“Was that what Corrie was?”
Her question couldn’t have been more spot-on.
“My attempt, I guess.”
Shannon must have sensed he was sorting out his own feelings on the topic and gracefully changed the subject.
Leo pulled up to their hotel a short time later, and Victor gave him a generous tip.
It was just after three, and the beach party was in full swing. “I had a good time today. Thanks for stepping in for Avery,” Shannon told him.
“I hope she’s feeling better.”
“I’m sure she’s fine.”
“Thanks for inviting me out,” Victor said. “And for listening to my . . . well, my current drama.”
“I’m a therapist on the side. I’ll send you my bill,” she teased.
“I’ll look for it.”
The awkward goodbye lingered above them. “I need to get out of this suit.”
Victor lifted an eyebrow. “That’s a damn shame.” He hadn’t meant to say that out loud.
Backing up, she lifted her hands to the air, a mischievous smile on her lips. “Okay, I’m gone.”
“We’ll touch base for dinner,” Victor called after her.
“If Avery’s up to it,” Shannon said as she continued to walk away.
He didn’t say goodbye, and neither did she.
But his eyes followed her as she left his sight.
Chapter Fourteen
Avery had recovered but spent the day on their deck nursing a headache. Shannon joined her outside and received the inquisition.
“Did he hit on you?”
“If you’re asking if he made a pass, the answer is no.”
“No inappropriate touching?”
“Nope.”
Avery frowned. “What about comments? I’m sure he had something to say about that swimsuit.”
“He had plenty to say about the suit.”
Avery smiled. “Give it up.”
Shannon looked down at the suit she had yet to take off. “He said it should be illegal.”
“That’s something.”
“He was a surprisingly good sport with all of it. It was obvious that he hadn’t snorkeled in a while, or at all. But he kept a smile and made a good show without complaint. The cave was incredible. We have to come back here and bring Trina and Lori.”
Avery rubbed her temple. “But no pass.”
“No. But it isn’t like I gave him the opportunity. I’m enjoying the flirt, like you suggested. No one said anything about physical contact.” Although the more she thought about it, the better it sounded.
“We still have three nights left. I’ll be sure and leave you alone with the man to give him an opportunity.”
Shannon glared. “Don’t you dare, Captain Obvious.”
“You’re right, you’re right,” Avery backtracked. “If he wants it, he will create his own opportunity.”
She thought about his confessions about work, about his life. There was a lot more to the man than she first thought. Not that she was going to reveal any of that to Avery right at that moment. Doing so would get the woman going more than she already was.
Shannon pushed up off her chair to walk inside. “I’m taking a shower and a nap before dinner.”
“Good idea. Rest up before the night comes, in case you need your energy.”
Shannon walked away shaking her head.
Avery was like a dog with a bone.
A bone named Victor.
Victor kicked back on his bed, wrapped in a towel. The air conditioner and the fan spinning above him were the only sounds in the room.
He’d purposely left his phone behind for the day, and in fact was making a concerted effort to avoid logging into the real world or risk being sucked into his normal life. Except a text from Corrie waited for him when he returned to his room.
In the off chance you care, I thought you should know I’m not dead in a ditch somewhere.
Her words evoked a desire to immediately text her back to let her know he was quite aware she was alive and well, that her parents had informed his parents, who had told Justin, who revealed the information to him.
What was the point?
His conversation with Shannon about balance had him rethinking why he’d asked Corrie to marry him in the first place. She was a beautiful girl . . . woman, he corrected his thoughts. Except now when he thought about her, he realized she was immature in many ways. Just like her text suggested. She and her friends liked to hang out in clubs and wake up late. Things he learned when he called her early in the morning and found her sleeping in after stumbling in past two.
He didn’t see Shannon doing those kinds of things. Even in Tulum, the lady didn’t overindulge. And her friend Avery obviously didn’t drink all that much if she was getting sick after their wine at dinner and maybe one cocktail. Comparing Shannon to Corrie was like the apple and the orange.
Corrie accepted his need to overwork.
Shannon challenged it.
Corrie had openly flirted with him when they first met.
Shannon blew him off.
Corrie ran off.
Shannon stayed.
He supposed the last part wasn’t truly for or because of him. But Victor owned it anyway.
The opportunity to miss Corrie, even when they were dating . . . yeah, that never really happened. She was right there, ready to jump when he called. She fell into place, and asking her to marry him was as much about closing a chapter in his life and moving forward as any business deal he’d been a part of.
He was an asshole.
Marriage wasn’t a business.
At least it isn’t supposed to be.
Marriage and love are about the welled up emotion that surfaces at the most unexpected times. Like with Shannon today. He hadn’t missed the tears in her eyes when she spoke of her ex.
Victor kicked his feet off the bed and retrieved his laptop.
He ignored the three hundred new e-mails in his inbox and logged into the hotel’s Wi-Fi. He googled Paul and Shannon Wentworth and scanned through their public pictures.
“Jesus.” He blew out a whistle.
He knew she was attractive, obviously. Between his voyeur tendencies, the killer white bikini, and the relaxed sundresses she wore, it was hard to miss her beauty. The pictures he looked at now were of her and her ex-husband in black-tie attire, floor-length rhinestone studded dresses, full makeup, and jewelry fit for a princess.
Victor stuck to his earlier conviction.
Paul Wentworth was a fool.
Victor removed Paul’s name from the search and found a new thread of society page photographs. Pictures ranging from gossip magazines after her divorce to her attending celebrity weddings. In fact, on closer inspection, it looked as if Shannon and Avery had both been in the wedding party of a well-known country singer and an oil heiress.
Yeah, Shannon Wentworth was a lady, where Corrie stuck out like a college student.
He had an itchy desire to read the articles about her divorce, then decided against it. He considered it a violation of her privacy, even in light of it being public knowledge.
“Yet you secretly watch her swimming naked,” he said to himself. “Twisted, Vic . . . really twisted.”
He glanced again at the number inside the red circle above his e-mail inbox, clenched his fists, and closed his computer.
It could wait.
Whatever it was . . . it could wait.
Stephanie was told to call him only if the sky was falling.
Victor peeked out the window. Nope . . . the sky was still there.
Clouds rolled in as the sun started to go down, and the rain that made the region tropical started to fall.
Shannon and Avery ended up having dinner at the hotel restaurant, where Victor joined them. They took their time with their meal but ended the night early.
Avery still wasn’t a hundred percent, and Victor didn’t suggest they extend the night longer.
The next morning, Shannon sat on the side of Avery’s bed, placing a cold washcloth on her head. “I think you need to see a doctor.”
“I must have eaten something bad.”
“Food poisoning doesn’t last this long. Unless you ate something that has a parasite, it wouldn’t linger.”
Avery’s eyes widened. “I’ve heard horror stories of stuff in the food here.”
“That has to be it. We didn’t drink last night, and I didn’t buy a hangover from the night before. No offense, my friend, but your liver is seasoned better than that.”
Avery attempted to smile through her misery.
“I could just be sick.”
Shannon thought that, too. “What do you want to do? We can find a clinic.”
Avery shook her head. “A Mexican hospital isn’t something I want to experience, not when I don’t speak the language. If I’m not feeling better by tonight, we’ll go.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah. I’m sorry, Shannon. I know this isn’t how you pictured the week to be.”
She stood. “It’s okay. I wasn’t ready for meaningless sex yet, anyway. I’ll go out to the beach and check on you by lunch. If you’re not feeling any better, I’m going to drag you to the nearest doctor.”
Avery rolled over, tucked her hands under her cheek. “I might let you.”
Shannon grabbed a coffee from the hotel coffee bar and parked herself in her usual beach spot.
She opened the book she’d been nibbling away at and lay back to take in the morning. It didn’t take long for Dylan and Erasmo to find her and settle in, and soon after, Victor worked his way down.
“Good morning.”
It was a simple greeting. One she’d just received from Dylan and Erasmo . . . yet his had her smiling on the inside.
“Morning.”
He spread out under the palapa to her left and glanced briefly at her body. “No white swimsuit today?”
She blushed. “I need to switch up the tan lines.”
Today she wore a more conservative navy blue number without all the crisscross strings.
“Still nice,” he said. “But yesterday’s wins.”