Page 49 of Shielding Lexi (Temptation)

She smiles, “So what are you guys doing down here?” I can see she’s desperate to change the subject, so I go with the flow.

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you,” I say, looking out at the ocean. I know it’s there because I can hear it, but the only bit of light is coming from the bar on this section of the beach, which leaves the water just nearly shadows.

“Okay. I’ll bite,” she says, pulling on the lobe of her ear. “What wouldn’t I believe?”

“You ran away,” a voice says from behind us, only minutes after we left. “What are you two doing out here?”

I turn toward the woman, and though there isn’t much light, I can tell it’s Margo. Somehow the bright yellow dress she’s wearing cuts through the darkness.

“Hey,” Sara says. “Sorry… we were just getting some fresh air. I was feeling a little queasy.”

Interesting. Whatever is going on with that guy at the bar, her friend doesn’t know much about either.

Margo smiles rather obliviously and stumbles over to the empty space beside Sara, throwing herself onto the sand next to her. She’s beautiful, in a bubbly, sweet sort of way, with light hair and eyes, and a big freckle on her left breast just below her collarbone. But she’s nowhere near as beautiful as Sara. Sara is like nothing I’ve ever seen. She’s captivating.

I hate that I notice appearance so easily. I know it tells very little about a person, but it’s something I’ve been trained to do—note scares, crooked noses, the exact shade of a person’s hair, the way they carry themselves. It’s a byproduct of the job. It seeps into your bones.

Zane nods his head away from the girls, as though asking for a meeting. I can’t imagine what he wants to talk about. Though, I guess by the serious look in his eye he’s over the little socialization experiment we’ve been doing.

Standing from the sand, I leave Sara with Margo and make my way toward the guys who’ve gathered ten feet away.

“What’s up?” I ask, folding my arms over one another. I don’t want them to bail on me for the night. I want to get to know Sara more, but I doubt she’ll leave her friend for more than a few minutes and if the guys go back to the hotel Margo will have no one to talk to.

“We have an early morning tomorrow;” Zane says, his arms crossed in front of his chest, his stance wide. “We should get going. That producer wasn’t messing around when she said four a.m.”

“Do you really think we should be doing this TV show thing anyway? It’s weird. And if we don’t win the million dollars, Sarge’ll commit us into some embarrassment hall of fame for eternity. We’ll never live it down.”

“We’re here. We’ve signed the paperwork. We’re doing it,” Zane says. “Besides, these girls are a mess. Margo just spent the last thirty minutes telling us about fishing boats and the mating habits of sea cucumbers, and the other one ran out of the bar crying. We can’t get messed up with this right now.”

Zane is always the voice of reason, and he’s rarely wrong, but I don’t agree with him this time.

“Just give me another hour. I don’t want to leave her out here alone. Something is going on with that guy at the bar. He—”

“You’re kidding, right? You’re really going to hit on some girl?”

“I’m not hitting on her, she’s fucked up!” I say, not actually sure what it is I’m doing. “I’m trying to help.”

“So go help her then,” Zane bites, his stare steady on me. “Just don’t say anything about the TV show. We’ve signed the confidentiality clause. We don’t want to end up owing the TV network money.” His fists are clenched, and his jaw is set, as though he’s about to be way angrier about some paperwork than he needs to be. Trouble is, I don’t know how to help him anymore.

“We’re all still working through things, man,” Colin says, throwing his hand up on Zane’s shoulder. “But it’s been three years. At some point, we have to be open to moving on.”

“Go ahead,” Zane barks. “Both of you… move the fuck on. But don’t come crying to me when you find yourself in a huge fucking mess in the morning. This girl is bad fucking news. Any decent fucking cop can see that.” He looks down at his phone. “I’ll be in the hotel lobby at four a.m. Don’t be late.”

Colin looks toward me and gives me a comforting nod as though he’ll take care of Zane tonight. It’s a job we’ve both taken on, though I’m not sure he notices. He’s still too wrapped in grief—which I completely understand. Hell, none of us expected Mari to go the way she did. But at some point, we have to move on, right? I’ve dealt with the pain. I’ve spent the better part of three years in therapy. I’ve lost weekends with nothing but whiskey in my stomach to avoid the pain. I’ve spent endless hours talking to her, screaming out to her, begging her to come back. But none of it works. She’s still gone.

“We’ll see you tomorrow morning, man,” Colin says, following behind Zane who’s already walking up the sidewalk toward the resort.

I stay still contemplating where to go next. If I don’t go back with the guys, Zane is going to have a bone to pick with me. But if I go with Sara, I might just be confusing her and fooling myself into thinking I’m ready for something serious.

“Hey,” Sara says from behind me, her small hand on my shoulder, her eyes reflecting the bit of light from the bar. “Do you mind walking us back to our room? It’s a really dark night and—”

I nod, thankful she’s made the decision for me. I’ll walk her home, then call it a night. No one gets hurt.

Chapter 3

Icould walk myself and Margo back to the resort, we’re only thirty feet away, but after seeing Kemp, I’m shaken as hell and because apparently, I’m damaged as fuck, having a big strong man at my side makes me feel safe. Not just physically, but mentally too. I have my mother to thank for that.

“I’ll see you in the morning Margo,” I say, as we drop her off at her room. She slips inside, a sly look on her face as though she thinks she knows what’s happening, but she doesn’t—Brad is just walking us home.

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