by Hart, Hanna
“Hm. Coming the Crystal Beach with my dad.”
“At the regatta?” he asked, and she nodded. “Aw, well, I’ve heard that one already so try again. Anything with your mother?”
Grace thought about this, but sadly, not much came to mind. Even though her mother had come back to her father by the time she was seven, she didn't harbor fond memories of her.
She shook her head. “No, not really. But I do have an amazing memory of going to Europe. It was my only time there, on a class trip.”
“Nice,” he said with a nod. “Where’d you go?”
“London,” she said. “We did the whole Henry VIII tour. You know, saw where Anne Boleyn got her head chopped off, saw Hampton Court, Tower of London, all that jazz.”
“It’s no Beatles tour,” he laughed.
“A little more morbid than that,” Grace grinned.
Cooper stepped off the hammock then and walked into the tiki bungalow. When he came out, he was holding two champagne flutes. He struggled to get back into the hammock with the drinks, spilling half of his onto the cloth below them with a laugh.
“So, what about you?” she repeated. “Favorite memory?”
“Ah,” he breathed, sounding satisfied, “Probably eating sushi for the first time.”
Grace rolled her eyes. “Shut up; I'm serious!”
“So am I! Have you ever eaten hotate?”
Grace shook her head and giggled, “No, what is it?”
“Butterflied scallop on rice topped with tobiko.”
“That's fish eggs, right?” she said, fighting off the urge to make over-the-top gagging noises. Nothing about what he just said sounded appetizing. At all.
“Flying fish roe,” he corrected and then agreed, “But yeah. It's fish eggs. But tobiko sounds a lot less disgusting.”
“Does it?” she teased as she squinted her eyes. “But seriously. Your favorite memory is eating sushi? Come on, be serious! I poured my heart out over here!”
Cooper shifted in the hammock and pulled his bottom lip into his mouth. He was deep in thought. So deep that Grace wondered if she had made him uncomfortable.
"The regatta," he said evenly. He nodded, as if reaffirming his answer, and then took a sip of champagne.
Grace pushed him with her feet and scolded, "Hey! That was mine!"
"I'm serious," he said with a resigned laugh. He began to explain to her his favorite day out with his wife, Brielle. How she had brought a little adventure into their lives. How they had almost won the regatta until she made some ridiculous ploy to make him kiss her.
To her, the memory made Brielle sound like a spoiled little brat. The fact that Cooper found this memory charming made Grace give pause, and she wondered how little she knew about the man she'd just spent the day with.
"Mm," was all she said, staring down into her still full glass of champagne. "Don't you hate that?"
"Hate what?" he asked.
"Memories."
Cooper widened his eyes at the sentiment and then gave a low chuckle. "Sometimes."
"It's like you collect all these amazing memories with someone who won't mean anything to you in a couple years."
"That's not true," he said softly.
"Fine," she laughed bitterly, "Correction: they won't mean anything good."
Cooper shrugged. "Fair enough," he said.
"You still love these places you went to with them, but you can't walk by these restaurants or beaches anymore, but you can't bear to think of taking someone else there, either. So you're just stuck with these amazing memories of someone who screwed you over. It sucks."
The man across from her drew in a long breath and stared up at the star-strewn sky. "That sounds about right," he said as he exhaled. "The regatta. That memory. That'll be the death of me."
Grace swallowed and followed his gaze into the sky. Then she looked over at Cooper and said, "I'll make you a deal."
"Another one?" he joked.
"You and I leave our regatta memories here," she offered. "And in three weeks, we'll make a new one together."
Cooper blinked and gave her a long, hard stare. Then finally, he smiled.
"I'm going to hold you to that," he said.
Chapter Twelve
Cooper
Cooper had done the gentlemanly thing and slept in the bungalow one dock down from Grace. They were friends, after all. He wanted her to be comfortable. But that didn't stop him from calling the butler service first thing that morning and ordering them breakfast.
He had the food delivered to his bungalow. The meal consisted of coffee, bottles of water, two plates of eggs benedict, and a tropical fruit salad with many of the fruits being intricately carved.
After the butler left on the boat service away from the bungalows, Cooper made his way, food tray in hand, over to Grace's water cottage.
She was already awake and looking lively. She wore a tasseled mini dress with long bell sleeves that cupped into a V at the bust. It was embroidered with purple, red, and blue designs. The closer he looked at it, the more he realized it must be her bikini cover-up and not her day-wear.
Grace sat at the edge of the dock with her feet swishing slowly in the blue water. Her eyes beamed as she saw him approach.
“Someone looks happy!” he announced as he stepped into view. “I hope that’s excitement to see me and not the food.”
“Can’t it be both?” she grinned and pulled her legs from the water.
Grace came up to him and helped him distribute the food onto the built-in side table on the dock.
"Oh, this looks amazing! Thank you!" she said with a genuine grin crossing her pink lips. "I don't think I've ever been this spoiled since..." Grace shrugged. "Ever, possibly?"
"Nobody has ever brought you breakfast before?" he laughed. "That's sad."
"My dad, maybe," Grace said. She offered him a flirtatious smile and commented, "But trust me, it's not the same."
"How was your night?" he asked, taking a seat in one of the black loungers outside. "No fish creep up on you in the night?"
"Um," Grace laughed as she uncovered the plate of food and began cutting into the eggs benedict. “If you mean, did a fish miraculously grow legs overnight and crawl up into my hut to strangle me then... no! All safe."
"Ha-ha," he mocked. "I meant did the glass panel freak you out?"
"I threw a pillow over it," she said bashfully before taking a large bite of her breakfast.
"You're kidding!" he said. "So, let me get this straight. You are a woman who will go toe to toe with a shark, but doesn't want to see neon fish swim by her room from the comfort of her bed?"
"That is correct," Grace enunciated.
Cooper was charmed. He cocked his head at her like a curious puppy and felt his chest get warm. She looked stunning. Natural and earthy. Her hair was a mess of salty blonde waves and her eyes were so big and round and blue. She didn't need even the hint of makeup.
"Where's Buck?" she asked suddenly, breaking him from his thoughts.
"I brought dog food," he said with a smile. "Poured him a bowl back at my hut. He'll be over when he's done."
"Like a real houseguest," she giggled.
"How'd you sleep?"
Grace nodded, "Great. Amazing, actually. I love hearing the waves come in. It's the best white noise there is."
"Good."
"Actually," she breathed and over at him, still devouring her meal. "It's so luxurious here I actually feel sort of... guilty? If that makes sense."
Cooper raised a brow and set his jaw. He wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing.
"What do you mean?" he asked.
"I don't know," Grace mused. "It's almost like... it's so good it makes me feel glad."
"Well don't leave that in your review," he snorted. "For someone who works for the company, you're not really selling it to me."
Grace laughed and shook her head. "I can't explain it. But, yeah, it's amazing here."
"Good," he repeated
, feeling a little better now.
"When are we heading into work?"
"Work?" he repeated with a frown. "No, no, no," he smiled. "Today you're mine."
"You have a meeting at eleven!" Grace said in disbelief. "You're just going to blow it off?"
"I'm on my honeymoon," Cooper jested. "I'm not going anywhere unless you're coming with me."
"Well, I can't go into the meeting with you," Grace said as though she were considering it.
Cooper mimed dusting his hands off and said, "Then I guess we're staying here today."
"I'm supposed to shadow Turkish at the Maslowe wedding!" she insisted with the slightest hint of panic.
Cooper watched her with amusement and reminded her, "You are on your honeymoon. You're staying right here with me unless we decide to do otherwise. Besides, we've got Paul and Addison coming over later, remember?"
The beautiful girl shook her head in disbelief and Cooper watched as a slow smile crept up the corner of her mouth. Before she could answer, they heard a splash. He turned his head and saw Buck coming in from the left, doggy-paddling exuberantly toward them.
"And what about Buck? We'd have to take him to the office?" he said with mock-sad eyes and a pouted lip. "You don't want to coop up poor Buck, do you?"
Grace watched with interest as the massive seventy-seven German shepherd pulled his wet, heavy body up onto the dock and shook his thick fur.
"I hope you're ready for some top-tier begging," he said with a laugh.
"Can I?" Grace said, raising a scrap of her English muffin and gesturing toward Buck.
"Go for it," he said. "He likes bananas, too."
He watched Grace feed the dog until the rest of her eggs were gone. She laughed as she petted him and Buck leaned into her touch before resting his muzzle in the palm of her hand.
Cooper was hypnotized by their exchange. He couldn't think of a time when Brielle had paid attention to Buck. Besides the occasional pat on the head, Brielle hadn't so much as thrown a pizza-crust Buck's way in the entirety of their relationship. She was more concerned with the hair Buck left on her clothes than rubbing his belly or watching him swim.
He was captivated by Grace. Spending the last twenty-four hours with her only reaffirmed just how right he was to choose her for this plan.
In truth, part of the reason he wanted to stay out of sight from the company was so that he didn't have to hear about the public's reaction to his wedding.
To the world at large, this wedding meant nothing—save for a few famous business publications who had regarded him as one of the most eligible billionaire bachelors after he and Brielle had split
But to the Nani Makai island and neighboring mainland and cities beyond, it was huge.
He had already been shown several pictures of he and Grace at various functions from when she was first hired. And these were functions where they hadn't even spoken to one another.
Still, the photos were strewn across gossip websites. One headline reading: BILLIONAIRE BACHELOR CHEATING DURING MARRIAGE TO DESIGNER WIFE? PICS PROVE IT ALL!
He rolled his eyes and dismissed the trashy claim immediately. He had never cheated on Brielle. He loved her intensely, even during the portions of their marriage where they were on a break. Separated by states and countries. His heart was always with her.
But then Levi called to say a reporter had found his brother's phone number and were calling to ask for a quote about the alleged affair.
Cooper had avoided his phone ever since. Not only was he not in the mood to deal with silly media, but he cringed to think what Brielle would say once she saw such claims.
Never mind all the horrible things she had said about his family after their breakup.
But, if someone were to question her desirability? She would be out for blood. And he didn't want to be on the receiving end of that call.
Cooper could replay the montage of the rest of his day with Grace so clearly by the time evening came. He could set it to music like they did on TV. They spent the morning swimming with Buck, which quickly turned into jet-skiing along the Elora coast just a few miles from the bungalows. This was the area of the water where the glassy turquoise turned mysteriously black. Like a black hole had opened up and swallowed the crystal-clear waters from beneath.
They lunched at the resort and went through each other’s phone playlists, picking out songs they both had in common and talked about the best band for every genre of music.
"Fleetwood Mac," Grace said triumphantly when they reached the 'Classic Rock' category.
"Fleetwood Mac?" Cooper laughed into his hand. "That is not classic rock! ACDC, Zeppelin, the Stones! Those are classic rock bands."
"They are so!" she argued. "They may not be your style of music, but that doesn't disqualify them from a whole genre!"
"No," he said vehemently.
The two of them proceeded to battle it out until they found a list of the top 100 classic rock songs of all time and Grace had been proven right.
"See!" she said, pointing to the band's name listed at number eighty-nine. "Proof pudding! I'm right, and you're wrong!"
"And humble, too!" he snorted.
Afterward, they dropped Buck off at Cooper's home and went back to the mainland to walk along the pier together. He enjoyed the casual ambiance of the mainland. It wasn't the well-oiled machine that Crystal Beach was, but that's what he liked about it. Local shops, friendly people, a slower pace. They stopped at the carnival and rode the Ferris wheel and the pendulum ride to excess.
They ate cotton candy, fried pickles, deep-fried chocolate bars, and soft pretzels to such excess that by the time dinner rolled around, Grace raised a hand to her mouth and shook her head in decline.
"Never, eating, again," she said with large gaps between her words.
By the time they got back to the dock bungalows, it was already nine-thirty at night. Paul was already waiting for them, but Grace's friend had only just arrived.
"Sorry!" the young Asian woman shouted as she ran down the dock. "I'm late. As usual!"
"You're fine!" Grace giggled, greeting her friend with a hug. "We only just got here."
The four of them exchanged greetings and pleasantries before sitting down on the docks together. Addison and Paul wasted no time digging into the rolling bar cart, but Cooper and Grace had too much fun on the rides earlier to be considering putting anything into their stomachs.
Cooper quickly got the idea that Addison was in on their marriage scheme, even though he had told Grace not to tell anyone, except for her parents if she absolutely had to. Paul, for his part, couldn't care less. He knew of Cooper's plan to get Brielle out of the family, but for all Cooper knew, Paul thought he really was dating Grace.
The four of them were getting along great. The whole day had been a blast, as far as Cooper was concerned.
Until strike one happened.
They were all talking about relationships and the newest girl Paul was currently trying to date and Grace had headed into the bungalow to freshen up, which Cooper knew was just a girl's way of admitting she had to pee. Immediately, Paul excused himself as well, walking off to the next hut that Cooper had been sleeping in to use the restroom.
Once they were alone, Addison tipped her head to the side and gave Cooper a pointed look.
"You know Grace just got out of a serious relationship, right?" she said.
He nodded. "I know. She told me."
"And it was horribly painful for her? Still is?" she added.
"Are you acting as her bodyguard?" he laughed. "Because I have no intention of hurting her. We're not even together."
To Cooper's surprise, saying that felt like a lie somehow. It sent a cold spike through his center, like smelling pure peppermint and having it linger in your lungs to the point of being painful.
"Maybe not," Addison rolled her shoulder. "But you took advantage of her at a low point in her life, and I don't like that."
"Well, hopefully I can win you over," he sai
d with a tone he hoped brought some levity to their exchange, but Addison's watchful expression was immovable.
“And how would you do that, if you’re not even supposed to be in her life after a month?” Addison asked, cocking a brow.
“Wow, you’re not even pretending not to know about our deal,” he said with an irritated breath.
“Nope,” she said with a popping noise.
“I had asked Grace not to say anything,” he said with a half-shrug.
“Well, Grace isn’t a dog. And she’s not really your wife, so she doesn’t have to listen to you, especially not if it means lying to her best friend.”
Cooper licked his lips and tried to assess the situation. They had been getting along so well before this moment. What happened?
“Fair enough,” he said. “Anything I can do to recover here?” he said with a chuckle. “Tell me now so I can stop trying or try harder.”
Addison leaned back in her chair and fixed a black strand of hair behind her ear. “Not really,” Addison said casually before taking a long inhale. “I just don’t trust you. And I don’t think that Grace would either if she were in her right mind.”
That conversation sat like a pit in Cooper’s stomach. But it was fine, he told himself. Addison was Grace’s best friend, and she wasn’t wrong about Grace having been vulnerable. It was only natural for her to be protective.
The night would recover, he told himself.
And then strike two happened.
Paul had been talking about how he was robbed on a recent trip to Germany. It was his newest, favorite party-story to tell.
"Bottom line," Paul said with a laugh, "Never leave an attendant to watch your bags in Germany or you're in for a wild ride. I would never trust any staff there with my valuables ever again. I can't believe it was a five-star hotel! I was so put out, I got my assistant to leave a negative review online!"
Cooper and Grace both laughed in amusement at the story, but he saw something pass between Grace and Addison that he couldn't quite put his finger on. It was an unspoken language—a look that only the closest of friends could dissect.
"Oh, I'd never do that," Addison said with no small amount of sarcasm. "Only the best for my Italian luggage."
