17
Maddie
Had they seen us? A man as big as Brock was pretty hard to miss. He was so tall, dark, and handsome, and God, when he kissed you, it made you feel like you were the only woman in the world.
Oops, I was getting sidetracked.
Brock handed me a towel, and I dried my hair and my suit as best as I could. Then I gathered up my sandy clothes and followed him up the rest of the narrow wooden boardwalk.
We walked along the empty pools slowly. My muscles were stiff, probably from the sun earlier and from trying to hold myself rigid on the surfboard. I shuddered. Never, ever again. That was definitely not my thing.
We maintained a distance of a few feet as we approached the hot tub I’d seen someone in earlier. When we rounded the little rock bed and waterfall, there was no one in the tub on the other side. That didn’t mean anything. Whoever it was might have gone back to their room, if they had one in the main lodge.
Brock looked over at me. The hunger and urgency were gone from his eyes. It had been replaced by concern. “Look, Maddie, about back there… ” His forehead creased as he tried to think of how to continue.
“It’s okay,” I said. Not that I knew for certain what he meant, but it kind of felt like maybe I did. Brock wasn’t here on his own this week. He wasn’t a single looking to mingle. He was one of three very close friends and there was no way in hell I wanted to mess up their friendship. My guess was that though he’d liked our kiss—and there had been ample evidence that his body did—he hadn’t been trying to claim me for himself.
Or at least that was my guess. “It’s okay,” I said again.
He stared me in the eyes for a long moment and then nodded.
We continued on until we were within sight of the paths that led to the cabins. A small group of people were standing right there at the fork.
“Shit,” Brock said, and we backtracked until we were out of sight.
I agreed with his assessment. On the one hand, we were two adults. It would be okay for us to walk together after we’d clearly been swimming. But the problem was my destination. It wasn’t smart to be seen walking into a cabin shared by three men. Especially since the only things inside the cabin were two beds and a hot tub.
“That was Doug’s uncle, his not-so-charming wife, and one of their friends,” Brock commented.
Oh joy. I hadn’t officially met the evil stepcousins’ mother and wasn’t much in the mood to.
“Why don’t you hang out for a bit, and I’ll go see what they’re up to and if I can lead them away?”
“Sounds good. And Brock?”
He looked back at me, his eyes unreadable.
“Thank you for everything today.”
He nodded, and to my delight, tipped an imaginary hat at me. “Anytime.”
I decided to get some food since I’d been too nervous about the surfing lessons to eat lunch. Turns out my instincts had been pretty reliable about that.
A woman at the front desk promised to send a sandwich out, so I waited at a table by the pool. A few minutes later it arrived along with a drink, a bowl of fruit, and a plate of cookies for dessert. It boggled my mind that I was sitting here surrounded by such beauty and luxury, when normally, I’d be at my desk, feeling stressed, rushed, and underappreciated.
My job involved data entry and mind-numbingly boring tasks. I knew I should look for something else, but there wasn’t much in my town. Emma had found that out, too. Eventually, she’d been able to create her own job, but I didn’t have ideas for anything like that.
The sandwich was delicious. I’d just taken another bite when a shadow crossed over my plate. Hoping it was one of the guys, I looked up and was horribly disappointed.
The Annas were passing by. They had on straw hats, high heels, and tankinis.
“Eating lunch with all your friends, Maddie?” Savanna asked.
I stared up at her, feeling absolutely no need to respond to such a vile person.
“Better lay off the cookies before the wedding,” Hanna said. “Not that you’ll look good standing next to us in either case.”
I deliberately picked up a cookie and took a bite. Hanna’s eyes narrowed as she watched me. I wondered what she’d say if she knew that not ten minutes ago, I’d had Brock’s mouth on mine, kissing the hell out of me. It was a mental imagine that left me smiling long after the Annas had moved on.
Speaking of Brock, a few minutes later he drove past in his golf cart. Doug’s aunt and uncle were with him, so that probably meant that it was safe to slip into the cabin. Brock gave me a friendly wave, and that made me smile again. Or maybe I’d never stopped.