And of course, there’s Vivi. The reporter wouldn’t have missed this night even if she had to swim across the goddamn Pacific to get here. She’s making her way through our guests with a tiny recorder clutched in her talons, looking like she’s taken her daily dose of resting bitch face.
There are faces everywhere, but not a single one of them matters to me tonight except for one. Maggie’s. Not even two months ago, she was getting me all worked up, just to pour champagne over my head, and now I can hardly wrench my eyes from her. She’s wearing this short, frothy white sundress that all straps up top and all twirl at the bottom. Her long hair is pulled back in some intricate braid my fingers itch to untangle, and there’s a big pink flower behind her ear that brushes her cheek every few seconds. When she bounces back over to my side and beams up at me, I can’t resist doing the same thing. Reaching out. Skimming the pad of my thumb over her soft cheek.
She flushes and licks her lips. “Why are you looking at me like that?” she whispers under her breath.
“Because I’m thinking about taking you back down to that palm tree and eating your pussy until you can’t walk straight.”
She gasps, but turns a big, forced smile on whoever’s approaching us. She shivers when my hand drops to the small of her back and hisses through her teeth, “You’re filthy, Carter.”
“Maybe, but you can’t deny enjoying it.” I give her ass a small pat. Reluctantly, I drag my gaze from the side of her face. I’m unable to stop the groan from erupting when I see who’s walking across the sand and smiling like an idiot. Killian Reynolds. My old partner in my crime during my time in the league. The motherfucker had banged his way through almost every hot body in town, married or not, and had put enough drugs up his nose and in his thigh and ass to keep dealers and steroid suppliers in business for years to come.
The only difference between the two of was the drugs—I never touched that shit—and the fact he was discreet. And when you’re in the public eye, that’s what matters. While I was getting fined by the league and flayed in the media for my shit behavior, Killian was getting fat raises and praised on every news outlet for his charity—helping single moms get back on their feet by getting their kids involved in baseball.
He fucked half the moms, too, and I’m thankful he’ll never have the chance to meet Kale’s mother because he’d put the moves on her in a heartbeat.
“Goddamn, Gabe,” Killian laughs and Maggie shoots me a look when he tilts his head to the side and starts sizing her up from head to toe. If he looks at her tits one more time, he won’t ever have to worry about playing baseball again. I’ll shove the bat, and the ball, right down his throat. “When Carlos said you were getting married, I figured you’d gone and knocked someone up, but I’m guessing that’s not the case.”
Maggie sucks in a breath from beside me, so I wrap my arm around her waist and tug her close. To reassure her and let Killian know she’s off limits. “What can I say.” I smile through clenched teeth. “When it happens, it happens. Maggie, this is Killian Reynolds. He was the—”
“Outfielder for your last team,” she interrupts, surprising the hell out of me because we seldom talk about baseball. Only when we’re with Kale or talking about my time growing up on Big Island. But I’ve got to admit, it’s a turn on that she’s done enough research on my time playing with the Portland Mavericks to know who my teammates were.
Killian gives her that stupid ass smolder that usually works on anything wearing panties and a bra but Maggie meets it with a cool smile as he takes her delicate hand in his. “I love a girl who knows her baseball.” He wiggles his eyebrows at her, and I nearly roll my fucking eyes. “My last girlfriend thought I was a point guard.”
“Hope you filled her in then.” She just about snatches her hand from his just as he starts to bend over to kiss it in a king douche move. It’s clear he doesn’t get that she’s put off, because he just keeps smiling as she spins to face me. The only time his expression changes—to sheer fucking jealousy—is when she rises on her toes to plant a kiss on the corner of my mouth. “I’m going to go check on my dad, do you—”
“Go.” I give her ass another tap. “But hurry back, I hate it when you’re gone.”
Realizing the truth behind those words, my gut clenches.
Licking her lips, she nods, then hurries off, oblivious to the fact that both Killian and I are watching her go. He speaks first, letting out a low whistle. “Goddamn, you’re the luckiest son-of-a-bitch I’ve ever met. Where’d you find this one?”
“Next door,” I drawl. “And my face is over here, Killian, not on my fiancée’s ass.”
He has the good sense to grin sheepishly when he turns back to me. Snatching a glass of champagne from a nearby server’s tray, he downs it and makes a face. “Apparently, I need to move to Hawaii.”
“There’s a few other islands I think would be glad to have you.”
He sneers. “You’re still mad about that thing with Adrianna?”
I pause, considering my next words carefully. I’m mad about it, but not because I got caught. Jack had treated me like family and had stuck up for me, both as a coach and a friend, when the media was dragging my name through the mud. And then I’d repaid him by fucking his ex. I was drunk—hell, I was always drunk by the time I had the one night stand with Adrianna—but foggy memory or not, I’d still fucked up. And when she gloated about what she did to hurt Jack for winning custody of their boys, I was the only name she mentioned because she knew it would hurt him the most.
She hadn’t even thought to mention Killian, and he sure as fuck hadn’t volunteered the information because he swore he was in love with her.
And now, years later, she’s married to someone new—a hockey player this time from what I’ve heard—and Killian’s at my engagement party. Looking at my fiancée like wants a bite of her next.
I’ve got a bite of something for him, all right, but it sure as shit won’t get his dick hard. Only his teeth knocked down his throat. “Fuck Adrianna,” I say at last. “If you’ll excuse me, I better greet my guests and find my girl.”
I stalk away from him, leaving him with his mouth hanging open, and scan the crowd for Maggie. I see her father first. It’s the first time I’ve seen the guy laugh since I took ownership of the Elite, but he’s talking to Lani. Maggie’s mother is with him, behind his chair and leaning in to listen intently to whatever Lani’s going on about, but my girl is nowhere in sight.
When she sees me coming closer, Lani stops talking and scrunches her face into a frown. “Please don’t tell me you need me to work. Because I will if you want me to, but I’m really hoping to meet blondie.”
“Blondie?”
She bites her lip. “Big guy you were just talking to. About”—she holds her hand above her head—“this tall. Blue eyes and—”
“Jesus fu—” I cut myself off from cursing, shooting Maggie’s parents an apologetic look. Lani needs to steer clear of Killian. “No, I don’t need you to work, and trust me; Blondie’s a … piece of work. But have you seen Maggie?”
She points her finger toward the secluded area of the beach—the spot Maggie and I took off to the night we met. “She said she needed a breath so she headed that way. Want me to go get her?”
But I’m already taking off after her, shaking my head and yelling over my shoulder that I can handle it and to stay the fuck away from Killian. Maggie would kill me if I introduced her closest friend to that motherfucker. And speaking of my girl—I don’t blame her for wanting to get away from the chaos. Taking a breather with her—dragging her to me and kissing her breathless all over again—sounds like fucking paradise.
It doesn’t take me long to spot her, but I feel a fist to my chest when I see she’s not alone. Ryan is with her. I can only see their side profiles, but it’s enough. They’re cozied up to each other—his arms around her and her face tilted up to his. I stop, digging my heels into the sand as I watch her mouth move. Her head shake. His shoulders vibrate
with laughter.
And then, he bends his head, and slants his fucking lips over my fiancée’s. And I lose it.
17
Maggie
What in the actual fuck?
My spine goes straight as shock rocks through me at what’s happening. Releasing a noise that burns my chest and throat, I pound my hands roughly against Ryan’s chest, shoving him and his lips away from me. He had followed me down to the beach, approached me and asked for a hug goodbye. Called it “closure.” I’d been naive enough to believe that’s all it was and was completely blindsided by his kiss.
Which was horrible.
Disgusted, I wipe at my mouth with the back of my hand and stumble away from him. “Are you deaf? I just told you there was no shot in hell of us getting back together and you kiss me? It wasn’t a joke.”
“Maggie, I—”
“You don’t get to put your hands on me—or any woman—just because you think you might have a chance. You don’t. And I’m going to make sure you never set foot on either the Elite or Bungalow properties again.” He reaches for me, but I twist away from him. “The next time you try to touch me I won’t be so nice.”
“You still want me,” he insists. “I saw the look in your eyes when you saw me with Kai, so you’re not fooling me, Mags.”
“Ugh. I’m not even going to go into how ridiculously stupid that sounds.” I drag my hand through my hair, knocking the flower to the sand as I cast a look back up toward the party. “What I am going to do is get back to my engagement party, to my fiancé, and forget all about you.”
He blocks my path, pushing his shoulders back. “Admit you still have feelings for me and you’re only marrying him to make me jealous.”
“Get over yourself.” I walk around him, hating myself for falling for his “closure” spiel. “Believe it or not, my marriage to Gabe doesn’t have a thing to do with you, and I…”
I love him.
I am in love with Gabriel Carter.
I’m about to spin around and tell Ryan that, but instead a gasp rips from my lips when he snatches my arm and yanks me back to him. “We’re not done.”
I blink. And then, I laugh in his face—finally ready for the showdown we should’ve had five years ago when he cheated on me. “Yes. We. Are.”
“I was your first.” He tightens his grip on my arm. “You’re mine.”
Anger pulses through me and the only thought in my brain is getting his cheating, lying hands off of me. My self-defense training kicks in, and I chop down on Ryan’s wrist with my forearm as hard as I can. When he releases me, I grab his shoulders and knee him straight in the balls. Doubling over, he groans and falls into the sand, screaming every insult at me he can think of—from calling me a dirty slut to a gold-digging whore.
And I couldn’t give a damn.
I stand tall, smooth the winkles out of my dress, and grin down at him. Red-faced and grasping at his dick, just like the last time I saw him before I left O’ahu five years ago. “Like I told you when I came back home, I’m not the same weak girl you knew. You don’t own me. Never did.”
I turn around to head back to what was, until this moment, the happiest day of my life. The party that was supposed to kick-start my new life as a fake fiancée to a man I’ve just realized I’m crazy about. And Ryan had to ruin it. I’m definitely going to need a drink after all this.
When I reach the patio of the Elite and start toward the biggest cabana to find Gabe, every head turns in my direction. No one is smiling. When I left to go down to the beach to reflect on how I was less than twenty-four hours away from becoming a married woman, the atmosphere was full of energy. Now, it’s so quiet, I can hear the waves in the background. The expressions on our guests’ faces range from shock to pity, and I freeze.
What the hell is going on?
“Maggie.” Lani shoves her way through the crowd to grab my hand. She whips me around and tugs me back toward my family’s hotel. I follow along behind her, still completely baffled on what the scene back at the party was all about.
The second we’re out of ear-shot and away from the guests, she harshly whispers, “Okay, what in the hell is going on?”
I furrow my brow. “I was about to ask you the same thing. What happened? And what’s wrong with everyone?”
She comes to halt and twists around to face me, her black hair whipping around in the breeze. “Gabe just called off the whole damn wedding and told everyone to go the fuck home.”
I jerk back in surprise. “What?”
She tilts her head and her brown eyes are full of concern. “What did the two of you fight over down on the beach?”
“I didn’t even talk to Gabe when I was down there.”
“Wait a minute. Now I’m confused.” She holds her hand up as she shakes her head. “Gabe went to find you after I told him you needed a breather, and came back ready to rage out like the Incredible Hulk. He was seriously pissed. I’ve never seen him like that before, so I assumed the two of you had a fight.”
Ryan forcing his lips on me flashes through my mind. Gabe must have seen that. It’s the only explanation as to why he came back pissed and then called off the wedding, considering up until now, I thought things between us were going fantastic. He’s really grown on me, and completely wormed his way into my heart.
Gabe’s been suspicious there’s still something between Ryan and me, which probably made him think I wasn’t being honest when I told him I wanted nothing to do with my ex after he spotted me with Ryan. But what he doesn’t realize is that he has it all wrong. Ryan’s my past, and Gabe … he’s my now, tomorrow and always.
This is so fucking bad.
“Shit.” I groan and pinch the bridge of my nose. “This isn’t good.”
“What?” she asks, clearly confused.
I sigh when I lock my gaze with her. “Ryan kissed me.”
“What!? How … why … what the actual fuck, M?”
I hold my hand up to stop the rant I know is about to fly out of her mouth. “It’s not like I invited him to do it.”
“That’s why Gabe’s so angry?” She grimaces. “He saw, and thought you still had a thing for the douchebag?”
I shrug. “If he’d stuck around he would’ve seen me knee Ryan in the balls and make him cry like a baby. I don’t want anything to do with Ryan. I love Gabe.”
Those words slip out so easily, I don’t even realize I’ve said them until Lani’s eyes grow wider, but I won’t try to pretend I didn’t say it. No words have ever been truer. Gabe has my heart. I can’t deny it any longer.
And now, it’s all over.
She lets out a low whistle and fluffs her hair. “Wow. Then this wedding was for real, huh? I thought it was all about business between the two of you, but I guess I was wrong.”
“It may have started that way, but now, I can’t picture my life without him, L. I need to find him and tell him what actually happened.” Explaining the situation to my best friend makes me realize how upset Gabe is right now if he feels even a portion of what I’m feeling. He’s hurting, and that breaks my heart. Tears burn my eyes and slip down my cheeks. “I didn’t mean to hurt him.”
“Don’t cry.” Lani pulls me into a hug. “I hate to see you like this. I have to say, it still blows my mind you’re marrying a guy you hardly know, but I can tell you care about him.”
I sniff. “When it’s love, it’s love. No matter if it takes two days or two years to find it. I always thought the stories of people getting married to someone they’d known for days was insane, but now I don’t think it’s so crazy. I just hope I can fix this.”
Lani smiles. “When Gabe called off the wedding, he was upset, which means he’s somewhere nursing a broken heart right now.” She sighs, pulls back and gives my shoulders a reassuring squeeze. “Go find your man and make things right between the two of you.”
I give her one final hug, and then turn around and head back toward the party.
The patio of the Elite hotel is l
ike a ghost town. Most of the guests for our big event have cleared out, taking Gabe’s order to get the hell out of there serious, but one table is still occupied.
My parents are still sitting together, talking in a hushed tone, but immediately stop when they spot me.
“Maggie.” Mom waves me over. “Honey, are you okay?”
Her lips twist, and it’s not hard to tell she’s concerned for me.
“I’m not sure,” I tell her honestly. “Everything is so messed up. Tonight hasn’t gone anything like I’d planned. Gabe and I’ve had … a big misunderstanding. I need to find him and clear some things up.”
“He was pretty upset,” my father chimes in. “And someone doesn’t get that upset unless they care a lot.” He offers me a wry smile. “Especially men. We don’t like to show our feelings.”
I frown. “Do you know where I can find him?”
Mom points toward the back entrance of the Elite. “He went into the hotel.”
“Thanks.” I pat her shoulder.
“Okay, sweetheart. I hope there’s still going to be a wedding tomorrow. It’d be a shame to let all these decorations go to waste,” Dad adds. “We may have to take a few lessons from your soon-to-be-husband on how to beef up our wedding events. This one is pretty nice.”
I glance around, and everything is pretty perfect. There are flowers decorating most of the patio in my favorite colors of pink and yellow, and tables of untouched food, slowly ruining in the Hawaiian heat. Gabe really did go the extra mile to give me the dream wedding I asked for. He cares about me, and I care about him too. It’s time he knows that.
“I’ll see you later,” I tell my parents before I head inside.
It takes forever for the elevator to make it to the penthouse level where Gabe’s private quarters are located. When the doors open, I’m surprised to find the door to his suite wide open. Since I’ve been around, he’s always kept his area of the hotel locked up to keep guests and staff from prying around in his personal space.
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