Wild Ever After: A Marriage of Convenience Sports Romance (Wildcat Hockey Book 3)
Wild Ever After: Chapter 14

We arrive at the resort in St. Lucia at sunset. I am in desperate need of a shower and a change of clothes, but Jade is practically vibrating with anticipation to get to the beach.

Tossing our bags in the room, we walk straight out from our patio to the water.

It’s quite a view, I gotta admit.

Jade kicks out of her sandals and her eyes light up as her toes dig into the sand. She jogs the rest of the way, pausing when she gets to where the water comes in and then pulls back away from the shore. Cautiously, she takes one step into the ocean and then that grin gets bigger.

“It’s so warm,” she says.

“Your first time in St. Lucia?” I ask, hanging back so my dress shoes don’t get soaked.

“My first time at the beach.” She raises her arms at her sides and turns in a circle.

I stumble on her words. “Wait, like, any beach?”

“Yes. Any beach.” Her laughter gets lost in the sound of the waves.

Woah. I can’t fathom that. My job has taken me all over the world and given me the funds to visit places on my bucket list.

Jade wades in until her legs disappear in the blue-green water and then squeals when a wave pushes her back. She has no regard for the jean shorts and tank top she’s wearing. I try to think back to my first time seeing the ocean in person. Was I this excited? I was sixteen and traveled with some high school hockey teammates for spring break. Even if I was excited, I was probably too cool to show it.

“Can you swim?” I ask, as she wades out far enough that I might need to be concerned about her being pulled out over her head.

Her lips part to reply and she takes in a mouthful of ocean water.

I’m seconds from stomping in, dress shoes and all, when she starts to swim back. She reaches land again, smiling so big it’s impossible not to smile back at her.

Her white tank is see-through and stuck to her body, showing off her curves. She starts giggling and does a scan of my outfit, staring specifically at my polished dress shoes. “You look ridiculous.”

“This is all I had.” I brought a change of clothes, jeans and a T-shirt, but forgot to pack extra shoes for what I thought was one night at the hotel for the wedding.

She walks backward into the water, not taking her eyes off me, and kicks water at me, spraying my shirt.

My lips twitch with amusement. “Whatcha doing?”

“Nothing.” She sends another spray of water my way, then another.

I charge her without warning, taking her legs out and putting her over my shoulder as I run farther into the water.

She clings to me, squealing and giggling all at once. I hold her tightly as the ocean swallows us up. Stopping when it’s at my shoulders, I let Jade slide down my front, and she wraps her legs around me. The position is familiar, and I can feel her hard nipples through the thin fabric of her tank top. My dick reacts as memories of last night assault me.

She seems to have the same realization because in a flash her legs fall away, and she lets go of me. “Sorry.”

“It’s fine.” I let my head fall back into the water.

“It’s easy to lose control with you.”

“Is that a good or bad thing?”

Instead of answering, she says, “I don’t think it’s a good idea to go there again. A year is a long time and we’re going to be spending a lot of time together.”

I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t disappointed. Last night was phenomenal. But she has a point. It could get awkward if we keep hooking up. “All right. Friends then?”

I’m not sure I’ve ever been balls deep in a friend before, but this situation is anything but ordinary.

“Sure. Friends.” She looks relieved. “Thank you for this.”

“For agreeing to be your friend?”

“No, for this.” She motions toward the horizon. “For helping me, for being here now. All of it. It means a lot. I can never repay you.”

“I’m glad I’m here,” I say honestly.

Her chin dips.

Clearing my throat, I ask, “What’s the plan for this week?”

“We didn’t book much.” The ‘we’ she mentions is her and Sam. I wonder if she’s sad about him not being here. It has to be a little weird, even if she is as convinced as she claims that things wouldn’t have worked between them.

“That’s cool. A few days of lying on the beach sounds pretty nice.”

“I cannot picture you lying on the beach,” she says, a little of that playfulness returning.

“Oh, I look fantastic lying on the beach.” I wink. “Just you wait.”

I wake up the next morning on the small pull-out couch in our room. Unlike our suite the night of the wedding, our honeymoon digs are much more intimate. The end of my feet hit the side of the king-sized bed Jade is still sleeping in. The springs creak as I get up, but as quietly as I can, I grab my bag and go into the bathroom.

After a shower, I put back on my wrinkled wedding pants and white undershirt (my jeans and T-shirt from yesterday are still damp) and head down to the gift shop to get swim trunks, some shorts and shirts, and even some boxers and socks. The shoe selection is basically crocs or flip flops, so I grab a pair of the latter.

When I get back to the room, Jade is sitting up in bed, her laptop open in front of her.

“Hey,” she says, briefly looking up at me. When she sees the bags in my hand, she smiles. “New shoes?”

“Yeah. Thank god. These are wet and filled with sand.” I toss them in the trash and dump the contents of my shopping spree on my bed. Without thinking too much about it, I pull the shirt I’m wearing over my head and replace it with one of the new ones. Then, hold up the two pair of trunks. “Which ones?”

“Hot pink for sure.”

With a grin, I take the hot pink trunks into the bathroom and change.

“Do you want to grab breakfast or head right to the beach?” I ask when I get back out to the room.

She gives me a brief smile and then refocuses on her computer. “I need an hour or two. Melody emailed over some ideas for my new column, and I got edits back. Go ahead without me.”

“All right.” I glance out the window to the beach, but hesitate to leave her. She was so excited last night and now she’s working?

“I’ll meet you for lunch,” she promises.

I walk around the resort, grabbing breakfast and then scoping out all the activities. They really have it all. Options for everyone from kids to retirees. If I were with the guys or by myself, I’d golf and maybe scuba, but I have no idea what Jade likes to do.

In the end, I grab a lounge chair on the beach and order a couple of drinks—one for me and one for Jade. But by the time I’ve finished mine, she still hasn’t shown up. I order another round and then finish off hers.

Four drinks later, I decide to close my eyes for a few minutes. I didn’t get a lot of sleep last night, despite being exhausted from not sleeping at all the night before, thanks to Jade lying a foot away. I’m attracted to her. I’ve always been attracted to her, but now that we broke the barrier, it’s harder not to act on that attraction.

I wake with a start. A shadow falls over me then Jade peers down at me with a humored expression.

Sitting up, I take her in. My mouth goes dry. A red bikini covers only enough of her body to keep the important bits hidden. Her boobs are trying to bust free from the top and the bottoms sit low on her hips. She takes the chair next to mine.

“I see you got the party started without me.” She takes one of the drinks and slurps up the melted ice and what’s left of the fruity drink.

“Finished working?”

“For today.” She takes out sunscreen and starts rubbing it all over her skin.

“Does your boss really expect you to work while you’re on your honeymoon?”

“I don’t mind. Work is the only thing keeping me going. I’m good at work.”

“Yeah.” I mull that over. I’ve definitely put work first for most of my adult life.

“Missing Sam?”

“I don’t know if I’m missing him or just mourning the relationship I thought we had. Work is the only thing that distracts me.” Her gaze briefly scans my naked torso. “The only productive thing.”

“You’re in paradise. You don’t need to be productive. Enjoy it.”

A smile that tells me I’m going to eat my words spreads across her face. “Don’t you worry. I plan to.”

As expected, I eat my words over the next twenty-four hours. Enjoy it, she does. In bikinis of every color and pattern. The only thing that they all have in common is how little of her they cover.

I am in hell.

We’ve skipped structured activities, but spent lots of time at the pool with a swim-up bar, and eaten at different restaurants around the resort. We’re together nonstop, but carefully avoid touching or any topics of substance. Almost as if we both know that getting too intimate in conversation and letting our guards down, could lead to a repeat of our all-night bang fest.

But I’m already tired of surface conversations. There are only so many times you can talk about how beautiful it is here. Or ponder what our friends are doing back in Minnesota.

Tuesday, we split up after breakfast. While she works for a few hours, I sit on the beach and call my contractor, Rick. He’s been able to continue most of my renovation plans while I’m gone, thankfully.

On my way back to the room, I spot a couple just arriving. They can’t keep their hands off each other—or their lips. They ask the concierge for a restaurant recommendation somewhere off the resort. Something romantic and quiet. I pause long enough to hear his answer. A night out sounds nice. Maybe I’ll suggest it.

Just because it’s romantic and quiet doesn’t mean Jade and I can’t go and have a good time. It’ll be fun, maybe we can reach a level of comfort with each other that makes my attraction take a back seat to friendship.

A guy can hope.

By the time I get back to the room mid-afternoon, I’m hopeful Jade’s done working because I’m eager to spend some time with her. I like being around her. Under almost any other scenario, a trip like this with her would be amazing. I’ve let the weirdness of the situation drive a wedge between us for the past couple of days, but I’m done with that. Maybe we can grab lunch and then go snorkeling or something before taking her to dinner off the resort. But when I get to the room, there’s no sign of Jade.

I wait, but after thirty minutes, I’m too antsy to sit in the room by myself. She doesn’t reply to a text. I check the restaurant downstairs and even the quieter lounge area, thinking maybe she wanted to work someplace other than the room.

I can’t replace her anywhere. I’ve all but given up on locating her, when a flash of long, red hair grabs my attention at the outdoor bar. Fun, upbeat music pumps louder with each step closer. A crowd has gathered, mostly guys, and Jade is standing on top of the bar, holding a drink the size of her head, and swaying in rhythm to the music.

She’s a damn sight in a little pink bikini that pushes up her boobs and cuts low on her slender hips. And I am not the only one that’s noticing.

I shove through a group of dudes to get to her. When she spots me, her brown eyes light up. She lifts both arms in the air, spilling her drink in the process. “Declan!”

People sitting at the bar make room for me.

The closer I get, the drunker I realize she is. I tip my head back toward the hotel. “Wanna come down from there and we can grab lunch?”

She shakes her head. “I want to drink until I can’t remember anything.”

“All right. We can do that, but let’s go sit by the water or in the pool.”

After taking a long slurp of her drink, she finally nods. “Okay, but you need to put a shirt on.”

I don’t have time to ask why I need a shirt before she’s attempting to step down on her own. There are some cheers and some boos as I grab her hips and help. When she’s standing in front of me, she leans against my chest and peers up at me.

My pulse quickens as she glides a hand along my bicep. “You still don’t have a shirt on.”

“We can stop by the room and change.”

“No, that’s okay. I’ll just look and not touch.”

She lets me lead her to a lounge chair, where I flag down a waitress and ask for water.

“You have a nice body,” she says, gaze roaming over me.

“Thanks.” I keep the, So do you, to myself.

“I keep replaying it over and over. You are a surprising guy.”

My stare drops to her pouty mouth.

“Do you think if I drink enough, you’ll start to look not as hot? Like reverse beer goggles?”

My throat is thick as I swallow. Her fingers replace mine. My heart is racing impossibly fast. If I leaned in just a couple of inches, I could kiss her. I can’t though. I know I can’t. But fuck do I want to.

Sprints on the ice sound like fun compared to sitting here and doing the decent thing, which sadly is not kissing her until she sobers up and then kissing her everywhere else. I know that isn’t what she truly wants, despite her drunken rambling. We agreed, only the one time.

“It was all my fault.”

“What was all your fault?” I brush her hair out of her face.

“Sam.”

The mention of her ex has me pulling back. She isn’t over him. I need to remember that. Whatever attraction she has to me is a balm to her broken heart.

“It’s his loss. Trust me.”

“I’m not the kind of girl guys want to marry.” Her chin wobbles with the admission.

“I married you, didn’t I?”

“It isn’t the same thing.”

“No, I guess it isn’t, but I think you’re pretty great.”

Her stare locks on me. “I think you’re pretty great, too.”