Mack’s face went as white as chalk and she laughed awkwardly. “Oh, yeah. God, I definitely don’t want that. Okay. Good call.”
Mack hurried away to catch up with the others, but Kayla was slow to join. For some reason, Mack’s laughter annoyed her. Once they were in step again, Kayla said, “You don’t have to be so happy about it.”
“Happy about what?”
“Happy about not marrying me. What the hell?”
Mack’s smile warmed her insides against her will. She slid her hands into her pockets and leaned back into a strut. “I had no idea you wanted to marry me so badly.”
“What? I don’t.”
“Then why are you mad at me?”
“I’m not,” Kayla said.
“So we’re good. Neither of us wants to marry each other.”
“Exactly.”
Mack continued, quickly passing by a dozen tourists on the way to the pool, and Kayla tried very hard not to be annoyed at just how many eyes followed her not-fiancée.
Chapter Twelve
“Looks nice there. Wishyou’d invited me,” Tara said through a mouthful of corn chips.
Kayla shot a nervous look over her shoulder, but no one was close enough to eavesdrop. She had dashed off to a secluded corner of the pool deck where an exterior staircase gave enough shade that she could see the video call. Neither Skye nor Amy could overhear that her coworker didn’t even remember that she was supposedly getting married on this trip, but she didn’t want to risk it.
“Don’t you think it would be weird for your boss to invite you on her honeymoon?”
Tara stopped mid-crunch and stared at the screen. She looked as blank as Mr. Pebbles for a heartbeat, but Kayla could actually see the moment when the mental lightbulb clicked on. “Oh shit, yeah. I forgot. Happy wedding.”
“Well, it hasn’t happened yet.”
“Who are you marrying again?”
Kayla gritted her teeth. Thank God no one else was around. “Mack. My best friend.”
Tara threw another handful of corn chips in the direction of her mouth, but several ended up on the arm of the couch. Lucy waddled over and sucked them up like a spherical canine vacuum cleaner. “Oh yeah. The hot one.”
Kayla had to physically bite her cheek to keep from laughing it off and saying something along the lines of “gross, that’s my best friend,” but that would give the game away for sure. “How are our babies? I see Lucy is thriving at your place.”
Tara glanced over her shoulder in time to intercept Lucy’s tongue on its way to snag a corn chip. Instead, it ended up on Tara’s cheek. “Gah. I told you. No making out in public.” Tara turned back to her phone. “They’re angels as always. Wanna see everyone else?”
“Yes, please.”
Kayla’s heart rattled around almost as much for her dogs as it did for Skye. Already this was the longest she’d been apart from them since starting her business. Usually, her vacations were to dog-friendly Airbnb’s at the beach or cabins in the mountains where they could frolic with her. After all, they were the hardest working employees at the company and deserved a nice vacation far more than she did. She missed their whining, kisses, and bed hogging. Although waking up cuddled with Mack was almost as nice as cuddling with Finn.
“There’s my special man.” Kayla cooed, and the sound of her voice was enough to pry Finn’s greying muzzle from his massive dog bed. He gave her one of those Golden Retriever grins and she couldn’t stop the tears from spilling over. “Mommy misses you, Finnster.”
She knew she shouldn’t be as attached to her dogs as she was. They were service dogs after all. She should maintain professional detachment, but all her emotions were too big andthose fluffy angels brought them all out. Kayla spent another five minutes making baby voices and kissy noises at the screen before Tara had had enough.
“I gotta go walk these guys before they go number two on my floors.”
“Oh, okay.”
“Shouldn’t you be eager to hop back into bed with your wife or whatever?”
“We aren’t getting married until Friday.” They weren’t getting married at all, of course, but Tara didn’t need to know that.
