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Except that you have the next few days, that voice responded.
He shook his head, trudging onward. Not gonna happen. Fate—if you wanted to call it that instead of coincidence—had played its tricks on them, so that they were staying at the same resort and that she’d happened to save Buster. But there was no rule that he’d have to follow through on what he’d said the night before, with her so sweetly in his arms.
We’re going to spend time together like reasonable, grown-up adults.
Frowning, Alec stared down at his feet as he shuffled through the sand. No, he was going to act like a jackass instead and avoid her for the rest of the week.
“Oof!” Colliding with something that materialized out of the mist, he staggered back. For a second he thought he’d encountered a ghost until the figure whirled around.
He blinked the dampness from his eyes and felt his stomach grind, like he’d downed too many cups of coffee without eating. “Good morning, Lilly,” he said, resigned.
She stepped closer, looking waif-like in pale gray yoga pants cropped at the calf and a sweatshirt of the same color that hung to her knees with sleeves that nearly brushed the tips of her small fingers. The mist had caught in her hair, tiny crystals that dotted her dark, wavy locks. The swirling gray surrounding them made her mouth look pinker than ever before, her tip-tilted eyes and their plush lashes more exotic.
“Are you following me?” she demanded.
He sighed. “I was out for a stroll just like you.”
“Bad penny,” she muttered.
Clearly her night hadn’t been any more restful than his, though her bad temper somehow made him want to laugh. She looked like a cranky fairy who’d been prodded from her bed beneath a toadstool before she was quite ready to wake.
“I’ll walk on ahead of you,” he said. “In a few moments you’ll lose me in the fog.” Taking a step around her, he made to do just that.
Her hand shot out to clutch his sleeve. “Um…”
Alec looked down, into her small face. Christ, that sweet mouth inspired dirty thoughts. “What is it?”
“Did you talk to your mom? Tell her she…misconstrued things between you and me?”
When his parents had come upon them the night before, Lilly had broke free from him, stammered out her goodbyes, and fled.
“I told her not to jump to any conclusions.”
“Well, good.” Her hand dropped from his sleeve. “Though she does worry you work too hard.”
“Yeah. I’ve heard that.”
“What is it you do exactly?”
“I work in venture capitalism—my dad started the firm. Matching businesses with money in order to grow or matching ideas with money in order that they can become businesses.” He cocked his head. “But you know what that is, right? You work in financial management.”
She nodded. “For the Montgomerys. I majored in accounting and I also have a master’s.”
“You’re a number-cruncher.”
“It’s why I always have mental balance sheets running.” She paused. “One for everything…including personal relationships.”
“Not too subtle, sugar.” He had to grin.
“What?”
“I get what you’re saying—or not saying. You mean you’ve run the calculations and that the liabilities outweigh the potential offered by our possible involvement.”
She made a face. “Well—”
“And I happen to agree with you.” He saw her eyes widen. “I was going to let sleeping dogs lie—and aren’t we full of metaphors this morning—and not mention it, but hell, I’ll admit I made a mistake yesterday. I shouldn’t have kissed you.”
“Oh.” She shoved her hands in her front kangaroo pocket. “So we get to just forget it ever happened?”
“Right,” he said, sounding brisk and completely convinced that there’d be no more sleepless nights thinking of the maid of honor. “I’ll be on my way now.”
“Okay.”
“Have a nice single life.” Determined to get on with his own, he attempted to move forward again.
Again, she caught the edge of his sleeve. “Uh…you’re going back to the resort?”
