Page 34 of Shy Girl
“You good?” I asked quietly.
She let out a long breath. “F-fine. S-sorry.”
“No problem.”
“L-l-lost in thought.”
Her gaze had dropped to the tablecloth, darted back to the Dunkins, and then down to the tablecloth again. The base of her neck pulsed with a fast, thrumming heartbeat. My mind turned over the obvious evidence of distress and I kept a wary eye out. Something about the Dunkins made her nervous, but I couldn’t imagine what. She seemed fine with Helene earlier, albeit a bit . . . off. Did they have history? Her acceptance of my offer cameafterI’d slipped Helene’s name into the conversation.
Then again, why would Dagny know anything about a Texas oil tycoon?
Before I could dive too far into my thoughts over it, Bastian pushed his plate away. “Can I steal a shower in your place?” he asked. “I already told Grady not to save me a room. Brought the hammock.”
Dagny shot to her feet. “Y-yes. You can use m-mine. Ours, I m-mean. Sorry . . . I’ll sh-show you the w-way.”
Bastian nodded, but sent me a questioning look when Dagny bent over to pick her flip flops up out of the sand. I shrugged in reply as I came to my feet, groggy from a delicious, heavy dinner in my gut. A long day of traveling, and the sound of the ocean just outside, had lulled me into a ready-to-sleep state.
Dagny’s weirdness about the Dunkins—not to mention Vikram’s still unknown whereabouts—could wait until the morning. For now, I wanted to stumble into bed and dream of Dagny’s gentle touch on the back of my neck.
The dinner lasted into the night.
Sometime around eleven o’clock, the bar finally shut down. Half-drunk people, ready to let loose on their island adventure, filtered away. A half-hiccup-giggle combination could be heard now and then as the guests made their way through the ring of palm trees around the beach and farther onto the island. Once the dinner sounds gave way to quiet waves, I relaxed on a lounge chair under a star-studded sky.
While satellites passed overhead, I stacked my hands behind my head and let my gaze get lost in the stars. My thoughts drifted to Dagny. Victoria. Grady. Vikram. The inevitability of change. My life in Pineville seemed rigidly structured compared to Bastian, even Vik. That idea used to terrify me. Now? It wasn’t so bad. Adventures helped me keep up with my wild side, but the routine kept time moving along.
Maybe the same went for Grady.
For marriage, even. Although that thought seemed far too out there to contemplate right now. Particularly with the memory of Victoria fresh on my mind. The sound of a body shuffling through the bungalow preceded a large shadow in the doorway, complete with a computer at his side.
“Have a seat,” I said.
Bastian lowered onto a chair and tipped his head back to look at the same sky. For several minutes, we remained in the silence, eyes lost on the stars.
“Different here,” he murmured.
“Very.”
He grunted. “Easier without the smoke.”
Bastian sank farther down the chair. My eyes drifted closed so I could take in the crashing waves below.
“Find Vik yet?” he asked.
“No, but his flight came in before ours.”
Bastian grunted. When several minutes passed without a word, I opened my eyes again. Too much more of this and I’d fall asleep.
“What happened with Victoria and Dagny? How were you there?”
Bastian’s teeth flashed in the moonlight as he released a rare, and brief, smile. “I’m always in the right place at the right time.”
“Not always,” I muttered.
Bastian gave a quick review of what he heard. Victoria’s chummy conversation, then quick spin of the tables to turn Dagny against me. Classic move for her. We’d only spent a week or so together, and I still recognized her manipulations when I saw them.
“Dagny held her own,” I said.
“She impressed me. You going to hide behind her?” Bastian asked. He shifted back, his long legs sprawled in front of him.
