Coral, Lake, Chris, and Shanna, the other bridesmaid, were chatting beside one of the nets. Lake waved us over. Designer frames covered her eyes, and I couldn’t help thinking that sunglasses had been a good idea. I’d left mine in our room.
“Hey, guys! Thanks for coming!” Lake tossed a ball in the air and caught it, grinning mischievously. “Half our group is still in bed—including the lazy groomsmen—but I wanted to get the volleyball going before it’s so hot that all we want to do is swim. I thought we could have two teams of three. It’s a little unconventional, but there are six of us and I don’t want anyone missing out.”
I glanced around, surprised to realize that Thad was nowhere in sight. A niggle of worry wormed through me. Alec hadn’t done anything to him when he saw him earlier, had he?
“Coral and I have both played before,” Lake continued. “So we’ll each lead a team. Have either of you played?”
“Once or twice,” Alec said.
I shook my head. “Not me.”
She nodded, her fingers spreading across the sides of the ball. “So, we have two people with some experience and two with none. Excellent. I’ll team up with Tally and Alec and Coral can play with Chris and Shanna.”
I exchanged a look with Alec. She hadn’t grouped us as I’d expected. It would make more sense for her to want to play with Chris, which would mean either splitting us up or switching assigned roles with Coral. Perhaps Lake had noticed our confrontation with Thad last night and was wary of putting Alec and I into close proximity with Coral.
“Everyone happy?” Lake asked.
We all nodded.
“Perfect.” She bounced on the balls of her feet. “Let me run over the rules quickly.”
While she talked, I tried to absorb as much information as possible, but between her rundown and the one I’d gotten from Alec, there was too much to cram into my mind. Surely it would make sense once we got started.
We split up into our respective teams and Lake joined us on the side of the net closest to the resort. She started with the ball, bopping it over. Coral hit it back. I was sure there were proper names for the movements but I didn’t know what they were.
The ball flew toward me, so I formed a fist and tried to bounce it back the same way Coral had, but instead of crossing the net, it went straight up in the air and would have landed on our side if not for Lake.
“Let me show you how,” Alec murmured, and suddenly he was behind me, his arms circling around my waist as he shifted my hands. “Like this.”
“Thanks,” I said breathlessly.
Next time the ball came over, I was able to do my part, but Alec didn’t ease back. Instead, at every opportunity, he seemed to find a reason to put his hands on me. The scents of sunscreen and lemon filled my nose, and despite the warmth of the sand between my toes, all I could feel was the heat of Alec’s body any time he drew close to me.
He was distracting as hell.
When Thad arrived, along with Jackson and Ben, and started watching from the sideline, the situation only got worse.
“Stop it,” I hissed at Alec, pretending not to notice the way his eyes widened.
What did he expect? He was flustering me.
It’s just part of his act, I reminded myself for the umpteenth time.Don’t fool yourself into thinking it means anything.
Opposite us, Coral was on her best behavior. I noticed her sneaking peeks at Thad, and I also noticed Thad stealing glances at both her and me.
“Why does he keep looking over here?” I murmured to Alec as he corrected my stance before serving.
“Because you look hot as fuck,” he said, and kissed my cheek.
Just. For. Show.
Alec made such a perfect fake boyfriend. It would be so easy to forgetthat none of it was real.
A ringing phone interrupted the game. Lake turned toward the sound and missed the ball. It landed on the sand and rolled toward me.
“Sorry.” Alec pulled his phone from his pocket and checked the screen. “It’s my agent. I’d better answer.” He raised the phone to his ear and strode off the back of the court, putting distance between us so he could speak in private.
I tried not to feel like he was abandoning me. What if Coral or Lake—or god forbid, Thad—said something unpleasant while he was gone?
