The Wedding Fling (8 page)

“No one’s life is quite how they lead you to believe. Freedom comes with its own burdens.”

“Like what?”

“Lots of questions, lots of wondering if you ought to regret your choices. Guilt about leaving people behind, to put yourself at the center of your universe.”

She considered that. Her own universe was out of whack. Leigh felt trapped at the center of her parents’ harried orbits, trying desperately to adjust to everyone else’s gravity field, lest she fly off into space.

“Is it ever lonely, being your own sun?” she asked Will.

He paused thoughtfully. “It is and it isn’t. I’ve got the company of more friends and visitors than I can count, out here. But there’s only one person in the world I really love, and I left him behind.”

“Your dad?”

He nodded. “It was the price I chose to pay, the cost of living in a way that felt right for me. It’s a steep one, though. I know I’m missing out, not keeping my family close, not making room for a wife or kids.”

“Maybe you’ll settle down someday.”

“Maybe.”

She pictured such a thing. Imagined Will and a faceless wife, a couple faceless kids, him tethered in a home and a city, his energy crushed by responsibilities. Regrets. She imagined herself then, with an older version of Dan, her own faceless children. Would she have swapped the peanut butter jar for a wineglass? A prescription bottle? She prayed not, but then again, it was such a very common fate for women in her position. Was she really so special that she could presume herself above it?

Leigh sighed heavily and set the candy bar aside, arranging her pillows and lying down with her head a few feet from Will’s hip. She stared up at the ceiling. “How on earth did people of our grandparents’ generation settle down straight out of high school? How did they make these decisions so young, and see them through?”

“Not everyone does. See their commitments through, that is,” he added, his voice flat.

“I guess.”

“It was different back then. Adulthood began practically at adolescence. Now it starts somewhere in the early thirties, as best I can tell. Which reminds me—I really ought to grow up soon.”

She smiled at that.

“But you must know all about being a grown-up,” Will said. “You got discovered at, what, seventeen?”

“Yeah, but I didn’t come into my own or anything. I’ve done nothing but take other people’s advice for the last ten years. If I even still have some internal compass, I doubt I’d know how to read it, it’s been shut in a drawer for so long.”

“I’m sure it’s fine. Just take it out and give it some exercise.”

“I tried that. And I wound up throwing myself at you.”

“See? There you go. Your intuition’s bursting with genius ideas.”

“That’s not what you said before. You said I must be nuts, picking you over a more ‘deserving’ man, or something like that.”

“I was just being kind, to make you feel better.”

“Uh-huh.”

“Look, Leigh...” He trailed off with a heavy breath. “Nobody knows what they’re doing. Not the most powerful CEO on the planet, not the president, or your parents. Not you, and definitely not me. Don’t worry if your life doesn’t feel as tidy and resolved as some movie character’s, just before things fade to black. Because it won’t. You’re breathing, which is all it takes to be doing things right, from day to day.”

“Your low standards aren’t without their appeal.”

He leaned over to smirk down at her. “Neither are yours,” he said, clearly meaning her romantic standards of late.

She stared up at his handsome face, that bone-melting smile. Their shared gaze lingered longer than was platonic, and she wished he’d lean down and kiss her, window be damned. Instead he reached over and swept her hair from her face, gently finger-combing it into order. His attention had drifted from her eyes to her throat or chin, and she watched him swallow.

“I better let you get some sleep,” he said.

“You, too,” she agreed, though the last thing she wanted was for him to leave her side. “I hope your plane’s okay out there.”

“She will be,” Will said, getting to his feet. “She’s seen far worse than this. Anything else you need, madame guest?”

Leigh shook her head. “No, I’ll be okay.”

“I’m sure you will.” He opened the door to the steam room and murmured a discreet, “Sleep well, Leigh.”

“Good night, Will.”

6

L
EIGH
WOKE
IN
UTTER
confusion, scrambling to remember where the heck she was. It came back in a flash and her body relaxed, then tensed all over again as she wondered how poor Bethany was faring with her labor. A knock on the sauna door cut off her fretful thoughts, and she found Will’s face framed in the window, his eyes shut.

“I’m decent,” she called, sitting up, tossing aside the blanket and knotting the robe. She rubbed her tight back as Will slipped inside.

“Sleep okay?” he asked.

“Not bad. I wish Bethany could say the same.”

“I went to see them early this morning. They used your suite, then the labor really kicked in and Bethany was moved back to the infirmary.”

Leigh breathed easier to hear their scheme had gone off without a hitch. “And the baby?”

“Still taking its sweet time.”

“Speaking of time...” Leigh found her phone under the pillow. “Nine o’clock. My goodness.”

“The storm’s just about over. I already went to check and make sure my meal ticket still has both her wings. Most everyone’s already eaten, so forgive me for running off, but I’m starving and the workers’ breakfast will be over soon.”

“Can I join you?”

Will’s expression turned hesitant.

“It’d be more fun than going up and ordering room service and eating by myself.”

“The staff will wonder why you’re eating with the workers.”

“Let them. Let them think I’m a dimwit who wandered in thinking it was a buffet.” Leigh slipped on her sandals and tidied her hair. “We all just survived a wind storm. I’m sure they’ve got plenty of things to worry about besides one misplaced guest.”

Will relented. “Fine. You slept on a bench last night, after all. Guess you’ve earned some indulging.”

He gathered her bedclothes and slipped outside, leaning against the door and blocking the window while she dressed. He gave her a signal when the coast was clear. Leigh and her bag exited without detection, and Will led the way back to the pool area. A buffet station was set up against one wall, only a few workers still eating off their laps on lounge furniture and sleeping pads. Oscar and Bethany’s kids were back. Their babysitter was beside them, reading a book, but they were conked out. The little girl had fallen asleep with her feet dangling in the pool, her normally noisy mouth slack and silent. Her older brother was curled into a snoring ball.

Leigh and Will fetched food and sat on deck chairs, facing the pool’s calm blue water. She had to laugh, not just at the kids, but at everything.

He shot her a curious smile. “What?”

“Just my honeymoon. That I slept in a steam room, and here I am eating breakfast on a deck chair with you.”

“Can’t blame the storm or your fiancé on those two particular facts,” he said.

“Ex-fiancé. And no, I wasn’t blaming anyone. Just thinking, this is the first time in ages I’ve been calling the shots for myself, and look where I’ve chosen to be.”

His smile deepened. “Either your taste reflects really well on me, or my company reflects rather poorly on you.”

She gave him a long, searching look. He could pretend to be a scoundrel all he liked, but having spoken to him so intimately the night before, Leigh didn’t buy it. Maybe Will really did have a low opinion of himself, or maybe he just favored the image, but she could see through it now.

A worker hurried in from the front of the complex, dodging scattered chairs and blankets and clutter, to rouse the children. Leigh caught the words
a little girl,
and smiled to herself as the kids shoved their feet into flip-flops and were hurried off to the infirmary to meet their new sister. Leigh turned to find Will also smiling.

“God help the parents if she’s as much trouble as Ninna,” he said, shaking his head.

“How exciting,” Leigh replied.

“You want kids?”

She nodded. “Someday. Not for a while, though. Not until I know what the heck I’m doing with my life. But yeah, I think so. You?”

Will looked thoughtful. “I’m not sure. I’ve never been with a woman where I could picture it. Picture any kind of grown-up, permanent future, I mean.”

Another pang, another reminder that Will wasn’t built for long hauls. Silly thing to feel let down by, but it tightened Leigh’s chest nonetheless. Rebound crushes weren’t nearly as simple as she’d been led to believe. This one had her downright mixed up, in the head and heart.

They finished their breakfast and sat in easy silence for quite a while, until the nurse came striding in, grinning when she caught sight of them.

“You want to meet the island’s newest resident?” she asked quietly as she reached them. “They wanted to invite you both.”

Leigh sat up straight, looking hopefully at Will.

He shrugged. “What’s one more breach of visitor-worker separation?”

They followed the woman back to the infirmary. The kids had gone, but Oscar was lounging in a chair beside the bed, Bethany propped up, the baby bundled in her arms. She wore a wide, exhausted smile.

Leigh and Will came close to stare down at the adorably pissed-off-looking infant, her eyes scrunched closed, head dusted with fine black hair. Leigh couldn’t help herself when a gooey “awww” tumbled from her lips. She hadn’t seen a baby so new since her little brother had been born, when she was five. It tugged at something in her middle, something that said
Yes, let’s make one of these someday.
Bad timing, considering she’d ended the most serious relationship of her life five days earlier.
Someday,
she agreed nonetheless.
Someday not at all soon.

“Have you named her?” she asked the couple.

“Sesane,” Oscar said proudly.

“She’s beautiful. Congratulations.”

“Thank you,” Bethany said. “And thanks so much for your generosity last night.”

“Yes,” Oscar said. “Was a long labor.
Long
labor. It was so nice for Bethany to be able to watch television, get her mind off things.”

“It was my pleasure,” Leigh said.

“We better leave you three to rest,” Will said, reaching down to smooth the baby’s wispy hair. “She’s gorgeous. Congratulations.”

“God save us all if she takes after her sister,” Oscar said.

Will laughed. “My thoughts exactly.”

They said their goodbyes and left, closing the door quietly behind them.

“I better head to the cove and see how the settlement’s held up,” Will said. “I hope they get your window fixed soon, so you’re not stranded too long.”

Leigh shrugged. “I’ll cope.” She was dying to volunteer to help, but she couldn’t follow Will around any more than she already had, couldn’t continue to foist herself on the workers like a motherless duckling. “Thanks for letting me impose.”

“The pleasure was all mine,” he said, and though his tone was lofty his words seemed sincere.

Leigh remembered that voice in the silence and dark of the steam room, the things he’d told her and the closeness she’d felt. She ached to ask him to hang out again sometime, invite him to continue the small bond they’d found in the dark, and the sexual connection that had sparked between them beside the lapping waves, under the stars. But she knew she’d asked too much of Will already. It was his risk to take. He’d be blind not to know she felt something, and if he felt the same, it was his turn to make it known.

“Maybe I’ll see you again sometime?” It was a question, not a statement, the invitation implicit. She held her breath, waiting for his reply.

All he did was nod and say, “Guess I’ll see you whenever you decide to visit the mainland.”

Disappointment cooled her body like a dunk in ice water. “Guess so.”

And she watched him stroll away, taking a little piece of her heart with him.

* * *

W
ALKING
AWAY
FROM
L
EIGH
and her invitation was about as easy as tossing oneself bodily into a volcano.

Will couldn’t give a damn about the minor risk to his own professional reputation if they hung out again. Other workers had crossed lines with visitors in the years he’d been employed by the resort, and few had been ratted out, even fewer reprimanded—only the ones who’d been complained about by regretful guests in the wake of their impulsive choices. He doubted Leigh would do such a thing to him. So no, it wasn’t job security he was worried about. But after what he’d nearly done to her, selling information to the tabloid, he knew in his heart he didn’t deserve what she was offering him, be it sex or romance or mere companionship.

Though he wanted it, badly.

Thank goodness they’d been in the lobby when the invitation had come up. There he’d stood a chance of denying her. Had they been alone when she’d aimed that heated glance his way... He swallowed, his body warming at the mere thought. He just had to pray they could avoid one another until it was time for her to fly to L.A., out of his life and back to the world she’d surely come to miss once the novelty of paradise wore off.

He kept himself busy with minor repairs to people’s homes, all the time tugged by the memory of what had happened on the short stretch of beach between where he stood and where Leigh would be, once her villa was habitable again. She’d be so close....

He worked until he was too tired to be tempted, relieved that flights would resume the following day and keep him far away from her.

But the very next afternoon, Will’s resolve was tested. As
The Passport
splashed down beside Harrier Key for the final time that day—with Leigh’s recovered luggage on board and in need of delivery—he promised himself he’d be good. He’d be professional. He’d be courteous.

And he’d be praying to God the entire time that he wouldn’t give in and do anything stupid.

* * *

L
EIGH
OPENED
HER
DOOR
just as the sun was sinking, expecting last-minute maintenance people. They’d been in and out all day, finishing repairs to her solarium window and roof. She was shocked to find Will there instead. Shocked, hopeful, nervous, thrilled...

“I come bearing gifts,” he announced, holding up the suitcase that had gone missing back in New York.

“Oh, wow.” She stared uncertainly at the familiar bag. Inside were her clothes, physical reminders of her life back home. Her favorite shampoo and all the memories its fragrance would trigger, underwear bought with Dan in mind. Her phone charger would ruin her lame excuse for not checking her messages and returning frantic calls. No more need to conserve her battery. Though the bandages had to be ripped off sooner or later.

Will set the case on the stoop. “Guess they got your window all patched up.”

“They did. Everything okay back in the cove?”

“Yup. Nothing we couldn’t tackle with an afternoon’s effort, thank goodness.”

She studied him where he stood, that casual stance, casual clothes, easy smile. But something else, too. The same edginess she felt. A reckless thought had words tumbling from Leigh’s lips.

“So you’re all done flying for the day?”

“I am.”

“Would you like to hang out? Maybe see if there’s a Knicks game on or anything?” When he didn’t answer right away, she got desperate. “I’ll buy you dinner.”

His expression was hard to read, eyes squinting with some cagey emotion or other. She’d thought they were friends now, after the way they’d talked in the steam room, but maybe she’d dreamed it all. Blown it out of proportion.

She sighed, feeling dumb. “Sorry. I know it’s inappropriate to even ask.”

He laughed. “Jesus Christ, Leigh. Quit apologizing. Impropriety doesn’t bother me. Just give me a hard sell and I’ll decide if I’m more intrigued by a chance to watch the game than I am scared of us arousing anyone’s suspicions, hanging out yet again.”

She smiled at that, relieved and hopeful. “Okay. Well, the fridge is full of beer and wine, and I’ll order you whatever you’d like to eat, no matter how overpriced. I just don’t feel like being alone with myself. You’re free to go whenever you want.”

He nodded slowly. “Okay. But I’m paying for my own dinner, and I’m dropping my truck off first. I don’t need the others spotting it and suspecting I’m here giving you some other kind of room service.”

“Good thinking.”

“But I’ll be back.”

He waved as he climbed into his truck, and Leigh went inside. She spent the next hour killing time, just long enough to change her clothes and empty her rescued suitcase, and to begin worrying Will wouldn’t be back. But a knock from the rear of the villa brought a grin to her lips. She jogged up to her room and slid the door aside as Will kicked his sandals off on the patio. And just like that, Will Burgess was in her bedroom. A fresh flush warmed her face, seeming to trickle down her neck to heat her chest, her belly, lower.
Mercy.

Cool yourself, Bailey.
“Come on in. I checked the Knicks schedule, and you’re in luck. They’re playing at seven.”

He rubbed his palms together. “Excellent. It’s been ages since I’ve caught a game.”

Leigh led him through to the open living room. “You’re extra lucky, since I was going to have the service cancelled. But then the storm happened and I forgot.”

“Cancelled? Why?”

“I can’t be trusted to not go looking for stuff about myself.”

Will grinned. “Finally, the infamous Hollywood narcissism reveals itself.”

“It’s not narcissism. Well, maybe it is. But it feels more like paranoia. Like you’re at a big party and you walk past a room and hear people talking about you. I think it’d be hard for anyone to resist eavesdropping, whether they’re being praised or ripped apart.”

“Or lied about.”

She gestured that he should have a seat. Will crossed his legs and stretched his arms along the back of the couch, looking perfectly at home both in his jeans and T-shirt and the villa’s luxurious surroundings.

“The lies are annoying,” she agreed, “but it hurts way worse to get cut down just for being yourself. I mean, everybody else goes to the corner store in their pajama bottoms once in a while. They don’t get critiqued for it.”