“I haven’t said no yet.” The man ate another of his pretzels before sipping his drink. He set the plastic cup down on his tray table and glanced at her. “It’s just that I have plans, too. Plans that involve disappearing for a little while.”
Kendra wondered what this man had to disappear from, but she reminded herself not to be interested in his life. She just needed to get into the resort.
“This resort is the perfect place to disappear,” she said. “Sol Y Estrellas caters to a lot of rich and famous people, so they’re very strict about respecting guests’ privacy, not allowing the media in, even restricting cell phone use in public areas so people can’t take a bunch of pictures.”
Kendra was counting on that policy — and the fact that the resort’s guests would be more worried about their own problems than hers — to stay out of the limelight on this trip. She didn’t like the idea of appearing in the tabloids as a jilted bride running away from her life.
“As fun as that sounds…” The man paused. “I don’t even know your name.”
Kendra quickly stuck out her hand. As she did so, she saw that she was still wearing her diamond engagement ring. Her gaze fell to the ring, as did the man’s, and her stomach twisted. She’d planned to take the ring off during the ceremony and replace it with her wedding band, but that obviously hadn’t happened.
Taking a deep breath, she met his eyes again. “I’m Kendra Moran. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
He took her hand, and despite everything, a shiver of warmth ran up Kendra’s arm at his touch. His hand was wide and strong, but his palms were smooth.
“Lucas Chambers, at your service.”
The name rang a bell somewhere deep in Kendra’s mind, but she wasn’t sure where she’d heard it before. Well, they were flying from LA. There was every chance that this man was a minor movie star or a reality-TV participant. Perhaps that was what he was running away from.
“So, Lucas Chambers,” Kendra said. “Are you going to help me out, or not?”
Still holding her hand, Lucas tilted his head to the side, probably in thought. Then he took a deep breath. Kendra’s heart was racing. Everything hinged on his answer. It could bring her day from bad to worse or give her a chance to turn things around. Not that spending two weeks with a rude stranger was what she’d had in mind, but it was better than getting on a plane back to LA or being stranded in Cabo.
Lucas hesitated, and Kendra’s stomach twisted in nervous anticipation. She truly had no idea what he was going to say.
“It’s a free vacation,” she repeated. “A five-star vacation. With great accommodations, meals — even activities if you want to do them.” She met his light-blue eyes.Please, just say yes.“And we don’t have to see each other at all.”
“You can stop selling.” Lucas smiled, releasing her hand. “I’ve made my decision.”
CHAPTER 7
LUCAS
Lucas wanted to laugh at the idea that this woman could tempt him with a free vacation. He needed a free vacation like a server room needed a surprise electrical surge — not at all. He’d much rather be at work, and if he wanted to take a vacation, he could afford to pay for it himself. The only thing he wanted was to lie low at his vacation house and not talk to anyone.
Kendra looked at him with those big green eyes, one pink lip tucked between her teeth. Deep worry was etched on her soft features, as though she were really counting on him. And the huge engagement ring on her hand made him wonder if the person she’d been meant to come on the trip with was her fiancé.
That part didn’t matter much to Lucas. He took pride in not getting involved in people’s personal lives. But there was an advantage to going on the trip with her for him, too: it really would be a chance to lie low, as she’d mentioned. After all, the media knew about his vacation house, and there was every chance that a few intrepid reporters would start showing upoutside over the next few days. It would be better if he wasn’t there.
“I’ll do it,” he said.
The relief on Kendra’s lovely face was immediately clear. She slumped back into her seat, nodding and fiddling with the pretzel packet in her hands. The enormous engagement ring flashed beneath the artificial airplane lights.
“Thank you, Lucas.”
“Sure.” Lucas paused. “But just to be clear, I am going to take you up on your offer of doing our own separate things.”
“I wouldn’t have it any other way,” Kendra replied. She finally tore open the packet of pretzels, ate one, then made a face. “We need to pretend to be a couple in front of the staff, or they might kick us out. But after we get through check-in, I can’t imagine it’ll be a problem.”
“Great.” Lucas drained the last of his drink, put the wrapper from his pretzels in the plastic cup, and handed it to a passing flight attendant with a quick, “Thanks.” Then he grabbed his in-flight magazine again. He’d already looked through the whole thing, cover to cover, but the sooner he made it clear that he wasn’t interested in being friends with Kendra or sharing sob stories, the better.
After Lucas had reread three of the articles and begun to wish that he’d brought something to read (he hadn’t read a book in years, since he was always working, but he could have started), the plane began its descent into Cabo. Lucas looked over Kendra to see out the window. The ocean below was a bright turquoise, and the land was a mix of rolling hills covered in scrubby vegetation and small mountains.
Lucas had fallen in love with the scenery here years ago, during his first overseas trip, and had bought his vacation house shortly afterward. Since then, he’d come to Cabo once a year or so, although he usually worked straight through with only small breaks to enjoy the scenery and eat.
They landed at Los Cabos International Airport a few minutes later. As soon as the seat-belt sign clicked off, Lucas was on his feet. He grabbed his bag and disembarked, not waiting for Kendra. As he was walking through the terminal, though, she caught up to him, grabbing his arm to stop him.
“We need to go out together,” she said. “There’ll be someone here from the resort to pick us up, and we need to act like a couple.”
