The Honeymoon Prize (4 page)

Private time. Footage. Show. What in the world was going on?

Nick’s questioning gaze met hers. She answered with a shrug.

“We knew promotional photos would be taken,” Nick said. “But a film crew . . .”

Brad held up his hand. “I understand. You’re honeymooners. You want privacy before we start filming the reality show.”

Reality show? Her heart pounded against her chest, booming like the drums on the beach. Every nerve ending stood at attention. “We got married yesterday and . . .”

“Flew all night.” Nick scratched his chin covered with a layer of sexy stubble from not shaving this morning. “We had no idea about the filming, uh, starting right away.”

Addie appreciated Nick stepping in, even if he had no idea what was going on.

A sheepish expression crossed Brad’s face. “You read the fine print.”

She didn’t think he meant the safety information card on the airplane. Maybe this was the missing paperwork Nick had mentioned to Emily.

“Fine,” Brad relented. “We shouldn’t be filming today. But the network is excited about the honeymoon reality show’s potential. Sponsors are expressing interest based on your profiles. We want to send them early footage.”

Nick was movie star handsome. She understood his appeal. He’d led an exciting life full of action and adventure. Unlike her.

Until a few months ago, her life had been spectacularly boring. Not that being homeless was that exciting. She’d lived day to day, reacting. Always . . . reacting. Even now. “Why are they excited?”

“An Army vet marries his childhood best friend,” Brad said. “Viewers are going to fall in love with you.”

Oh, no. Addie’s heart dropped to her feet. Splat against the dock. She was afraid to look down for fear of seeing a bloody mess.

So much for being warm all over.
An icy feeling settled in her legs. She balled her hands, a mixture of anxiety, frustration, fear and shame. Lying about their marriage to a few people in San Diego and Nick’s boss was one thing, but going on TV and pretending to be honeymooners in love?

She opened her mouth to speak, but had no idea what to say. She couldn’t tell the truth, not with Nick’s job at stake. She couldn’t scream at the injustice of being forced into more lies. Correction, the same lie, only bigger with an audience who would be watching and commenting and judging. Addie pressed her lips together. Maybe that would keep her from throwing up or blurting out what was going on.

Her vacation in paradise had been turned into ten days in hell. No resting, no relaxing, no fun. Was this karma for taking the honeymoon prize away from an in-love-newlywed couple? She didn’t want to know the answer.

“Viewers might get mad at me.” Nick put his arm around Addie and pulled her close. The pounding of his heart matched her own. The heat emanating from his body raised her core temperature. Sweat pooled between her breasts. She needed to take off her sweatshirt.

Time to put some distance between them. She tried to move, but he held her tightly.

“I took so long to marry her.” He brushed his lips over her hair.

No. No. No.
Those feathery kisses felt way too good.

What was Nick doing?

Her insides trembled over his willingness to go along with the charade for the film crew. Okay, his job was at stake. She had no doubt he could play the dutiful groom for the camera. He’d faced far worse situations, life-threatening ones where he’d been shot.

Addie wasn’t like him. Sure, she had strengths. She was a good caregiver and friend, but she’d spent the past nine years hiding her emotions and feelings, always appearing upbeat for her grandmother. Not easy, but a camera hadn’t been recording every facial expression and nuance. A television audience would figure out she and Nick weren’t in love.

“I knew Addie was something special back when we were climbing on the monkey bars at recess,” Nick continued.

“The monkey bars. That’s awesome.” Brad motioned the cameraman closer. “When did you fall in love?”

Oh, no. Knees weak, she leaned against Nick hoping for an ounce of his strength to fortify her. The man was solid, all muscle and confidence. But she doubted he could pull off this line of questioning with his usual pizzazz.

Nick pulled her closer like a caring husband would. “I’ve loved Addie for as long as I can remember. I proposed to her for the first time when we were in kindergarten.”

His words—totally true—chased away the cold and chills. She loved him the same way he loved her . . . as friends. Always had. Well, when she hadn’t been crushing on him, wishing she could be his girlfriend. Boy, she’d been so young and naïve back then.

“What was your answer?” Brad asked her.

“Yes,” she admitted. “Though Miss Jones, our kindergarten teacher, made us promise not to kiss. She didn’t want germs spread.”

“I remember Miss Jones.” Nick smiled. “She had a brown rabbit.”

“Cocoa.”

“We used to take turns bringing Cocoa home.”

“Not me. Grammy didn’t want rodents in the house.”

“You visited Cocoa at my house.”

Addie nodded. “We fed her carrots.”

“I made you clean up the rabbit poop.”

She laughed. “You always made me do the dirty work.”

He winked. “Still do.”

Brad beamed, doubling the high-power wattage of his smile. “Looks like we picked the right couple.”

“Picked?” Her gazed bounced like a cat trying to catch a laser pointer. “We won the contest.”

“Same thing,” Brad explained. “The winning couple needed to appeal to the masses, otherwise the show would be a ratings bust.”

“Someone looked over the entries and choose us, rather than selecting a random winner?” she asked.

“The selection process was explained in the rules and agreement you signed with your entry.”

Nick inhaled sharply.

She forced herself from doing the same thing. Neither had read any paperwork. No rules or agreements had been signed. Emily had filled out the entry form, included pictures of them, and forged their signatures. Addie and Nick hadn’t known about the contest until they’d been declared the winners and asked to provide social security numbers for tax purposes.

Stupid? Maybe.

But no one turned down a free ten-day vacation complete with new wardrobes. Maybe they should have asked questions, made sure there weren’t any catches to the prize like starring in a reality TV program.

Brad’s gaze narrowed to slits. “Is there a problem?”

“No problem.” Nick’s smile didn’t crinkle the corner of his eyes, but no one would notice except her. “We would appreciate the allowed time alone. We haven’t had a wedding night yet.”

Nick was trying to buy them time, but her cheeks burned. Did everything have to be about sex when you were on your honeymoon? Still she managed a smile and a nod.

“No worries.” Brad held out his hands palms facing them. “We’ll film you carrying your bride over the threshold of the
bure
and then leave you alone. Jet lag won’t make for good footage anyway.”

“That works.” Nick’s voice sounded forced, like he was talking between clenched teeth. “Doesn’t it, honey?”

The endearment surprised her. He’d called her many things over the years, but never anything intimate. This was going to take some getting used to.

“Sounds good to me.” She’d rather be dealing with cramps. Okay, not really, but she wanted to enjoy her first real vacation in over a decade, not play an in-love newlywed couple for the camera with her best guy friend when her heart wished she was here with her one true love, whoever that might be.

“Let’s go,” Brad said. “The sooner we get the footage. The sooner the two of you can be alone.”

Nick dropped his arm from around her. “We’re ready.”

“Our overnight bags?” she asked.

“They will be delivered to the
bure
,” Brad said. “A little advice to make things easier. Ignore the cameras, pretend they’re not there, and most importantly, be yourselves.”

This wasn’t going to work. If she and Nick acted like themselves, everyone would know they weren’t in love.

She wanted to be someone different, someone new, someone off on an exciting adventure.

Why had she thought that on the seaplane?

Nick held her hand. “Come on.”

She laced her fingers with his, trying to keep her hand from tensing too much, and walked next to him.

He lowered his mouth to her ear. “I’ll figure a way out of this.”

She wasn’t sure how he would, but she clung to his words the way she gripped his hand.

“Trust me,” he whispered. “It’s going to be okay, babe.”

The word babe bristled. Addie preferred being called honey. She didn’t like being lumped in with the long list of women he called babe, ones he’d dated and left. She wasn’t like them.

Her dad had deserted her and her mom when Addie was a toddler. Her mother had dumped her at her grandparents when she was four. Her aunt and mother had evicted her after her grandmother’s death. Addie had no one to call family now, but she had Nick.

She knew he would never desert her. He might not be perfect, they might not have seen each other much these past nine years, but his friendship was like the sun, always there. Constant. No matter if the sky was blue or overcast.

Forget Prince Charming. She wouldn’t want to be on Starfish Island with anyone else. Nick would figure a way out of this reality TV mess and make everything better.

The way he had in the past. The way he always would.

N
ick’s feet sounded against the path, his steps heavier than Addie’s who walked next to him. He kept a smile on his face for the camera, but inside he seethed. What in the hell had Emily been thinking when she entered them in the contest?

He was a personal security professional. He didn’t want the public profile that went with being on a reality TV show. Incognito was the way he lived when he was enlisted and now that he was out.

Worse, hadn’t Emily considered how this would affect Addie? A friend should know better. She’d been through so much with her grandmother’s illness, the death, and the subsequent battle over the house. Addie needed looking after, not put on display for millions of viewers’ guilty pleasure.

He would text Emily while he determined how to extract Addie from this situation. Sure, he could take out the entire film crew. Given their frat boy looks, spray-on tans, and underwear model physiques, the odds were in Nick’s favor even though he was outnumbered four to one. Too bad Addie would never condone violence.

That meant figuring out another way to get her off the island in the next twenty-four hours—sickness, food poisoning, death of a friend or loved one, an impending lawsuit. The last one wasn’t much of a stretch given Addie’s family stealing her inheritance and breaking her heart.

Yes, he could come up with an exit strategy and whisk her to safety. That was why he was paid the big bucks, but he needed time to call and make arrangements. Until then, he would keep holding Addie’s hand, being her husband, and making sure she didn’t get too upset.

She shouldn’t worry. No laws were being broken. They were legally married. What did it matter if they didn’t plan to live as husband and wife and share a bed?

They were good friends who got along better than some married couples he knew. They had kept in touch for the last nine years when he’d drifted away from most other civilians, including his parents. He and Addie had looked out for each other from the time they were little kids, through good times and bad. So what if sex wasn’t part of their marriage? There wasn’t another woman he respected more.

Playing a dutiful, crazy about his bride newlywed until they left the island would be a breeze. Though his gut told him holding hands and staring into each other’s eyes wasn’t going to be enough for the cameras. Newlyweds kissed and touched each other.

In full disclosure, Nick wouldn’t mind doing either. Once he’d almost kissed her, but chickened out at the last second. Fear of losing her friendship had stopped him.

Since then, things had changed. They’d changed. But their friendship hadn’t changed.

Addie had hesitated before the kiss during the wedding. Understandable. A physical relationship wasn’t part of their agreement. He’d made the kiss brief, hoping not to raise suspicions with Emily. Nick would do the same thing with the film crew. He didn’t want Addie forced into doing something because a camera was pointed at them. She looked stressed enough.

Her pasted-on smile couldn’t hide the
V
between her brows, deeper than he’d ever seen, including when he’d picked up her, two suitcases and three boxes from Emily’s apartment. Addie had blinked back tears when they moved her into his townhome. She’d been through so much and kept trying to be strong. Being on a TV show and forced to act like an in-love bride was the last thing she needed.

“Shouldn’t be much farther,” he said.

Addie looked up at him. Her ponytail bounced, the movement as comforting as a welcoming wave from an old friend. “I’m good.”

Nick gave her hand a reassuring squeeze, his way of telling Addie he was here for her. He would take care of her the way she’d taken care of him during his parents’ fights, their divorce and his deployments. That was what friends did for one another.

She rewarded him with a shy smile.

A smile was good. They would get through this. Maybe have a good laugh about their escape from reality TV once they were back in San Diego.

Brad grinned. The dude had the whitest teeth Nick had ever seen. Unnaturally white. Weird. Glow in the dark?

“You okay?” Addie whispered, her breath warm against his skin.

Always thinking about others.

“Fine.” Nick focused on her small hand in his. He hadn’t realized how petite she was. She’d acted so strong and brave when they were growing up she seemed taller. “Everything’s going to be fine.”

A large woman wearing a long blue dress greeted them outside their
bure
, a thatched roof cottage surrounded by palm trees and sand. “Welcome, welcome. I am Lani, your
bure
Mama. Call me Mama Lani. I will see to all your needs while you are on Starfish Island. You will have the most romantic honeymoon ever.”