“Maybe I’ll, uh, run into you again.” He winked and slid on his sunglasses. “Next time I’ll have my eyes open.”
As he took off, she stared at his physique, the back every bit as mouthwatering as the front. Her fingers brushed the pearls next to her, and a different, visceral tug tightened her chest.
She’d have to find out the truth about these pearls and this land. And if it turned out she was sitting on a Native American burial ground, this man would not bulldoze it away.
Even if he was The One.
Chapter Two
When Ari arrived at the Casa Blanca Resort & Spa, the management offices were hushed and dark since Willow and Nick had decided on a Sunday afternoon beach wedding. Ari was headed to the bridal dressing room when she noticed the door to the Barefoot Brides office was open, and that quickened her step and her heart.
Maybe Gussie was in there, and Ari could tell her what happened today. She had to tell someone or she’d go crazy, but she certainly didn’t want to steal a moment of Willow’s special day by chattering on and on about some mystery man.
She rushed inside and came face-to-face with Gussie McBain, who was dressed in one of the white satin robes the Barefoot Brides provided for members of the wedding party.
“Where have you been?” Gussie asked, a tinge of impatience in her usually bright tone.
Ari froze, not realizing she was that late.
“Why aren’t you in the dressing room with the rest of the bridal party, clean, showered, made up, and ready to put our dresses on for Willow’s wedding?” She came closer, curiosity and a little frustration sparking her green eyes. “Why didn’t you answer your phone?”
Had her phone rang? Wow, she’d really been daydreaming after meeting him. “I was…out.”
Gussie frowned. “Do you mind telling me what is more important than the fact that one of your best friends is getting married and you are a co-maid of honor?”
“I had to go somewhere,” Ari said, suddenly realizing that Gussie was right—their best friend was getting married, so this might not be the best time to go into details about the stranger she’d met.
But Gussie looked extremely curious. “Where? Tell me.”
Definitely not the right time to get into it. “Not important.”
Gussie huffed out a breath at the vague answer, her exasperation growing. “I’ve been keeping Willow calm, assuring her you’d be here, lying for you when I couldn’t reach you so she didn’t become the freaked-out bride we all swore we’d never be, so yes, Arielle Chandler, you are telling me.”
Dear God, was she that late or was it just standard wedding stress? A wash of guilt poured over her for being so self-involved on Willow’s big day. Suddenly, the story felt a little preposterous.
“I had to do something.” Lame, but she hoped it put Gussie off.
“Now? Today?” Nothing put Gussie off.
Ari lifted her hands in surrender. “I had to…” She squeezed her eyes closed. “I think I met him.”
“What?” Gussie squished up her features. “You met who?”
“Him. I met…him. You know, my one, my only, my destiny.”
Gussie choked as if she didn’t know whether to laugh or not. “Ari,” she said, clearly working to be an understanding friend, but struggling right then. “You know I think your new-age superstitions are precious and you believe in love at first—”
“No, I don’t. It’s not love at first sight. It might not be, anyway. It’s fate. It’s destiny. It’s—”
“Hogwash.” Gussie scooted closer, sympathy softening her eyes. “You know what’s happening, don’t you? Willow is marrying Nick. Tom and I are together. That leaves you as the only one of the three of us…” She let her words trail off, as if she felt bad even making the suggestion.
“I’m not mooning over the fact that my two best friends and business partners have found their mates, Gussie.” God, she hoped not. Maybe she’d imagined all those feelings for that guy on the hill.
“Mates. You make it sound like we’re dolphins, for crying out loud.”
She shook her head, ignoring the joke. “But there’s a problem.”
Gussie gave a wry, teasing smile. “There always is. What? He’s the wrong sign? His aura is bad? What’s his fatal flaw?”
Behind Gussie, out the window, a movement snagged Ari’s attention. “I think he’s going to hate me,” she said quietly, staring at the man crossing the parking lot, obviously dressed to attend the wedding, but…oh, Lord.
Gussie made a comment, but Ari didn’t hear it because…that was him. The same man, the same clipped hair and square jaw and wide shoulders. Even the sunglasses were the same. “Who…is…that?” Ari asked, not really expecting an answer.
“Luke made it!” Gussie exclaimed, almost jumping.
Luke? Luke McBain, the long-lost brother Gussie had reconnected with in France earlier that month? He was The One?
“He’s here to…” Gussie started laughing, giving Ari a pat on the back like she could knock common sense into her. “I know, put your eyeballs back in your head and let’s go before Willow hits Bridal Defcon 1.”
Ari couldn’t stop staring as each step ramped up the same symptoms that she felt the last time she saw him. “That’s…Luke?”
“So much for the Mr. Soul Mate you just met, huh? I thought you were—”
“You guys!” Willow shot into the room, her voice rising as high as her hair in megacurlers, her own white robe slipping off her shoulder. “Where in the hell are you two? I am officially having a breakdown. I’m getting married!”
Gussie and Ari laughed at the mix of panic and delight as Willow covered her mouth like she just couldn’t contain her joy. “I’m so happy and scared and excited and happy!”
Gussie gathered them for a hug that Ari fell into, the mysterious man—who wasn’t so mysterious now—momentarily forgotten. She had to remember what was important today, and that was Willow’s wedding.
As they walked out, arm in arm, Willow was on a cloud and, honestly, Ari had to climb up and join her, because the universe was a strange and magnificent thing.
Luke McBain would be at the wedding, and she’d “meet” him in an hour. Just the thought gave her a swift set of chills. The universe was already working its magic. Now she’d have all evening to get to know him, find out about this “construction” he was involved in, and try to delay it until she figured out exactly what that “hill” in North Barefoot Bay really was.
And what had Grandma always said about meeting The One? Don’t tell him. If he doesn’t realize it, then…Ari wasn’t going to think about that.
Right now, her faith in the universe was too strong.
* * *
There were few things that pleased Luke McBain as much as a good coincidence. Oh, he liked himself an ice-cold Sam Adams on a hot summer day, and he’d been known to nearly kill a man in order to catch even one inning of a Red Sox game on the only television in a Third World country, and, yes, he had a secret collection of Louis L’Amour Westerns that had given him hours of entertainment. But coincidences were right up there with wonderful things he deeply enjoyed.
All those people who said, “Everything happens for a reason,” could suck it. Nothing happened for any reason, it just happened. Like two days before he was to fly back to France, Gussie had heard that Cutter Valentine, Luke’s old high school buddy and a superstar pro baseball player, was planning to move to the little island where she lived and worked. And Cutter needed a house built.
Of course, Luke was all over that. He’d cruised by Cutter’s mom’s house, got the guy’s phone number, and wham, Luke got what he couldn’t get before: the chance to start his building contractor business stateside.
And today he ran into—literally—the very woman who just happened to be in the wedding party with his sister. A coincidence—nothing more, nothing less.
And not a bad coincidence at all, considering the woman was damn near edible. The minute he laid
eyes on her today, he’d wanted…more. He hadn’t needed to check her pulse, but he sure needed to make some contact. The attraction was raw and instant and real, and totally unexpected.
It had been a long, long time since he’d felt anything remotely like it.
Leaning back on his chair in the last row of friends and family gathered to witness a sunset wedding on the beach, Luke let his gaze rest on the onyx-haired beauty who’d just glided down the sandy aisle. Of course, now that he saw her in the bridal party, he deduced that this was “Ari,” his sister’s close friend and business partner.
She was barefoot, like every guest and attendant around, wearing a strapless sapphire-blue dress that clung to feminine curves and showcased toned shoulders and a long, slender neck. Her gorgeous black hair was no longer falling out of a ponytail, but swept up, decorated with tiny diamonds that sparked in the light and gave her the air of a magical princess.
A low, slow, powerful burn started in his gut, the heat actually emanating right into fingertips that suddenly itched. He wanted to touch that hair. He wanted to take it down and spread it over a pillow and bury his face in it.
Holy hell, this wedding might be interesting after all.
As she turned to face the audience, her gaze went straight to Luke. Directly, wham, like she knew he was there, which seemed impossible since he’d slipped into his seat in the back at the last moment. But the instant their eyes met, he startled slightly, the impact undeniable.
Neither one of them looked away. Even when the bride came up the aisle, flanked by some famous parents and demanding every eye at the wedding, Arielle held his gaze.
Long. Direct. Damn. Hot.
She looked away first, forced to slide her attention from him to the bride, if only for propriety, but that lasted less than two seconds before she glanced at him again, this time with a challenge in ebony eyes that reminded him of ancient warrior princesses. Not that he’d ever met an ancient warrior princess, but if he had, she’d look like this woman. With hair glitter.
He accepted her silent gauntlet and tossed it right back with the most minuscule lift of one corner of his mouth. He could have sworn some color deepened the tone of pale skin that contrasted sharply with midnight hair and eyes. Once again, he won the face-off, and she shifted her gaze to the festivities, a young woman kissing her parents in a symbolic good-bye while her man beamed at them all.
Luke didn’t bother observing the hand-off from father to groom. The exotic bridesmaid on his radar was much more interesting.
Yes, exotic. That was the very first word that had popped into his head when he practically mowed her down, and it knocked around his brain again now. She was nothing like what he usually liked. His whole life—well, since he’d left the country fifteen years ago when he was barely eighteen—his taste ran to the California Girl, like the one getting married, all blue eyes and blond hair, suntanned, freckled. Luke liked the all-American girl next door.
And yet he couldn’t take his eyes off those slightly tilted, heavy-lidded, India-ink eyes that locked on his.
Luke shifted in his seat as the official ceremony began, taking a moment to enjoy how his sister glowed in her role as the other bridesmaid. Gussie wore a lime-green version of the same dress, her caramel-colored hair pulled up in a way that cleverly hid the burn scar on the back of her head.
He waited for the pinch of guilt that always accompanied the thought of how his little sister had gotten that scar, but she’d so effectively swept all the blame away in the past few weeks since they’d reconnected. She’d assured him that the accident that had been the catalyst to make him leave the States was well and truly in the past.
If only he could put the rest of the things that haunted him in the past. He was trying; that’s why he’d moved here, gotten a job, and had a plan. Everything could be buried, right? Memories, mistakes, aspirations, and…people. Buried like land mines that only needed to be avoided to survive.
He shook off the thought and forced his attention back to the compelling woman he’d met earlier in the day. No hardship there. A woman hadn’t been in his plan for his new life, but the way she looked at him and the response he felt from head to toe—and plenty in between—made Luke think he could certainly make room for a minor distraction.
He tried to listen to the vows, but he kept drifting back to what else Gussie had said about her close friend and business partner Arielle Chandler. He remembered that all three of the women had traveled together for some wedding consultant organization, then they decided to start their own joint business in Barefoot Bay. They lived in a Victorian house on the south end of the island, each in their own apartment. Arielle was on the third floor, if he recalled correctly, so she’d be one story above the guest bedroom in Gussie’s apartment where he’d be sleeping for a while.
So, right on top of him, more or less. He felt the corner of his mouth kick up at another happy coincidence.
The newlyweds kissed, and a cheer went up as everyone stood to celebrate, including Luke, who inched to the side to be sure he didn’t lose eye contact with his current target. She was hugging his sister, and then she slid her hand onto the brawny arm of the best man, a Navy SEAL friend of the groom, whom Luke had met before the ceremony started.
The best man seemed to be waiting for Gussie to take his other arm so the three of them could come down the aisle together, since there were no other groomsmen or bridesmaids. But Gussie gave her head a shake and gestured for them to go alone. So he’d have to time this just right to relieve that SEAL of the woman Luke had silently claimed as his, at least for the evening.
Around him, all the guests emptied their seats, heading toward the bride and groom or the bar to start the festivities.
Luke hung back, watching Arielle make her way down the aisle. She stopped to greet or hug a friend here and there, laughing at something someone said, smiling at others. But every few seconds, she ventured a look his way.
And every time, it shot a little more heat into his blood.
Just before they reached him, she and the best man separated. He went off to the left, but Arielle kept coming straight toward Luke. Their eye contact intensified, the ambient sound of laughter and conversation faded, and Luke actually felt his fingers burn again with the need to touch the beautiful woman coming right at him.
Yeah, this was one helluva nice coincidence.
He took a few steps closer to the aisle, his row cleared of people. He timed his arrival at the end to precisely match with hers, stepped onto the sand in front of her, and blocked her way.
She closed her eyes and smacked right into him, the tiny bit of contact sending a small explosion through his body.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” she deadpanned, sounding not sorry at all. “Did I run into you? I was merely meandering through life with my eyes closed.”
He stayed a little too close as he gazed down at her, narrowing his eyes at the sheer impact of being within touching distance. He had her by a good six inches, and his vantage point gave him an excellent shot of her cleavage, which was curved and soft and inviting.
“Eyes closed is the only way to run.”
“Until you hit a tree.”
“Or a gorgeous woman.”
She angled her head, either to accept the compliment or wind up for another zing. Good God, she was pretty. Blinding, kind of. It felt like heat flashes were hitting his eyes.
“You run like you know exactly what life is going to put in your way,” she said.
“I don’t know, but I like what life put in front of me today. Twice.” As much as he wanted to touch her bare shoulder and linger on her gleaming skin, he inched back and offered a more formal handshake. “I’m Luke—”
“McBain,” she finished, her hand almost lost in his. “Gussie’s brother.”
How did she know that? “And you’re Arielle, Gussie’s partner. Imagine the luck of meeting you here.”
Her eyes flickered and darkened for a quick second as she finally let go of
his hand. “Luck?”
“Coincidence?” he suggested.
“I don’t believe in either one.”
“Ah, a reason-for-everything kind of woman.”
She lifted a brow. “Absolutely.”
“All right, then. What was the reason you spent the entire ceremony staring at me?” Not that he didn’t already know. She felt the same physical reaction he did, and she could call it anything she wanted. He called it hot.
“I was staring because you’re…” She hesitated, clearly looking for the right word, her color deepening as she whispered, “The One.”
He inched back. “The one…what?”
With a smile, she slipped her hand through his arm and broke into a wide, bright smile, which catapulted her face from really pretty to insanely hot. “The one who’s going to get me a drink, amuse me by gossiping about the guests, dance with me when they play the first slow song, and kiss me under the moon when it rises.”
He tugged her closer. “You’re right. I am definitely the one.”
A soft cheer rose from a few people near the water, where the wedding canopy stood empty. Everyone turned in time to see Gussie being lifted into the air by Tom DeMille, the man she’d been seeing since before Luke and his sister had their unexpected and long overdue reunion in France.
“What’s going on there?” he asked.
Tom twirled Gussie, and she let out a shriek, holding up her left hand so the setting sun captured a rock gleaming there.
Ari turned back to him, her eyes sparking like that diamond on his sister’s hand. “I’d say your family just got bigger.”
He felt his jaw loosen as he shook his head. “Well, I’ll be damned. That was fast. Didn’t they just meet a month or two ago? This seems a little…impulsive.”
“Have you met your sister?”
He laughed. “Actually, only recently, as you know. But, still.” He looked back again, feeling a bittersweet happiness for her. “I don’t know. They seem pretty sure, but…”
Arielle eyed him suspiciously. “Don’t tell me, you don’t believe in love, marriage, or happily ever after?”
Barefoot in Pearls (Barefoot Bay Brides Book 3) Page 2