"So, why are you here?" Maya asked, not taking the time to consider how blunt her words might sound coming out of nowhere. She shook her head. "Sorry, I meant-"
"Yeah, I know," The man waved his hand, dismissing her apology. "Cousin of the groom. I guess he needed someone to make up the numbers. That's the only reason I can think of for him inviting me. You?"
"College roommate. And pretty much ditto. I don't know anyone here, that's why I snuck off down to the beach." Maya shrugged, gesturing out over the golden sands in front of them. "Oh, I'm Maya, by the way."
The man stuck his hand out in her direction.
"Adam."
"So, Adam, do you think they'll be missing us back at the reception?" She asked, glancing over her shoulder at the hotel.
"Ugh, I hope not," he shook his head. "You know how it is. I love my family and all that crap, but sometimes the thought of being trapped with them on a tropical island in the middle of nowhere isn't all that appealing."
"I feel you," Maya nodded. "At least you've got people to talk to, I don't know anyone but Dina and, you know, she's off doing all that fiancee stuff now."
"Well, you've got me to talk to know," Adam pointed out, offering her a quick grin and the champagne bottle. "Do you think we should head back up to the reception soon?"
Maya rolled her eyes, but she knew he was right. She didn't want Dina's last memory of her to be her being an ungrateful cow and sneaking off on the first day of her wedding weekend.
"Yeah, probably." She nodded, standing up and dusting the sand from her dress. "Promise you'll keep me company?"
"If you keep up with the free champagne," he shot back, offering her an arm. She took it gratefully, and the two of them made their way back up the beach. Maya couldn't help but notice how strong his arm felt under his suit jacket, and wondered if the rest of him felt as good.
As they walked, Adam frowned and seemed to almost sniff the air, as if something untoward had caught his attention.
"What is it?" Maya asked, craning her neck to look around. She couldn't see anything at first, but then she spotted a figure halfway down the beach. That was odd, she could have sworn it was just the two of them when they first arrived.
"I…don't like the look of him," Adam nodded towards the figure. "Do you know who he is?"
Maya squinted into the dark, and the figure took a few paces towards them, and Maya figured out where she'd seen him before.
"Huh, I kind of recognize him," she murmured, wrinkling up her face in distaste. "Can't put my finger on who, though.
"What are the odds someone else would come down here?” Adam wondered aloud, bringing the two of them to a stop and scanning the beach for other people.
"I don't know. Maybe he came for the free champagne?" Maya suggested.
"I guess so," Adam nodded. "Should we go down and-"
"Wait a second, where the fuck did he go?" Maya exclaimed. She scanned the beach hurriedly, but she couldn't see any figure. Shaking her head, she plopped the champagne bottle on the sand next to her.
"Think I've had plenty of that for one evening," she commented. Adam was still staring back across at where the figure had been standing, his brow furrowed.
"Shall we go?" Maya prompted, and Adam shook his head, like a dog shaking loose of a collar.
"Sorry. Yeah, let's."
They made their way back to the reception, and Maya couldn't help but wonder where she knew that guy from. Did Dina know he was here? Should she tell her? Grabbing the nearest free glass of wine that she could, Maya took a long drink and turned to Adam with a smile on her face. He was even cuter in the light.
"Dance?" She suggested, holding her hand out to him. He slunk an arm around her waist, and spun her around manically on to the dance floor. Most of the guests had grown pretty tired, and were picking listlessly at their buffet food and finishing their last glasses of wine. But for Maya, the night had only just begun.
They danced for what felt like hours, but was probably only a few tracks in real time. Maya had never been much one for dancing, but when there was a band right there and booze flowing and a handsome man in fancy clothes, it felt right. And maybe it was a cliché, for the groomsman and the bridesmaid to flirt outrageously all night long, but it was a cliché Maya was all too happy to fulfill.
By the time her feet were aching and her make-up running with sweat, the band was just about ready to pack up. Most of the guests had vanished to bed, with only a few lonely singles still milling about, hoping to find someone to hook up with. Maya couldn't help but feel a little smug as Adam offered to walk her back to her room, even if she had no intention of taking things any further.
Giggly and a little drunk, Adam and Maya made their way back up the stairs and through the long, winding corridor to her room. They paused outside, facing each other, and Maya felt a little clip of excitement in her chest.
"You know I'm not going to invite you in, right?" Maya confirmed, raising her eyebrows at Adam. He held his hands in the air, defending himself.
"Of course. I wouldn't expect anything less of a classy lady such as yourself."
"Hey, I'd be classy even if I did take you to my room," she protested, wobbling slightly on her heels. He caught her, his hands firm on her upper arms, and she looked up at him.
"C'mere," she murmured, and leaned up to press her lips against his. He tasted smoky and sweet, a mixture of wine and tobacco, and she found herself fighting the urge to invite him in after all. But no, the last thing she wanted to do was wake up regretting her decision, and anyway, this would probably be the last she saw of him. Everyone was heading home the next evening, and she didn't want to hook up with a guy and have that be her only memory of this wedding. She pulled back, keeping her eyes shut for a second longer as if savoring the moment, before she looked at him again. To her surprise and chagrin, he looked put out, angry, almost.
"Is everything okay?" She asked, stepping forward and placing a hand on his chest.
"Yeah, it's just, that guy, from the beach. I can smell him. He's nearby again, and I don't think it's to congratulate the bride on her magical day."
"How the hell can you smell him?" Maya demanded, wrinkling her nose at him in disdain. "What, is he standing right behind me or something?"
Adam glanced at the floor, and then back up at Maya, and in that moment, she figured out exactly what it was. What made him different. Why he could smell that guy. Why he seemed preternaturally attuned to everything that was going on around him.
"Are you-" She cut herself off before she could complete the sentence. She knew she was right. She should have guessed it as soon as she saw those eyes. no one had eyes that color, that golden, unless they were-
"I'm a shifter." He mumbled, his eyes still on the ground. Maya felt a wave of nausea rush over her, and she wasn't sure if it was the alcohol or the revelation.
"I need to go," she excused herself, unable to come up with a better reason than that. He shrugged and turned away, and Maya hurriedly unlocked the door and stepped into her room. She leant up against the polished wood panelling, her breath coming in short, sharp bursts. Shit. Had she really just…kissed a shifter? After all that shit her parents had told her? After everything that had happened? She wasn't even sure she had ever met one before, and now here she was, spending all night dancing and drinking and flirting with one. Her family would be ashamed of her. Hell, she felt pretty ashamed at what she'd just done. She thanked her lucky stars that they hadn't gone any further, and began the laborious process of getting undressed. At least she could be sure that that was the last she'd see of him. She'd hide up in her room tomorrow, then jump into a taxi and head straight to the ceremony. No messing around, no hanging about, just straight out of there to forget about the whole damn thing. Sliding in to bed, she was already writing off the whole evening as a bored, tipsy mistake, one never to be repeated again. As her eyes drifted shut, a distant rumble of thunder crashed to life over the sea.
Maya's eyes flew ope
n, it was early, she could tell. Stretching out with a soft groan and flipping on to her side, she peered out the windows opposite her bed, rain was smashing up against the glass, and she could already hear the wind beating against the hotel. She was about to drift back off to sleep, until she remembered the airstrip-shit, would this mean the flights were cancelled? Pulling herself upright and grabbing for her robe, she slid into some slippers and padded down to reception, where there were already a handful of guests milling around.
Squeezing through the crowd, she made it to the front desk. A harried-looking receptionist with a phone tucked between her ear and her shoulder nodded her greeting, and held up a finger as she finished up the call. Around her, people were murmuring and muttering to each other with a kind of dissatisfied resignation, and Maya got the horrible feeling that she was going to be stuck here longer than she thought.
"How can I help?" The receptionist offered her a smile as she clicked the phone back into place.
"Um, yeah, I had a flight booked for Tuesday, and I was wondering-" Maya started, but she could already tell from the receptionists expression that it was bad news.
"There are no flights going out for the foreseeable future," the receptionist cut across her, and it was clear that she'd had to repeat the same line a hundred times already. "Until the storm passes, everyone's stuck here. The bride and groom have offered to cover your rooms until you can leave."
"Well, thanks," Maya nodded, turning away and trying to disguise her annoyance. After all, it wasn't the receptionist's fault that she'd be stuck here longer than she anticipated. She eased her way past the crowd and back up to her room, sitting on the bed and staring out across the golden beach and the distant sea, well, there were worse places to be stuck with no hope of escape.
And then she remembered, Adam. She'd almost forgotten about their dalliance the night before, and now she had to face up to the fact that she'd be stuck here with him for at least another day. What if he wanted an answer as to why she'd fled after finding out about his shifter status? Surely, he must have been used to it by now, even if everyone knew shifters existed, coming across them was basically unheard of. They were hard to pick out, if you weren't looking, all they had giving them away in their human forms were gold-flecked eyes, and you could easily just put that down to lucky genetics.
Maya felt a flicker of sadness when she thought back over the evening they'd spent together. Sure, it wasn't much, but it felt like the spark of something. Shame he had to go fuck it up like that. And yeah, Maya knew deep down that it wasn't his fault, and he wasn't exactly obliged to come out and announce the fact that he was a shifter to everyone he encountered just in case they got a crush on him, but still. Some part of her felt betrayed-although maybe it was more that she felt as if she'd betrayed herself and her family by actually liking a shifter.
Back when shifters had first come out, almost seventy-five years ago now, the entire world had basically tilted on it's axis. The line between fantasy and reality blurred, and people didn't like that. The existence of shifters, of people who could take on animal form at will-was too much for a lot of people to get their heads around. And Maya's grandfather had been one of those people. Maya rested her jaw in her hand, her mind drifting back to all the times her mother had told and retold this story to her.
Maya's grandfather, Joel, had been one of the first to take a stand against the shifters. He had never been particularly open to the idea of change, and this one was cataclysmic. Maybe it was because he was just back from the war, still functioning under the impression that it was his job to secure his country and that the way to do that was through violence. Either way, when he found out that a shifter wolf pack had been operating only a town over, he gathered a group of men, waited till the dead of night, and went to hunt them down.
The men who returned said the wolves were more than animal, but less than human. They fought with a deranged ferocity, protecting their own, fierce and feral and fearless. They couldn't have been surprised by the fact that somebody came to clear them out, even if they had been mostly benevolent, they represented danger, especially now that they didn't have to hide their wolf forms any more. Maya's grandfather and his men were just trying to secure the town, and who could blame them for that?
no one knew exactly what had happened to Maya's grandfather, all anyone could be certain off was that he went into that forest a healthy man, and came out practically torn to pieces. There were whisperings, what did he expect, leading an attack on a pack of half-human wolves? Didn't he know he would be leaving a wife and a daughter defenseless behind him? He was the only one not to make it out of the forest alive. Maya's mother often wondered to her if they had somehow known he was the ringleader, and targeted him for daring to upset their status quo. They'd never know-the wolf pack hurriedly moved on and was never seen again, and Maya's mother had raised with her a violent hatred of shifters ever since.
Maya was roused from her reverie by a knock at the door, pulling her robe around her and running a hand through her hair, she went to answer it, praying it wasn't Adam. She opened the door, and breathed a sigh of relief, it was just Lorne, the only other bridesmaid she'd actually spoken to that weekend.
"So, you heard that we're stuck here, right?" She asked, propping one hand on her doorframe and rolling her wide green eyes.
"Yeah, I guess," Maya shrugged, glancing back out her window. The storm looked pretty well set, the sky was inky black as far as the eye could see, and occasional claps of thunder rumbled across the horizon.
"We're getting the wedding party together for breakfast, we're gonna talk everything out and see how we can make this easier for Dina and Tom."
Maya fought the urge to slam the door in her face, and tried to keep her tone casual. She knew that spending time with the wedding party would bring her face-to-face with Adam once again, and she wasn't sure if she was entirely ready for that. It was an inevitability, but one that she hoped she could put off a little while longer at least.
"Um, that sounds-"
"I'll see you down there in an hour?" Lorne raised her eyebrows at her expectantly. Despite her brusque nature, Maya knew she was just trying to do what was best for Dina, so Maya shrugged.
"Yeah, sure."
"Great, till then."
Lorne ducked off down the corridor, and Maya closed the door and flopped down on to her bed. Shit. Part of her wanted to vault the balcony and try to swim back to the mainland, but part of her wanted to see Adam. She'd known for years that her mother's hatred of the shifters was pretty much unheard of nowadays, but she'd never had reason to question it before. This guy, this normal, cute, sweet, funny guy, he was a reason. And that both scared and thrilled her in the same breath.
She hopped in a shower, washing away the last remnants of last night's champagne and dancing, and got herself ready for breakfast. Until she figured out exactly what she wanted from this guy, she wanted to keep her options open-and that meant looking as fine as possible. As the water cascaded over her, her mind drifted back to the figure she'd seen on the beach before, where did she know him from? It was like having a name on the tip of her tongue that she couldn't quite remember. And then it hit her, Dina's ex. She'd seen photos, but never met him. He was the last person she'd seriously dated before her fiance, so what was he doing here?
Rolling out of the shower, Maya grabbed her phone and quickly scrolled through Facebook, past Dina's giddy posts about the rings and the dresses and the venue, and boom, there he was. He was tall and lanky but lithe, and had piercing gold eyes that seemed to glow, even on the small screen. Maya stared at him for a moment long, then shook her head, unless he came back, she was willing to write it off as a weird coincidence.
By the time she made it downstairs, everyone else had already filled up their plates from the buffet and found a seat at the enormous wooden tables. Maya grabbed some fruit and coffee, and slid in between a couple of the other bridesmaids, both of whom offered her a taut smile. Dina was there,
and she looked beyond stressed at whatever was happening.
Joel (BBW Bear Shifter Wedding Romance) (Grizzly Groomsmen Book 5) Page 32
