Now I really get the giggles. He wraps me in a towel and appears to be on fast forward. I’ve never seen anyone move so quickly in my life. He dresses in record time and then wants to know what I’m wearing. I am so amused by his comical actions, I can’t stop laughing at him.
“This is serious!” Then suddenly he says, “Fuck!”
“Now what?”
“I told Jenna and Cate I would meet them in the bar twenty minutes ago.”
I have to clamp my hand over my mouth as his hands twist his wet hair into the craziest style I’ve ever seen. He grabs my rollie bag, tosses it on the bed, zips it open, and grabs a handful of clothes.
“Here. Put these on.”
Finally, I realize the man needs help. I reach for his shoulders and say, “Ben, honey, it’s going to be fine. Calm down.”
“Oh, just wait. You don’t know my sister. Or my mom.”
I take the clothes he’s holding, set them on the bed, and grab the outfit I had planned to wear. It’s a casual black halter dress and I put on the shoes I brought to go with it, a pair of sexy strappy black sandals.
“You’re wearing that?” He licks his lips as he stares at me.
“Yeah. Why?”
“It’s just that, well …” his eyes drop down and I notice the bulge in his pants.
“There’s no help for you now, but later there will be. Now here.” I run my fingers through his hair and make it look like it should. “That’s much better. Now go and meet your sister and Cate. I need a few more minutes to fix my hair and makeup.”
He looks me up and down, then eyes the door. “No, I want us to go down together.”
“Are you trying to make a statement?”
“Yes, I am.”
“If you’re okay with it, then I suppose I am, too.”
“You don’t mind if Nick knows?”
My brows shoot up. “You’re asking me that now? After you charged into the room and got my bag?”
“Oh, yeah.” He smirks.
“Now let me finish getting ready. My hair is a bit of an issue since it got destroyed in the shower.”
“Looks downright sexy to me.”
“You would say that. It’s bedhead.” I finish my makeup and do the best I can with my hair. I end up putting it up in a messy bun, and pull out several tendrils to hang on either side of my face. Then I add earrings and a necklace.
“All ready.”
“Sam, have I told you how gorgeous you are?”
“I don’t …” and before I can answer, he kisses the rest of my words and thoughts away.
When he lets me go, he runs his thumb across my lower lip and says, “When I first saw you, I thought of sunshine. But now I believe you’re the brightest star in the heavens. You sparkle like them—you know how they do on the clearest of nights? So distinct you think you could almost reach out and touch them. That’s you, Sam.”
He’s just stolen away every word from my brain.
“Shall we go?”
I nod in stunned silence.
We walk down to the pool together and when I get there, I make myself busy with checking on things. Martin and Julia soon arrive, and Jenna and Cate follow. Nick comes next and his eyes are filled with questions, which I do my best to avoid. But he soon gets me alone and I finally confess that Ben and I were seeing each other but had some issues, which we have now resolved.
“Oh, so you and Rhoades are an item?”
“Yeah, I guess you can say that. We didn’t broadcast it, though. We both wanted to keep it quiet.”
“Can I just say something? The dude is a major ass.”
“I’m sure he was to you. He’s the jealous sort. Or maybe I should amend that. Now that he knows you and I are not together, he’ll be fine to you.”
“I see,” Nick says, though I can see he’s still skeptical. I don’t care. He can deal with it. I give him some things to take care of and he wanders off to handle them.
I’m just about to find the food and beverage manager when Jenna and Cate approach me.
“You’re Samantha Calhoun, right?”
“Yes, and you’re Ben’s sister, Jenna. It’s nice to meet you.”
We shake hands and she says, “And this is Cate McKnight, my bestie, who Ben also considers his sister.”
“Yes, he told me about you, Cate, and I’m so sorry for your loss.”
Both women’s eyes nearly bulge out of their sockets. Then they look at each other for a second before Jenna asks, “He told you?”
“Yes. I’m sorry. Maybe I shouldn’t have mentioned any of this.”
“No, no, it’s just that he doesn’t usually talk about it to many people. Wait, how long have you two been seeing each other?” Jenna asks while Cate watches.
The heat rises from my neck and shoots straight out the top of my head. I would pay for someone to bring me a fan to stand in front of right now, because I sure do need it.
When I don’t answer right away, Jenna says, “Oh no. He’s not …”