why the crackpot hadn’t tried this first. By sending the photos to Jim, to a casual observer, or Lexie, it would look like Jim was into porn. Lexie would think him just another cheating man whore and walk away. But if Graham thought this would make her turn back to him, the guy was batshit delusional.

  Sure there was no valuable information to be uncovered, he merely glanced at the last photo, ready to shove it back into the envelope. At the same moment his gaze fell on the woman’s face, he heard Lexie’s sharp intake of breath and realized exactly what the bastard actually had in mind.