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It felt surprisingly natural having Natalia by her side like this. Almost domestic. The glimpse of normal coupledom with her was equal parts thrilling and terrifying.
CHAPTER 34
Under the shade of an umbrella and from behind dark Dior sunglasses, Natalia tried not to touch any sand while sitting on a deck chair on the beach. A few yards from the resort’s loungers and chairs, three games of beach volleyball were happening at once.
Natalia gazed up from the email on her phone as Samantha leapt into the air and spiked the ball over the net. Muscles flexing and skin glistening with sweat, Samantha moved with the same grace she showed on the dance floor and between the sheets. The cousin tasked with returning the ball got a mouthful of sand instead.
Pleased when Samantha looked at her with a ridiculous smile on her face, Natalia tipped her head in acknowledgement and went back to work on her phone.
She hadn’t intended to join the midmorning festivities, but had returned to the room after breakfast just as it was being cleaned. Not wanting to look ridiculous by taking refuge in the lobby, she’d had no choice but to join.
She was drafting a response to her accountant’s seven-part inquiry when a shadow appeared across her bare legs. By the exuberant aura that preceded the disruption, she knew who to expect when she looked over the top of her sunglasses.
Blanca, dark curls fluttering in the warm breeze, looked at her with so much expectation brimming from her green eyes that Natalia couldn’t muster the energy to give her the brushoff. Especially not when she’d arrived bearing raspberry mimosas as offerings.
“Waiting for your turn in the sand?” Natalia moved her bag off the chair on the other side of her umbrella.
Taking the newly open seat, Blanca sat down before handing Natalia the drink. “God, no!” She laughed, cheeks bright red. “I faked asthma for twelve years so I wouldn’t have to do PE. My commitment was so extreme, my mom still asks me if I have an inhaler in my purse for emergencies.”
Natalia sipped the tangy champagne concoction. “I was in middle school when I forged a doctor’s note for an unspecified diagnosis that made it lethal for me to sweat.”
Blanca laughed despite Natalia’s dry delivery. “And they just accepted that?”
“I may have made some vague threats about my parents both being lawyers.” The corner of her lip twitched when she recalled some of her best acting. As if anyone would believe that her construction worker father and homemaker mother were sharks in pinstripes. But it had worked.
“In middle school?” Blanca’s eyes widened in open admiration, like Natalia was the cool new girl in class.
“I was a rather enterprising child,” she admitted, not minding that Blanca was impressed.
Blanca raised her glass, clinking it against Natalia’s before she could stop her. “Badass,” she decided before taking a sip herself.
They watched volleyball for a few not-horrendous minutes before Blanca turned to her. “Do you have a big family?”
Natalia shifted her weight, finishing her drink more quickly than she intended. “No.”
“How about siblings?—”
“It’s just me,” Natalia replied, changing the topic before Blanca could fire the next question she undoubtedly had loaded in the chamber. “How long have you and Samantha known each other?”
Blanca’s eyes lit up at the question. “Oh gosh, it feels like forever! We met the first day of sixth grade. I was the new kid and this awful boy on the bus wouldn’t let me sit next to him when there was no space anywhere else.”
She laughed, launching into the story. “I was so shy and anxious about being the new girl. I ended up standing in the aisle just crying. You know how dramatic tweens are. And Sam — who I didn’t know at all — yelled at the kid to move his backpack out of my way. When he refused, she shoved it out the window!”
Blanca grinned at the memory. “The bus driver freaked out, but Sam didn’t care. She grabbed my hand and plopped me down right next to her after the kid next to her moved. He was probably terrified of her. She was a solid foot taller than everyone else, even then. And that was that — we’ve been best friends ever since.”
“And how long did you date?” Natalia asked calmly.
Green eyes widened in surprise. “Picked up on that, huh? Sam did say you were quick as hell.” She smiled. “We dated extremely briefly. A couple of weeks our freshman year. But we never had that romantic spark, you know? It just felt too familiar. We’re soulmates, just totally platonic ones.”
Natalia was thinking of something else to ask her to avoid having to answer anything, when Blanca carried on talking like she didn’t mind putting in all the conversational work.
Blanca leaned back, her enthusiasm undiminished. “Honestly, Sam and I are like two peas in a pod. We’ve been there for each other through thick and thin, breakups and makeups. Happily best mates for each other at weddings, you know, the whole stereotypical incestuous lesbian thing.” She swirled the remaining mimosa in her glass. “I mean, we’ve shared secrets, hopes, dreams. It’s like having a sister, but without all the sibling rivalry nonsense.”
Natalia’s pulse roared in her ears, her skin turning damp and sickly cold. She resisted the impulse to turn her head and look at Sam. She didn’t trust herself not to wear her shock on her face.
Bile rose in Natalia’s throat, the raspberry flavoring turning her mouth sour and unleashing a wave of nausea. The anger swelling inside her was matched only by the unanticipated sting of hurt.
Married. Fucking married. Sam had been married once and never bothered to mention it.
