The Bride's Secret

by Sophia Summers

  He nodded. “You’ve done a hard, brave thing. I think you’ve made the right choice.”

  Her breath filled her lungs and exited before she answered, clinging to his assertion. “I hope so. All I know is, right or wrong, I couldn’t do it. I physically could not walk down that aisle with him waiting at the other end.” She shrugged. “I should see someone. Work out whatever my problem is.”

  “I don’t know about that, but I do know I was happy to help.” His eyes travelled over the baggage claim area. “And since I don’t have any bags of my own…”

  “Oh my word, I didn’t even think about that. What will you do?”

  “Probably grab a swimsuit and some other things at a local hangout. I really just need a quiet space to make some phone calls.” He nodded to her. “Thanks again. I won’t forget this adventure, you can be sure of it.” He reached for her bag that had come circling around. Curse the bag. She wanted him to linger, she just couldn’t imagine him walking away. Hawaii had sounded like a great idea for an escape, but now it felt more lonely than anything.

  She followed him to the men with the signs. “I’m staying at the Wayview.”

  The man gently placed a delicious smelling flower leia around her neck and she turned to smile at Wyatt.

  “I’ll be going now. Enjoy.” He waved and then walked away from her, phone already at his ear.

  And, as crazy as she was, all she wanted to do was run after him. But instead, she kept her feet in place and followed after the man to her waiting shuttle. Honeymoon for one. That could be fun—maybe.

  Chapter 5

  Wyatt had tried to act busy, distracted, uncaring as he said goodbye to Carisa. But he forced every foot to move in front of the other. He would not stay and take advantage of such a woman. Of his friend’s bride. She was in no position to even be thinking straight, she’d accept the first help that offered itself, as seen by her ready acceptance of him at her side. Too vulnerable. He couldn’t be confusing things at this point in her life. Even if he found her attractive, more so the longer he was with her.

  He had called for a limo. Two men stood beside him deep in conversation. “She’s a regular hottie, and anxious for fun. She gave me her number already, look see, Carisa. Says she’s staying at the Windview.”

  Wyatt picked up his ears in alarm. What was she doing? She was more vulnerable than he had even imagined.

  “Invited me to take one of her excursions with her. She’ll be fun candy while I’m scoping out the region for our next conference.”

  “You always pick ‘em. How did you know she’d even be up for it?”

  Their voices lowered and Wyatt strained to hear. “She was with some guy.” Wyatt felt his ears heat as he knew they were both looking at him. “And she watched him walk away like a woman hungry for some action.”

  Wyatt felt bile rise in his throat. He clenched his hands into fists. They cat called and wooped and Wyatt’s fists grew tighter. “And so I just stepped in, offered to carry her bag, you know.”

  “You always were a charmer. She’ll be purring and following you around before you know it. Find out if she has a friend. That’s about the best I can usually do.”

  Wyatt gritted his teeth. This was not his problem. She could take care of herself. He took two breaths. This was not his problem… But he knew it was hopeless, and he gave in. When the limo driver arrived, he gave him the address of Windview. On the way, he called and reserved the presidential suite. The only thing available last minute was also his preference. Then he texted Carisa. Turns out Windview is the perfect resort for my conference calls and long distance business meetings. Save me a spot on all of your excursions.

  She texted back immediately. Good timing. I almost gave one spot away.

  Satisfied, he pocketed his phone and sat back on the bench in the car with his eyes closed.

  As soon as he was all checked in and settled in his room, he pulled out his laptop to check for messages and to establish a good Wi-Fi connection. The more he thought about Carisa’s situation, the more he realized the best thing they could do to protect her, was to keep up their farce and pretend to be honeymooning. He could move her up here to her own room within his suite. And then even if she was off by herself, people should leave her alone, or even if they didn’t, she could keep up their charade as an excuse to say no. He hoped she’d say no. Then, once they left Hawaii, she could begin to piece her life back together.

  He called her. And she picked up on the first ring. “Wyatt?” Her happy hopeful tone made him smile.

  “So, I’m looking for my wife?”

  The pause lasted longer than he would have liked. But at last she said, “Oh! Yes. Right. I’m here. I guess. Are we still doing that?”

  “Well, I was thinking you could use me as an excuse to give yourself some space, you know? If guys are wanting to get close or whatever…” This was way more awkward than he envisioned. When she didn’t answer, he added, “Unless you want to pick up on guys, maybe a quick rebound fling…” He cringed as he said it, but it was none of his business how she chose to manage her life.

  “No, I don’t want that. You’re right. Good idea. So if anyone asks, or if they get too close, I can just tell them, we’re together.”

  He nodded. “Yes.” And here came the part that in theory sounded much easier. “I have the presidential suite up here, with an extra bedroom. If it simplifies things, you’re welcome to it…”

  Her small intake of breath filled him with anxiety. But then she said, “okay. I’ll be right up, what’s the room number?”

  “It takes up the whole top floor. I’ll have to meet you. Only my keycard can get you in.”

  “Fancy, wow. OK. I’ll be down by the elevators on the fourth floor in ten minutes.”

  He couldn’t tell what she thought about his offer or their arrangement, but he’d feel better if she were up here by him, if she could use him as a form of protection. And then she could go home and be on her way.

  He was totally deluding himself into thinking this was all for her protection. But he couldn’t ignore the small bit of hope and the pick-up of his heart thinking of her so close to him. Maybe if she was looking for a rebound guy… He kicked himself. He was not going to be the rebound guy. As tempting as she was, he was better than that, better than he’d accused Heath of being. He’d give her the respect she deserved. And maybe a comforting hug or two at night watching a movie? Surely nothing was wrong with any purely platonic interactions. He satisfied his fascination with his new roommate with those plans and headed down the elevator.

  She waited for him, in front of the doors as they opened. Her expression turned from a worried twist of her lips to one of delight. “Oh hi!” She found a place in his arms with him even thinking about it, and handed him the handle of one of her bags. “Thank you for this.”

  His key card lit the button allowing him to press the top floor. “It will be nice to share the space with someone.”

  “I’ve never even seen a presidential suite. If you’re sure…”

  He grinned.

  “Well, it’s too late now I guess, since here I come.”

  “I’m sure. It will be great. You can come and go as you please. I’ll be the busy newlywed with my work, which I really do need to complete, and you have a story to tell people if you need it.” He chewed his lip. “If you do find someone you’re interested in, perhaps we could have a spat or something…” He frowned.

  She shook her head. “No, I’m not the cheating kind. We’ll talk about that if it comes up. I doubt it will. Let’s face it. I was about to get married only a few hours ago.”

  He nodded. “True. How are you feeling about that?”

  She sucked in her breath. “Good. Heath and I have texted at least. That puts some of the pressure off. He seems cool with it. Wants to stay close, keep dating me. He even said he wasn’t ready either. He’s happy I was brave enough to be the one to admit it.”

  Wyatt nodded. “Good. Then maybe it can
still work out, some day.”

  Her shrug told him more than her silence. And he secretly hoped she’d be done with Heath forever, or at least until the boy grew up. At almost thirty, if he hadn’t grown yet, what chance did he have to being worthy of Carisa any time soon?

  The door opened, and Wyatt noticed the room for the first time through Carisa’s exclamations of delight. “This is beautiful. Look at that view! Mine was only a partial view. This is magnificent!” The whole wall of windows opened out in front of them. Wyatt moved to open the sliding glass doors and the musical soothing sounds of the crashing waves filled the room. A floral scent wafted in on the breeze and Carisa breathed deeply. “Oh, this is going to be heaven.” She spun in a circle. And ran out onto the balcony. Her hands on the railing, relaxed, her shoulders lowered, her face serene, she watched the ocean for a long moment, and Wyatt didn’t disturb her. He opened back up his laptop and started responding to emails, secretly thrilled with the new gorgeous addition to his living space.

  When she returned, he pointed her to her bedroom and bath and smiled in satisfaction at her squeals of ecstasy about everything from the soft bed and the large soaking tub. Suddenly things he had hardly glanced at were now interesting to him as well. Did he have a soaking tub? Was there room for two in hers? He had to stop thinking of them in that way. But it couldn’t hurt to tease just a little bit.

  “So, wife.” He called back to her bedroom area.

  She came back out, swinging her arms and carrying a book and a pair of sunglasses, dressed in a bright pink bikini.

  All of his teasing words left for a full twenty seconds or more.

  Her laughter woke him up somewhat but his tongue was tied. “Where are you going like that?”

  He wanted to stop her, or follow her or something. She was stunning, and comfortable, and he admitted, he just wanted to look at her. Longer. “You’re beautiful. Every guy down there is gonna be fighting over the chair next to yours.”

  A pretty pink filled her face. “Well now, I’ll just put my sunglasses on, like this.” She placed them over her eyes. “And put my book up like this.” She held it in front of her face. “And maybe they’ll leave me alone.

  Wyatt doubted it very much. Suddenly, he wanted to check out the pool area. He snapped his laptop shut. “I’m coming.”

  “What? Okay. Should I wait?” She called after him as he booked for his bedroom to find the suit he’d asked to be delivered to his room.

  “Hey, do you have clothes and things yet? I forgot you didn’t bring anything.”

  He smirked. And called out to her, “You’ll be alright if I just swim in my boxers?” He peeked his head around the corner and laughed at her shocked expression.

  “Kidding.”

  “Oh, whew, okay.”

  He stepped out in just a swimsuit and the flip flops the hotel shopper had purchased for him. “I’m ready.”

  “yes you are.” She spit out and then blushed furiously. “I’m sorry. Wow, So you work out, obviously.”

  Pleased at her reaction, he said, “I do, but I come by this naturally. My Dad was a big guy.” Her eyes travelled over him and he let himself enjoy every minute. He’d done the same to her, but when he was sure she wasn’t looking.

  “Why couldn’t I have met you when Heath was just starting to call me?”

  “Ho ho!” He opened the door for them to leave. “I haven’t seen Heath in years. We were much closer when we were young, We had the best of times back when baseball and tree climbing were all that mattered in the world.”

  “I just can’t see you two together, like at all.”

  They exited out onto the pool patio and headed for a couple lounges. Wyatt was pleased to see a lap pool. “Oh, and a high dive.”

  “I’m just gonna make myself comfortable right here for the next full day.” She grabbed a towel from the attendant, ordered a drink and settled in with her book.

  But as he walked toward the pool, he could feel her eyes on him and he decided he was okay with that, and okay if she liked what she saw.

  Chapter 6

  Carisa was secretly thrilled that Wyatt had come back. And then a tiny bit unnerved he had invited her to stay in his hotel room. But so far, he’d acted a complete gentleman, despite being obviously interested in her in some way. She couldn’t figure him out totally, but at least he was respectful. Though she wasn’t going to get more than five pages read.

  “Carisa look!” He shouted from the top of the high dive.

  She put her book down again and waved.

  He jumped high and then did a beautiful double flip into the water. Impressive. He was quite the athlete. He’d started in the lap pool and must have swam twenty Olympic pool sized laps before taking a break. Spending time with him was so much like sharing a vacation with a brother. She kept telling herself that because standing next to him in all that skin, she found it very hard to access any brotherly thoughts. He was hot, plain and simple, charming, kind, protective, and sizzling. She fanned herself, thinking about him. The only thing keeping her from full out flirting was the reminder that she knew nothing about him really, and of course, the other obvious detractor, that he was the best man at the wedding she had just run from. So far, she didn’t think Heath knew where Wyatt was.

  She lifted her book back up. But within minutes, drops of cold water began pooling in her belly button. “What?”

  Wyatt towered over her, dipping his fingers in his ice water and drizzling bits of it on her skin.

  “Hey, stop that!”

  “Come get in the water. You can’t possibly want to just sit here all day.”

  “I do, actually. Rest sounds nice, and I heard this book is awesome.”

  “You can read when it’s dark. Come swim.” He widened his eyes and had the gumption to stick out his lower lip.

  “You did not just do that.”

  “Do what?”

  “Pout like a little kid.”

  “Did I?”

  His brown eyes pleaded and then he flexed. “Come on, I’ll throw you in the air.”

  This guy was ripped. But ugh, he was thinking full on dunk, head wet and everything. She wanted to relax, but she couldn’t resist his eyes, his smile, so she closed her book and stood up.

  His air pump made the ladies near them laugh. “Yes! Come on.” He scooped her up and ran toward the edge. His strong arms cradled her and lessoned any bouncing from his run. She squealed and clung to him. Everything about him felt solid. Warmth spread through her, so much skin on hers was making her a little crazy, in a good way.

  At the edge of the pool, he teetered.

  “What are you doing?”

  “I think someone needs to get tossed in.”

  “Oh no you don’t.” Her arms tightened around him, clinging to his neck.

  He tried to peel her off, but she was having none of it. She screamed, she kicked, she laughed, but in the end, she went under, while he held her in his arms. They came up together and she splashed him in the face. “Hey! I wasn’t ready for that.”

  “It’s the best way to get in, all at once.”

  “That’s debatable.” She swam around and then floated on her back. “The water is nice. It’s the perfect temperature.” She lowered herself further in. “I hate to be cold but this isn’t bad at all.”

  They played and it was good for her. He lifted her in the air and threw her across the pool. When she hit the water, she laughed to herself. It felt nice to let go and be a kid again. When she surfaced, he was right in front of her, facing the other way to talk to someone so she jumped up and put all her weight on his head to dunk him, but he didn’t move.

  “I seem to have a new growth on my head. Can you tell?” He looked around, asking the older couple nearby. “Do I have something on my head? Cause it feels different.”

  They laughed with warm smiles and then the gentleman said, “She’s an improvement.”

  “Ho ho!” Carisa climbed up onto his shoulders. “Did you hear that? I
make you look good!”

  “I already knew that, you vixen, now what are you doing up there?”

  “Well, you are impossible to dunk so…”

  He walked deeper and deeper into the pool until he was under the water and then deeper, until she was barely holding her nose above water. Then she moved to stand on his shoulders, but she tipped over and fell and he came up for air.

  His face was close to hers. “What we need, is a good long game of freeze tag.”

  “What? I haven’t played freeze tag in…”

  He shrugged and then tagged her. “You’re frozen.”

  She tread water. “Do I just stay here in the deep end?”

  He tagged the five nearest people to them and then called over his shoulder, “Unless someone unfreezes you. Come on, have you never played this?”

  Pretty soon every person under the age of thirty was in on it. Running and swimming sprints through a huge pool was a great workout. For the first time since the wedding, she actually forgot she had almost been married that morning and just laughed and had fun.

  A little kid, had to be ten or younger tagged her. “You’re unfroze, but pretend like you’re frozen so we can trick him.” They were all ganging up on Wyatt. So far, he was the best out of all of them, and tagged them before they could even move. But there was an undercurrent rebellion which she thought was hilarious. “Ok, got it.” She whispered.

  Then Wyatt was on to her. “Nice try, Henry.” He tagged them both, then lingered near for a moment. “So, the hot tub sounds nice.” His rumbly deep voice in her ear sent shivers through her.

  “Yeah it does. You ready to go?”

  “Almost. I have to win first.”

  “Ugh. How is that even possible?”

  “Watch and learn.”