“What do you say we get in there and mix it up a bit?”
I turn to him and he has a cocky grin on his face. Clearly he’s picked up on my mood, how much I want to punch that guy in the face for touching Katee.
I push from the chair. “Good idea.”
A united team, we jump into the pool and go to our girls. The entertainment director makes new teams and the douche bag is now on the other side of the net. Soon enough the ball is in play, and we’re all having fun. Katee dunks and I go to her rescue, planting a possessive kiss on her lips when the asshole is looking. Yeah, okay, I’m staking my claim, going all caveman, but I don’t give a shit. No man, ever again, is going to touch my girl. If he so much as tries…
“Luke,” Katee says, and I continue to hold her against me.
“Yeah.”
“The game,” she says and Trey nudges me.
“Let’s go,” he says and sets me up. I spike the ball over the net, but the asshole sends it back, and gains a point.
“Should have stuck me with, Katee,” he says and all I see is red.
“I’ll set you up again,” Trey says, as angry as I am.
The ball goes back and forth a few times, and when Trey sets me up, I jump from the water, and spike the ball over the net—hard—catching the douche bag right in the face. He goes under and one of his buddies helps him. The ref blows the whistle to end the game.
Becca swims up to Trey to congratulate him, but all I get from Katee is one hand on the hip and glaring eyes aimed my way.
“What the hell was that all about?” Katee asks.
I shrug. “Nothing, I just play to win.”
She folds her arms. “Luke, are you kidding me? You smacked that guy in the face with the ball.”
I look at the douche bag, who’s covering his eye as he climbs from the pool. “His face was in the way. I was just playing the game.”
“My guy here doesn’t even know his own strength,” Trey says coming to my rescue.
Katee continues to eye me. “He and his friends invited us all out for drinks tonight.”
“Can’t,” I say.
She narrows her eyes, still assessing me, trying to figure out if I hit that guy on purpose or not. “Why not?”
“We have dinner plans.” I drag her to me. “It’s Valentine’s Day remember, and a candlelight dinner is part of the honeymoon package.” She frowns, and I cup her chin. She has a strange look on her face, and for once in my life I’m not sure what’s going through her head. “What’s wrong?”
She plasters on a smile. “Oh, nothing. It’s just that the days are going so fast, and soon enough we’ll have to get back to the real world. I mean it’s not Bali, but still…”
“Maybe that won’t be such a bad thing,” I say, thinking how we can settle into my place together, make a real home for us. Or if she’d prefer, we can move into a house with a white picket fence, and start filling it with children, sooner rather than later. She might be adamant that she doesn’t want marriage, because she doesn’t trust guys, but she trusts me, and I saw the way she was with that baby. A niggle of guilt tugs at me and I once again pray she doesn’t think of this seduction, or that I didn’t tell her the truth about Ari, as a betrayal.
“Back to real life where my phone is ringing off the hook,” she says. “I canceled all my appointments at the clinic to come here and I’m going to be working like crazy to catch up.”
“You could always come on the road with the team, and work for us.” I say, but then I think about her hands on my teammates and suddenly don’t like that idea.
“I actually really like my job. I worked hard to get where I am today.”
“I know you have.”
Her eyes go soft. “I wouldn’t be where I am today without you, Luke. You helped me get over all the obstacles.” She angles her head and she has a mischievous look in her eyes. “I thanked you for that, right?”
“I can’t remember,” I say, even though she’d thanked me numerous times growing up. “Why don’t we go back to the room and you can show me how thankful you are,” I tease. “We have a few hours to kill before dinner.”
“A few hours? Really, Luke, that’s a lot of time,” she says, teasing me. “What will we do for the bulk of it?”