by H. M. Ward
Nick’s laughing, watching me like I’m a mermaid about to disappear. “If I had told you it was freezing you would never have come in.”
“I didn’t come in! You pulled me in!”
“Same difference.” He shrugs, and takes my hands, pulling me away from the rock. “Can you swim?”
“I’d be dead if I couldn’t.” The hem of my dress keeps floating up and I’m wearing a G-string. It’s cute and black and matches my bra, but I don’t want him to see it. The further out we swim, the closer we get to the patch of moonlight. “Nick, wait.”
“We’re almost there. I want to show you something.”
I humor him and follow, half treading water and half pulling my dress down as it floats up to my boobs. Nick notices, but averts his eyes, which surprises me. Tugging my wrist, he pulls me to the center of the reflection of the moon on the water. “Look at the shore.”
When I turn back, I gasp. It’s the most stunning thing I’ve ever seen. Although I’ve been here many times as a child, Sophie and I never came out here at night. We weren’t allowed to wander from the shore. As I move my arms back and forth over the top of the water, I gaze at the hotel and the rocks bathed in the palest moonlight you’ve ever seen. It looks like a painting. The way the soft light glitters off the water makes me think of old fairy tales and happier times.
My teeth chatter louder the longer we’re there. Nick waits a moment and then adds, “Wouldn’t it be great if we could get Sophie and Steven out here.”
“Yeah, but she won’t come. She doesn’t want to ruin her dress.”
“And here you are, in a beautiful dress and up to your neck in water.”
I glance at him for a second and tuck my damp hair behind my ear. “We’re not the same. I like this kind of thing and the memory that it makes is priceless. She doesn’t really get it, you know? There are some things that only come once in a lifetime, some places that are so pristine they seem like magic.” I smile wistfully. Shelter Island was my Neverland. This place was where I was a girl with no worries, where I slipped away from reality to be myself for a while.
Nick nods, as if he understands, but I doubt it. I shiver again and when he turns, our eyes lock. My stomach flips when he looks at me like that. The pull to his mouth is so hard, it’s as if we’re connected. Our bodies move closer as his lashes lower. His beautiful blue eyes fixate on my lips, drifting closer and closer, he tips his head to the side for a kiss.
One kiss. It won’t hurt anything. It means nothing.
His warm breath washes over my face and it aches to not close the gap between us. I want this, but I won’t do it. I can’t. He’s the enemy. I’d be a traitor to myself if I let him in. There can never be anything between us, ever. That’s just the way it is.
Just before our lips touch, I tuck my head and the kiss misses. Nick presses his lips together and inhales hard, while I fish something out of my pocket. It’s been there, in my pocket, since the first time I came to Shelter Island. I grab the little piece of metal attached to a necklace, take his hand, press it into his palm, and close his fingers around it. “This is the only kiss you’re getting from me.”
It’s symbolic to me. I’ve worn that thing forever, but I need to stop dreaming. It’s time for things to change. As I start to swim back to the rock, he looks down into his hand and sees an old thimble.
This island was my Neverland and everything about it offered freedom—at least, every visit until now. Now, it’s time to grow up, Sky. It’s time to make my own magic.
In order to survive, Nick and I can’t be friends. I have to make sure he’s not at that rehearsal tomorrow.
CHAPTER 11
I take my time getting back to the room, even though I’m frozen. Nick is asleep in the bed, but he’s made me a pallet on the floor from blankets and pillows. I jump in the shower, just standing there warming up, until my skin is scalded. Then I slip on a pair of sweats. I pad out of our room and down the hall to Sophie’s room. It’s after midnight. I leave my gear behind. I just want to talk to her and see if she’s all right.
I knock on her door and it swings open. “Sky!” She throws her arms around me and clobbers me in a bear hug before pulling me inside. “I’m so glad you stayed. I was afraid Nick Ferro would chase you off.”
“Oh, no. I’m staying—Ferro or not. Besides, I’m a better shooter than him, by far.”
One of the bridesmaids I don’t know scoffs. “A little arrogant there, aren’t you?”
My gaze cuts over to her. She has a pointy face and fake red hair. It looks like she went down on the Kool-Aid guy and he came in her hair. It’s, like, holy fuck R.E.D. “Just calling it like I see it. If he were better than me, he wouldn’t have to copy me. Besides, what do you know about it? Jack shit, that’s what. So keep your mouth shut.”
Kool Cum makes a face at Sophie and mutters, “Bitch.”
“Excuse me?” I’m crossing the room and standing in front of her. The girl is wearing purple PJs and sitting on the floor with a bottle of wine in her hand. It’s the little plastic kind the hotel sells downstairs.
“You heard me. You’re a bitch—a deranged one from what I’ve heard.” She smirks.
Sophie jumps between us. “And Mandy had too much to drink.” She pulls the cup away from Mandy and laughs nervously.
“And I’ve had nothing to drink, so tell me, Mandy—what’d you hear about me that made you instantly hate my guts? Or is it just that you’re the slut at this party, but Nick already has another woman in his room?”
Mandy lunges for me and I’m ready to punch her, but Sophie and another girl jump in the middle. Sophie screams, “Mandy stop it! Sky, I’m going to kill you!”
We’re apart and I’m breathing hard. I press my fingers to my chest. “Me?”
“Yeah you. You’re not drunk. She is.”
“That’s a shitty answer, Sophie.”
“I’ve got an idea Conceited Chick will find interesting. I bet you that the best picture taken at this wedding is Nick Ferro’s and not yours.” Mandy smirks pointing a half-filled wine glass at me.
“Cut it out, Mandy.” Sophie warns Kool Cum to back down, but she doesn’t.
“Come on girls, let’s put money on it. How about twenty grand if you win?”
I have to ask, “And what if I lose?”
“Then you don’t show any of your pictures from the wedding, let the real wedding photographer sell his pictures, and let me into your room the night before we leave. I have a surprise for Nick Ferro, one he’ll adore.” Mandy’s face is pinched into a snobby scowl. She comes from money. Her fake titties almost look real and I don’t think that’s her original nose either.
I shake my head and mutter, “Asshole.”
“Oh, what’s the matter? Too afraid to put your money where your mouth is? I hear that mouth has been everywhere else, so what’s one more place?”
“Mandy!” Sophie scolds.
“Bitch,” I bite back.
“Whore.”
I roll my eyes and push up. “I don’t have time for this shit. We can’t all be pampered asses. I’ll talk to you tomorrow Soph.” Just as I’m about to walk through the door, Mandy finishes whispering to her friends. “We’ll double it. Come on Skylar, we know you’re strapped for cash and if you’re the best you have nothing to lose. Forty thousand bucks for the best shot of this wedding.”
I pause in the doorway, unsure what to do. It’s degrading, but it’s enough to get me out of the mess I’m in. I can win without screwing with Nick. The lighting is a nightmare and he can’t use his camera unless it’s set on auto. His pictures will look like crap.
“They’re using you. Walk away, Sky,” Sophie whispers in my ear. These are her cousins. She can’t stand Mandy, but the people you love and hate most are both invited to your wedding.
“Who picks the winner?” I ask and instantly hate myself for doing it, but I have to. There’s no other way out of this.
Sophie closes her eyes and pinches the b
ridge of her nose. Mandy looks over at her cousin. “Sophie and Steven will pick, but you’ll have to make it so they can’t tell which picture belongs to which photographer. No cheating, trailer trash.”
“Go fuck a cactus, classless cunt.” Everyone gasps like they can’t believe I really said those words. “Oh, shut up. It’s not like you didn’t know you were one. I’m just the only person brave enough to say it to your face.”
Mandy grins wickedly, not denying my accusations. “So the bet is on?”
“Is she good for it?” I ask Sophie. My friend nods. After a moment, I nod and say, “Hell, yeah. I’m going to kick his ass so hard, even he won’t find my shoe.”
“You’re so crude.” Mandy’s little nose crumples up before she goes to say more, but I’m already gone.
Beat Nick Ferro. I need the best shots. I already have one, but I don’t know what shots he has. I tiptoe down the hall, into our room. After closing the door, I go over to his gear bag and fish out his only camera. Schmuck. I could break it and he’d be screwed, but I don’t play like that.
Nick inhales and rolls away from me as I sneak the camera under my blankets to look at the illuminated screen. I flip through his shots and terror grabs hold of my throat. He’s actually good. The angle of the portraits flatter everyone and his exposures are dead on. There’s no way these were shot on auto. When I check his settings, I can see that they weren’t. Damn it. Nick knows how to shoot.
As I press my eyes closed and silently curse, Nick yawns sleepily, “Taking dirty pictures with my camera? I’m a breast man. Make sure you get a good shot of underboob. I like that part.” I gasp and try to conceal it, but it’s too late. I’m totally busted. I drop the sheet and he can see me looking through his pictures. Nick is standing next to me, holding out his hand. “Hand it over.”
I sigh and hold it up. “You’re a liar.”
“What?” He laughs.
“You said you couldn’t shoot. You said you only shot on auto.”
“I never said that.”
“That’s what you told my assistant when she interviewed you to second-shoot a wedding.”
He laughs and climbs back into bed, leaving his camera next to him on the nightstand. “I knew who she was, Sky. I made shit up. Do you seriously not remember meeting me the first time?”
“I remember you moving in and making your studio look exactly like mine, you cocky ass.”
He chortles. “Yeah, that was funny. But we met before that. I’m hurt Sky. I really am.” Nick’s teasing tone is getting to me, but I don’t remember him. “Oh, come on—green hat, cord jacket, threadbare Chucks. I told you I wanted some pictures of a small wedding. You blew me off. I didn’t even get a folder.” He presses his hands mockingly to his bare chest and says the last few words like he’s going to fake cry.
“I give everyone a folder.”
“Except people you rule out. You ruled me out. I wasn’t worthy of your services because of my secondhand clothing. Ironic, right? Ya know, since I’m filthy stinking rich and you’re not.” Nick winks at me before he lies back, tucks his hands behind his head, and settles into the mattress.
I slip down to my pallet on the floor and recall the instance he’s telling me about. “You were wearing a John Deere hat.”
Nick points his forefinger at me. “Bingo. And you blew me off.”
I did toss him out pretty fast, but that wasn’t why. There’s no way in hell I’m telling him the truth, so I roll with it. “Yeah, I’m a snob. Total bitch.” I pull up my blankets and roll away from him.
He’s quiet for a moment and then softly says, “No, that’s not it. I’ll figure it out, Wendybird. And you should keep your kiss until you find the right guy. It’s under your pillow.”
My throat tightens as I reach underneath and find my thimble necklace. In Peter Pan, Wendy gave Peter the thimble and said it was a kiss. Nick knew. No one remembers that part of the story. My heart thumps and I don’t know what to think of him. He shouldn’t know these things, but he does. There’s no way he’s a Peter Pan freak like me. Yeah, guys get Peter Pan syndrome, but this isn’t the same. His words choke me because they’re filled with meaning beyond the gesture of handing back a trinket.
I’ve tried to find the right guy. The one previous time Mr. Right popped up, the situation was all wrong. There was already a ring on his finger and a woman on his arm. Sometimes that happens, and fate is too slow or we don’t wait long enough. I thought that’s what happened. After that first meeting with Nick, I was totally enthralled with him. I couldn’t shoot his wedding because the magnetic pull was too strong and I liked him too much. His smile was so alluring—add in those blue eyes and I knew I’d be toast. The fastest way out of the wedding business is to flirt with the groom, so I threw him out without explanation. After all, it’s not like I could tell him any of that. He’d already picked someone else.
Damn it. I’d wondered what happened to that guy, if he was happy. Now I know he’s fine, because he’s lying on the bed next to me, sound asleep.
CHAPTER 12
I toss and turn all night, devising ways to sabotage Nick. I can’t play fair, not after seeing his pictures. Each photograph was well executed. His histograms were perfect—at least on the shots I had time to view. The next day, Sophie manages to keep Mandy away from me as we walk along the shoreline.
“You shouldn’t have let her bait you like that.” Concern fills her voice and her fingers twist her flowing ivory skirt. She’s already dressed for dinner.
I shrug. “You have options. I don’t.”
She takes my arm and turns me toward her. My own dress swishes with the movement. We both stop walking. “Yes, you do. You can go home. Your parents can help you. Your mother has offered a million times.”
I sigh dramatically, “Which is exactly why I can’t close my shop and go crawling back to them. Sophie, I need to do this on my own. That bet with Mandy gives me a chance.”
“Yeah, but you’re going to have to do some things that aren’t like you to ensure you win, aren’t you? I mean, Nick doesn’t suck, right? Otherwise, Mr. Stevens wouldn’t have hired him.”
I can’t hold her gaze. “I am not ruining your wedding, don’t worry, and I’m not going to break his gear.” Hide it maybe, but not destroy it.
Sophie tilts her head at me and folds her arms over her chest. “You seriously expect me to believe that?”
I offer a half grin. “Enjoy your wedding and stop worrying about me. Come here for a second.” I tug her hand and ask her to stand on a rock that’s in the water. “Here, hand me your shoes.”
Sophie doesn’t want to do it. I can tell by her posture and the way she looks at the water. “Sky, the rock is slippery—I’ll fall in and ruin my dress.”
“They’d still be awesome pictures: a wet, white, wedding-ish looking dress. It’d fit right in with the boudoir shoot we’re doing tomorrow night.”
Sophie sighs, hands me her shoes, and pulls up the hem of her long dress. “I’m not doing that kind of shoot. I already told you I’m not comfortable with it.”
“And I already told you that you can wear your wedding gown, lingerie, or whatever you want. The idea is to show off the sexy side of you.”
Sophie snorts. “I don’t have a sexy side.”
“Yes you do. You just don’t know it yet.” I point. “Stand there and turn away from me, like you’re considering swimming into the bay.”
She laughs again as she turns. “With the mermaids?”
“You know that’s why mermaids swim around topless all the time, right? It’s because their boobs are too big and all bras are C shells.” It’s the worst joke I can think of, but it works.
Sophie looks over her shoulder at me and right before she makes a horrible face, I get the perfect shot. Her lips are parted and the worry line between her brows is gone. The setting sun highlights her hair and outlines her dress like it’s made from moonbeams. It’s perfect.
But she has no idea what I’m d
oing, so she looks appalled. “That is the worst joke I’ve ever heard. Like, ever.”
“Well, D shells don’t fit and that’s why I can’t swim away and be a mermaid.” I sigh and look past her at the bay, wondering what life would be like if I didn’t have to grow up and do this alone.
Sophie wades back to shore and puts her hand on my shoulder. “Come on, let’s head to the rehearsal before we’re either late or you’re abducted by mermaids with big boobs. Knowing you, you guys would form a club and I’d never see you again.”
I burst out laughing and look down at my girls. “I don’t think I’d make the cut.”
“Don’t be silly. You’d be their leader.” Sophie and I walk back up to the house and just before we head down the road to the chapel, I tell her to go ahead. In a warning tone, she scolds, “Skylar.”
Palms up, I back away. “I’m going to get my gear. Damn, Soph. You can’t be suspicious of me the entire time. I only have my camera. I need my bags and reflectors and stuff. You know that.”
“Fine, but leave Nick alone.”
I smile broadly and my brows jut up, hiding beneath my bangs. “You like him.” It took me a while to realize it, but she actually respects him. What the hell? “Sophie, he’s the dick that’s putting me out of business! How can you like him?”
“I don’t like him!” She shushes me and leans in, grabbing my elbow conspiratorially as she does it. “I just think that something seems off. How can a guy so nice be such a jerk?”
“Uh, because he is a jerk?”
“Sky.”
“Soph.”
I make a noise in the back of my throat and pull away. “No, we’re not doing this now. Go to the rehearsal. I’ll be right behind you.”
Sophie nods and walks off. The place we’re staying has grounds with little paths that lead everywhere. Sophie’s mother and father pass me on the front steps of the inn and hurry to catch up with her. I catch a glimpse of her dark eyes watching me slip inside. Thank God she left me. I’m not messing with his gear at all. I wouldn’t do that. There just needs to be a little accident that looks like a mistake. I know exactly what to do.