Accidental Fiancé

by R. R. Banks

  "I don't think that sounds sad." I looked around at the movies again and then back at her. "I tell you what," I said. "Why don't we each pick a few of our favorites and we'll binge."

  Roxie looked tempted but shook her head. She took her phone out of her pocket and glanced at it before tucking it away again.

  "We can't," she said. "They're doing that clambake down on the beach tonight. I'm supposed to be there early and help Thea make sure everything is set up and greet everybody. By the time that's done, it will be too late to do anything but go to sleep."

  "Alright," I said, "but I'm going to point out that when it comes to a clambake, the movie sounds like a lot more fun than an actual one."

  "Bringing out the Elvis movie references, I see," Roxie said as we walked out of the room.

  "Just a little test of your classic movie knowledge."

  "Oh, we'll see," she said. "We'll see who knows their movies."

  We went back to the cabin and she changed before heading down to the beach, leaving me behind to kill time before I had to make my own appearance at the party. I could have gone down with her, but that would mean following her or Thea around while they made preparations or offering to help the staff. There was a fine line between being attentive and being intrusive. And while I knew plenty of boyfriends who not only rode that line but often toppled over onto the wrong side, my faux boyfriend persona was firmly committed to showering my fake girlfriend with all the attention in the world when I was needed and giving her plenty of space when I wasn't.

  Only as the week progressed, it was getting harder to stay away from her.

  There wasn't much to do in the time I had unless I wanted to see if I could beat myself at chess. Instead, I made myself a cup of coffee and walked out onto the back porch of the cabin. The air outside had drastically changed in the small amount of time that had passed since we got back to the cabin. Clouds had rolled in across the sky and a breeze was coming in from the ocean. I leaned against the railing of the porch and stared down over the trees. I thought about the picnic that I had made for Roxie and her reaction to it. Her eyes had filled with such pure joy, and yet there had also been a hint of something else lingering there. Seeing that happiness, though, had been worth every single ounce of effort.

  A stiffer wind blew up and I swallowed the rest of my coffee before heading back inside the cabin. I dressed, adding a sweatshirt to counteract how chilly it would be down by the water, and started to leave. Before I made it all the way out, I paused and jogged back into the bedroom. I grabbed a hooded jacket from the wardrobe and brought it with me as I made my way down to the beach. Roxie had seemed surprised at how much luggage I brought with me for the week, but if there was one thing I had learned during my younger years traveling with my impulsive mother, it’s that I needed to be prepared for anything. To this day, no matter where I was going, I was just as likely to throw a couple of jackets and sweaters into my luggage as I was a bathing suit and sunglasses. Sometimes it meant that it was more hassle than it was worth, dragging around my huge suitcase only to leave half of it folded, but sometimes it actually came to good use. As I walked down the path to the beach, it felt like the temperature dropped around me with every step. I was glad for everything extra I brought with me.

  Roxie had wrapped her arms around herself when I found her and was shivering close to a bonfire that was struggling to survive its infancy in the wind that was now howling in off the water. Staff members stood close beside it, trying to encourage it to grow by prodding the embers and occasionally tossing in another stick or log. I walked up behind her and draped the jacket over her shoulders. She jumped slightly, but smiled when she looked back and saw it was me. With a grateful expression, she slipped her arms into the jacket and lifted the hood up over her head.

  "Thank you," she said. "It's getting really chilly down here."

  "I know,” I said, zipping the jacket up for her. "That's why I came down here early. I didn't want you to be cold."

  I heard several voices give a resounding 'aww' and saw Roxie's sisters coming toward us. There was still a distinct look of disdain on Marcia's face, but each sister’s face was less scowly than the last as I moved down the line of sisters. In fact, Kimberly's face looked almost completely friendly toward me. Despite their still lukewarm demeanor, they seemed genuinely touched by my gesture, and I felt like I had made some progress with them.

  Score one for Luca.

  A brief lull in the wind allowed the fire to grow and Roxie's expression perked up. I didn't know if it was because she was actually looking forward to the clambake or if it was because the fire was giving off more heat now. She took a few steps closer and held her hands out toward the flames. I walked up behind her, made brief eye contact with Marcia, and wrapped my arms around Roxie's waist. For a moment Roxie became stiff, as if she wasn't sure how to react. Then I felt her hand touch my arm and her head lean back against my shoulder. I rested my head against hers as she let out a sigh. Roxie turned to look at me, her lips parting slightly. I could see the fire dancing in her eyes and feel the warmth of her breath on my face. I started to lean in toward her, but Roxie gasped, crying out in surprise at the sudden deluge of cold rain pouring down on us.

  Damn.

  The fire hissed and sputtered as the rain officially ended its short life, and the guests around us squealed and scattered. I ducked my head and pulled the neckline of my sweatshirt up higher to catch some of the freezing droplets that were sliding down my back. I reached for Roxie's hand and pulled her across the sand and up to the main building. We were laughing by the time we got inside the dry, warm building. Some of the other guests didn't seem nearly as amused, but Roxie was still giggling even as she tried to wipe some of the dripping mascara off her face.

  "I feel bad for Thea," I said.

  Roxie shook her head.

  "Don't," she said. "She told me when I first got down there that she didn't really want to do the clambake and was hoping the weather wouldn't hold up. Apparently, it's a signature experience of the resort that they automatically throw for every event that's more than a day or two."

  "Oh," I said. "Well, then good for her. Wedding gift from the sky."

  "Thea, I'm so sorry," a voice said.

  Roxie tugged me until we ducked around the corner into the short hallway that led to the kitchen.

  "What are you doing?" I asked.

  Roxie held up a finger and we peeked out. One of the members of the resort management was walking beside Thea as they made their way through the front of the building.

  "We should have had an alternative activity planned for this evening in light of the weather. That was an oversight on our part and we absolutely want to do anything that we can to make it up to you."

  "It's alright," Thea reassured him. "It's just rain."

  "But we know how important it is for you to spend time with your guests during this week. We don't want you to feel like this evening is wasted. Allow us to put together something else for you."

  We dipped back into the shadows as Thea and the manager passed the corridor, and I found myself pressed to Roxie as she stood with her back to the wall.

  "We don't want her to see us," she whispered.

  "Why?"

  "Do you really want to be a part of any activity with my sisters that follows them being rained on at the beach?"

  "So, what are we going to do?"

  I was suddenly very aware of our bodies in the space and her breath that pressed our bodies closer to each other with every exhalation. Her tongue slipped out to run across her bottom lip.

  "I have an idea," she said.

  Two minutes later we had run upstairs and were standing in the room full of DVDs.

  "OK, you know the rules. You grab three of your favorites, I'll grab three of mine. We don't compare until we’re back at the cabin."

  Roxie gave a single nod.

  "Agreed. You get one of the players. I'll start looking over in that corner."

&nbs
p; We parted, and she went to the opposite side of the room to start sorting through the cases stacked on a table. I chose a display case and scanned the titles, waiting for something to jump out at me.

  "How are you doing over there?" I asked a few minutes later.

  "Doing good. I've picked two of my three."

  "I've got one. There's something specific I'm looking for, but I haven't seen it."

  "What is it?"

  "I can't tell you that. It's against the rules."

  "OK."

  I kept searching for the specific title that I wanted, my favorite movie that I wanted to share with Roxie, but I couldn't find it. We switched sides of the room and kept looking for a few more minutes, but I didn't see it. I grabbed an alternative and stuffed the DVDs, along with one of the players, under my sweater.

  "Are you ready?"

  Roxie eyed the uneven bulge under my sweater and then met my gaze.

  "I don't think you're going to be able to sneak that past anyone."

  "I just don’t want it to get wet," I said.

  She looked like she was considering it for a second before shoving the three cases in her hand under the jacket she still wore.

  "Let's go," she said.

  Chapter Eleven

  Roxie

  "Do you think I’m a bad maid of honor?"

  "What?" Luca called from the bathroom where he was changing out of his wet clothes.

  "Luca. Am I a bad maid of honor?"

  I was staring at my phone where it sat, dark and silent, on the table beside the couch.

  "Why would you ask that?" he asked as he came into the living room.

  "Thea never called me," I said. "The last time she saw me, we were all running away from the rain and she didn't call to ask if I was OK or to find out where I was."

  "It was only rain… and you ran into a building a couple hundred yards away. I'm sure she knew you were fine."

  "But I hid from her when she and that resort employee walked by while planning another event to replace the clambake. Isn't that something I should be doing with her? As her maid of honor, shouldn't I be trying to make sure this whole week isn’t stressful for her and that things like this don't happen?"

  "I don't think you could stop it from raining. And you said she wanted to cancel the clambake anyway, so you'd actually be doing the opposite of what she wanted."

  "You know what I mean. I feel like it makes me a bad maid of honor that I'm not trying to figure this out for her."

  "You've been with her for the better part of each day since we got here. I'm sure if she needed you, she would call you. She knows you'd be there in a second."

  "I'm going to call her."

  I reached for my phone, but it rang before I could touch it.

  Thea and I had to stop doing this. It was getting creepy.

  "Roxie? Did you and Luca go back to your cabin?" Thea asked.

  "Yeah. We came back to change, but I can come back. Do you need me? What are you doing tonight?"

  "No, no. Have you seen the storm out there? It's just getting worse. I'm glad you made it back to the cabin. I wanted to tell you to just hunker down and stay warm and dry tonight. The management is falling all over themselves to try to fix everything, even though I told them they really don't have to, and they said that they're going to do some kind of dinner buffet, but almost everyone has left. Personally, I'm hoping to get something fast to eat and then smuggle my boyfriend into my suite for some cuddle time."

  I nearly choked.

  "Excuse me? Did you just say your boyfriend?"

  "Yeah," Thea said casually. "My boyfriend, Bryce. We have to be extra sneaky because he's getting married at the end of the week."

  "That is both disturbing and adorable. If you're really sure you don't need me, I'll see you in the morning."

  "I'm sure. Thank you. Goodnight."

  "Night."

  I hung up and dropped the phone back onto the table.

  "Told you," Luca said.

  "Actually, you said she would call me if she needed me. She called because she doesn't need me."

  "Has anyone ever told you that you can be really difficult?"

  "Unfortunately, yes.”

  "I wouldn't say that it's unfortunate, necessarily."

  "You wouldn't?"

  "No. You can be frustrating as hell, but you're fun to figure out."

  "I'm glad you think so. Well, now that we officially have the evening to ourselves, do you want to start our movie marathon?"

  "Absolutely. I'm hungry, though. Feel like ordering some room service? Or we could drive into town for something and possibly not make it back in time for the ceremony. I think going down there for the picnic food was tempting fate."

  I laughed and shook my head.

  "No. If we are going to watch movies, we are going to eat proper movie snacks."

  I could see Luca watching me curiously as I walked into the kitchen and pulled a canvas shopping bag out from the cabinet I had stashed it in the morning our luggage was delivered to the cabin.

  "What is that?" he asked.

  I dropped down on the couch and reached into the bag to pull out a pouch of gummy bears.

  "Movie snacks," I said simply. "I told you, Thea has a thing for health food. She might splurge on some pizza or ice cream when she's hanging out with me, but there's no way that she would have a whole week of food like that, and especially not in front of anyone else. She's not going to encourage eating junk food in front of her friends and family. So, I packed provisions just in case. If I had been able to get to them when we were on our way from the airport it would have been a much more comfortable."

  Luca took the gummy bears from me and laughed.

  He tore open the package and popped one of the translucent little bears into his mouth. He chewed and eyed the bag.

  "What else do you have in there?"

  I looked down in the bag and started pulling items out, tossing them onto the couch between us. I had taken out a couple of chocolate bars, peanut butter crackers, hazelnut spread, granola bars, pita chips, and raisins before I paused, and looked up at him.

  "I know what movie I want to watch."

  I grabbed the stack of movies I had chosen and put one in the DVD player. Once it was playing, I went back to the couch and moved all the snacks onto the coffee table in front of us. I grabbed a bag of pistachios, took one out, held it up in front of his face, and tilted it up and down as if it was speaking.

  "Feed me, Seymour," I said in my very best Audrey II.

  "Little Shop of Horrors?" he asked.

  I looked at him and nodded, bringing the pistachio into my lap so that I could crack the shell open and pop the nut into my mouth.

  "It's my favorite," I said. "I know, it's old and a little cheesy." Luca was staring at me and I gave a resigned shrug. "OK, it's really cheesy, but I love it.

  In one motion, Luca closed the gap between us, pressing his forehead to mine and placing a hand on either side of me, pulling me closer to him. The sudden movement startled me, and I slid down on the couch until I was almost lying down.

  "I know," he murmured.

  "You do?" I asked.

  Luca nodded, and I could feel the heat of his body surrounding me, his heart pounding in his chest.

  "That was the movie I was looking for but couldn't find."

  I stretched my body slowly beneath him and saw his eyelashes lower as lust burned brightly in his eyes. Luca touched his nose to mine, measuring his breaths as if he was trying to control himself. I felt my lips tingle with the desire to taste his. He paused, brushing his lips against mine. I drew in a trembling breath as I ran the tip of my tongue along his bottom lip. Luca exhaled before dipping his head down and pressing his lips against mine. As I relaxed into the kiss and closed my eyes, I felt like stars were bursting behind them. Luca rested himself on top of me, and the combined sensations of his kiss and the weight of his body pressed against me, made me want even more. Suddenly the reality of
what was happening hit me, and I pulled away from him. He looked down at me questioningly.

  "What's wrong?" he asked.

  I can't do this. This isn't real. Wake up, Roxie.

  I looked back at him, unable to bring myself to make eye contact. At this point, his gaze alone was enough to take total control of me. I couldn't do this to myself. Shit. I was falling for Luca. I could feel it, but I didn't want to go any farther than this. I couldn't let myself get hurt. Not again.

  "This is my favorite part of the movie," I said. "Let's watch."

  I started to wriggle myself back up to a sitting position and Luca moved off me. I didn't look at him again as I shifted around to sit with my back against the arm of the sofa. I grabbed another pistachio out of the bag and focused my attention on the movie. I could feel him staring at me from his end of the sofa. Eventually, he turned away and started watching the movie. As the evening wore on, I relaxed more, letting go of the initial tension I felt after that first kiss. I slid slightly down and reached up to rest my arm on the back of the couch. As I did, my fingertips brushed along Luca's hand. I paused, leaving my fingers lightly touching his hand, and he lifted his hand, turning it so that first our fingers intertwined, our palms touching.