Faking Forever (First Wives Book 4)

by Catherine Bybee

He narrowed his eyes, cleared his throat. “That suit should be illegal.”

  His honest groan empowered her. “It probably is in Dubai.”

  Leo heard them, laughed, and handed them their snorkeling gear.

  On the shore, Leo helped her into the front of the kayak and encouraged Victor to climb in the back. Once they were all set, Leo rowed in front of them into the bay.

  “I haven’t done this in years,” Shannon told Victor over her shoulder.

  “I can beat that. I haven’t done this at all.”

  “Really? Not even at summer camp?”

  She matched Victor’s pace with the paddle, digging left and then right, until they found a rhythm that would take them away from shore.

  “I never went to summer camp.”

  “That’s a shame. The best things in life happened at summer camp.”

  “What kinds of things?” Victor asked.

  “Things like this. Kayaking, getting dumped in the water from a canoe. Campfires and ghost stories. First kisses.”

  “Ohh, tell me about those.”

  She grinned. “The ghost stories?”

  He splashed her with his paddle. “The kisses. What was his name?”

  She looked back at the memory. “Russell Lipski.”

  “Lipski? You’re making that up.”

  “Why would I lie about a name like that?”

  Victor laughed. “How was Mr. Lipski?”

  “Cold, wet hands. Dry lips. It was over before it started. I ran back to my cabin to tell the other girls that he’d kissed me. What about you? What was her name?”

  “Wendy Simmons,” he said in a dreamy voice.

  Shannon looked over her shoulder, caught him smiling. “That good?”

  “She was older than me.”

  The image of a teenage cougar came to mind. “How much older?”

  “Fifth grade when I was in fourth.”

  Her jaw dropped. “Your first kiss was in fourth grade?”

  “It was the last week in school before summer.”

  “I’m not sure that’s any better.”

  Victor laughed. “I think Wendy did it on a dare, but that didn’t stop me from bragging about it all summer long.”

  “So it was never repeated?” Shannon turned around, kept rowing.

  “Nope. Wendy’s parents moved them away that summer. I was devastated until Halloween.”

  Shannon was afraid to ask. “Why Halloween?”

  “Because Mia Fletcher dressed up like a cat and made me forget all about Wendy.”

  Laughter caught in her gut. “Men are so easy.”

  “That we are. Isn’t that right, Leo?”

  Shannon glanced at their guide, rowing alongside them.

  “It’s a curse, I’m afraid.”

  They all laughed.

  Since they were talking so candidly, Shannon risked a couple more questions. “Can I ask you something?”

  “Go ahead.”

  “Why do you work so hard?”

  He was silent as they rowed a few times.

  Shannon glanced over her shoulder to see if he had heard her.

  Victor was concentrating on the oar in his hands, his lips in a straight line.

  “Never mind, you don’t have to answer that.”

  “No, no . . . I’m trying to think of a quick answer.”

  She turned back to the sea in front of her. “We’re going to be out here for a while. A long answer is fine.”

  It was still a few breaths before he started to talk. “It’s my company. When I started it, I was only twenty. Granted, it was only me back then, but now I have employees and plants, and teams. I’m responsible for keeping this company going and the jobs it provides. People depend on Vic Corp to put food on their tables.”

  His answer was unexpected. Not to mention completely selfless. The image of the self-centered all about me man she’d met on the plane dissipated with his explanation.

  “That sounds like a lot of stress on one man’s shoulders,” she told him.

  “Most days it is.”

  Once again, she looked over her shoulder. Their eyes caught and he smiled.

  “But not today,” she said.

  “No. Today would be the opposite of stressful.”

  “The word is relaxing,” she teased.

  He pushed his oar deeper into the sea, let his muscles ripple as he put his back into the job of pushing them forward. “I have a feeling this relaxing might need a good massage once we’re done.”

  Leo ended their conversation by stopping them by a buoy to tie up their kayaks. They left their life vests aside and donned their snorkeling gear. In the water, Shannon watched Victor working his way into his mask. “You’ve done this before, right?”

  “In Hawaii.”

  Good. She didn’t need Victor strutting to gain her attention only to drown in the Yucatán.

  When he was twelve . . .

  He’d snorkeled in Hawaii when he was twelve. How hard was that to say?

  Apparently impossible, since the words never left Victor’s lips, and he followed Shannon’s example and put on his mask.

  How hard could it be? Keep the water out of your eyes by tightening the mask, keep the pipe clear of the water, and breathe out of your mouth.

  He sputtered the first time he stuck his face in the water. Lucky for him, Shannon had already kicked her fins up and was skimming the surface with her white bikini ass leading him into the deep.

  The memory of mermaids and his thoughts of the night before surfaced as he attempted to rid his mask of water and put it on tight.

  He kicked his feet and caught up with Leo and Shannon, who were several yards ahead of him, looking at the reef below. Once he was close, he placed the mouthpiece again and attempted to view the ocean floor.

  Shannon’s long legs kicked out beside him, her arms helping her tread water.

  Leo waved his hand and pointed to something moving below.

  A stingray hid in the sand, their presence obviously disturbing its peace as it swam away. Victor didn’t mind seeing it go. He tried to remember the name of the wildlife expert that had recently died from a stingray, and he didn’t want to become part of that club.

  Victor worked to keep his breathing normal and found it hard to concentrate on the beauty around him. All he really wanted to do was make it through their snorkeling part of the day without drowning.

  He sputtered again and came to the surface to clear his mouth.

  “You okay?” Shannon asked from a few yards away.

  “I’m fine,” he lied. He put the mouthpiece in again.

  You can do this, Vic. Thousands of people do this every day.

  Once facedown, he didn’t even try to see the fish, the color of the reef, or the sea turtles below. All he did was follow Shannon and concentrate on breathing.

  She either caught on to his plight and took pity or wanted to be by his side. Either way, she was there, catching his attention by tapping his shoulder and pointing at something below. Purple coral . . . fluorescent blue fish. Some of the rocks looked like someone had carved the image of brains into them.

  Yeah, the ocean was a perfect disguise for the world below. So much life surrounded them, welcomed them as guests.

  Shannon reached out and held on to his arm right as a school of fish, thousands of them, swam around them.

  Victor held on to her arm, felt several fish brush past his legs.

  He followed her lead and popped his head out of the water once they were gone.

  “Holy cow, that was awesome,” Shannon said. “Have you ever seen something like that?”

  “Only in the movies.”

  She played with her mask, chasing the fog away, smiled, and ducked back into the water.

  Yeah, Victor would take on more water just to have her smile at him like that again.

  The first of the two cenotes Leo took them to was what the locals called the garden. He explained the underground rivers of fresh water and how
important they were to the ecosystem. Shannon knew instantly that Victor was much more comfortable swimming without a facemask than he had been in the ocean. She’d recognized his discomfort early on in their snorkeling and made a point to stay by his side. If he knew she caught on to his lack of snorkeling skills, he didn’t say.

  The tiny fish in the fresh water were much more his speed. Even when those fish started to volunteer a pedicure for them as they sat on the steps leading into the water. “People pay good money for this back home,” Shannon told him as the fish tickled their toes.

  “We’re paying good money for this here, too,” he replied.

  They ended their tour in a cave. This time they wore life vests as Leo swam them deep inside, where flashlights were needed in order to see where they were going. It was filled with stalagmites and stalactites, everything Mother Nature created where most people would never see. The deeper they went, the cooler the water became. Still, the view was worth every second of the trip.

  “What feels like sand below your feet is actually calcium from the sides of the cave,” Leo told them.

  Shannon reached down and brought it to the surface, rubbed her hands in the gritty substance.

  “Exfoliating?” Victor teased.

  “Hey, for all we know the cure for cancer is down here somewhere.”

  They ended their tour with a lunch cooked by the locals. Fresh fish tacos on homemade tortillas, rice, and fresh fruit. They each drank a beer with lime, which seemed appropriate for where they were.

  Back in the car, she sat on a towel and covered her shoulders with her cover-up.

  Victor poked her arm with one finger. “Looks like you got too much sun.”

  She was a little pink.

  She poked him back. “You did, too.”

  The ride back to the hotel was a lot more relaxed than it had been driving away.

  With soggy hair, fried skin, and a few more mosquito bites to add to the equation, Shannon felt her shoulders relax.

  They somehow fell into a conversation about their siblings. She told him about her sister.

  “Your sister is in the Peace Corps?”

  “That’s what I said. You wouldn’t think joining would make her the black sheep of the family, but for my parents, it did.”

  “How’s that possible?”

  “They didn’t approve. They wanted us to marry up and add our family name to more guest lists.”

  Victor considered her from the seat across from hers. “Is that why you married a governor?”

  Should she deny it? “He wasn’t a governor when we married.”

  “I’ll pretend you didn’t avoid answering that question.”

  There was no way she would directly. Let him guess all he wanted. “For what it’s worth, I didn’t want my marriage to end. But things happen and we split.”

  There was a brief pause in the conversation. “Can I say something and risk it sounding like a pickup line?” Victor asked.

  “Go for it.”

  Victor looked her in the eye. “He’s an idiot.”

  She should have expected his words.

  She didn’t.

  Unexpected moisture gathered in her eyes. “No accounting for taste.” She blinked away her emotions.

  “I mean it.” Victor looked away, giving her the ability to hide her instant response to words so many had said before. “I know you and I didn’t start out on the best footing . . .”

  “To say the least. I fell in your lap.”

  “. . . and blamed me.”

  She rolled her eyes, feeling laughter instead of pain. “Whatever.”

  “But today was good,” Victor said.

  “Don’t forget the salsa dancing. If we can call it that.”

  “I’m ignoring the bruise on my instep.”

  “You do not have a bruise.”

  Victor lifted his foot to prove her wrong.

  Shannon saw sand, but nothing else. “I don’t see anything.”

  “It’s on the inside.”

  They laughed together.

  Thirty minutes into the ride back to the hotel, Victor put his head back and closed his eyes. “For the first time in a long time, I feel like I escaped the rat wheel of my life. I owe that to you,” he told Shannon.

  “Even rats need to recharge once in a while.”

  “Yeah.” He turned and watched the landscape outside the window. “I’ve been thinking about your question earlier. About working too hard.”

  “Your explanation told me a lot about you.”

  He shook his head. “It made me sound like a saint. I’m not. I like the perks, the money . . . the path to decent tables at restaurants and first-class seats on airplanes. My ego gets a charge quite a bit with this company.”

  “There is nothing wrong with enjoying the benefits of your labor,” Shannon told him.

  He shrugged. “Until it’s not enough. I need more of this. Days where I don’t have a phone to my ear and my biggest worry is if the big fish looks at me as if I’m lunch.” Just saying the words made him envision their snorkeling adventure taking a turn for the worst. “I need balance.”

  “Was that what Corrie was?”

  Her question couldn’t have been more spot-on.

  “My attempt, I guess.”

  Shannon must have sensed he was sorting out his own feelings on the topic and gracefully changed the subject.

  Leo pulled up to their hotel a short time later, and Victor gave him a generous tip.

  It was just after three, and the beach party was in full swing. “I had a good time today. Thanks for stepping in for Avery,” Shannon told him.

  “I hope she’s feeling better.”

  “I’m sure she’s fine.”

  “Thanks for inviting me out,” Victor said. “And for listening to my . . . well, my current drama.”

  “I’m a therapist on the side. I’ll send you my bill,” she teased.

  “I’ll look for it.”

  The awkward goodbye lingered above them. “I need to get out of this suit.”

  Victor lifted an eyebrow. “That’s a damn shame.” He hadn’t meant to say that out loud.

  Backing up, she lifted her hands to the air, a mischievous smile on her lips. “Okay, I’m gone.”

  “We’ll touch base for dinner,” Victor called after her.

  “If Avery’s up to it,” Shannon said as she continued to walk away.

  He didn’t say goodbye, and neither did she.

  But his eyes followed her as she left his sight.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Avery had recovered but spent the day on their deck nursing a headache. Shannon joined her outside and received the inquisition.

  “Did he hit on you?”

  “If you’re asking if he made a pass, the answer is no.”

  “No inappropriate touching?”

  “Nope.”

  Avery frowned. “What about comments? I’m sure he had something to say about that swimsuit.”

  “He had plenty to say about the suit.”

  Avery smiled. “Give it up.”

  Shannon looked down at the suit she had yet to take off. “He said it should be illegal.”

  “That’s something.”

  “He was a surprisingly good sport with all of it. It was obvious that he hadn’t snorkeled in a while, or at all. But he kept a smile and made a good show without complaint. The cave was incredible. We have to come back here and bring Trina and Lori.”

  Avery rubbed her temple. “But no pass.”

  “No. But it isn’t like I gave him the opportunity. I’m enjoying the flirt, like you suggested. No one said anything about physical contact.” Although the more she thought about it, the better it sounded.

  “We still have three nights left. I’ll be sure and leave you alone with the man to give him an opportunity.”

  Shannon glared. “Don’t you dare, Captain Obvious.”

  “You’re right, you’re right,” Avery backtracked. “If he wants it,
he will create his own opportunity.”

  She thought about his confessions about work, about his life. There was a lot more to the man than she first thought. Not that she was going to reveal any of that to Avery right at that moment. Doing so would get the woman going more than she already was.

  Shannon pushed up off her chair to walk inside. “I’m taking a shower and a nap before dinner.”

  “Good idea. Rest up before the night comes, in case you need your energy.”

  Shannon walked away shaking her head.

  Avery was like a dog with a bone.

  A bone named Victor.

  Victor kicked back on his bed, wrapped in a towel. The air conditioner and the fan spinning above him were the only sounds in the room.

  He’d purposely left his phone behind for the day, and in fact was making a concerted effort to avoid logging into the real world or risk being sucked into his normal life. Except a text from Corrie waited for him when he returned to his room.

  In the off chance you care, I thought you should know I’m not dead in a ditch somewhere.

  Her words evoked a desire to immediately text her back to let her know he was quite aware she was alive and well, that her parents had informed his parents, who had told Justin, who revealed the information to him.

  What was the point?

  His conversation with Shannon about balance had him rethinking why he’d asked Corrie to marry him in the first place. She was a beautiful girl . . . woman, he corrected his thoughts. Except now when he thought about her, he realized she was immature in many ways. Just like her text suggested. She and her friends liked to hang out in clubs and wake up late. Things he learned when he called her early in the morning and found her sleeping in after stumbling in past two.

  He didn’t see Shannon doing those kinds of things. Even in Tulum, the lady didn’t overindulge. And her friend Avery obviously didn’t drink all that much if she was getting sick after their wine at dinner and maybe one cocktail. Comparing Shannon to Corrie was like the apple and the orange.

  Corrie accepted his need to overwork.

  Shannon challenged it.

  Corrie had openly flirted with him when they first met.

  Shannon blew him off.

  Corrie ran off.

  Shannon stayed.

  He supposed the last part wasn’t truly for or because of him. But Victor owned it anyway.