I’m about to stand up so I can walk away when she suddenly jumps up, a sly smile on her face. “Ok! I’ll wait for you in my room, then. You know which one it is,” she announces loudly before sauntering off, still only wearing that pathetic excuse for a bikini. I’ve seen more material in a shoestring. I can’t figure out the calculating look in her eye as she looks back over her shoulder at me. What I’m assuming is meant to be a sultry smile plastered across her face. But it sharpens when her eyes flick towards something over my shoulder.
“Is she for fuckin’ real?” Jaime bellows behind me. “Does that fuckwit honestly think that ridiculous ploy will work?”
I’m on my feet in an instant, praying that Shari won’t have read that wrong, and sees it exactly the way Jaime does. As a ploy. A manipulation. The act of a desperate brat who hates not getting her own way.
Our eyes clash, magnets drawn to one another. She hesitantly steps forward, and I hate that she seems unsure. That her confidence has taken a hit. This woman is a queen, and she doesn’t even know it! Her confidence should be in the stratosphere. I close the distance between us and wrap her in my arms. She automatically tucks her face into the crook of my neck and sucks in a deep breath.
“Are you sniffing me, Blaze?” One corner of my mouth curls up as I tilt my head to look her in the eye.
“And what if I am? You smell delicious.”
“Then let it be known I sniff you all the time too,” I nip her earlobe playfully, happy to see the hint of mischief in her gaze.
“Why does that sound so filthy when you say it?” she laughs, pinching my bum.
Instead of answering, I pick her up bridal style and sit back down on the sand, draping her across my lap to the beautiful sound of her laughter.
The sun has long set,but the sky has put on her navy blue evening gown encrusted with glittering diamonds, and the only sight more beautiful is the pregnant woman in front of me. I trace mindless patterns on her exposed belly, and watch in fascination as her skin puckers at my touch.
“Are you cold, love?” I murmur against the delicate curve of her ear. She shivers at the contact, and my eyes follow the path of another wave of goosebumps as it travels down her arm.
She turns her head to look at me, our lips barely an inch apart. “A little, actually. These September nights are starting to get chilly.”
I steal a quick kiss, because I can, and tell her, “I’ll go and grab you my hoodie.” She tries to protest and insist on getting it herself, but I placate her with the assurance that I need to take a piss anyways.
After using the loo, I grab my white hoodie – that I only brought because I know how much Shari loves to wear it – when I hear the whisper of the sliding glass door opening. Smiling to myself, because I assume Shari ended up following me to the house, I round the corner ready to drag her back to our room, but stop short when I see it isn't her.
“Keeley. What are you doing in here? You're not staying in this cabin.”
I don't like the sly grin that takes over her face as she prowls towards me, so I start side-stepping to keep the kitchen peninsula between us. Unfortunately, it does mean I don't really have anywhere to go when she rounds the breakfast bar with surprising speed.
“Brad. My dear, sweet, Brad. I think it's time you were honest with me, don't you?” She takes another step closer, so I take another step away.
“Honest with you about what, exactly?” I eye her warily. I’m getting really tired of feeling like stalked prey.
Another step forward, another step back.
“Come on, Brad, don't play dumb. I saw you watching me all day.”
“I was keeping an eye on you so I could make sure to be as far away from you as possible at all times, Keeley! I don’t know what deluded story you’ve created in your mind but that’s all it was,” my heart rate kicks up. In panic. In anger.
“See, you’re still not be honest with me about your feelings! About Shari. About us. Why didn’t you come to my room like you said you would?”
“What? Keeley, there is no us. There never has been. And I've been nothing but honest about my feelings for Shari.” Not even touching that room comment.
She pauses for a split second as something flickers over her face, but it's gone before I can decipher it and she's stepping towards me once more. Fingers trailing over the worktop as she saunters forward. I take another step back, but she's effectively cornered me, and I have nowhere to go unless I forcefully shove past her.
“Don't be daft, Brad. Of course there's an us. That night we shared was magical, I know you felt it too!” her voice slices through my eardrums with the sheer pitch of her delusion.
What the fuck is happening right now?“Keeley, we slept together once. Three years ago! I told you I wasn’t interested in a repeat. I meant it then and I mean it even more now.”
She scoffs and follows it up with a chuckle, shaking her head like she can’t believe how silly I am. “Look, I’ve let you have your little dalliances, but we're inevitable. We're end game, you and I,” she singsongs as she walks her fingers up my chest. “Like we always planned.”
“You’veletme? Like we pla…what?” I am so stunned by this bizarre declaration that I'm not ready to evade her when she wraps her hand around the back of my neck and yanks my head down to hers. I try to pull back, but her grip is surprisingly strong, and when she licks the seam of mouth, I'm so disgusted that I end up shoving her away hard enough for her nails to scratch my neck from the force.
I'm about to erupt at Keeley for violating me, when I notice movement behind her.Shari.
“Shari! Blaze, wait, that wasn't what you think! I know that sounds so cliché, but it really wasn’t!”
