“Are you asking for permission to break up with your cheating fiancé?”
“Of course I don’t need permission,” she says, letting her gaze wander. Probably looking for her manwhore. “Everyone would freak, Caroline. Everyone. I’m basically finished planning. I’ve got wedding gifts lining our hallway. All the gossip aside, we’d lose so much money. God, he’d never forgive me.”
I narrow my eyes. “Do you really want his forgiveness?”
She shakes her head. “You’re right. It’s so hard when you’ve been with someone for so long. You wouldn’t understand.”
Burn. Typical. “I think you should do whatever you want, Britt. I think you can handle whatever happens, but I also know you’re a beautiful girl with a ton of prospects. Maybe one that wouldn’t cheat.”
“All men cheat, Caroline. It’s a fact of life,” she breathes, tossing her hair back. “A man like yours is the worst kind.” I guess my non-opinion on her love life made me the punching bag.
“A man like mine?”
“One everyone wants.”
My stomach roils. “I’m going to get a drink. Want one?”
She nods, and I rise and make my way toward the keg opposite to the one where someone wearing boots and shorts is doing a keg stand. The raucous cheers and sloshy voices ricochet off the trees lining the sides of the property.
Once I fill two beers with mostly foam, I head back for Britt and find her talking to Malena, poor old Caroline all but forgotten. I can tell Malena is getting the same earful, and I can’t help but be a little relieved. Maybe Malena will have advice for her. Maybe Malena will have the balls to tell her Whit is a disgusting asshole who should rot at the bottom of the bay. I take a small sip of the lightbeer and wince. I hate boat beer. It’s what we call all light beer. It goes down like water, though and that’s what you want in the hot, hot sun.
Tahoe sneaks up next to me and grabs one of my cups. “What is my DD doing with two beers? This place is awesome,” he exclaims.
Smiling, I nod. “It is. Looks like you guys are having a good time so far. Anyone giving you a hard time?”
He laughs, the beer already gone. “Who is going to give us a hard time and live to tell about it?”
He kisses me. It’s all beer and foam and the light scent of his face soap. I go into his arms willingly. He pulls back and looks at me from the top of my head down to my breasts and back again. “What were you and the bitch talking about?”
I sigh, the mood broken. “Her cheating fiancé. She’s thinking about leaving him. I guess he’s just as bad as he’s always been. She thought he’d change.”
Tahoe throws his head back and laughs. “That’s the oldest, dumbest trick in the book. No one changes. What the other person is willing to accept changes.”
Biting my lip for a moment, I ask. “You don’t think cheating is okay though, right?”
His eyes widen. “You think I would cheat?”
“Of course not,” I say, looking down to the water where several canoes wait for their drunken captains. That won’t happen until later.
“You do think that. Why?”
I shrug, look down, and kick the sandy grass. “Idon’t have much experience with relationships, and Britt mentioned that all men cheat. I know she probably only said that to make herself feel better, but I have to wonder about you guys. Always traveling. Never settling down. Your reputation precedes you in that regard. You admitted you were only in a committed relationship with Stella.”
I’m glad his sunglasses are on. I hate how sad his eyes get when I mention her name. Like he’s a failure because he couldn’t make it work. He leaves his hands on the small of my waist. “You aren’t Stella. I never felt an ounce of what I feel for you for her. Do you understand? I would never jeopardize what we have. You mean more to me than some one-night stand in whatever city I’m staying in. That’s saying it like I mean it, Caroline.” He shakes his head. “Never, and I mean never, doubt my affection for you.”
It’s nice to hear, and it does comfort me, but he does still look like a man that every woman wants. “You look so…handsome. Don’t you get hit on constantly?”
He chuckles. “You’re worried about other women hitting on me? I like a bit of jealousy, but now you’re going overboard.” Tahoe brushes my bottom lip with both of his thumbs. “I don’t get hit on because I’m rarely in that kind of situation. I especially won’t be any more. Remember, this mission is a one-off for me. I’ll be home in no time.
I hop up, throw my hands around his neck, and accidentally knock his sunglasses off his face. The sun issetting, but I can still see his monster eyes.
Instead of picking up his sunglasses, he’s watching my face for a reaction. “Keep them off. It gives you an edge.”
He closes his eyes and shakes his head. “You’re scared of me. I saw it.”
Putting my hands on his stomach, I coax him with a few rubs. “I need to get used to your red eyes if you don’t want to wear the sunglasses constantly, Tahoe. Leave them off and let me get used to it.” I stoop to pick them up for him. He examines them and slides them into his T-shirt.
“Fine. I’ve had just enough to drink to not give a shit, but Caroline?”
