Kayla turned her face up to look at Skye but otherwise stayed in her position. It was tantalizingly close to kneeling in front of her, and the implications were delicious. Skye seemed to notice it and took a step back, but Kayla wasn’t letting her get away. She stood and took a long stride, putting herself back into Skye’s space until their bodies were almost touching.
Kayla said, “I don’t know what you mean.”
“Yes, you do. Why are you here?”
“To get married.”
Skye sighed and rubbed her temple. She was so adorably flustered it was hard for Kayla to keep a straight face.
Skye said, “No, I mean, why are you here like this? Why did you follow me into the pool?”
“Skye, you followed me. I was just over here at the wall, looking out at the ocean, and you came to me.”
She could see the moment Skye realized that was true. Her eyebrows crinkled together, and a blush crept up her cheeks. Finally, she said, “Okay, but you’ve been acting strange all week.”
This was just too easy. “How have I been acting strangely, Skye?”
“I don’t know. It just…it feels like you’re flirting with me, right in front of Mack. You wouldn’t do that, would you?”
“Me flirt with you? Weren’t you the one flirting with me earlier today?”
“That was an accident.”
Kayla laughed but kept it as quiet as she could. “How does one accidentally flirt?”
“I…that’s not what I meant exactly. I just…but you were flirting with me just now. You were at the massage, too.”
Kayla reached up and touched Skye’s shoulder, running her fingertips along the sweep of her bicep. “It’s odd that you would think I’m flirting with you when I haven’t been. Is that what you want? Do you want me to flirt with you, Skye?”
“What? No. Of course not. Of course I don’t want to flirt with you.”
Kayla ran her fingertips back up Skye’s arm, watching a line of goosepimples spring up in her wake. “Then why are you flirting with me?”
Skye’s body tensed, but she didn’t step away. She was practically trembling. Kayla’s heart pounded with anticipation. It had always been like this on the soccer field, too. She could feel goals coming like a sixth sense.
Skye said, “I’m not. I mean, I don’t mean to.”
“So, it’s just natural to flirt with me? Maybe it’s because you’re drawn to me? Maybe you should think about that.”
Skye stared into her eyes. Just like Mack, her eyes were green, but they were a completely different shade. Darker and less expressive. Kayla had learned to read them, though. She was close. She could see the struggle in those emerald depths. She could feel the way Skye’s breath held.
Mack’s voice floated across the surface of the pool. “Kayla? Where did you go?”
Instead of flooding with annoyance, Kayla’s body relaxed at the sound of Mack’s voice. There had been so much tension in this moment with Skye. They were standing on the edge of something, and the tipping point would come soon, but Kayla was strangely hesitant to fall over the edge. It was what she’d been working for. What she wanted. But when Mack interrupted, she was relieved. Her body was already leaning away from Skye, Mack drawing her in like a magnet.
Kayla gave Skye a slow smile and a wink before she turned and waded through the water. She could feel Skye watching her walk away but forgot all about her when she rounded the hot tub. Mack was sitting on the edge of the pool, yawning wide with her feet dangling in the water. She looked more relaxed than Kayla had possibly ever seen her after waking from her nap. Kayla’s heart soared and she dove into the water to swim over to Mack’s side as quickly as she could.
She would examine why she was so excited to leave Skye later. Right now, she wanted nothing more than to relax poolside with her fake fiancée.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Deep in the warmcocoon Mack’s arms provided her, Kayla slept late on Thursday morning. She didn’t even fully wake up when the alarm on her phone buzzed. Mack’s arm left her for half a heartbeat to silence it, then it circled her waist, pulling her deeper into her embrace. She snuggled back as far as she could, nesting her ass into Mack’s lap and delighting in the firm press of her ample breasts against her back. She really could get used to this feeling. It was a shame she’d lose this once she and Skye got back together. She’d never slept this well with anyone.
It wasn’t until Mack had hit the snooze button for the third time that Kayla heard the rain. It had probably been there the whole time—Mack wasn’t one to snooze normally—but she hadn’t been aware when she was mostly asleep. Now she was mostly awake, and the patter and plop of rain-drops on the balcony was all she could hear. A minute or two after she first heard the sounds, their meaning registered. Her eyes flew open, and she bolted out of bed.
Mack’s sleepy grunt of disapproval followed her across the room, but she couldn’t take it in. Kayla whipped open the curtains and let out a grunt of her own, but hers was laced with panic. What she saw through the glass doors was as effective as a punch in the gut. She dropped her forehead to rest against the glass. It was far colder than usual, thanks to the storm blocking out the sun.
Mack’s words came out slurred with sleepiness. “What’s wrong?”
