by Nina Singh
He’d been imagining this, he had to admit. He’d had dreams at night where he held her, touched her, took her mouth with his exactly as he was doing now. The reality of it was so much more than he could have guessed. The clicking of Theo’s camera suddenly registered in his brain. He couldn’t be sure which one of them broke the contact first. Only that he felt the loss like a physical pang as Celeste pulled back and looked up at him. Her cheeks were flushed, her lips reddened from his mouth. It excited him to think that he’d been the one to put that color into her face, and her reaction to him only served to heighten his own desire.
“Reid?” she whispered softly, low enough so that he was sure Theo couldn’t hear her question over the noise of his picture taking.
He wanted desperately to answer her. Not verbally but by kissing her again, he wanted to show her how much he desired her, how much of an effect she was having on him.
Theo’s voice charged through his desire-fogged mind. “That’s perfect, you two. These will work great. Let’s move onto a different location, yeah?”
Reid couldn’t seem to make his limbs work. He knew he should let her go. He knew they should turn around and follow Theo who had already stepped away and was walking toward the garden. But he couldn’t so much as tear his gaze from Celeste’s face.
Her breath had gone shallow. The one word question she’d uttered as simply his name still hung heavily in the air.
He couldn’t help it, he touched his finger to her bottom lip and trailed it lower to her jaw.
Confusion grew in her eyes. “Uh. Theo’s left. You don’t have to keep pretending now.”
The words felt like ice water thrown at him. They served just as effectively to pull him out of his desire-filled daze.
How foolish of him. Looked like only one of them had simply been pretending.
* * *
She’d never been good at pretending. The lines always became blurry for her. They certainly had just now. How much of Reid’s kiss was real? How much was fake?
Dear heavens. She had to admit that everything she’d felt as soon as his lips touched hers felt one hundred percent real. Well, she’d do well to snap out of it. Reid had already moved forward. He turned to see if she was following him.
“Coming?” he asked, completely nonchalant. Unlike her, he seemed far from affected in any way by the kiss they’d shared.
The fake kiss.
Celeste forced her feet to move and reached his side. Together they walked over to where Theo stood waiting for them by the Frangipani tree he’d told them about earlier when they’d first arrived. He motioned for them to go stand in front of it.
“How about you two hold hands?” Theo suggested after they’d complied with his request. Reid reached for her and she swore a bolt of electricity shot through her arm as she took his hand.
She had to clamp down on all this emotion. She couldn’t let herself continue this way. She was only here in Jamaica for a few more short days. Soon, this whole adventure of a vacation would be over. She’d go back to her old life, her demanding job, and her draining family. She had neither the time nor the energy to spend her days pining over a man from her past. A man who was tied to her one majorly disastrous failed relationship. That life was her reality, those were the things waiting for her back home. A life full of responsibility and consequences. This was all a fantasy, a fake portrait that was meant to go into brochures and on websites.
It wouldn’t do for her to forget that for even the slightest moment.
“You’re not really smiling,” Reid informed her through the side of his mouth. By contrast, he looked like a man thoroughly enjoying the day.
“Sorry. I’m not really good at this acting thing.” Celeste forced her mouth to curve into a smile.
“Really? You could have fooled me.”
What was that supposed to mean? She probably didn’t even want to know.
“Let’s just get this over with,” Reid added. His grip against her palm lightened ever so slightly.
Well, that comment certainly cemented it. If she’d harbored any illusions that Reid was in any way as moved by their kiss earlier as she was, she could rest assured that he wasn’t.
If only she could be like the tree behind her, Celeste thought, feigning another smile for Theo’s camera. If only she could completely shed her unwanted feelings like they were discarded leaves. And then start anew. A whole new beginning, completely leaving the past behind.
The first metaphorical leaf she would drop would be her fraught and complicated feelings toward the man currently holding her hand.
* * *
Rinna approached them as they wrapped up the last few photos. It had taken some effort but somehow Celeste had willed her breath to return to a normal pace.
Well, as normal as she’d ever experienced while in Reid’s presence.
“Momma asks that you two stay for dinner,” the young woman announced when she reached them. “She says there’s some type of holiday parade blocking the roads near the city. So you may as well wait it out.”
As if on cue, Reid’s phone lit up and he blew out a frustrated sigh when he glanced at it. “My driver has just confirmed exactly that.” He turned to her. “Looks like we’ll be here a bit longer than intended. Did you have any plans?”
Celeste shook her head. Of course, she didn’t. She was here solo, after all. A warring flurry of uncertainty tightened her chest. Part of her didn’t want this day to end. Another more sensible part warned her that any prolonging of time spent with Reid was a lethal threat to her inner peace.
“Excellent.” Rinna clapped her hands in front of her chest. “I’ll go let Momma know. She loves having company. We’ll eat in about half an hour.”
“This is good,” Theo added after his sister left. “This will give you two a chance to see the holiday lights we set up this year. We decorated many of the trees. It’s beautiful after dark.”
“I’m looking forward to it,” Celeste answered. She’d always been a sucker for Christmas trees and the sparkling lights during the season. One of the few aspects of the holidays she hadn’t grown to resent.
Theo lifted his camera. “I’m going to go upload these images. You two take your time. See you at the house in a bit.”
“Sorry about this,” Reid said after the other man had left. “Things work differently on the islands. Holiday parades sometimes pop up without advance warning.”
“It’s all right, Reid,” she answered. “Like I said, I didn’t have any plans.” She wondered if he thought that was pathetic.
“Well, good. If you’ll excuse me, I should make a few phone calls given the change in my return time. I’m afraid I was due to meet someone who’ll be arriving on the island tonight. Alex will have to take over.”
Of course, unlike her, Reid would have a full schedule. No doubt this delay caused all sorts of disruption for him. A business owner like him had all sorts of demands on his time.
She wondered if one of the phone calls he was making was a personal one. Did it have anything to do with whoever he was expecting to fly in? He’d never mentioned being involved with a woman but why would he? It wasn’t like it was any of her business. And though Celeste had never actually seen him with a lady so far on this trip, that meant nothing. She’d only been on the island a few days. While she’d spent a considerable amount of time during those days fantasizing and thinking about him, she’d steadfastly avoided wondering about his social life.
Now that she’d been confronted with the possibility he was attached, she felt even more foolish for pining for him for even a moment. Seemed she was a magnet for rejection. To imagine that someone like Reid would ever see her as anything like a romantic girlfriend was downright folly. She’d fallen for that fantasy once before, only to have reality come straight back and slap her into the truth. Men like Reid didn’t end up with women like he
r.
No doubt the mysterious arrival was a beautiful, successful, and accomplished gem of a woman. Perhaps she was the model from the magazine cover she’d seen at the airport. Or maybe an actress. She vaguely recalled seeing a different photo several months back of Reid at some movie awards ceremony, attending as the guest of a Hollywood starlet.
She glanced at Reid’s back now as he spoke into his cell phone, braced against one of the trees a few feet away. Slowly, she made her way toward the river. Watching the water stream by might be a soothing way to iron out her frazzled nerves. The whole day had been an emotional roller coaster. Correction, her whole trip had been a harrowing series of ups and downs. Definitely not what she’d expected to be in store for her. Just one more curve thrown at her. To think, she’d been so excited to leave the city behind her for several days.
Maybe this should have been the one year she stayed home for the holidays. The sadness the season always invoked in her might have actually been preferable to the assault to her peace that had been this trip so far.
She heard his footsteps behind her and instinctively took another step forward in a futile attempt at creating some distance between them. She really could use some time to think alone.
“Careful,” Reid’s voice warned from behind her. “You’re awfully close to the edge there. The ground can be slippery. Unless you’re looking for an impromptu swim.”
An illogical surge of annoyance speared through her. She was a grown woman. One who certainly didn’t need to be told what to do. In sheer defiance born of rebellion, she took another step.
Only to prove the worth of Reid’s word of warning. Her foot slid out from underneath her as it landed on a slick patch of mud. She felt the shocking splash of water an instant later. Reid’s shouted curse was immediately followed by another splash as he jumped in after her. Why in the world would he do that? She could swim, for heaven’s sake. Now they’d both be a soaked, river-slimed mess. She opened her lips to tell him so only to have her mouth flooded with said slimy water. That couldn’t be good.
“Hang on,” Reid shouted over the splash of the water.
Even in the shock of her fall, only one thought crammed through her mind.
She hated that he’d been right. And that he was now attempting to rescue her.
* * *
Reid bit out another curse as he landed in the steadily flowing river. Grabbing Celeste by the waist, he began to hoist her onto the edge of the riverbank. Was she actually resisting? What the...?
He lifted her out of the water and followed her onto the land. “Are you all right? You didn’t hurt yourself, did you?”
She ignored his question, posing one of her own. “Why did you do that?” she demanded to know crossly. “You did not need to jump in after me.”
Well, if that didn’t take the cake. “You have a funny way of saying thank you.” Swiping the moisture off his face, he then ran his fingers through his hair.
Celeste was shooting fire at him. For helping her out of the water she’d fallen into, despite him having warned her.
He would never understand this woman, probably shouldn’t even try. So he wanted to kick himself for the direction his next thoughts took him in. No woman should look that enticing dripping wet after a drenching in a green tinged, mossy body of water.
For that’s exactly what she was. Enticing.
Her hair had turned a shade darker after the drenching, accenting the golden hue of her tanned skin. Her soaked white lace dress clung to her like a caress in all the right places. He had a clear view of her undergarments through the wet fabric of her clothes. Reid made himself avert his gaze. It wasn’t easy.
He longed to slowly strip her of the dress, then rub his hands over every inch of her soaked skin to warm it up. His breath caught in his throat at the image. He couldn’t deny it any longer. He wanted her. And he wanted her so badly it made him ache inside. How or when it had happened, he couldn’t even try to place. Maybe it had all started that first day he’d seen her sprawled on a lounger on the beach. Perhaps it went back even further than that.
Not something he really wanted to examine at the moment. The better question was what he was going to do about it.
“Honestly, Reid,” she huffed as she stepped around him. “Now we’re both a mess.”
He blinked. “Are you actually upset that I helped you out of the water?”
“I didn’t need rescuing,” she declared and tried to push past him.
Without thinking, he reached out to take her by the elbow and turned her around to face him.
“What is your deal?”
Her chin lifted in defiance. “I thought I already explained. I didn’t need you to jump in after me. I’m perfectly capable of swimming out of a body of water.”
He gave his head a shake. “Have you always been this difficult? I can’t seem to remember.”
It was the wrong thing to say. Celeste’s eyes darkened with anger. “Is that what Jack told you?” she demanded to know. “That I’m difficult? That I’m hardly worth the effort? Did you two have fun talking about me and how sad and downright pathetic I looked waiting for him at the altar? Do you two get together at the bar on weekends and make fun of how ridiculous I looked on what should have been the happiest day of my life?”
Reid felt his jaw drop. Such an accusation was the last thing he’d been expecting. “What? Of course not.”
“What exactly are you denying, Reid? That you think I’m difficult? Or that I’m a pathetic, dejected discard? Or that you and Jack get a kick out of recalling my humiliation?”
He couldn’t seem to find the words to respond. The things she was saying were downright preposterous. Little did she know, he thought Jack’s behavior was inexcusable that day. Friend or not, it had been a cowardly and treacherous way to treat a woman. Let alone someone like Celeste.
She pulled her arm free from his grasp. “Never mind. I’m going to ask for a towel.”
With that she trudged away toward the house. He caught up to her in mere strides, though he didn’t dare reach for her again. For he was far too tempted to shake some sense into her. Then he would tell her how ridiculous a notion it was to hint that she’d been at all responsible for the way Jack had treated her. That she was far too good for him and always had been. And then he would quiet any further protest by crushing his lips to hers and tasting her again the way he wanted to so badly.
“For the record,” he bit out. “Jack and I never discussed you after that day. Not once. Even when the subject of his averted wedding came up. The conversation never turned to talk about you specifically.” Mainly because Reid wouldn’t allow it, he added silently. “And we certainly don’t laugh at you over beers at the local pub!”
“Yeah, right,” she answered, not breaking her stride. He had several inches on her and much longer legs, but somehow it was an effort to keep pace with her. Her anger seemed to be propelling her forward. Or her desire to get away from him.
“What reason would I have to lie about that?”
She shrugged, still moving ahead. “I don’t know. Some misplaced sense of loyalty your friend perhaps? I know how charming and convincing Jack can be.”
Reid rubbed a frustrated hand down his face. “Why are we arguing about this? Now of all times?” But the answer occurred to him before he got the last word out.
She was thinking of Jack. She wanted to know if he asked about her, talked about her. And apparently, the answer mattered to her. Why else would she be so upset?
One thing was certain. The reverse was absolutely true. Even if Jack didn’t think of her, Celeste still thought about her former fiancé. Jack was on her mind even at this very moment. Even after she’d spent the morning with Reid. After he’d kissed her under the native tree, held her hand and smiled with her at Theo and his camera.
A fireball of anger seemed to ignite in his
gut. His vision turned gray and he had to bite back a curse. He stopped in his tracks and let her continue forward. He would have to meet her at the house later. Right now he needed to be alone. He needed to try to think straight.
A task he couldn’t seem to do well whenever Celeste was near.
* * *
“Oh, my!” Rinna cried out when she saw the state Celeste was in. “I see you fell into the water.”
“We both did,” Celeste announced and climbed up the porch steps. “Well, to be more accurate, I fell in. Then Reid jumped in after me. For some inexplicable reason.”
“I see,” Rinna said simply. She glanced in the distance behind where Celeste stood. “Where is Reid?”
Celeste was vaguely aware that he’d stopped following her at some point. Thank heavens he had. Or she might have turned to him then and there and asked him exactly what he thought of her. How he felt about her. She might have run the risk of having him come and say straight out what she suspected—that he liked her enough as a person. But that there could never be anything between them. Hence, she’d be making a fool of herself over a man yet again.
“Um...could I borrow a towel?” Celeste asked just Uma stepped out onto the porch from behind the screen door.
The older woman clapped a hand to her face. “Of course, dear. Come in and let’s get you dry.”
Celeste went up the stairs gratefully and went to step inside, only to have her ankle give out.
Uma and Rinna both jointly caught her just before she could hit the ground. “Are you all right, dear? Did you hurt yourself in the river?”
Celeste gave her head a shake. “I didn’t think so. But I must have sprained it somehow during the fall. And then the walk to the house must have aggravated it.” She rubbed a hand down her foot, which was starting to swell and bruise right before her eyes.