“Well… it’s not like I’m here to perform.” Justine flicked her eyes towards Lucy, who hastily rose and made the introductions, presenting Luke as the resort’s general manager.
“Luke’s also officiating at our wedding,” Bryce put in, thinking that was worth mentioning. “Though Sunfish has a full-time celebrant, she’s away next week, so Luke agreed to stand in for us.”
“Happy to do it,” Luke said heartily, putting a hand on Bryce’s shoulder. “I’ve never seen a couple so in love, have you?” he asked Justine.
“They can’t keep their hands off each other, that’s for sure,” Justine said with her tinkling little laugh, and Bryce was suddenly struck by a flash of inspiration.
“Are you busy, Luke? Because I’m about to head out with the night dive, and I’d appreciate it if you’d stand in for me and keep Justine and Lucy company for a while.”
“I’d be delighted,” Luke said warmly, and Justine brightened.
“Do sit down,” she slid over and patted the vacated seat beside her. The look she skimmed over Luke was positively acquisitive, and Bryce felt briefly sorry for his boss. But then, Luke was a grown man and could look after himself.
“I’ll walk out with you,” Lucy said as Bryce made his apologies. Her hand felt cold as her fingers curled around his, and he held onto them firmly as they left the restaurant.
“You okay?” he asked quietly once they were out of earshot.
“Yeah. I forgot how difficult it is to go out with her in public.” Lucy grimaced slightly. “That was only a fraction of the attention she gets in England, of course.”
“I can imagine.” He could also see how Justine basked in it, manipulating the limelight to push Lucy ever further into her shadow. With a quick glance over his shoulder to check they were still visible from the booth where Justine and Luke now sat, Bryce drew Lucy to a halt. “You’ve managed her awesomely so far, and Luke’s smart enough to spot the signals if you need to let him know you don’t want to be alone with Justine.”
“You’ve been so amazing,” Lucy said earnestly, staring up at him. “Thank you so much.”
Bryce ducked his head a little bashfully. “It’s nothing.” He flicked another glance back at the booth, saw Justine watching them. “And since she’s watching, I think we should give her something to stare at. I’m gonna kiss you now, okay?”
***
“Uh,” Lucy said intelligently. “Uh, yeah. That’s okay.”
Bryce’s arm curled around her waist and he bent his head slowly, obviously giving her time to back off if she changed her mind. Not that Lucy could imagine any reason she might ever want to not kiss Bryce. Even if he hadn’t already proven himself to be an exceptional kisser, he was, well, Bryce. She tilted her face up, eyes drifting closed and lips parting instinctively.
“Fuck, you’re beautiful,” Bryce muttered gruffly, and Lucy’s eyes flew open again briefly just as he kissed her.
Did he really mean that? Growing up in her mother’s shadow, Lucy had always been the ugly duckling, Intellectually she knew she was passably pretty at least, but the way Bryce looked at her, the way he kissed her, made her feel beautiful for the first time in her life. She swayed towards him as he broke the kiss, wanting more, wanting to feel that way again, and Bryce muttered a curse under his breath.
“I’ll see you later,” he said before kissing her again, a little rougher this time, a little deeper.
Lucy’s lips were tingling as she returned to the dinner table, flags of scarlet colour flying high on her cheeks. Justine had already looked away, was focusing all her attention on Luke. Lucy wondered if she’d have to warn him off — Luke was far too nice to get caught in Justine’s web — but decided he could take care of himself when he shot her a surreptitious wink at one point. They were all playing their parts, and Justine, the professional actress, hadn’t the slightest idea.
Oh, the delicious irony.
The sensation of victory carried Lucy through the rest of the dinner, and thankfully immediately afterwards Justine admitted jet lag was making her tired.
“Get some sleep, Mum. I’ll meet you in the morning, take you on a tour of the island. Say nine o’clock? Give you time to have some breakfast first. I’ll meet you in the main lobby, by the information desk.”
“Sounds lovely, darling.” Justine air-kissed both her cheeks. “Good night.”
“Lovely to meet you, Justine.” Luke gave her a warm smile. “See you again soon, I hope.”
“You can count on it.” She gave him a sultry look before turning on her heel and heading for the elevators.
Luke blew out his cheeks as he watched her go before shooting Lucy a wry look. “If I hadn’t been forewarned that your mother was a difficult type, I might be trailing along behind her with my tongue hanging out right about now.”
“Please don’t fall for her,” Lucy begged earnestly. “You’re much, much too nice.”
“No fear, hon. I’m married to my job.” Luke smiled, the corners of his eyes crinkling. “Besides, I can hardly have a strict policy of no involvement between staff and guests if I don’t follow it myself, can I?”
“Great leaders lead by example,” Lucy murmured.
“Since you don’t actually work for me, I’ll take that as the compliment it is.” Luke nodded his head to her gravely. “We’re here for you, Lucy. I wondered when you first came to me why you were doing this, but I think I understand a little better now. Don’t let Justine get under your skin, huh? It’s only two weeks, and you’ll have plenty to distract her with.”
“You mean Bryce, and the wedding.”
Luke’s grin was wicked. “Sic Terry and Jerome on her. And Olivia. No doubt Olivia will know how to put a good PR spin on one of Britain’s biggest soap stars holidaying here.”
Lucy wrinkled her nose. “Undoubtedly. I just know Justine will want to make our wedding all about her.”
Luke looked at her oddly. “Your fake wedding.”
“Hm?”
“Your fake wedding, Lucy. You’re not really getting married, remember?”
“Oh.” Feeling a scalding blush start crawling up her cheeks, Lucy started babbling. “Well, of course I hadn’t forgotten. It’s just so easy to get lost in all the little details, even though Terry and Jerome are absolute stars at organising things, all they do is show me ideas for approval. This is the most wonderful practice for if I ever do get married.”
Luke’s expression was decidedly cynical as he looked at her, but he nodded and said nothing, a small smile lifting the corners of his lips. “Well. You can count on my support, whatever you need.”
“Thank you so much,” Lucy said again as he smiled and left her. It was a shame Luke didn’t have a romantic interest of his own, she thought. Not that she would wish Justine on anyone, much less a man she liked so much!
Chapter Twelve
It was well after midnight when Bryce walked wearily back into the staff area and hesitated at a fork in the path. Going back to his cabin seemed pointless since there was almost nothing of his there, not even his toothbrush, but going to Lucy’s felt kind of presumptuous. She was probably asleep, anyway, and he definitely didn’t want to wake her. The way she’d fallen asleep on him that afternoon spoke of nights she’d spent awake worrying.
He’d go by her cabin and see, he decided after a moment. If she was awake, he could just grab his toothbrush and a change of clothes, and then go back to his place to sleep.
There were no lights on in Lucy’s cabin, and Bryce’s shoulders sagged. Well… he could still get a shower and just sleep in the nude, he supposed. They hadn’t stripped his old bed, at least. He was turning to walk away when a voice said his name softly.
“Lucy?” He turned back, squinting.
“Here.”
She was in his hammock, he realised as she lifted a hand, a tiny citronella candle burning on the rail beside her to keep the mosquitoes at bay.
“You should be resting.” Walking up alongside he
r, he looked down, trying to make out her expression. She was on the wrong side of the cabin for the bright moonlight to illuminate her features, and the candle’s glow was too small to be helpful.
“Couldn’t sleep. How was the dive?”
“Nothing out of the ordinary. How was your evening, after I left? Did Luke stay?”
“He did, and he was wonderful.” She sat up, lurching to try and get out of the hammock, giggling as it swung wildly. Bryce chuckled along with her, leaning down to grab her and lift her to her feet. She clung to his shoulders, gripping the snug material of his T-shirt, clinging to slightly damp skin.
“I came to pick up my toothbrush and some clean clothes,” Bryce said after a moment of tense, singing silence.
“You have to sleep here,” Lucy blurted, and he raised his eyebrows.
“Excuse me?”
“Justine went to bed early. Jet lag. She’s quite likely to be up at the crack of dawn and perfectly selfish enough to come looking for me. If she finds you not sleeping here, well… all the hard work we put in today would be wasted, wouldn’t it?”
“Lucy.” He stopped after the single word, stalling out. Then restarted again. “After earlier, is that a good idea?”
“Earlier?”
“Yes, earlier, when we damn near ripped each others’ clothes off!”
“Oh. That.”
They were almost nose to nose. Bryce’s hands shook with the effort of not reaching for her, not grabbing her and dragging her hard against him.
“I want you,” he said raggedly. “I’ve spent damn near every minute since that kiss here earlier thinking about it, thinking about you. About how much I didn’t want to stop.”
The silence seemed to go on forever. Bryce died a little inside as Lucy just stared at him, wide-eyed. And then she said;
“So this time, let’s not stop.”
This is going to complicate things, Bryce thought as Lucy’s arms wrapped around his neck and she pulled his head down. But then her soft lips pressed against his and he stopped thinking about anything except the way she tasted.
***
For an awful moment, Lucy thought Bryce wasn’t going to kiss her back. Then he made a rough noise in his throat, arms wrapping around her tightly to lift her off her feet. She felt him step back, kicking the screen door open before he carried her into the cabin and lowered her to the bed, lips still fused with hers as they drank each other in.
She wanted to feel his skin against hers, tore frantically at his T-shirt until he reared back off her and ripped it off. The moonlight pouring into the room limned his lean, strong torso in a silvery halo, brightening his blond hair. He looked almost like an angel there above her, but no angel would be cupping her breasts through her dress, thumbs teasing her nipples to hard, aching peaks.
Bryce was kneeling on her dress; frustrated beyond measure, Lucy shoved at him. “Off,” she demanded.
“What?” He froze, hands still on her breasts.
“Get off! I need to get my dress off!”
His chuckle was relieved as he rolled to the side, reaching down to help pull her dress up and off over her head. Hurling it aside, Lucy almost flung herself against Bryce’s chest, moaning with pleasure as the warmth of his skin soaked into hers.
“Christ, Lucy.” Bryce sounded as affected as she felt, his voice hoarse. His hands stroked down her back, hesitated at the clasp of her bra.
“Take it off,” Lucy begged.
Still he hesitated, before asking in a low voice “Do you have protection, Lucy?”
“I’m on the Pill, but yes. Condoms.” She waved a hand vaguely at the nightstand. “Top drawer.”
She wasn’t going to mention that she’d bought them at the hotel’s small shop before returning to her cabin after dinner, in the hope this very scenario might occur. Bryce probably wouldn’t care that she’d premeditated his seduction, but she still didn’t plan to mention it.
“Good,” Bryce mumbled, unfastening the snap of her bra before rolling back to reach for the nightstand. “I was going to get some from the shop, but they’d closed by the time the dive boat got back.”
Lucy laughed out loud, but shook her head when he turned to give her a quizzical look. “Nothing. Never mind. You found them?”
“Right here.” He held up the box. “You sure about this, Lucy?”
“Never been more sure of anything in my life,” she said with complete honesty, and he nodded.
“Me, too.”
Bryce was down to just a pair of thin board shorts now, the lacing coming undone easily as Lucy tugged at it. His cock strained towards her through the opening, thick and long, hard steel covered with velvet-soft skin. She wrapped her fingers around him, testing his size, catching a droplet of thick cream on the end of her thumb and smearing it back into the head.
“Fffuuucckkk,” Bryce husked out, hands shaking as he reached to cup her breasts again. “Easy there, Luce…”
She smiled, sliding her hand along his thick length, adding a sharp little twist as she brought it back up again. “Something the matter?”
“Yeah, I’m not gonna last long enough to get inside you if you keep that up.” Bryce’s words were almost hissed out through clenched teeth. He gave her nipples a sharp little tug, making Lucy gasp in response. Her grip slackened, and a moment later Bryce was pushing her down to her back, mouth seeking her breasts as one big hand skimmed down over her stomach.
She was still wearing her panties, but she knew very well they were soaked with the evidence of her lust. Bryce seemed to stall out as his fingers encountered the damp patch over her crotch, but only briefly before his fingers were nudging the fabric aside.
“Christ, you’re so wet,” he murmured, pulling off her nipple to look up at her. “Lucy…”
“Sh,” she ordered, spearing her fingers into his thick, shaggy golden hair and urging him back to her breast. They could talk later about how she’d been lusting after him almost since they met. Or not, preferably. His fingers were working sheer magic, grazing lightly at first over her clit and then making rougher circles, finding the exact pressure to make her hips buck up off the bed and small cries erupt from her lips. His mouth stayed busy too, suckling first one nipple then the other, each tug of his firm lips sending further bolts of pleasurable sensation through her.
***
Lucy seemed almost delirious, unintelligible cries and moans spilling from her as Bryce coaxed her up towards orgasm. Her nails scored his scalp, fingers tugging on his hair. The small pressure only increased his own arousal, making him grind his hips against the mattress in a desperate search for relief.
“Bryce, please!” Lucy cried out finally. “I want you — want you inside me — please!”
It would have taken a much stronger man than Bryce Seabrook to deny her. With a groan of need, he lifted his head and reached for the box of condoms he’d dropped on the edge of the bed. By the time his fingers closed around it, Lucy had wriggled out of her knickers with a very distracting shimmy of her hips and was lying back, a come-hither look in her eyes.
In the heated dreams from which he’d awakened far too often, he hadn’t rushed. He’d taken his time to explore every inch of Lucy, find all the trigger spots which made her moan and gasp, but in real life, that exploration would have to come later. She was in no mood to wait and he honestly thought he might explode if he tried to hold out any longer. Easing to kneel between Lucy’s spread thighs, he guided his sheathed cock to her soaked entrance.
Lucy’s moan as he pressed inside her almost set him off. He had to pause, grip tightly around the base of his cock for a moment and breathe deeply to keep control. Her hands came up to settle on his shoulders, slender legs winding around his hips as she tried to pull him deeper, and he groaned.
“Easy, babe, easy. Gimme a second.”
She whined his name, tugging on him frantically, and he was lost. With a fierce thrust of his hips he plunged fully inside Lucy, revelling in her shriek of pleasure,
working his hand in between them to find her clit and rub it almost frantically, bringing her up to the peak as he flew there himself. His own groans and shouts mingled with hers as they chased ecstasy together, until Lucy’s nails dug into his shoulders, body bowing up against his as she climaxed for a second time.
She was so beautiful in the throes of her pleasure, long slender neck arched back, her dark hair thrashing around her on the white pillow as she flung her head from side to side, writhing sinuously underneath him.
With a desperate moan of relief Bryce let go, feeling his balls tighten and pull up hard against his body as seed spurted in hot jets into the condom.
“Oh God, Luce,” Bryce mumbled against her hair. He was shaking, slight tremors running through him with the incredible intensity of the release, as he reared back and lifted his hand to touch her cheek, kiss her lips. “God, that was…” He didn’t have words, could only gaze at her in wonderment.
She smiled up at him, her hands stroking lightly over his shoulders. “It was, wasn’t it?”
Bryce could only nod, grunting slightly as he eased back. Lucy made a small sound of protest as he slipped from her and clambered off the bed to go to the bathroom, and when he returned after cleaning up and brushing his teeth to find she’d crawled under the sheet, she lifted one edge of it invitingly.
“You okay with me sleeping here?” he checked, sliding into bed beside her.
“Sure. I’m not a cuddly sleeper, though,” she warned.
“Thank God for that. It’s way too hot in Queensland to be cuddling up to a hot body in your sleep.”
***
Lucy giggled as Bryce defused what could have been a slightly tense moment with his trademark humour. He was right, of course, it was far too hot to cuddle anyway. She was hot and sweating after even the quickie they’d just had, even though the air conditioner was on low, keeping the room cooler than the hot, humid night outside.
Rolling on her side to look at him, she smiled. The moonlight pouring into the cabin through the big windows — she rarely drew her curtains — meant she could see his face clearly, although her own would probably be in shadow. He looked relaxed, a satisfied smile curving his mouth. As she lay there admiring the perfect symmetry of his face, his high cheekbones, broad brow and sharp blade of a nose, he reached out and traced the end of his thumb lightly over her lower lip before placing his hand gently over hers where it rested on the mattress between them.
Her Fake Island Wedding Page 7
