He wiggled the pina colada cup and smiled through an excessive slurp that went instantly to his head, burning punishment for acting flippant.
“Evan, you have five seconds…”
“Maybe he’s exhausted. You think of that?”
He leaned heavily on the subtext, and the flush across her cheeks confirmed she’d had no problem picking up what he’d put down. She was almost as fun to tease as Lennox, though he knew without question she’d beat his ass if he took it too far.
“You’re impossible.”
“You’re not the first to say so.”
“And I won’t be the last. Now, be serious and tell me what’s going on. The two of you were acting very strangely at dinner, and now he’s nowhere to be seen. I’m not above driving down there and pounding on the door, you know.”
He didn’t doubt it in the least. He also didn’t know how to explain hishusbandwas apparently going through some things. Since they were actually strangers, he didn’t know what those things were or how long they’d take to process, and it wasn’t his business to ask.
“I promise he’s fine. Just a little hungover from traveling and the heat.”
“You said that yesterday.”
He had? Shit. For someone refusing to leave the house, Lennox was proving difficult to keep track of.
“He’ll be at dinner tonight, I swear.”
“He’d better be.”
The impliedor elseclinging to that statement put a little pep in his step as he slid into the cart and made his way back to the villa for a little hubby heart-to-heart.
Lennox was free to be a recluse if that was what he wanted, but Evan wasn’t taking the blame if he accidentally fell into the ocean and disappeared. He could tell Isabella in person that he hated fun and beauty and wanted to mope in the house for two weeks.
“You live,” he announced upon finding Lennox sunning himself in one of the vanilla-cushioned teak lounge chairs on the patio.
Ahumphwas the reply. He didn’t even look up from his book.
“You can do that on the beach, you know.”
“No.”
“No, really. They have the same chairs down there and everything.”
That got him to at least look up, and Evan could feel the searing glare through the dark lenses of his sunglasses.
“What do you want?”
“An alibi.”
Up went the eyebrow, and he swore the corner of Lennox’s mouth twitched upward just the slightest bit. The guy might dislike him, but he thought he was funny, so his taste wasn’t all bad. Though his swim trunks suggested otherwise.
“C’mon, man. You’ve been here three days and haven’t even seen the beach.”
Lennox glanced behind him. “There’s one right down there, and I’ve seen it plenty.”
There was a small pile of shells and rocks on the table next to him to corroborate the story, and gave credence to Evan’s concern he’d get sucked out into the sea never to be heard from again. The tide down there was gnarly.
Evan tried a different approach. Maybe he was an animal lover. “Did you know they have donkeys?”
“Saw them on the website.”
Okay, maybe not.
