Page 17 of Stuck in Paradise with You

But now she’s unbuttoning her long white shirt in a way that makes something inside me twinge, low down in my torso –she used to wear my white shirts. God, Ilovedhow she looked in my white shirts. The way they’d smell like her when I redressed in them. Her intoxication stayed with me longer than the buzz from any alcohol could.

I look away, at something, anything, the mundane rocks and the water gently lapping at their bases. I think of… paragliding, surfing, yachting, my grandmother, Hettich. Yet still, I’m pulled to her like aluminum to a magnet as the shirt slips from her shoulders, down her arms, leaving her in a bikini.

It feels wrong to see what she doesn’t want me to. Though I’ve seen her completely naked, that was always invited. She wanted me to see her then.

Currently, she doesn’t even know I’m here, that I’m too engrossed to look away.

And this isn’t the Carrie of years ago.

Though even at this distance, her body that was invitingly shapely in all the right places still is. Perhaps more so. Maybe her hips are wider, her shoulders broader, her butt?—

Jesus!

She turns and I hear her yelp when she spots me, right before I crash myself under the water, about as surreptitious as the Chrysler Building at night.

8

CARRIE

‘My fault?’ Luke asks incredulously, pointing to himself and his very naked, very wet torso that I am doing my very best not to gawp at.

We’re standing on the water’s edge where, incensed by his outright invasion of my privacy, I stormed down from my lounger to confront him.

‘You—youtook off your clothes in front ofme!’ he demands.

‘I’m at the beach! I had no idea that you were waiting in the ocean like some kind of salt water, reptile-y predator-yalligatorwaiting to snap, snap, snap me up!’ I’m shrieking. Hurting even my own ears with the hysterical decibels I’m hitting. My arms are flailing to match the sound.

He scoffs, which pisses me off even more than him uninvitedly watching me get near naked in my swimwear.

‘I was already on the beach, and you had a damn good vantage point coming down those stairs. How do I know you didn’t see me and intentionally strip down into a skimpy bikini to flaunt yourself?’

Only now do I realize that I amstillwearing said bikini.Onlywearing said bikini. I thought I’d be down here early enough toavoid my clients and soak up the scenery. Pretend like this is the holiday I’ve been needing forever, if only for an hour.

‘Do you honestly think I would strip down for you onpurpose? After everything you did?’

‘Idid?’

Yes!Can he even question who was in the wrong between us?Heusedme. Had a bit of fun while his relationship was in tatters and then left me when he was ready to pick it back up.

I’d not wanted to believe my mom – the only person who knew about Luke and me back then – when she’d said I shouldn’t meddle with husbands and wives, that I’d end up heartbroken.

She was right.

I can’t deal with this.Especially after a shockingly sleepless night and pre-caffeination.

But it looks like I won’t have to for much longer because Luke stomps, as much as any man can stomp in soft sand, up the beach, flicking his top over his muscly shoulder. More so even than it used to be, I notice accidentally and fleetingly, not really looking properly.

‘You weren’t even supposed to be here, Carrie.’

No, I wasn’t, but… ‘I didn’t come here knowing thatyouwould be here. If I did, I would have run, not walked, away from any opportunity. Because you’re not worth it, Luke.’

He turns back sharply to face me and I think maybe I went too far. That was bitter and nasty, and I’m not sure it’s entirely truthful.

Luke points at me,actuallypoints at me. ‘How many times did I tell you to research your clients before walking into the lion’s den?’

I scowl, hopefully showing as much repugnance as Miranda Priestly would demonstrate looking at a PA wearing last season’s Prada. ‘How did Ieverfall for you?’

My own words make me swallow deeply with shame.What is he turning me into?

---