Otherwise Engaged (6 page)

Chapter Ten

By the time
they landed and made it to the hotel, Daphne realized just how much she’d
flirted with Rain in flight. She couldn’t go around throwing herself at him
like some pathetic floozy when she knew where his heart truly lay.

Embarrassed by
her behavior, she toned it down a little on the taxi ride to the hotel. She made
sure to sit as far as she could from him in the van their cabbie drove. She
focused most of the conversation on asking the cabbie about San Juan and things
they should do while they were there. His top recommendations were visiting El Yunque,
which was the rain forest, as well as the Bacardi factory and Old San Juan.

When they
arrived at the hotel,
Daphne was awed by the gilded beauty of
the place
. It was palatial. The spacious lobby was filled with tasteful
art and furniture. There were huge vases full of fresh flowers strategically
placed at various locations around the cavernous space. Posh chairs and leather
sofas were located in a lounge area with a handsome, dark wood bar at the
center of it.

“This is
gorgeous,” she murmured as they made their way to the check-in counter.
Carolina had always had good taste, so she shouldn’t have been surprised.

After they
checked in, they had fun exploring their huge suite, calling out their
discoveries to each other as they wandered through the rooms.

“Dude, this
T.V. is gargantuan,” Rain called from the living area. She went to the curtained
French doors that separated the living area from the bedroom.

“Yeah?” she
said. She’d expected Rain to be used to such excesses. He was obviously used to
flying first class after all. “Cool.”

“Def.”

“Don’t you stay
in places like this when you travel for work?”

“If I bother
with a suite, it’s usually a lot smaller and simpler than this.” He shrugged.
“I figure, it’s just me, why bother, you know? My partners and I have an agreement
about how much we spend on business travel.”

“First class is
part of that agreement, though, huh?”

He gave her
that winning smile. “Sometimes. I usually fly business class, though.”

“Poor baby,”
she said, wondering if first class had been especially for her benefit.

“Yeah.” He gave
her a look that put her right back on that plane.
Right back
to wanting to rip off his clothes.
He was so very tall and
broad-shouldered. Why did he have to be so friggin’ stunning? And why did he
have to have the ability to seeming look inside her? Guys like Rain really
should come with a warning label.

“I’m going to
go…unpack some things.”

“Okay,” he said
faintly. “I’m going to go check out our view.” They had a garden suite, so
their patio doors opened out onto a private garden terrace. Man, Carolina sure
did her girls right. And what kind of engineering did Manny do? She knew
Carolina made decent money, but she’d definitely had help paying for all of
this.

Realizing she’d
been watching Rain’s sexy backside go out to the balcony instead of making her
way back to the bedroom, she quickly turned away when he started to look over
his shoulder in her direction. She tripped over her own feet as she made her
way back into the bedroom.

She glanced
briefly at the king-sized bed. It was beautiful, but she’d be sleeping there
alone while a man who had no business looking as good as he looked slept right
outside of her bedroom door.
Shame, shame, shame.
She
wondered what he would sleep in. Boxer shorts? He’d wear clothes while they
shared the suite, but did he normally sleep in the nude?

Stop it, girl! Think about something else!
she
thought as she ran a frustrated hand through her hair.
Her hairdresser had used a special conditioner that was supposed to help with
the humidity. Her hair was soft and flowing and would still look good for the
wedding. Carolina hadn’t specified hairstyles for them. Daphne planned on
wearing hers down, but hadn’t decided exactly what else to do with it yet.

She took her
toiletry bag into the bathroom. Rain’s first class upgrade had included checked
luggage, so she hadn’t had to pay to check her luggage for once. She always
checked a bag so she could bring all the toiletries she wanted—and as
much of them as she wanted—with her.

She pulled
things from her bag, concentrating on lining them up on the sink and trying not
to let her mind wander in dangerous directions. When she was done, she realized
she’d forgotten her toothbrush. Crap. She’d known she would forget something.
When she went out into the living area, she found that Rain was still on the terrace.

“Hi,” she said.

He slowly
turned to face her and gave her a dazzling smile. “Hello there.”

“I forgot my
toothbrush. I think I’m going to walk down to that drug store we passed on the
way here and pick one up. You need anything?” she said.

“Nah, but I’ll
walk with you.”

“Okay,” she
said. Her phone buzzed. She looked down to find she had a text from Carolina
asking if they were there yet. “Oh yeah.” Carolina had somehow made it to the
back of her mind. Well, she knew how. The reason had just walked inside from
the terrace and was towering over her, staring down at her with those intense
hazel eyes. “I told Carolina we’d meet up with her when we got here and settled
in.”

“Cool,” he said
in a tone and with an expression it was impossible to read. “Should we go get
your toothbrush and then meet up with her?”

“Sure,” she
said.

“Where is she?”

“Probably here.
She’s staying in the hotel.” Although Carolina had family in Puerto Rico, and
she was visiting with them while there, she wanted to stay close to the wedding
party and hang out with her friends, so she was staying at the hotel with them.
Carolina had her and Manny’s honeymoon suite—the hotel’s penthouse
suite—to herself until after the wedding. Manny had insisted she take it.
“I guess I should give her a call.” Daphne
re-read
the
text Carolina had sent.

“How about we
go get your toothbrush and then call her?”

It was a small
thing, but he was putting her ahead of Carolina. She couldn’t stop her stupid
hopes from lifting a little. “Sure.” She grinned like an idiot and went to get
her purse.

“This place is
like a palace,” she murmured as they made their way to the elevator bank.

“Um hum,” was
all Rain said in the way of agreeing.

She looked up
at Rain, studied his strong jawline, high cheekbones, the way his
jet black
hair stopped just short of the collar of his
shirt. He was already acting differently than he had on the plane. What would
happen when he saw Carolina? She had the ridiculous picture in her head of him
falling at her feet, groveling, begging her to take him back. But was it really
that ridiculous?

They stepped
onto the elevator. Rain pressed the lobby button, and the elevator doors
closed. She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. He rubbed a hand over
his chin and stared at the elevator door. He seemed to be thinking pretty hard
about something. She bet she knew what it was—or who, rather.

Why was she
feeling jealous all of a sudden? This wasn’t a brand new thing. Rain had always
been in love with Carolina. Of course Carolina’s engagement and impending
marriage were going to intensify those feelings as well as any feelings of
jealousy and regret he might feel. There was no use in getting upset about the
fact that the woman was probably occupying his every thought at that moment. He
was almost certainly here to make some sort of
last ditch
effort to stop Carolina’s wedding.

When the
elevator doors opened, she tried to push away her bitter thoughts. She pasted
on a smile, determined to take this all in stride. That didn’t last long. When
they were halfway across the lobby, Carolina ran up to them, looking as
gorgeous as always with her silky black hair and naturally tan skin. Except for
the hair color, she reminded Daphne of Jennifer Lopez.

Carolina had
her arms extended for an impending hug. She’d been working on those arms. She’d
said she was getting a personal trainer at her gym to help her get them ready
for her halter style wedding dress. She’d obviously done so.

Daphne glanced
at Rain. He looked as if someone had punched him in the gut hard enough to
knock the wind out of him.

“I’m so happy
you’re here,” Carolina said, enveloping Daphne in a hug.

Next, Carolina
turned to Rain. “Rain! You made it!” Carolina reached up to Rain to give him a
hug. Daphne couldn’t bear to look at Rain’s reaction to having Carolina in his
arms again.

Chapter Eleven

Rain couldn’t
believe how incredible she looked. And that he was holding her for the first
time in so long.
Over a year.
“It’s so good to see
you.” He almost picked her up and swung her around in a circle, but he managed
to restrain himself. Still, he held on to her a little longer than he should
have. He rubbed his thumb back and forth over the center of her back a few
times. She smelled so good—a fresh, sweet smell.

When she
finally pulled back from the hug, he took in her heart-shaped face and dark
eyes. The face of the only woman he’d ever fallen for. He hadn’t been able to
stop it. She was as beautiful on the inside as she was on the outside. She’d
always been better to him than he deserved.

“Did you two
take the same flight here?” Carolina asked.

“Yeah.” Rain
glanced at Daphne who seemed to be avoiding his gaze. She must not have
mentioned it to Carolina. “I’m Daph’s date for the wedding.”

“Oh.”
Carolina’s eyes darted between the two of them. “
Oh
,” she said again as if a realization was dawning on her. “You
two are together? How interesting. That is really interesting.” Her eyes
widened for a moment with something that looked suspiciously like jealousy.
Then she clapped her hands together. “That’s just really…interesting.” Her
smile seemed
forced
.

Rain wasn’t
going to correct her if Daphne wasn’t. He kind of liked the idea of going with
this for a while.

“How long have
you two been together?” Carolina asked.

Rain looked at
Daphne, who gave him an I’m-not-going-to-help-you-with-this-one look, before
smiling and saying, “It’s a relatively new thing.”

“Oh. Well.” She
grabbed Daphne’s hands. “How was your flight? Tell me everything. The dresses
got here from New York yesterday, they’ve been steamed, and they’re all ready
for a final fitting. There’s a place the wedding planner said could help us with
any quick and easy last-minute alterations that might be needed. Oh. And wait
until you see my tiara!” Carolina said
,
speaking so
quickly that all her words ran together as she often did. He’d always found it
to be adorable. He was glad that some things never changed.

“Fine. Good,”
Daphne said in a distracted tone. She answered the questions Carolina fired at
her in a vague way. Daphne kept reaching up to pull her fingers through her
soft, long, black hair. She looked like all she really wanted to do was run
away instead of talk to one of her best friends.

Rain wondered
what was going on with Daphne. Maybe she was angry that he’d lied to Carolina
about
them dating. Well, not lied. He just hadn’t corrected
her. And Daphne hadn’t, either, he reminded himself.

Eventually,
Daphne said, “I need to run around the corner and pick up a toothbrush. I’ll let
you two catch up for a minute. I’ll be right back.” She gave them both a
strained smile.

“We can all
go,” Carolina said.

“No, it’s fine.
You two haven’t seen each other in so long,” Daphne said. “You should stay. It
really won’t take me long.” She gave Rain a strange look. “There’s so much you
need to talk about.” She was gone before either of them could protest.

He still didn’t
really get it, but maybe she meant what she’d said and was simply trying to
give them a moment.

Carolina gave
Rain a wavering smile. She seemed less sure of herself now that it was only the
two of them. “Rain. How have you been?”

“Not as good as
you. You’re getting married. Wow!” he said, not sure if that had sounded as
forced as it had felt.

“Yeah.” She bit
her luscious lower lip in a way that was a sure sign she was worried and that’d
always made him want to kiss it.

“Want to go
outside for a minute?” he asked. “I need to walk around some. Outside. I’m
feeling a little claustrophobic after being cooped up on planes for days.” He
bounced on his heels, anxious to be moving.

“Days?”

“Long story,”
he said. He gestured toward the doors that led out to the reflection pool area that
overlooked the beach. Raising his eyebrows as he waited for an answer on going
outside, he looked down at Carolina. He had several inches on her in height.

“Lead the way,”
she said.

They went
outside and strolled past the tables and chairs set up around the swimming pool
and headed for the reflection pool.

“You and
Daphne? Really?” Carolina gave him a quizzical glance.

“What?”

“It’s just
strange is
all.
I never saw it—you and her. I
never would’ve thought…” She crossed her arms over her ample chest. “I thought
you weren’t the relationship type, and then you pick Daphne of all people. One
of my best friends,” she said. “It’s funny is all.
”
She didn’t sound amused.

“I couldn’t
have picked you. You’re getting married,” he said. “To Manny.” He tried to keep
the sneer out of his voice, but his inner twelve-year-old won out, and he could
tell she’d caught the pettiness in the way he said her fiancé’s name.

“There were
plenty of times you could have picked me,” she said quietly. She stopped
walking and gave him an accusatory stare. “There were a few times when I
thought you had.”

They had reached
the two pillars beyond the edge of the reflection pool. From here, they had an
excellent view of the beach and the ocean beyond it. Turning his back on the
view, he looked down at her. She was looking past him to the beach. He put his
finger under her chin and tipped her head up, forcing her to meet his gaze.

“What if I said
I choose you now? What if this is the thing that it took to make me realize I
need you in my life?”

“Don’t.” Her
eyes became watery, but she obviously refused to shed any tears. He suddenly
recalled her telling him during their last fight, the last time he’d seen her,
that she had shed her last tear over him.

“Carolina, I
don’t want you to marry that man,” Rain said.

“I couldn’t
wait forever, Rain. I just couldn’t.”

“Please. Hear
me out.”

“You were never
going to be serious about me. Us.” She pulled away from him. “You’ll like
Manny. He’s funny and nice and—and everyone does. Like him, I mean. He’s
obsessed with soccer and baseball, just like you.”

Just like me? This clown is nothing like me
,
Rain thought even though he didn’t know much about Manny besides his name and
the fact that Manny had stolen his girl. He didn’t answer her.

After a few
moments of awkward silence, she said, “You and Daphne should have dinner with
us tonight so that you can meet Manny and the four of us can hang out.” She
looked down at her hand.

For the first
time, he forced himself to look down at her ring finger. Damn, that thing was
mammoth-size. It wasn’t a rock—it was a mountain.

So? I could have bought her a ring like that.
I could have put her up in a fancy hotel and wasted a bunch of money on suites,
too
, twelve-year-old Rain piped up again.

“You could at
least hear me out,” Rain said.

She gave him a
look that said she had.
Too many times.
There was no
way he could argue with that look. Finally, she said, “I’ll give Daph a call
and see what she thinks about dinner. For now, should we say we’ll meet in the
lobby at seven?”

Rain nodded. He
watched her walk back into the hotel, her hips sashaying seductively under
those white linen pants. If she knew what she was doing, she was a cruel, cruel
woman. He didn’t think she did, though. Carolina often exuded sensuality
without really trying. That was another thing he’d always loved about her.

Later, he
returned to the suite and found that Daphne had returned as well. He wasn’t
surprised. He’d given her more than enough time to make her trip to the drug
store. He’d spent a while after Carolina left him wandering around on the beach
and licking his wounds. Daphne had plenty of time to get her toothbrush and
come back.

She’d removed
her sweater as the San Juan weather was obviously too warm for it. She sat on
the bed in her room in a tank top and those tight jeans. Here he was,
surrounded by beautiful women and not allowed to touch any of them. This was
not normal for him.

“You get your
toothbrush?” he asked.

She looked down
at the small, white plastic bag on the bed next to her. “Yeah.”

He leaned
against the doorframe. “Did you see Carolina when you got back?”

“We talked,”
she said.

“She wants us
to go out to dinner with her and Super Fiancé,” he said. Man, the bitterness
was oozing out of him. This was new for him.
This intense,
real jealousy thing.
Carolina had had boyfriends before, but he’d always
thought of them as annoyances that would eventually go away. None of them had
ever bothered him like this. Then again, none of them had been this permanent.

Daphne said,
“You let her think we’re dating.”

“Yeah. I wanted
to talk to you about that. Is that okay? I’m sorry. It just sort of…happened.
She assumed, and I didn’t want to correct her.”

Daphne finally
looked up at him, her face impassive. “So what’s your plan? Did you come down
here to bust up the wedding?”

“I’m not sure
yet.” Best to be honest. He’d done enough lying for the day and gotten himself
in enough trouble as a result.

“I like Manny,
and I love Carolina. I don’t agree with your plan, but if it keeps you from
trying something crazier, I’ll go along with it under one condition. Don’t let
her get to her wedding day and then jump up and make a huge scene. Whatever
you’re planning to do, if you go through with it, do it before. Give her the
chance to deal with it in private. Don’t embarrass Manny and Carolina in front
of all their friends and family.”

Rain tipped the
corners of his mouth up in a relieved grin. “Deal.” He’d been so afraid she’d
freak on him or at the very least demand he tell Carolina the truth. This would
buy him more time to come up with a game plan—not that much more, though.
The wedding was still going to happen in less than a week. Or at least it was
supposed to. And it would unless he could find a way to show Carolina he was
for real this time.

#

That evening,
they met Carolina and Manny in the lobby. Dammit, Carolina was right. The guy
was very hard to hate. He didn’t seem pissed off in the slightest to come face
to face with Rain for the first time. If he was, he was much better at hiding
his feelings than Rain was.

Manny hugged Daphne.
“So good to see you again, Daph. You
look as beautiful as you always do. If anything, you’re more radiant.”

“Good to see
you, too,” Daphne said, cracking the first genuine smile Rain had seen on her
face in hours.

“You must be
Rain,” Manny said, extending his hand. “I hear you’re a venture capital
genius.”

“Yeah. Nice to
meet you,” Rain said, shaking the Jay Hernandez wannabe’s hand. He was short,
and his black hair was buzzed close to his head.
A little
shorter than Carolina actually.
Nothing special. Carolina could do
better. She had done better when she was with Rain.

“You know, I’ve
never had much of a head for business. I admire guys who can do it and do it
well.” Manny laughed. “Me, I’ll stick to my drafting software all day. Give me
AutoCAD over a boardroom any day.”

“Yeah,” Rain
said. This guy wasn’t going to win him over. He’d already decided that. Manny
was the enemy, and the only thing he wanted from Manny was his bride-to-be.
“Any idea of where we should go for dinner?” Rain asked smoothly. His tone
wasn’t friendly, and it wasn’t impolite. It was simply the closest thing he
could muster to a neutral tone at the moment.

“Well, Carolina
and I love this great little seafood place just down the street.” Manny put an
arm around Carolina. “Don’t we?”

“Yes.” She was
glowing—actually glowing—when she looked at this Manny fool. Had
she ever glowed when she was with Rain? He couldn’t remember.

“That is,
unless you all have somewhere you’d rather go,” Manny said, looking at first at
Daphne and then at Rain.

Realizing he’d
clenched his hand into a fist, he made himself relax it. “You two are the
experts here. We’ve only been in town a few hours,” Rain said tightly. “We’ll
defer to you.”

The four of them headed out of the hotel.
Manny dominated
the conversation, and the two women ate it up. He was catching them up on the
happenings in Puerto Rico so far and thanking Daphne for coming to his bride’s
rescue. He hoped she could save some of Carolina’s sanity. Every word out of
this guy’s mouth was flattery for someone. It was a bit much.

Rain silently observed,
sizing up the competition. The women couldn’t get enough of this guy. They
didn’t even seem to notice Rain’s mood because they were so busy absorbing the
rays of Manny sunshine. That asshole.

Both women did
look gorgeous that night. Manny had that part right. Daphne had changed into a
long red and orange sundress that was low-cut. He often found himself glancing
down the front of it. Man, he loved his height advantage on most women. She
wore her hair free down her back. Every time she swept it to the side, he appreciated
the gentle slope of her neck. The part of him that loved to get him in trouble
wanted to kiss her neck every time she did.

Carolina wore a
clingy, strapless, beige dress. Manny’s arm around her ruined the view
somewhat, but Rain was still able to appreciate the curvy hips his hands had
gratefully roamed many times before. Not enough times, though. He couldn’t
stomach the thought of losing those hips forever. Now Manny’s greasy little
hands would roam those hips and the rest of Rain’s woman. Carolina belonged to
Rain. How could he be anything but bitter at the thought of this slick show-off
touching his woman?