Total pages in book: 115
Estimated words: 108173 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 541(@200wpm)___ 433(@250wpm)___ 361(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 108173 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 541(@200wpm)___ 433(@250wpm)___ 361(@300wpm)
She moved to the bathroom to dress while Ben placed their breakfast order.
By the time she returned from the bathroom, he’d changed into a pair of black swim trunks and was stretched out on a lounger by the pool, clearly enjoying the morning sun. She inhaled deeply, wishing she’d brought a longer, more billowy cover-up than the skimpy, translucent little slip that dipped too low in the chest area. She tugged at the hem, but could do nothing to drag it any lower. It rode high on her thighs, offering the scantest nod to modesty where it hugged the curve of her butt and rested just below her crotch. It was the most modest of the three coveralls she had packed. Similarly, the ice white string bikini beneath the tunic offered the most coverage of the several bathing suits she’d brought along.
He lifted his head when she joined him, but he was wearing dark sunglasses and it was hard to read his mood. Still, she sensed that he was running his eyes up and down her body and she barely refrained from crossing her arms over her chest.
“Breakfast will be here in about five minutes,” he told her, pushing himself up onto one elbow. “Want to wait until then before you take that swim?”
She sank down onto the other lounger and nodded.
They sat in silence for a moment.
“What do you want to do today?” he asked when it became clear that she wasn’t going to speak first.
She shrugged listlessly, still sitting stiffly on the lounger. She hadn’t made a move to lay down the way he’d done.
“I seem to recall you mentioning that you’d signed us up for a couple of sightseeing trips. And you were excited about a dolphin or turtle search? And something about a couple’s cruise around the atoll?”
Lilah stared at him in open-mouthed shock. He’d seemed so disinterested and dismissive every time she had brought up their honeymoon.
That sounds fine.
Sure, dolphins. Great.
Whatever you choose will be okay, I’m sure.
He had barely glanced at the brochures when she’d brought them to him, merely saying it looked perfect and she should definitely book it.
Lilah, of course, had told herself he was busy. And had flattered and fooled herself into believing that he trusted her with their all-important honeymoon plans. To discover that he’d actually been listening, despite everything she’d subsequently learned about their marriage, was shocking to say the least.
“We don’t have to do those things. I know you were just humoring me. Well, barely humoring me. You didn’t even make a pretense of caring about this stupid trip.”
His shoulders lifted and fell on a deep—bordering on exasperated—sigh.
“If you’re incapable of enjoying this vacation right now, at least try to find some way to distract yourself. Sulking isn’t the most productive of activities.”
“And I suppose you have suggestions”—air quotes—“on how I should go about keeping myself distracted.”
He moved his sunglasses to the top of his head and gave her body a lazy, appreciative appraisal, before his half-mast eyes came to rest on hers.
“I was going to suggest reading a book, exploring, and God help me, even the fucking turtle thing sounds appealing as hell right now, compared to sitting here and watching you pout all day.”
And yet, even while he made that scathing comment, his eyes took another leisurely meander over her body, pausing at her shallow cleavage, before ambling downward to her long legs. Telling her louder than words could, the many other ways he could possibly find to distract her.
“Stop that,” she snapped, and this time she did cross her arms over her chest. But only in an effort to hide her hardening nipples from him. “You’ve never looked at me like this before.”
A borderline wicked grin ghosted over his lips. “Perhaps I wanted to. But you were off-limits before.”
Lilah had thought she knew what desire looked like in Ben. Had thought that the cold, fleeting kisses and touches during their engagement had been as good as it got with him. And she’d convinced herself that it was enough, that if it was all he had to give then it was all she wanted and needed from him.
Was he now expecting her to believe that this had been simmering away beneath that aloof, controlled façade all along? And all that had prevented him from acting on it was his respect for her grandfather?
Lilah called BS on that. She knew Ben, she’d seen him go after what he wanted time and time again, regardless of Gramps’s opinion on the matter. In fact, she had often seen him go against Gramps’s advice and wishes on both personal and professional matters. If he’d truly wanted Lilah, he would have made that clear long before now.
No, she definitely didn’t believe his sly insinuation that he may have wanted her all along. The way he’d phrased it made her think of the one time he had mentioned love, it had been worded in a similar way. As a possibility rather than a certainty. But Lilah wasn’t about to fall for the same trick again. She realized now, as she should have then, that Ben was a man who brokered in certainties. He was usually brutally honest about everything and Lilah had been a fool to not immediately see through his duplicity.