by Megan Brooks
“Sure,” said Angelina. “Other than your husband.”
Megan considered the question, still hugging her arms across her chest. She had her legs crossed and was standing a bit hunched over in a rather useless attempt to hide some of her nudity. “I don’t know,” she admitted.
Angelina laughed at that. “You would know,” she assured her with a knowing smile. “Trust me, if you had ever been in love you would know it.” She stopped talking after that. Her eyes remained on Megan, though her gaze had gone a bit sad, like she felt sorry for her.
Feeling suddenly self conscious, Megan averted her eyes. Was Angelina right? Had she really never been in love with anyone? That couldn’t’ be right, could it? Surely not.
“Race you to the water,” Angelina blurted, shattering the awkward mood right then and there. She took off through the sand and toward the blue clear water. Megan gave a shriek of surprise and followed her. She was on her heels when they both stumbled into the surf.
The water was pleasantly warm. It also covered Megan’s nudity for her. It was easy to just relax in the water. For a long time, they swam and splashed around like they were kids.
There was something strangely freeing about skinny dipping. It felt natural, sort of primal and exhilarating. More than once, Megan caught herself glancing at Angelina’s naked body beneath the waves. Several times, she caught Angelina doing the same. It was just a normal kind of curiosity, Megan told herself. Eyes wandered.
Still, knowing Angelina’s preferences… she couldn’t help but wonder if she was interested? Wondering that sort of thing seemed egotistical, though, didn’t it? Angelina was being friendly, but that didn’t mean she expected a relationship or even sex. If a woman who looked like Angelina wanted some sort of one-night stand, there were much easier ways to go about it.
The beach was where they spent the rest of their day. Eventually, the sun started to go down, and they had to pack things up. They would have to climb back the way they had come in, after all.
The climb back was a little disheartening. The day had been so nice, Megan really hated to pack things in and go home now. Was the end of the week going to be like this - when she had to go back to her actual home?
“We’ll do something fun tomorrow,” Angelina assured her, picking up on how down Megan was. “I’m not sure what yet, but I’ll think of something tonight.”
Megan couldn’t help but laugh at that. “You’re being ridiculously nice to me.” Was she completely certain Angelina didn’t have any ulterior motives? Suddenly, Megan realized that she wasn’t so sure she cared if she did. “We’ll do whatever you want. You haven’t steered me wrong so far.”
The whole drive home, Megan found herself clinging just a little too tightly to Angelina’s waist. Angelina didn’t say anything. She was a nice person, but Megan couldn’t help but wonder. Was she waiting for Megan to make a move on her? More alarming still, did Megan want to?
Megan had never imagined herself as someone who was into women. She’d found certain women attractive, sure, but didn’t everyone? Falling for a woman was something new entirely- and Megan was a little afraid she had.
Megan didn’t bring this up when they stopped outside of her hotel. There was no point. Even if they were both interested, Megan was only going to leave at the end of the week.
Instead, they both said their temporary goodbyes and agreed to meet back in the morning for another day of fun. Angelina had a tour in the morning, but she insisted it was no trouble at all if Megan tagged along. Afterward, they could do something a little more entertaining.
That sounded just fine by Megan. So far, spending time with Angelina had been the highlight of her vacation. She wasn’t about to put a stop to that now.
On Megan’s way back to her room, one of the elderly owners flagged her down. “Excuse me,” she called. “Miss?”
Megan wasn’t a misses, but she didn’t correct the woman. If things kept going as they were, she wasn’t going to remain a ‘Mrs.’ for long. “Yes?” she said, stopping near the front desk.
“Someone was looking for you,” said the owner. “It was a middle aged gentleman. He was trying to get an extra key to your room. When I wouldn’t give him one, he snooped around outside of your door for a bit. I made him show me his id and threatened to call the police.”
That took Megan by surprise. “So someone’s spying on me? Did you call the police?”
“I began to, but he ran off.” The old woman took a sticky note from her desk and handed it to Megan. “I did get his name, though. If you would like to call the police about him, I’ll back you up.”
Was that proper protocol in Spain? Megan supposed this was a tourist area. Crime was probably reasonably lucrative out here. She took the post it note and looked at it. “Thanks,” she told the owner. “I’ll look into it.”
Chapter Five
The man snooping around Megan’s apartment was named, Lucas Vanroe. Megan looked him up on Google that night and told Angelina about him the next morning.
“He had a website,” she explained over breakfast. They had stopped at the bakery for some fresh bread. Now they were sitting on the tour bus waiting for the rest of Angelina’s tour group to arrive. “He works as a private investigator.” She handed Angelina her phone. It was already opened to the website in question. It wasn’t well optimized to be read on a phone, but it should still have given Angelina the general idea.
Angelina took the phone and scrolled down. She smiled. Soon, she was laughing around a mouthful of bread. “This is the sort of guy you hire to catch a cheating spouse,” she said. “Look, it even says it right there. It’s one of his specialties.”
“What’s he doing snooping around my hotel room then?” Megan asked, even though she already had a decent idea.
“Sounds like that winning hubby of yours doesn’t trust you out here all on your lonesome.” Angelina handed the phone back to Megan. “He cheated, and now he wants to catch you cheating. If you both cheat, things will go better for him when you get the divorce.”
Megan groaned and leaned back in her seat. She felt her head throbbing. “This is so silly.” She shook her head. “Do you think he just got suspicious or did he send me here hoping I would go for some sort of revenge sex with a stranger?”
“I don’t know,” Angelina said with a shrug. “You know him way better than I would. Did you say anything to him that might give him the impression that you’re cheating?”
“Maybe,” Megan admitted. “I might have mentioned spending a lot of time with you and neglected to mention your gender.”
“I’m not sure why that matters.” Angelina almost sounded offended - either at Megan’s husband or at the idea that she would be a stretch as a possible lover had her gender been mentioned. “You don’t have anything to hide, though. I should know. You’ve been with me the whole time.”
“This is such a waste of money.” Already, Megan was certain that he had used their funds for this silly little investigation. “What should I do?”
“Call your husband?” Angelina suggested. “I suppose he could try and call the hole thing off. Either that or you could let this play out and use it in court later.”
This whole thing was turning way too stressful for Megan’s liking. She finished her bread in silence, trying not to think about her husband or the private detective he had hired. The week had been going so well until now.
“Hey, chin up.” Angelina put an arm around Megan and gave her a squeeze. “Don’t let this get you down. You still have the rest of the week ahead of you. This is your vacation, remember? Forget about that detective guy, all right? Just enjoy this while you can and confront your asshole of a husband about it later.”
About that time, the tourists started arriving. Megan watched them file into the building one by one. They were a group similar to the ones Megan had gone with. They were a noisy bunch, all carrying cameras and wearing tacky clothes. “Did I look like that?” Megan asked, cringing.
> “Like a tourist?” Angelina asked, looking out over her shoulder. “Of course you did. You are one.” She laughed when Megan cringed again and gave her shoulder a squeeze. “There’s nothing wrong with that. There are lots of tourists here. It’s how I make my living.”
Megan supposed she would have to just accept that. Spending all this time with Angelina had made her feel more at home here than she had any right to. Megan kept watching the tourists, though. One had caught her eye. “Oh, my God,” she said once she recognized him.
“Hmm?” Angelina looked back out the window. She scanned the group of tourists herself. “Oh, my God,” she echoed. “That’s him, isn’t it? That’s your private eye.”
Megan snorted. Sure enough, there was Lucas Vanroe. He looked just like he did on his website. He was a white guy. With a t-shirt and fanny pack on, he played the part of a tourist rather well. “I bet private detectives like him do pretty well here,” Megan mused. “No one thinks twice about the camera.”
“Do you want me to go talk to him?” Angelina asked, looking at Megan. She seemed to be trying to gauge whether or not she should be upset by the appearance of Mr. Vanroe.
Megan shook her head immediately. “I’m kind of curious,” she admitted. “How do you think he found us?”
“Maybe he asked,” Angelina offered. “This is the most touristy place within walking distance from your hotel, after all. He is supposed to be a detective, right? One would hope he’s not completely inept at his job.”
“I guess,” said Megan. That still didn’t explain how he knew they would be here today, did it? She sighed. She was just being paranoid. “I want to keep an eye on him.”
Angelina raised an eyebrow. “You want to keep an eye on him?” she repeated, sounding skeptical.
Megan smiled and nodded. “If he’s here with us, he can’t be snooping around and causing trouble, right?” Megan supposed she could get the local authorities involved in a worst case scenario. Surely, there was a not so fine line between detective work and flat out stalking. Lucas had stepped right over that when he tried to get into her room last night. Megan wasn’t that confrontational, though. Besides, this was getting sort of exciting. “It’s not like he’s going to catch me doing anything, right? It seems like more fun to just waste his time.”
“Well, that’s offensive,” said Angelina, crossing her arms over her chest. “I don’t think my tours are quite that boring.”
“They’re not,” Megan assured her, quickly. “We can make an exception for him, though, can’t we?”
Lucas Vanroe was, clearly, accustomed to playing the part of the tourist. He asked questions at all the right times. He snapped pictures when it was appropriate. He was all smiles and full of inane questions any other tourist might ask. It was also very easy to tell that he was focused on Megan and Angelina.
Megan stayed back, letting Angelina do her thing uninterrupted. That didn’t keep Lucas’ camera from pointing her way on occasion. Had she not seen his picture online, she might have thought he was just some creepy jerk. As it stood though, she knew better.
The tour through the cave went like normal… for everyone who wasn’t Lucas. When everyone was lined up to pass through the tighter parts of the cave system, he was put in back. At Megan’s urging, Angelina made a point to not give him the assistance squeezing through she extended to other tourists.
When he had to turn sideways to pass through a corridor, no one was there to hold his bag and camera. “Mysteriously” his bag had come unzipped. He ended up spilling folders and folders of paperwork all over the cave floor. He waved off anyone who rushed over to help him collect it all. No doubt, he had some pictures of Megan and Angelina in there already. He certainly didn’t want anyone seeing those.
When lunch came around, his was oddly unaccounted for. In truth, Megan had eaten it. Not that he would have had time to sit down and have lunch with everyone. They’d stopped for their meal while waiting for him to finish picking up his papers. It took him the better part of thirty minutes to gather them all up. After that, everyone was long finished eating and upset with him over the delay.
Lucas kept his head down to avoid the glares. His camera had even sustained some scuffs. He had probably hit it against the cave wall while he was hurrying this way and that in the cramped spaces.
Megan would have felt sorry for him if he hadn’t been breaking the law in his attempts to gather information for her husband. As it stood, she couldn’t bring herself to gather any sympathy for the man. As far as she was concerned, he had it coming.
By the time they were all loading back up on the bus, Lucas seemed rather defeated by the day. He had his camera in his lap and his shoulders slumped. He didn’t even look back to where Megan and Angelina sat in the last row.
Megan waited until they had all gotten off the bus before she said anything about it. “I hope that won’t get you into any trouble,” she told Angelina, once they were both standing out on the sidewalk and the tourists were wandering off to spend what little was left of their day doing more touristy things.
Angelina shook her head. “Oh, he won’t say anything. If he’s spying on us, he’s not going to want me to catch wind of it. If he were to complain about me, I would hear about it.”
“Still…” Megan gave her arm a friendly punch. “I appreciate that.”
“You’re more than welcome.” Angelina smiled back at her. She seemed to consider something then. She leaned in and planted a kiss on Megan’s cheek.
Megan was so surprised; she almost didn’t hear a camera going off. Megan turned immediately, just in time to see Louis Vanroe disappearing around the corner. Megan felt her face grow very warm.
“Damn it,” Angelina breathed with a groan. “That was stupid of me. I’m sorry.”
Megan couldn’t believe it. After all the trouble they had both gone through today, Lucas had still made off with a picture. It served her right for getting too bold.
“It was just a kiss on the cheek,” Angelina offered. “That doesn’t mean anything. That’s something friends do all the time. What’s it going to matter if he goes back to your husband with just a kiss on the cheek?”
Megan was still staring after him though. He really did think she and Angelina were an item. Was that what her husband thought, too? She couldn’t decide how she felt like that.
“I’m sorry,” Angelina said again.
“It’s fine,” Megan said, quickly. “I’m just being paranoid. Did you want to go do something for dinner?”
“Sounds good.” Angelina’s posture relaxed when Megan offered her a smile. “I know a great place just around the block. Let me finish up in here and we’ll go.”
“Sounds good.” Megan waited outside while Angelina went in to settle her remaining work. She watched her through the glass. She was so gorgeous and charming. Everyone inside was smiling as they talked to her. Employees came from all corners of the office to talk with her when she came in. They gossiped with her, laughing at all her jokes.
It was hard to believe that she had any difficulty making friends. Megan wondered why she bothered to spend time with her at all. Clearly, she had other people who wanted to spend time with her - people who lived here and wouldn’t be leaving at the end of the week.
A horrible thought occurred to Megan then. What if Angelina already knew Lucas and her husband? What if she was why Richard had sent her down here in the first place. Was she flirting with Megan on purpose? Was she trying to get her to cheat on her husband like he had cheated on her? Was this all some kind of a set up designed to soften the blow of any divorce proceedings in favor of Richard?
That was paranoid. Megan dismissed the thoughts as soon as they came into her head… She tried to anyway. It was paranoid, but that didn’t mean there wasn’t a kernel of truth to it. The longer she stood there waiting, the more likely it seemed.
Angelina was just too good to be true.
Chapter Six
The week was half over. Angelina
had made plans with Megan the night before. “Aren’t you getting tired of me?” she’d asked her as they stood outside of the hotel.
Angelina had only laughed at that. “Of course not. It’s just… you’re not here long. I want to hang out while we can.” She had paused then, as if considering. “Are you tired of me?”
“Of course not,” Megan had answered right back. How could she ever be sick of Angelina? Angelina was wonderful.
Angelina had to work most of the following day. It wasn’t work Megan could tag along for either. That left her up to her own devices. She wandered a bit, checking out the local sights. It wasn’t quite the same without Angelina - though, it did give her time to think.
Try as she might, she still hadn’t been able to shake the sneaking suspicion that Angelina had ulterior motives. It really did seem too perfect. Megan didn’t make friends that quickly. It just didn’t happen. Never mind that Angelina had a life here. She had a job and friends. People liked her, and she was content to spend every day with Megan. It just didn’t make sense unless she was angling for something more. Money felt like it had to be part of the equation. Since she hadn’t put into motion any plans for getting it from Megan, it stood to reason that she might know Lance. The kiss last night had just been too well timed.
Megan was in such low spirits that when her husband called, she answered the phone. She had been ignoring his calls since the last time they had spoken. Talking to him had a tendency to put her in a foul mood. She hadn’t wanted to do that to herself while she was on vacation. Now, she welcomed the distraction.
“Hey,” she answered, doing her best to sound up beat. She didn’t want him to know anything was wrong - especially not after that stunt he had pulled with hiring a private investigator.
“Finally!” Richard exclaimed with a laugh. “What? Are you having so much fun you don’t have time to call your poor old husband?”