Page 8 of Exposed

Crap. She’d missed the first part of what the other woman had said, but it sounded way too close to the back story she and Eric had concocted. Beth glanced at him beside her, and he gave her a small shake of his head, telling her not to worry, but she was worried already, dammit.

“And you?” Robert Hart said, looking at Beth then checking his clipboard. “Mrs. Holman. Please introduce yourself and tell us why you’re here.”

Beth swallowed hard and stared around at all the other guests watching her. They needed something to make their story more unique, so it wasn’t quite so similar to the other couple’s. Scrambling, she pulled out the first thing that came to her mind.

“Hi, my name’s Beth Holman, and this is my husband, Eric. We’re here because while I was away serving in the military overseas, he had an affair. He’s a writer and I know creatives can be flighty sometimes, but I think there’s something more at play here. His father was a con man and he’s got serious trust issues he needs to work out because of that. We still love each other and want to fix our marriage, but there’s no way we can move forward until he deals with his past. Isn’t that right, honey?”

She looked back at Eric over her shoulder, only to see him looking like he’d swallowed a cue ball. Dark eyes wide and full of shocked anger, his tanned cheeks were slightly mottled with crimson. Damn. She’d been trying to make their story unique so it would be more believable, but she’d overstepped his boundaries, obviously. Hoping to ease the sting, she placed her hand on his knee and gave him a conciliatory smile. “I’m sorry to have put it all out there like that, but he needs to know what’s going on so he can help us.”

Eric blinked at her a few times, his full lips compressed into a thin white line. Then he inhaled slow and exhaled even slower, a tiny muscle ticking near his tight jaw as he spoke. “Yes, that’s true, sweetheart.” The edge in his tone had the endearment cutting deeper than a razor blade. “But my past isn’t up for discussion.”

“Ah. A sore spot,” Robert Hart said, his bright blue eyes zeroing in on Eric like laser beams. “We like to poke at those around here, Eric. But don’t worry. You’re in safe hands with me. Before you leave here, we’ll work out all your kinks.”

Beth glanced back at the older man, unsettled by his strange choice of words, but then refocused on Eric again, doing her best to convey her sincere apology without words. Crap, crap, crap. She was used to following her gut and jumping into action when she was on a story—but she wasn’t the only one involved in this, and she hadn’t realized how much her words might hurt Eric. The rest of the session passed in a blur as she counted the seconds until they could talk privately again so she could apologize properly.

The moment the session let out, Eric left the room, striding ahead of her. Beth raced after him down the path to their bungalow, her stomach tied in knots. “I’m really sorry about what I said back there. I didn’t mean to share your secret with the world, but I panicked, and I tend to babble when I’m nervous and?—”

He stopped so abruptly in front of her on the boardwalk that she nearly barreled right into his back. Eric turned to face her, his hands resting on her shoulders to steady her and keep her from toppling over into the water. “It’s fine. I get it. But no more surprises, okay? Anything we say to each other in private is in strict confidence, got it?”

She nodded and stared up at him. A lock of his blond hair had fallen over his forehead and her fingertips itched to reach up and brush it back into place for him. She clenched her hands at her sides instead, knowing that touching him now wouldn’t help anything. “Got it.”

6

Eric strode around the bungalow, grumbling to himself about that stupid therapy session. Sure, he’d seen it mentioned on the brochure Beth had sent him about this idiotic retreat, but he’d figure he could bluff his way through it, keeping his secrets just that. Secret. Would have worked, too, if she’d stuck to the cover they’d agreed on.

But no, she had to go and add on to it, blabbing to Robert Hart and anyone else within hearing distance about his dad. God, he’d regretted letting that slip earlier at breakfast and now he regretted it even more. He never talked about his old man.Never. What had possessed him to come out with it this morning was beyond him, but there was something about Beth. A familiarity, maybe, because of her brother? But no, he had never opened up to Heath like that. For some reason, he just felt at ease around Beth in a way that made him far too prone to letting his defenses drop. Which was beyond crazy since he’d known her all of twenty-four hours. And sure, she had the face of an angel and a body made for sin, but he was a trained sailor, a frigging Navy SEAL, for Christ’s sake. He’d faced down some of the cleverest, most vicious, most vile dictators on earth. Heshould be able to keep his crap together around one beautiful woman.

He walked into the bathroom to change into his swim trunks, then came out and grabbed a beach towel from the shelf by the door. According to the itinerary, they had the afternoon free before attending some dinner-slash-reception thing tonight. Eric intended to spend his time alone, clearing his mind and getting his head around the fact they still had the rest of the week to get through before this was over.

He'd just stepped out onto the veranda outside when a knock sounded at the front door. Beth, who’d been steering clear of him since their return to the room, answered it. Their visitors were the couple from their therapy session earlier—the ones who’d had a story similar to theirs.

Damn. Eric felt his beach time slipping away as Beth turned slightly to give him a get-your-butt-over-here look. The temptation to turn and run was strong, but Eric had never backed down from a challenge before in his life and he wouldn’t start now. Besides, this is what he’d signed on for yesterday. Playing the role of devoted partner. Fine. He tossed his towel aside and walked over to slip his arm around Beth’s waist, forcing a cheerful smile he didn’t quite feel. One doting husband coming up. “Hey, guys,” he greeted the visitors, “I remember you from the group this morning. Eric Holman.”

“John Murphy,” the guy said, shaking Eric’s hand. “And this is my wife, Cindy.”

“Nice to meet you,” Eric said. “What can we help you with today?”

“They invited us to play ping pong with them,” Beth said, glancing up at him, her smile tight and her fingers warm against his bare torso. “I think we should take them up on their offer. It’ll give us a chance to explore the rec room, since we’ve not seen it yet.”

The reminder of her job here helped get him back on track.

Eric nodded then squeezed Beth close for a second, biting back a grin as she tensed. Apparently, she was still stuck on their disagreement earlier, same as he’d been. But with his years of training, he was able to rebound and compartmentalize those feeling quicker than she could. Good to know. He laid the affection on extra thick, partly for payback from her blabbing about his past earlier without clearing it with him first and partly because it was fun to see her flustered and discombobulated. She’d come off as so in control when they’d met that it was fun getting a peek at the fallible woman beneath her stylish, slick exterior.

And part of him liked being close to her. That was the part with the potential to cause him the most trouble.

“Okay. Sure, sweetheart. Whatever you want.” Before she could react, he bent and dropped a quick kiss on her lips. She tasted of sugar from the fruit earlier and mint from her toothpaste and this time when he smiled, it was genuine. “This trip is all about you, darling. I’m just here to beg forgiveness. Plus, it will give me a chance to show off my superior ping pong skills. Let me just put a shirt on.”

While Beth blinked at him, her expression stunned, he hurried into the bedroom and grabbed a clean T-shirt from his duffle, tugging it on over his head before shoving his feet into a pair of flip flops and re-joining their group by the door.

The walk to the rec room, located in one of the other large bungalows next door to the main building, helped Eric walk off some of his stress from earlier and brighten his outlook on things. Hey, it was a week in paradise. All he had to do was keep his mouth shut about his past and keep his hands to himself—mostly—and he’d be all set. Easy enough.

Beth took his arm and held him back slightly on the path as the other couple walked on ahead, then whispered, “What the hell was that back there?”

“What?” Eric intentionally frowned down at her to keep himself from smiling. He knew exactly what she was asking about.

“You know what.” She glanced over to make sure the Murphy’s weren’t watching them. “The kiss.”

“Liked it, huh?” He chuckled. “I’ve been told I’m pretty good at it.”

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