by Hart, Hanna
“Yeah,” Gabriella laughed in an ‘I knew it’ type of way and continued, “I know my brother.”
“Don't be mad,” Riley said just above a whisper, gesturing with her hands for Gabby to keep her tone quiet.
“I'm not mad. Just, not surprised, that's all. I mean, a little surprised that it's you but...” Gabriella shrugged
“We'll talk, okay? Just don't make a scene, I’m begging you. And don’t bring up Zoe.”
Gabriella’s eyes went wide at the mention of Riley’s daughter. She drew her perfectly arched brows together and slowly said, “Alright, but this had better be good.”
Chapter Eight
Riley
It had been two weeks since Riley had come to Crystal Beach Resorts and she was still shocked by the utter opulence that now existed in her life.
There were fountain shows in front of the tourist resort: fireworks displays, an insane amount of pools and spas, and the ocean right at her doorstep. Beyond that, she was feeling constantly spoiled with amazing food and other luxuries that she had never dreamed of before.
Tonight, Riley would meet the family: Gabriella for the billionth time, but the rest of his family for the first. She was a lot more nervous than she thought she would be.
His mother, Aunt Eva, sister, and a handful of close friends and other family members were gathered around Logan's sliding glass doors, waiting on the food.
There were appetizers going around the room on trays held by dressed-up wait staff, which had genuinely surprised Riley.
"When you said your family was coming over for dinner on the patio, I sort of pictured, like," she paused and then giggled out, "burgers on the grill, or something?"
"No," Logan laugh, drawing out his vowel. "All class all the way. That's the only way to get my mother here. That means wait-staff, hors-d'oeuvres, the works. Lamb rack with a thick crust laying on a bed of eggplant puree. Blah, blah, blah."
"Oh, so glamorous," she teased, and Logan quickly leaned into her ear and whispered, "Get used to it."
She felt a tingle go down the back of her neck when he spoke to her that signaled something alarming to her.
No, Riley. Don’t get a crush on this guy.
You don’t like him; you’re just excited by all the pampering. That’s it!
They all sat out on the sprawling deck on the lower level of his condo; it was larger than the balcony that came off his bedroom but didn't have the same ambiance. Or maybe she just felt that way because she was utterly terrified to meet his family.
His family who, she reminded herself, were only here to attend their very real wedding.
Riley wore her hair in curls and brushed out to make big waves, mascara, and red lipstick. Simple, classic makeup. She wore a spaghetti strap, floor-length chiffon dress. It had the perfect balance of something formal enough to meet the parents in but was cool and flowy enough to be perfect beach attire.
They sat on the porch, which overlooked the massive tiki torches that lit a path along the beach before them, and Logan made a formal announcement of their engagement. He took Riley around the room, slipping his hand inside hers and introducing her to his family and friends.
"So, you're marrying my son," his mother, Denise, said before popping a tooth-picked bacon-wrapped scallop into her mouth.
At Riley's family get-togethers, the only thing being served on toothpicks were tiny hot dogs.
"You know, I'm used to him being private," Denise continued. "I knew he was dating you, but, he was so closed off about it." She set a tan hand on Riley's pale arm and gave her a light squeeze. "I just wish I'd met you sooner, dear."
Denise reminded Riley of Gabriella; dark eyes and a mass of curly brown hair. Denise’s hair was cut short in the same style that seemed to befall any woman over the age of fifty; short in back, puffy and permed on top.
The two of them sat in modular deck chairs in the corner of the first-floor deck, looking out at the fire Logan and his friend Timothy were building in the sandy firepit.
"Oh. I'm sorry. He should have been more open about our relationship. I think that's just the nature of men."
"That’s right," Denise nodded, seeming more encouraged by their conversation then. "You know, they say a daughter is your daughter for the rest of your life—"
"Your son is your son until he takes a wife," Riley shook her head as she finished the quote.
"You know the saying!" Denise laughed. She looked to her sister Eva and they both began to laugh. "Yes," Denise sighed: a polite smile still curving up the corners of her mouth. "That about sums it up. Ever since he father died, you know, he's become withdrawn. It's been a long year for him. For all of us really."
"I can hear you!" Logan called, turning his profile to the girls as he crouched beside the fire he was building.
"Good!" Denise scolded and both she and Riley laughed. "Then you know it's true!" Looking back to Riley she continued, "It'll be nice to have something good to look forward to at the wedding. A pick-me-up for all of us since Frank died."
"I'm so s—" Riley began to say and then caught herself. Her eyes flicked toward Logan, who was staring right into her. "Losing your husband," Riley said, her eyes going wide, "I can't imagine. That sucks."
Logan's deep blue eyes beamed at the comment and he offered her a sexy smirk; he looked touched at the comment. Denise, however, looked deeply taken aback. Taking another sip of her scotch she raised both her brows and shrugged mindfully. "Well, it wasn't fun," she said with a small laugh.
"Hey, soon to be sis-in-law," Gabriella said, coming up and taking a seat on the sturdy arm of her mother’s chair. "Want to go for a walk?"
Riley smiled; the sky was dark and full of stars. This wouldn't have been her first walk on the beach with Gabriella, but it was certainly going to be her most uncomfortable.
"Sure," Riley nodded and grabbed a handful of her dress, pulling it up as she stood so she wouldn't slip on it. "Excuse me," she said to Denise and made her way to the beach with Gabriella.
"Okay, so what's the deal? Where's Zoe? Why are you dating my brother? Why isn't he allowed to know that we know each other?"
"You want to narrow those questions down a little?"
Gabriella drew in a big breath and kicked the sand up beneath her feet, making exaggerated footprints in the wet sand as they walked. "Why are you dating my brother?" she said with some sass.
"Well, he...”
The truth was, Riley had been struggling with this explanation since she first ran into Gabriella in Logan's living room. Was she supposed to be entirely forthcoming and risk Logan's plan or twist the truth to better suit their story?
She sighed and looped her arm through Gabby's, leaning her head on her shoulder and just starting to feel a buzz from the miniscule sip of wine she'd poured and brought with her on their walk. No matter what explanation gave, Gabriella still had enough information on her to ruin this with her and Logan. Knowing that, she decided that total honesty was the best choice.
"He hired me to marry him for one year. Then we're getting the marriage annulled."
"That's impossible," Gabriella argued. "He's been talking about you, err, his 'girlfriend' for like, seven months or something."
"Welp," she said, "he lied. He wants his inheritance," she said with a shrug, suddenly choosing to omit that he had posted an ad online asking for a faux wife. "So, I agreed to help him out. Marry him so he could get it. I didn't know he'd been lying about having a girlfriend, sorry."
Gabriella frowned. "And then you get a cut of the money?"
"Yes," Riley said shamefully. "Please, you have to understand, I was sleeping in the storeroom of Mugs with Zoe. I was basically out on the street. I jus—"
"So, wait," Gabriella interrupted, tapping a finger on her bottom lip. "I understand why I’m not supposed to know you. But, why did you lie about Zoe? As far as I know, Logan doesn’t know you have a daughter.”
“Yeah, that was sort of one of the stipulations for getting the job
,” Riley sighed deeply, feeling more ashamed by the minute.
“I think… I’m going to need a minute to process this,” Gabriella said, stopping abruptly and sitting down in the sand.
Riley, still having been looped through Gabby’s arm, was pulled down as well. She landed on her butt and quickly buried the hilt of the wine glass into the sand next to her to keep it from spilling over.
“Please don’t hate me, please, please, please,” she mumbled through her buzz, urging Gabriella to look at her. “You don’t know what I was going through. Please.”
Gabriella gave Riley a harsh, cold stare for a moment before her visage crumbled. “Fine,” she sighed. “But for the record, I think this is… a really terrible idea.”
“Okay,” Riley said.
Deep down, she knew Gabriella was right. But she couldn’t make herself dwell on it. This was the only opportunity she had
“So… you guys don’t have feelings for each other?” Gabriella said with some disappointment.
“No,” Riley shrugged, thinking back to that piercing look Logan had given her on the yacht. She felt her stomach flip and shook her head to reiterate her point. “No, sorry.”
“Damn,” Gabriella said, kicking her shoes off and setting them next to her. “That would have been awesome.”
Riley couldn’t imagine what Gabriella thought of her or her brother right now. To learn that your brother was that dead-set on getting money that he would lie to his entire family and fake a marriage probably didn’t make him seem like the picture-perfect man of the family.
“Just wow,” Gabriella said with another sigh. “I mean, I knew he was losing it when he quit the company but… just, what a liar.”
“If you,” Riley began to say and then faltered. Picking up again she said, “If you feel like you have to confront him or, you know, tell your mom, then I can’t stop you.”
“Obviously!” Gabriella scoffed and threw herself back so she was laying on the sand.
Riley joined her, leaning back so that her head was resting on the still warmed sand beneath her. She turned to look at Gabriella, and before she could speak, her sister-in-law-to-be turned to her and said, “But I won’t do that.”
“Why not?” Riley asked, genuinely surprised.
“My mom’s been through enough,” she shrugged. “And you obviously need the cash. Not that Logan deserves it. But,” she paused, “you do. And you’re my friend, and I want good things for you. And…”
That last part of her sentence sounded so mischievous that it immediately worried Riley.
“And?” she repeated, nearly scolding her friend.
“And I think this could work out!” Gabriella laughed.
“Gabby,” Riley gasped. “No! It’s not like that. I’m sorry.”
“Didn’t I tell you that I knew the perfect guy for you?”
“But… but no,” Riley laughed, shaking her head vigorously. “I’m… still in love with Joshua.”
“You say that like it’s a revelation,” Gabriella said, turning her face back toward the stars.
Riley was taken aback. She didn’t know she’d been so obvious about her feelings for Joshua. The truth was, she’d flip-flopped about her feelings for him since they’d broken up.
He was with someone else. Betrayed her trust; turned his back on their daughter. Because of that, it made it easy to hate him.
Yet, even with all that resentment, the good times she had with him still made it easy to look back fondly. The family they had created… to Riley, at least, was always worth fighting for.
She tried not to let others see her longing for her old life, but if it was that apparent to Gabriella, who really, besides seeing her at the diner, she’d only hung out with a handful of times, then she must look even more broken than she thought.
“You don’t feel anything for him?” Gabriella prodded.
“No, sorry,” Riley said, biting her lip after.
“Not one single, teeny-weeny, tiny-winy spark?”
“Gabby,” Riley laughed, shaking her head. “He doesn’t like kids.”
“That isn’t a no!”
“Yeah, well, it doesn’t matter anyway, does it? Because he doesn’t want kids,” she winked. “And I happen to have a daughter I’m crazy about so…”
“Give it time!” Gabriella warned in a sagely, knowing tone.
Before Riley had the chance to voice her thoughts, a giant wave came crashing to shore, washing over both of them and sending the women into a heap of laughter.
Chapter Nine
Logan
Gabriella had insisted that she and Logan go out pre-wedding to have some sibling bonding time. A ridiculous thought, considering they’d never hung out like this before he was engaged.
“Two martinis please, with a cherry,” Gabriella said, grinning at the waiter.
“Olive in mine please,” Logan corrected, never looking up from his menu.
“You want a cherry with an olive? That’s kind of gross.”
He sighed and set his menu down. “Obviously, I meant instead of.”
The waiter nodded and took the rest of their orders; Gabriella settling on a salad, while Logan went with steak and vegetables.
Crystal Beach was comprised of two different sections. The Crystal Beach Romance Resort—a tropical resort that catered to rich tourists—and the condos—multi-million-dollar homes set right next to the resort.
Of all the restaurants on the island, Armada was his favorite. Rich flavors, proper portions, dress code. Plus, they were known for their amazing steak.
For this reason, Gabriella’s constant ordering of salads confounded him.
“I can’t believe you’re paying top dollar for some lettuce,” he mocked when the food was set down before them.
“It’s less calories,” she argued.
“Uh-huh.”
Beyond the fact that the last thing his sister needed to do was worry about her figure, the truth was, it probably wasn’t less calories. With all the nuts, sugary dried cranberries, and the mound of goat cheese scattered across the plate, it probably clocked in at more calories than his own meal.
In truth, he assumed she ordered what she perceived to be a ‘lighter meal’ so that she could get a better buzz from her drink. Empty stomach = more room for booze.
They sat on the patio of the raised restaurant, giving them the perfect view of the beach.
The restaurant had black lanterns hanging from the canopy above the patio, giving it a luxurious, romantic atmosphere that made him wish he’d brought Riley with him.
He looked across the table at his sister; her hair done in a barrage of thick curls; face slightly too made-up. She wore a modest, floor-length yellow dress. She looked like a lady until she glugged down a gulp of her martini and grinned at him.
“Do you ever feel like people think we’re on a date when we go out for dinner?” she asked.
“What?” he scowled and then laughed, looking at her drink. “I certainly hope not.”
The truth was, the thought had occurred to him before. Once, when a waitress came up to their table, a red pillar candle in her hand. She set it in a glass hurricane vase between them and lit it, trying to make their table seem more romantic.
As soon as the waitress left he’d blown the candle out, causing an eruption of laughter from his sister.
“So, what’s the deal with the girl, anyway?” Gabriella asked. “Spill!”
“Spill?” he teased. “What is this, the 90s? No. I’m not spilling anything with you.”
A child began to scream in the distance: that shrill cry that only a toddler can emit.
Logan glanced toward the table where the child sat and looked the little boy over: a blue and green checked suit almost entirely covered in grape juice. In front of him were a pecan crusted chicken breast and a side margherita salad drizzled with a balsamic reduction.
It was beyond Logan why the child's mother would think this was a suitable atmosphere, or meal, to
give to a little kid.
At least, Logan certainly hated food like that when he was younger. Yet, just like this ignorant mother, his own would always bring him to country clubs and insist he ordered strange foods, when all he really wanted was a bowl of fruit loops.
He was the only seven-year-old he knew who was regularly forced to order squid at restaurants.
That was why he hated eating out as a child.
"I don't know why people bring their kids to a place like this," Logan sighed with a subtle roll of the eye.
Gabriella laughed and shifted in her chair to catch a glimpse of the child. She stabbed her fork into a firm square of avocado and threaded it off the end with her teeth. She shrugged humorously and offered, "Snobby restaurant, loud, colorful suit half covered in wine?"
"It's juice—"
"—could be any aristocrat at a Crystal Beach fundraiser, as far as I'm concerned."
Logan laughed and rolled his eyes. "It's annoying."
"Oh shut up, it's cute."
The kid screamed again, a shrill cry that was clearly begging his mother to order a pizza and call it a night. Gabriella winced at the sound, and her eyes darted up to her brother's. "Okay, it's a little annoying, but they're not like that all the time."
"Based on all of your experience with children?"
She laughed and offered a coy smile. "Hey, I have friends with kids. They're not so bad."
"Eh..." he breathed.
"You're saying you'd never want them?"
"Never."
"Never?"
"Ever," he said as he cut into his steak. "I plan on becoming medically sterile as soon as I get married."
"That's romantic," she scoffed and then complained, "Medically sterile? Can't you just say 'I'm getting the snip' like a normal person?"