Page 99 of Knot Just for Show

I myself, make sure to demonstrate a friendly greeting—a pleasant smile plastered on my face as my open hand waves slowly back and forth.

“Jeez, this is more than slightly awkward,” Ash grits through his teeth, his and Mavren’s fake smiles dazzling in the high sun—even if they’re just for show.

A waiter from the resort comes by and starts taking orders for drinks, and I can see Teddy, at the far end of our seating area—shifting nervously from foot to foot; his eyes obscured behind a pair of mirrored wrap-around sunglasses—his shirt, shockingly, still on as he hugs his crossed arms to his chest.

Lysander, also clearly thrown by Teddy’s drastic shift in mood and demeanor, shoots me a quizzical look.

Something’s going on there…but I’m not entirely sure what.

“Ope, this isn’t awkward or anything.” Mavren’s hand closes protectively over my bare knee as Jesse and her two gentlemen appear over the sand dune, her eyes instantly finding him in the crowd.

“Oh?” I run my fingers through the ridges of his knuckles, resting my hand over his. “I don’t think I even knew you matched with her?” I do the best to keep the emerald tone of jealousy from my voice, but I can tell I haven’t been successful by the pained expression on Mavren’s face.

“It’s because I legitimately stopped by her lounge for less than an hour…then turned in my key before my date with her on the following day.” He winces.

An ugly laugh bubbles up from both Ronan and I.

“God, you really aren’t one to waste any time, are you?” Ronan shakes his head at Mavren as he passes three frozen drinks down the line of us on the beach lounger, the waiter unloading his tray to the assembly line before disappearing to take another order.

“I didn’t mean for it to be a shade, but she might have taken it as one.” Mavren rubs at his stubble shadowed chin.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see Jesse fixing her lip gloss—stopping mid primp to squeal and run wildly across the sand, to somewhere out of view.

I watch—a chorus of silent alarms firing in my brain as I watch Teddy shrug out of Lysander’s attempt to reach for Teddy’s hand tenderly—his face suddenly alight with something like panic as he flies into furious motion.

“Anybody else roasting?” Teddy blurts out, stripping out of his shirt and kicking off his flip-flops—punching Lysander in the shoulder playfully as he sprints for the ocean.

Ronan’s face pinches with confusion, Lysander’s eyes wet with hurt as Teddy runs out of earshot.

“What the hell has gotten into him?” Ronan scoffs, shaking his head as we watch Teddy take a few steps into the ocean before ducking down beneath a breaking swell—his beautiful golden form disappearing beneath the waves.

“Uh—I’ve got a couple of ideas,” Mavren grumbles—jutting his chin over my shoulder toward the new arrivals.

Britt, along with her quartet of callers—including Anton, make their way onto the beach—her perfect body on full display in her teeny-weeny, pink-triangle-bikini.

I reach for my massive straw hat and pull it down onto my head—praying that its expansive brim sufficiently hides me from view. If I’m lucky—I’ll be able to stay completely still for the next few hours, avoiding Britt’s predatory gaze.

“I don’t get it,” Ash shrugs cooly, draping a hand over my exposed thigh and giving it an affectionate squeeze. “What does he care? I matched with her too. I’m not at all surprised with how she looks, but I don’t miss her ‘personality’—if you could be so generous to call it that, at all.” He leans in and places a tender kiss on my neck, my panic abating slightly with the dose of affection—the juniper and palo santo smoke of his scent wrapping me in a modicum of calm as I breathe him in.

I pop the straw between my lips and take a long sip of my half-melted pina colada, trying not to look at Britt and her entourageas she and Jesse jump up and down in the sand, squealing happily at Suzi’s arrival.

My eyes dart to Lysander, curious to see what he makes of the new arrivals—but my heart aches when I see him looking longingly out into the water—Anton already paddling his way out to Teddy beyond the breakers.

I nod to Ronan, extending my glass to him in a wordless request for him tohold my drink—forgetting my plan to stay still as a statue and thus beneath Britt’s predatory notice in favor of drawing my sweet Lysander from his obvious despair.

“Hey, what’s up?” I whisper softly in his ear, threading my arm through his and pulling Lysander close to me.

Even though he keeps his eyes on the water, his hand lifts mine from the crook of his arm and brings it to his lips, a kiss ghosting over my knuckles before he gently places it back with a soft pat.

“Do you know who that is, with Teddy?” he asks, his voice tinged with fear.

“Yeah, his name is Anton. He dated a lot of the girls in the bubbles, including me, for a brief period,” I admit.

“What, really?” Lysander’s eyes snap to me, his fear palpable now—his gaze almost accusatory.

“Listen, when I was talking to Teddy at first—he gave a pretty similar impression to Anton, but he urged me to give him a chance—to try to look deeper than the initial fuckboy skin deep front he was giving me,” I explain, pulling my sunglasses halfway down my nose to look Lysander in the eyes—his panama hat throwing pinpricks of sunlight across his frowning face. “As soon as I caught a whiff of his scent card? Outta here.” I make the characteristic ‘off with the head’ gesture accompanied with a gagging sound not unlike the one I actually made the first time I scented Anton. “Not to mention, he also dated Roxy, too—my best friend in the bubbles,” I huff before leaning in, my noseagainst Lysander’s. “So quit pouting. You have nothing to worry about,” I nuzzle him before pecking a kiss onto his lips.

“Fine, I am satisfied.” Not even the frequently stoic Lysander can cover up the momentary grin that tweaks the corners of his mouth upward, his gaze returning to the water—that air of unease still about him. “Just strange that he went straight to Teddy—didn’t say hi to anyone else, just…” Lysander trails off.

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