“You can handle her.” Riley grinned and picked up the step stool. “I’ll be right back.”
Quickly, he emerged on his own horse, the same one he’d ridden before Wednesday. He cantered past Baby, and Boots followed
his lead.
“Okay. Help me be good, okay, girl?” Baby whispered into the horse’s velvety ear. It whinnied, as if to say,
Yeah, right!
“No fair! You can’t tell secrets to the horses. That’s one of the rules!” Riley called in front of her as the horses picked
their way down the sandy grass and toward the beach. “For that, we’re gonna run!” He kicked his horse in the flanks. Boots
quickly followed suit, galloping onto the white sand.
“Hey!” Baby yelled, gripping the reins and feeling the wind whip through her hair. She wasn’t scared, though. For some strange
reason, she trusted Riley. He reminded her of her old self, the free-spirited girl she’d been growing up on Nantucket.
“There’s a cove I want you to see. Follow me!”
“Cool,” Baby said. The sun had already risen high in the sky and Baby felt sweat begin to bead on her forehead. She’d never
thought horseback riding was such a workout, but it really was. She rode in silence for a little while, following Riley’s
strong, confident form up ahead.
“Here we are!” Riley called as they reached a small inlet, tucked away from the shore. There were no hotels or villas that
Baby could see, just an endless expanse of white sand and blue water. It was beautiful.
Boots seemed to think so too. The horse curiously plodded its way toward the water.
“Is she allowed to do that?” Baby called nervously. She didn’t want her horse to drown.
Back on shore, Riley swung his cowboy-booted foot off his own horse and led her to a worn wooden post stuck at the point where
the beach met grass. He took off his boots, pulled off his jeans, and waded into the ocean in his green plaid boxer shorts.
He reached down into the water and flicked some drops up onto Baby, who looked down on him from her horse.
“Hey!” Baby cried as he splashed her.
“What? Boots was giving herself a bath, just thought I’d help out.” Riley shrugged mock innocently, his eyes crinkling adorably
at the corners. “But I think she’s had enough. What do you say we give her a break and cool off ourselves?” Riley grabbed
Boots’s bridle and walked her up to the hitching post.
As he hitched Boots to the post, Baby looked down at his muscular arms and surprisingly chiseled torso and imagined what it’d
be like to have them wrapped around her waist. She realized she was staring and quickly drew her eyes away.
“I just love horses. They’re so simple, you know?” Riley said, almost to himself, as he gently stroked Boots’s shiny coat.
Baby nodded, thinking of the myriad of animals her family had left behind in Nantucket. She missed her dog Chance, not to
mention their cats, fishes, and turtles. Baby had always felt more comfortable with animals. She’d been convinced she could
communicate with Chance through blinking, and would sometimes sit with him for hours, staring into his soulful brown eyes.
In some ways, she felt like she’d left some of her best friends behind in Nantucket, and she missed them so fiercely right
now she felt like she might cry.
“Here, I’ll help you get down.” Riley put his hands on Baby’s waist and Baby felt a shiver of anticipation as he gently lowered
her to the ground.
“So, you want to swim?” Not waiting for an answer, Riley ran into the water, goofily diving under the waves. “Come on in!”
he called, in between dives.
“Wait for me! I need to get you back for the splash-fest!” Baby yelled, yanking off her T-shirt and jeans and sprinting into
the ocean. She was thankful she had on her bikini. She ran in up to her chest, then splashed him hard on his back.
“Unfair. You don’t hit your enemy from behind!” Riley protested, splashing her right back.
“Who says you’re the enemy?” Baby teased. She felt like her lungs would explode from laughing so hard.
“Okay. So we’re friends! Truce?” Riley called, holding up his hands. “To prove there’s no hard feelings…” He gently pulled
Baby into him and softly pressed his lips against hers. His mouth was cold and tasted like spearmint toothpaste.
“No hard feelings,” Baby murmured, kissing him back. Her heart thudded crazily against her chest. She was hooking up with
her future
sister’s
boyfriend. This was wrong. This was cheating. This felt so
good
.
Forbidden love
is
the hottest….
“Wait.” Baby pulled away urgently. She knew that she should have done it much sooner. “What about Layla?”
Riley took a step back and stared down at the turquoise water. “We’ve been together since high school, and ever since we got
to college, we’ve had this sort of understood ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ rule. We’re great friends. But things between us… aren’t
right,” he began, dragging a hand over the water’s smooth surface. “Things a vacation can’t fix. I think we’re both ready
to move on, but we don’t know quite how to say goodbye. Our days are numbered,” he finished, his words like a sigh. There
was a sadness in his eyes, but as he raised them toward Baby, also a hint of hope.
Baby considered this. Over the last few days, all she’d seen Riley and Layla do was bicker or ignore each other. Layla had
told her that they met in high school, at boarding school in New Hampshire, and had stayed together for the last two years
while Layla went to Oberlin and Riley went to Ithaca. She knew that distance often took its toll, and that sometimes people
did stay together for the wrong reasons, even when things weren’t right. But while she wanted to believe him, something was
still nagging at her.
He stepped closer to Baby, his strong hands encircling her tiny waist. Baby could smell his wonderful mixture of sunblock,
sweat, and horses. “It’s not right with her, the way I feel it is with you,” he whispered, his breath tickling her ear. He
tilted his head to the side, and Baby instinctively knew what was coming next.
If she’d been thinking properly, she’d have told him that if he and Layla were about to break up, then they should wait. If
she’d been thinking properly, she’d have ridden off into the sunset with Boots, knowing that her and Riley’s time would come—when
it was right.
But instead, she nodded slowly. Because she also knew she wanted Riley. And his lips.
She eagerly kissed him back.
Here comes trouble….
Avery woke up facedown on the cool, crisp sheets of her bed at the villa. After seeing Rhys frolicking with the string bikini
floozy in the pool, she’d lain in bed, sulking while listening to the lazy whir of the bamboo fan above her. She knew she
was being immature and melodramatic, but she was just
so
tired of not having a boyfriend, of always being the girl people came to with their romantic problems
.
So excuse her for just being a teeny upset when, after honestly thinking she and Rhys had a connection, she saw him being
such a
player
.
She turned on the TV, which was tuned to the hotel’s program about all the cool things to do at the resort. Everything was
about the romance of the island, and that was the last thing she wanted to see. Wasn’t there some special package if you were
single and disillusioned featuring a private cabana with a lot of chocolate, rum, and tissues?
She turned off the TV and wandered onto the wraparound deck, wishing there could be a rainstorm or a tornado or a monsoon—anything
to match her foul mood. Instead, it was warm and sunny, and off in the distance, she could see dolphins diving into the water.
She sighed and made her way back inside. Maybe she should just spend the weekend reading
Jane Eyre
, which she’d been assigned for AP English. Reading about someone whose life sucked even worse than hers did might be good
for her.
Avery flung open the top of her suitcase. The book was one of the few things she hadn’t bothered to unpack. She figured she’d
read it on the plane ride home, after her fabulous weekend of fun and sun.
She picked up the book and flopped down on the bed. Suddenly, she heard a knock. Great. It was probably the maid service,
and even the
maid
would think Avery was a loser for hanging out by herself.
“One second!” she called, adjusting the strap of her dress as she slid open the door.
There, standing sunburned and sweaty in a pair of light green board shorts and a gray T-shirt, was Rhys. What the hell?
“Hi,” Avery said shortly, resisting every urge to close the door right back in his face. She couldn’t
believe
she’d ever liked him.
“Hey,” Rhys said warmly, totally oblivious to Avery’s foul mood. “I was hoping you’d be here. What are you up to?”
“I’m busy,” Avery said tightly, still holding on to the handle of the sliding door. “I’m
reading
,” she added, unnecessarily holding up her book.
“Oh.” Rhys’s face fell. Why was he acting so oblivious? Didn’t he have skanks to kiss?
“You seemed pretty busy, too, this morning,” Avery spat. “I mean, have fun with your
friends
, Rhys,” she amended. There. That was better. She tried to slide the door closed, but Rhys’s leather Reef sandal held it open.
“Avery, are you okay? Is this about the engagement thing?” His voice was warm and concerned, and his hand fluttered upward,
as if he were going to push Avery’s hair back from her face. Then, abruptly, his hand fell so that it was dangling awkwardly
by his belt loops.
“I don’t want to talk about my family with you,” Avery said. “Seriously, go back to your
friends
,” she repeated. She was trying to stay angry, but the faint scent of his Clarins SPF for Men lotion and the way his eyebrows
were still knit in consternation below his prominent brow was melting her resolve.
“What friends?” Rhys asked in confusion. “Are you talking about Owen?”
“No, I’m not talking about Owen,” Avery blurted in frustration. “Look, it’s your vacation, hook up, have fun. I mean, it’s
not like we did anything. I just thought you’d be classier than that.” Avery cringed as soon as the words left her mouth.
She sounded like a jilted Greenwich housewife, yelling at her husband after hearing a lame excuse about why he missed the
train to Connecticut.
“Oh my God, those British girls? That’s Owen’s thing. He thought we should meet girls to sort of start fresh after Kelsey.
I know it’s dumb.” Rhys opened his hands wide, as if to prove to her he wasn’t hiding anything. “I don’t know, it was a lame
guy bonding idea. But I didn’t like them.”
Avery searched Rhys’s face. It was turning bright red, and something about his wide-eyed, deer-in-headlights look made her
pretty certain he wasn’t lying. And he sort of looked cute when he was flustered. Still, she waited for him to finish his
excuse. “Owen’s crazy protective, so I couldn’t tell him what’s really going on…. What I mean is… I can’t tell him that I
don’t want those girls, because I only want
you
,” Rhys finished.
“Why should I believe you?” Avery kept her hand firmly on the sliding door, as if she might suddenly slam it against Rhys’s
foot.
“Because I had a dream about you,” Rhys said randomly, wondering why he’d chosen that of all reasons to prove his innocence.
Still, it was the truth. He looked over at a terra-cotta planter in the shape of a whale that was on the patio, afraid to
meet Avery’s gaze.
“Okay,” Avery said in what she hoped was an appropriately ice-queen voice. She turned and walked toward the kitchen. “Come
in if you want.”
“Thanks.” Avery heard the squeaking sound of the door being pulled shut. Even though her back was toward Rhys, the room suddenly
felt that much smaller.
“What was your dream about?” Avery asked, her back still toward him. She suddenly felt shy. She’d had crushes on boys before,
but nothing like this. And no guy had
ever
told her he’d had a dream about her, except Dewey Williams, a kid in kindergarten who wet his pants and also had six imaginary
friends. That didn’t count.
But
this
did.
“It was about you,” Rhys said, coming up in front of her. “You and me doing this.” He cupped Avery’s chin and pulled her forward.
He leaned in and kissed her gently on the mouth. Avery kissed back, slowly at first, then faster. He was a few inches taller
than her, and she could feel his muscled arms.
“This is better than my dream,” Rhys whispered into Avery’s hair. Avery nodded eagerly. She’d never made out in a hotel room,
but suddenly it felt like the most natural thing in the world. Maybe Baby, Layla, and Jack could find somewhere else to sleep
tonight so that she and Rhys could do this for the rest of the trip.
They’ll love that plan.
Their kissing became more forceful and Avery pulled Rhys over to the couch. She sank down onto it, inviting him to sit next
to her, when there was a knock on the door. Ugh.
Now
the maid decided to show up? Avery wished she’d put the
DO NOT DISTURB
sign on the door handle.
“Not a good time!” Avery called in between kisses. The knocks got louder. “Um, privacy? Come back later!” Avery yelled again.
“Ave, I just need to pee!” Owen yelled. “I can’t make it to my room!”
“Go in the ocean!” Avery yelled. It was what Owen always used to do. Rhys clapped his hand over his mouth to suppress a laugh.
“Ave?” Owen pleaded outside. Rhys shrugged, as if to say,
What can you do?
“
Hide!
” Avery hissed, pushing him into the bedroom and shoving the door closed. Once Rhys was out of sight, she pulled open the
door to the villa.
“Hi!” Owen yelled, running into the bathroom.
A minute later, he came out, wiping his hands on the legs of his board shorts. “Hey sis,” Owen said as he sauntered over to
the black-and-white-striped daybed in the corner and sat down, as if settling in for an all-day chat.
“What are you up to?” Avery asked, smoothing her orange-and-green Lilly Pulitzer halter dress. She hoped she didn’t look like
she’d been making out.