Chapter 5
Savannah’s cousin was like a leech. Hard to shake.
“That’s where you are,” she said.
“You found me,” he mumbled, dragging his gaze away from Lime Green Bikini, abandoning the kid’s request for him to get into the pool. It wasn’t for the kid that he had considered playing ‘tag’. It was that babysitter of his. It wasn’t often he came across someone who didn’t give him the eye, and he was certain that this girl didn’t know who he was.
Kay flashed him an I-want-to-get-to-know-you-better smile. It was a tell that most of the girls he met had. A lowering of the head, a looking up at him with an angled head, a smile—not too wide, and definitely not cheesy—but presumably their best impression of sultry. He knew it well.
He acknowledged her with a simple nod.
“Are you going in?” she asked, her voice lifting as if the idea of getting into a pool excited her.
Hell, no. “No.” He turned to see Jacob and his babysitter coming out. The girl had her back turned to him, and was toweling herself dry.
“What are you doing here?” Kay asked, the tall stem of her champagne flute between her fingers. “The party’s on the beach, and you were in the middle of a card trick.”
“So I was.” But he had no desire to finish it off. Some time back in the day, he’d learned a couple of card tricks which kept some of the girls entertained. Kay seemed particularly easy to entertain, but he’d soon lost interest and left, intending to find out where Jacob and his babysitter had gone.
“So,” Kay said, fingering her necklace, and licking her lips. “Savannah says you’re the best man tomorrow.”
Her cleavage was on full display, and what he could see was round and luscious, and big. The visual was like a powerhouse of electricity straight to his manhood. He followed her as she walked away from the pool and over to the recliners dotted around outside the main villa.
“You didn’t finish off your card trick,” she said, sitting on one of the recliners. He sat on the recliner next to hers, and they both faced one another as she held out the pack of cards he’d left at the bar. He took the cards and shuffled them. Some girls were so easy to entertain. It wasn’t that the card tricks were particularly interesting, they were just a hook, and even a kid would tire of them eventually. He put away half the pack, and held the rest of them out for her.
“Pick one,” he said.
She giggled. Her perfectly manicured fingers hovering over the cards as she made her choice.
“Okay,” he said, shuffling the pack. “Put it at the bottom.”
“What if I don’t want to put it at the bottom?”
Then the fucking trick wasn’t going to work. “You have to.”
She shrugged, the movement drawing his attention to her breasts. He felt a stirring in his loins.
“Goodnight.” He turned to see Jacob walk past him, and next to him, his babysitter.
“You going to bed, kid?”
“Izzy says I have to.”
“Spoilsport,” he said, lifting his eyes and looking at his babysitter.
“Your mommy says you have to, Jacob.”
They didn’t stop to make conversation. “Goodnight!” he called out after them.
“An early night for some,” said Kay.
He turned his attention back to her, and to the card game he was in the middle of. But something didn’t feel right. That chase, that hunger, had disappeared. “Yeah.”
She jiggled forward in her chair, and if she continued to jiggle like that, he was sure her breasts would pop out of her low-cut, flimsy dress.
The sound of distant laughter and music from further along the beach rolled gently in the background. He went through the motions of shuffling the cards, and moving them around, and a few moments later, picked out, magically, the card that was hers.
“How did you do that?” she gushed.
“If I told you, I’d have to kill you,” he grinned.
“It’s clever.”
“Yeah.”
“And predictable.”
“Yeah.” He shuffled the cards some more. “Want to see some more?”
And he spent the next half an hour showing her a couple of other card tricks he’d learned, and then ended up showing her how to do them.
“I’ll have to remember them for the next party I go to,” she said, when he finally put the cards away. “So that I can impress.”
“I wouldn’t have thought that someone like you had to try too hard to impress,” he said, staring back at her. She looked at him as if she wasn’t sure what to make of that.
It was a perfect night, warm and balmy, with the chrrrp-chrrrp of crickets all around, perfect for staying put and talking to this girl who didn’t seem in any hurry to leave, perfect for getting down to business, here, under the stars with nothing but the sound of crickets and music, and laughter.
Easy times.
He would have had his tongue down her throat, on an ordinary day, and it was so predictable how the rest of the night would play out. She’d be on her knees in no time, looking up at him with a smile. He looked at her and debated what to do. Sometimes, it was almost too easy.
“It’s going to be too hot to wear a suit, don’t you think?” she asked, her hand settling on her neck, then sliding down, as if she were wiping the perspiration away.
“It’s going to be pretty casual.” Tobias wasn’t wearing a suit. He would still look sharp, and crisp, and enough to make the ladies drool, but he wasn’t getting married in a suit and tie.
“I’m the maid of honor, well, sort of.”
“Sort of?”
She shook her head. “There’s no maid of honor. Savannah wants it all to be simple, and I understand. A beach wedding isn’t as formal. It’s all fairly relaxed.”
“That’s a shame,” he replied, flashing her a smile as his eyes roved over her cleavage. If she was going to have it on display like that, how could he not admire it? “Isn’t there an unspoken rule about the best man and the maid of honor?”
“I don’t know, is there?” Her voice was husky, tempting, teasing, and he would have a hard-on soon if he wasn’t careful. He licked his lower lip. The blood from his veins gushed south, and he scrubbed his hand over his face. He had to get his shit together. The last thing he wanted was for his brother to be in a foul mood, and he would be, if he found out he’d taken Savannah’s cousin to bed the night before the wedding.
After the wedding, was a different matter. But then again … the way she was playing with her necklace was so, so, so sexy. He was getting ideas just sitting there. Would Tobias even know if he took her to bed tonight? It wasn’t as if he had any plans to get back with Gisele. Even when they had been dating, her hectic schedules, and the interviews she was always going for meant that they didn’t see one another much anyway.
“It’s kind of an unspoken rule,” he murmured, leaning forward. This time, their lips were so close he could feel her hot breath. And that was all it took. His hand slipped lower barely skimming her breast as he lowered it to her arm, and his lips clamped over hers. She tasted of coconut cream, and sweet honey, and he was about to cup her face when Tobias’s laughter rang out from somewhere nearby.
Xavier sprang away like a shot.
“Wh—what’s wrong?” she stammered.
He jumped to his feet. “I need to get some sleep. Best man, and all. Early start.”
“But we were … in the middle of something … “ Mirroring his movement, she stood up.
Tobias’s voice made him jump. “Did we interrupt something?” he barked.
“No, no. I was just going to go to—” Bed. But he saw Lime Green Bikini standing behind Tobias.
What the hell was she doing with him?
In a softer voice, and ignoring him, Tobias told her, “I’m going to find Savannah and then we’ll come and tuck Jacob in.”
“I’ll let him know,” she said. “And thanks for the phone.”
Had she seen them kissing? Had Tobias even seen them kissing or had Xavier moved apart by then? He tried to think—because the not knowing was killing him—but the moment had been a blur of sensual heat and cold shock.
Lime Green Bikini threw him a stony look before she turned her back and left. Xavier rubbed some sand he found on his shorts, hoping that his brother would leave quietly.
“Can’t you go a day without ramming your tongue down someone’s throat?”
There went that wish of a silent retreat from Tobias. Not that it was any of his brother’s business. For once, Xavier felt that he wasn’t the one who had done all of the chasing. Savannah’s cousin had made it very obvious that she was interested. But he wanted to keep his brother calm, especially since he had already pissed him off once already. “She got a little too friendly.”
“Try keeping your dick out of the equation,” said Tobias, his voice as steely as his gaze. “She’s Savannah’s cousin, for fuck’s sake.”
He should have known better. “Nothing happened,” he replied, feeling defensive. “I know she’s off limits.”
“Do you even know what ‘off limits’ means?” growled Tobias.
“Will you calm down?” You’re supposed to be relaxed. It’s the night before your wedding.”
“I was calm and relaxed until you arrived.”
“Jeez,” he muttered. Tobias could be a moody, miserable little shit at the best of times. He knew better than to say anything.
An apology seemed the only option. “I’m sorry, okay? I didn’t mean to be late.” And if the big bust-up with Gisele hadn’t happened, he would have been here earlier.
“Then why were you?”
He didn’t want to piss his brother off by telling him about Gisele, especially not given what he might or might not have seen taking place just now. “Complications. I got delayed leaving. I’m sorry. I’m really sorry. I should have been here. Happy Birthday, bro.”
Tobias exhaled loudly. “Okay.”
Okay?
It was as rare and it was unexpected. Tobias Stone accepting his apology. Xavier stared at his brother. The dude seemed to be softening up. “Just don’t be late tomorrow.”
“Hell, no. I won’t.” He tried to reach out. “You’re nervous. I get it.”
“I’m not nervous. Not about the wedding.”
“Then what?”
“The usual media bullshit.”
He snorted. “Don’t let that crap bug you, Tobias. It’s not worth it.” Stuff like that never changed. He didn’t get it as much as Tobias, and he was glad.
Tobias scrubbed his hands over his eyes. “I didn’t expect to be putting out fires on the night before my wedding.”
“No, I guess not—”
“Tobias!” They both turned at the sound of Savannah’s voice, soft, yet indignant. “I hope you haven’t been working.”
“I haven’t.”
She looked at him as if she didn’t believe him.
“I had to make some phone calls,” he confessed, “needed to get the lawyers to take care of some media nightmare crap.”
“Can’t you take some time off?” she asked, walking up to him with a smile, her tone light and jovial. She exuded happiness.
“I am,” replied Tobias, his voice soft, like syrup, the way it always was when he spoke to Savannah. “Izzy says Jacob’s ready for you to tuck him in.”
“Let’s tuck him in them,” she said, sliding her arm around Tobias’s waist. “Goodnight, Xavier.”
“Set your alarm early,” Tobias told him.
“Don’t worry,” he replied. Bed, he thought, watching Tobias and Savannah walk into the main house with their arms around each other’s waists. It would be better to go straight to bed and not make any detours.
He wondered where Lime Green Bikini had disappeared to, and it was only when he had entered his room that he remembered Kay had vanished completely.
~ ~ ~
Tobias’s brother was a bigger creep than Shoemoney.
The sight of him with his lips wrapped around Savannah’s cousin was more than a shock to her system. Hadn’t Cara told her that he was currently dating some actress?
“Tobias has gone to find your mommy,” she told Jacob when she returned. She hovered over him, tucking the duvet under his chin.
“Are you excited?”
“Soooo excited.”
“Soooo excited?” she echoed.
“I can’t wait for Tobias to join our family.” He gave her a look that made her insides melt. Waiting for Tobias to join their family? What an endearing way to think about it, she thought.
“Goodnight, Jacob.” She blew him a kiss.
“’Nite, Izzy.”
She walked out just as Tobias and Savannah walked in.
“Goodnight,” she said, and left them to have their own private moment.
She returned to her room next door with her cell phone. Tobias returned her cell phone , just for the night, in case she needed to speak to her parents. He didn’t seem to be anything like Shoemoney. He hadn’t even reminded her about his privacy policy; no texting, no emailing, no photos, no recordings. It had surprised her, that he seemed to trust her enough to hand it back to her, after all the commotion he had made of everyone giving up their phones and signing non-disclosure agreements.
Her fears about Tobias had been unfounded. He’d been the opposite of Shoemoney in every way. She’d been led to believe that he was a shit-hot negotiator, a genius, ruthless and sharp. Yet he seemed to her to be softer and more human than she had originally given him credit for.
But as for his brother?
He was exactly the type of asshole she had believed him to be.