Page 16 of Beached Wedding

Her gaze flickered to where I was touching her and a tiny frown of consternation appeared between her brows. I brought my hand back to my own thigh.

“You need time to figure out your next steps. As your friend—and I swear to you I am your friend—I want to give you the space to work out what to do.”

Our gazes hit and clung. I could see the conflict in her. She used to trust me. Now I saw doubt. It didn’t matter that I deserved it. It still hurt. Maybe it hurt worse because I deserved it.

My hand twitched, wanting to reach out again. Wanting to restore her faith in me.

The ring of the phone on the night table startled us both.

Ashley gave it a grim look of dread. “Who do you think that is?”

I leaned forward and answered it, cutting off the second ring. “’Lo?”

“Aloha. This is Kalani in the spa.” Her voice was gently inflected with a Hawaiian accent. “Everything is ready for your couple’s massage. Are you on your way?”

Ashley overheard. Her eyes widened in horror.

I bit back a curse. Honeymoon package.Sucha great idea.

“It was supposed to be a surprise,” I said, speaking to both of them. “I don’t think it’s going to happen.”

“You’ve already paid for it,” Kalani pointed out.

Paying for something I didn’t use went against everything I believed in.

“Just a sec.” I muffled the phone against my stomach. “I booked this package as your wedding gift.” I waved at the decorations and baskets. “It comes with a couple’s massage.”

It was the sort of pampering Shane would never think to arrange for a woman, but I had thought it would be a nice touchfor Ashley. She was as much a penny-pincher as I was and rarely did anything to treat herself.

“Why do you hate me?” She shook her head with astonished disbelief.

I opened my mouth to grovel. I feltawful. More than anything, I wanted to get back to the friendship that meant so much to me.

So that’s where I went, to the place where we were comfortable and trusting enough to mess with each other.

“It’s your chin,” I said gravely. “It’s too pointy. You know I’ve never been able to get past it.”

Her expression wavered between crumpling with sorrow and flashing into outrage. After a second, she curled her fingers against her mouth and looked away. A tiny snort came out of her.

“It’s not the moustache?” she asked.

“No, the moustache suits you.”

“You’re a horrible person.” Her eyes were gleaming with tears, but there was a smile in her voice.

“I am a terrible person,” I agreed, heart lifting at that glimmer of humor. “Shane said to book the massage for when he arrived because airplane seats do in his back.” I suspected it had also been an exit strategy from meeting Ashley’s family, but that didn’t change the fact I was out three hundred bucks if we didn’t get our asses downstairs. “I have to pay for it either way. What do you say? You’re stressed out. I feel like a sack of rocks. Let’s get a massage.”

I didn’t wait for her to agree, just brought the phone to my ear.

“We’ll be right there.”

ASHELY

“Are you wearing underwear?” I asked Fox when we were in the elevator.

He gave me a startled look.

“I mean during the massage. They always tell me to take off as much as I’m comfortable removing and I never know when to stop.”

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