Which was embarrassing.
“I’m going to grab some fresh air,” she said quickly.
Without waiting for a reply, Lucy turned and darted out onto the path away from the villa. She wanted to get away from Alexis, whose lips had touched Skye’s.
Chapter Fifteen
Skye stood with her toes half-buried in the cool sand. The moon, which was just a sliver, hung above the horizon. She glanced down at her dress, which was already wrinkled from sitting on the beach earlier, and tugged the hem a little lower. She was trying to smooth the fabric.
She didn’t usually wear dresses because she kind of hated how she looked in them, but tonight she was trying to impress Lucy.
If only Lucy would show up.
Skye swallowed a breath. It was already fifteen minutes past midnight, and Lucy was nowhere to be seen. Skye had no way of getting in touch with her either. She had no way of knowing if Lucy had gotten lost, or forgotten, or, even worse, simply decided not to meet up.
She squinted toward the darkness at the edge of the beach, half expecting a silhouette to appear. But there was nothing. Just the ocean, the stars, and a chorus of insects somewhere behind the palms.
“Come on, Lucy,” she muttered under her breath, rubbing her palms over her bare arms. “Why are you making me stand out here waiting for you?”
For a second, she doubted the success of their sunset date earlier today. What if she had said something that made Lucy pull back and decide not to meet up with her? Or what if she hadn’t said enough? But that wasn’t right, was it? Lucy had been the one to show up atherbungalow. She’d kissed Skye back. She’d begged Skye for a one-on-one date. That had to count for something. It had meant she wanted this… Lucy wantedher.
Or maybe Skye had it wrong all this time.Maybe Lucy had decided that Skye was too closed off, and that her under-sharing wasn’t worth another—
There was a sound to her left, a crunch of sand.And then, out of the shadows, walked Lucy.
“Hey,” Lucy said, her voice soft, almost fragile. She stopped a few feet away, looking like she wasn’t sure if she really wanted to be there. It felt like she was caught somewhere between showing up and turning back.
“Hey,” Skye said, feeling a weird mix of relief and worry twist in her stomach. But worried about what? Did it even matter if Lucy didn’t want her? Did any of this matter considering there were still eight other contestants, ready and eager?
“I wasn’t going to come,” Lucy said.
Skye’s chest tightened as if someone squeezed her ribs. “You weren’t?” she asked, genuinely surprised. This wasn’t how tonight was supposed to go. She’d imagined a quiet moment under the stars. She’d imagined more kissing.Morethan just kissing. She’d imagined a conversation where they weren’t surrounded by cameras. Maybe then she could make sense of this feeling, of why she wanted to be near Lucy, of why she was willing to risk everything with this midnight escapade. If Marla found out she was sneaking around behind her back and sleeping with one of the contestants, she’d be in deep shit. And that raise and the possibility of finally getting a bigger apartment and maybe even a dog would be blown to pieces.
Lucy bit at her lip like she was trying to stop herself from saying something she would regret. But what regrets could she possibly have?
“No,” she said, shaking her head softly. She pulled at the sleeves of her thin sweater until they bunched over her hands. “I wasn’t.”
“Why not?”
Lucy shrugged. “I don’t know.”
“That’s not a good enough answer,” Skye said, taking a small step closer. It wasn’t enough to close the space between them, but enough to make it clear she wasn’t going to let this go. “You were fine earlier. We were fine. What happened?”
Lucy let out a breath, her eyes sliding toward the black stretch of water. “It’s nothing. Nothing happened.”
“You’re a terrible liar.”
She flicked her gaze back to Skye with her lips pressed thin. “You kissed Alexis.”
Skye blinked right as the memory hit. She and Alexis had just gone on a helicopter ride over the island. It was beautiful. They’d gotten a bird’s-eye view of jagged cliffs, waterfalls spilling into pockets of turquoise, and an ocean so clear they could see a pod of dolphins. Alexis had kept one hand on Skye’s thigh the entire time. When they had landed, Alexis had pulled her toward the edge of a lookout. Wind had whipped her hair into her mouth and then, without much warning, Alexis had brushed a strand of hair behind her ear before she kissed her.
Skye could still remember the press of Alexis’s mouth, the faint taste of sangria on her tongue, and the way Alexis had pulled back with that cocky smile on her face. The kiss had come as a surprise, but Skye hadn’t stopped it. It was part of the show. The first kiss. A memorable moment that would make for good TV. No one knew that Alexis wasn’t Skye’s real first kiss. Not a single person knew that Lucy had stolen that honor days ago in the shadow of the palms.
“She kissed me,” Skye said truthfully, not that she needed to give an explanation. It was how things worked. Hand holding. Stolen kisses. Light touches. The viewers wanted public displays of affection. They wanted show not tell. They wanted to see the contestants fall in love and fight each other to win the heart of the bachelorette.
“I couldn’t stop it,” Skye added, still not sure why she was defending something that didn’t need defending.
“Right,” Lucy said. Her jaw was tight, and her gaze was fixed somewhere over Skye’s shoulder. “It’s part of the deal… you kissing other girls. It’s what we signed up for. Of course, it’s well known we are supposed to compete for your attention.”
