Page 40 of Shy Girl
“You want to talk?” I called without looking back while I filled up an empty water bottle at the sink.
“I think I deserve it,” she said. Her voice was as silky as ever. It felt uncomfortably like crinkle paper under my skin. I hid a scoff.Shedeserved it? Well, that grabbed my curiosity. With a nod, I motioned outside.
“Then we can go out on the patio.”
She scoffed, her bare feet almost silent on the wooden floor. “You don’t want to be alone with me?”
I laughed. “No.”
Before she got within arms distance, I stepped outside and sat on a chair in view of the yoga class, water bottle in hand. Now that Victoria was here, I wanted a beer. But lowering my defenses with her around wasn’t in the game plan. Maybe this paranoia was overkill for a woman that told me I'd never be good enough for her.
But, maybe not.
On the beach below, Dagny followed Helene through a stretching routine that would have made my mouth water had I been a lesser man. On purpose, I gazed away. There’d be no focusing on Victoria while Dagny moved her body likethat.
My eyes sneaked back, though.
Three times.
Victoria settled lightly on the chair between me and the yoga party. She rolled her lips together and brushed her hair out of her face, but kept her gaze on the ocean. One leg, hidden beneath a gauzy skirt, crossed the other one. Her legs were golden perfection and happened to move a little closer to me with every moment that passed. That was fine. I wasn’t a leg man.
“So.” She let out a breath. “How have you been?”
“Good, and you?”
“Fine.”
Our blasé tone carried into the silence. Victoria played with an errant string on her lap. “I was happy that you came,” she finally said, and her voice had lowered.
“I’m glad I could make it.”
“Were you?”
Her head tilted to the side a little, and I finally met her gaze. Several seconds passed before I could answer the question, and not because it startled me, but because I’d just realized that Vik stood next to Dagny down on the beach. He and I hadn’t had a chance to talk yet, and if I saw him put any advances on Dagny . . .
With effort, I closed those thoughts and blinked out of them.
“I was glad to make it,” I finally said once I remembered her question. “Grady and Helene are a great couple. It’s an island resort that’s all-inclusive and I only had to pay for my plane ticket and Dagny’s. The math is pretty simple.”
Victoria made a noise in her throat. “I thought my presence would deter you.”
“Not even a little.”
She flicked a lock of hair over her shoulder. “I suppose we should just get rid of the elephant in the room.” She leaned back, her eyes dropping. Perhaps it wasn’t fair of me to turn the weight of my most intense stare on her, but I didn’t trust Victoria to represent herself honestly. Victoria wasn’t afraid of much, certainly not a man. So when I looked directly at her with my flattest expression, she only faltered a little.
“If there’s an elephant for you,” I said, “we can clear the air, but I'm fine over here. You made your position clear, and I've respected it.”
Her nostrils flared, then relaxed. “That’s . . . fair.”
I blinked. She shrugged.
“That’s fair,” she repeated. “I can’t control the way you feel.”
Startled, I just waited for what would come next becausefairnesshadn't been a factor before. With Victoria, there wasalwaysa next.
“I just . . .”
She trailed off, then leaned forward and picked her words back up. Her shoulder shifted, allowing a greater view to her bikini top, which I ignored.
