Picture Perfect (The Wilsons) (6 page)

The waitress
glanced first at her and then at Adam, trying to hide her astonishment and obvious curiosity about what had just happened.

Lea walked out of the room before things got any more awkward.

Lea decided to spend the morning holed up in her room, checking out the forex market activity on her laptop. She pored over some charts and went through the financial news until her phone rang just before twelve.

"Lea? It's Angie. Stef, Penny and I are downstairs in the bar, and Michelle and Grace are coming down to join us soon. What happened to you? You were meant to call me this morning!"

"Oh
no, I'm so sorry Ange." Lea felt like an idiot - she'd completely forgotten that the girls were arriving this morning and they were meant to have some girl-time together before the rest of the wedding guests arrived tomorrow. "I'll be downstairs in a minute."

She closed her laptop and applied a few coats of mascara before grabbing her handbag and rushing downstairs.
She planned to have one round of drinks with the girls, before heading out to the beach, having a quick stroll around and then enjoying a light lunch. In the afternoon they could go shopping in the main island village and by evening more wedding guests would arrive and they'd all have dinner together.

The small bar was empty at this hour, and as soon as she entered she was greeted with squeals and hugs. 

Michelle, Grace and Angie lived on the West Coast, Stef lived up in Maine and Penny lived in Chicago. It was great to see everyone again - they'd been friends in college and had moved in different directions since their graduation. Sometimes Lea wondered why the girls were friends with her - they were intelligent, had great careers and unlike Lea, they'd actually graduated instead of dropping out mid-way.

But she didn't question her luck too much and instead, ordered everyone a round of tropical cocktails, "The cute, colorful ones with umbrellas," Steph specified to the bemused bartender.

Within two hours, Lea had been forced to forget the plans she'd drawn up, and they'd gone through three rounds of drinks and a round of vodka shots as they caught up on each others' lives, and Lea remembered belatedly that she'd skipped breakfast. She wasn't hungry or tipsy, but she felt like it might be time for lunch. When she mentioned this to the girls, they all agreed and decided to head out in search of a cute, beach-side eatery.

They left the bar and turned the corner to enter the main hotel lobby and Steph bumped into a tall, broad-shouldered man.

"Oops," she giggled, and grabbed at the wall to steady herself.

Lea glanced from Steph to the man and realized with a sinking heart that they'd bumped into Adam. He was looking at her in amusement, as if she'd orchestrated this encounter, and she felt herself blushing and feeling annoyed.

"What are you doing here?" she asked.

"On my way back from a nice walk." He took in the group at a glance. "These your friends?"

Steph exchanged a glance with Grace and giggled again. "I'm Steph," she said, smiling at Adam, "And these are Lea, Michelle, Grace and Angie."

"It's nice to meet you all," he said smoothly. "And I already know Lea."

He glanced at Lea again, his eyes boring straight into her soul, and it seemed to her that his look implied just how well they knew each other. She remembered the feel of his hands drawing her close to him, squeezing her ass, and she felt the heat spreading down from her face to her neck.

"We're just on our way out," she said haltingly. "They're here for the wedding. They came a bit early, everyone else is arriving tomorrow."

Stop rambling
said the voice in her head.

"I see. Well, I'll let you ladies enjoy yourselves."

He gave them all a dazzling smile and Lea noticed with growing irritation that everyone seemed to have fallen under his spell. "Come on guys," she whined, "Let's get going."

They all crowded into
one taxi and poured out in front of the restaurant. As soon as they were seated and waiting for their lunch to arrive, the questions began, exactly as Lea had expected. She was just thankful that they hadn't started quizzing her within earshot of Adam.

"Nah, he's just a guy
I met," she said, trying to brush off their queries. "We just kind of met at the hotel."

She didn't feel like detailing exactly how they'd met. She didn't even feel like talking about him.

Michelle and Grace looked at each other and Grace said, "He's cute."

They all laughed and Ang
ie leaned forward. "I think he's into you, Lea."

"Yeah? I don’t really think so."

"Oh my God!" Steph exclaimed so loudly that two diners turned to look at her. "You're into him. You
are
totally into him aren't you?"

It was like the proclamation of the Delphi Oracle, Lea thought bitterly, as all the other girls agreed with Steph. "
Puh-leeze
. I'm not into him."

"Oh, you totally are. What happened, did you two go on a date or something?"

Lea sighed. "No, we didn't go on a date."

Grace's mouth dropped and
she gave Lea a gentle shove. "Don't tell me you've hooked up already?"

Everyone giggled and looked at her in anticipation.

"Ugh." Lea rolled her eyes in exasperation. "I don't do random hook-ups."

"Well maybe you should."

Lea's eyes were about to pop out of her head. "I can't believe you're saying that, Grace. You and Dave are so happy, and I just want a stable relationship like that."

"
Oh, come on." It was Michelle's turn to give her unsolicited advice. "You'll get a 'stable relationship' when it happens. In the meantime, go out and have some fun! You only live once."

"Yeah, but…"

"But what? This is St Martin's, it's in the middle of nowhere, and nobody's going to find out. Except for us." She winked broadly. "And we definitely approve."

"But what if I can't move on after that?"

"Well, you kind of have to, seeing how your holiday's going to end at some point."

And he's going back to cover some civil war
or the other and probably get himself killed
, Lea added in her head.

Steph nodded in agreement. "We're not telling you to go out and get your heart broken, but he seems like a nice guy and he's
cute.
Go and have fun! Why do you have to be so serious and uptight about everything?"

Lea made a face. "I'm not uptight and -"

"Prrrrwt." Angie stuck her tongue between her lips and made a childish noise to shut her up. "Everyone knows you're uptight, Lea, you live like a nun and run your life like a business meeting."

"I live like a nun? That doesn’t even make sense
!"

Their food arrived and they continued bickering. Lea had a hard time trying to change the topic, but she finally managed to get the girls to discuss the wedding they were all here for.

After a short walk along the beach, the girls went back to the hotel and retired to their separate rooms. Lea didn't know whether the others would go out for a walk later or not, but she let the alcohol, food and excitement overwhelm her and sank into a deep siesta.

***

Lea woke up the next morning feeling slightly groggy. The dinner last night had been quite interesting, and thankfully the girls hadn't mentioned Adam in front of anyone else. Stacey, the bride-to-be, had landed after an af
ternoon flight, and everyone had stayed late, eating and drinking and catching up.

When she woke the next day, she stuffed all her things into her carry-on and headed down to reception where she handed in her key.

“I’m sorry about the inconvenience,” said the receptionist, smiling politely.

“No, it’s not your fault. And I was told about it when I was making the booking – it’s a pity the hotel has to do renovations now.”

“Well, yeah, it’s usually less busy at this time of year, most people come here in the winter.”

Lea grabbed the key to her new room and she and the receptionist exchanged polite goodbyes.

It’s true – she
had
been told about the need to change rooms mid-way. They needed her room for another couple who was coming to the wedding, and changing rooms mid-way was a small price Lea was willing to pay in order to not have to shift hotels. It was a bit annoying, but there was nothing else to do – she didn’t want the wedding party to have to split up between hotels because of her.

The new room was a bit smaller, but just as nice. The rooms in this resort all had ocean views, and she spent a minute taking in the sights before she stuffed the carry-on, unopened, into one of the large wardrobes along the wall.

She headed down, and spent the rest of the day chatting with Stacey and her friends. They first couple of hours passed pleasantly enough, but then Stacey got news that her photographer had come down with chickenpox, and wasn’t able to fly over to St Martin’s for the wedding.

Stacey
almost exploded when she heard the news – “Who has chicken pox when they’re an adult? Why couldn’t he do the decent thing and get it when he was five, like everyone else?”

To worsen matters
further, Stacey decided that her flowers were all wrong, the décor wasn’t done properly, her dress was a bit wrinkled and… Pretty soon, she was in fool-blown panic mode, convinced that the whole wedding was going to be a disaster.

Lea was torn between feeling sorry for her friend and seeing the humor in the situation.

The wedding photographer had mentioned that a friend of his might be able to do the job, but Stacey made a few phone calls back home and found out that the friend wasn’t “up to the standard” she’d want. Lea suggested looking for photographers online, and the groom-to-be called his friends, hoping to find a good photographer who was available to come down to St Martin’s immediately and photograph their wedding.

Chaos was quickly descending, and
after a while Lea decided that she couldn’t help out much. Stacey was shooting down most suggestions, and her panic was taking over.

Lea and Angie rolled their eyes at each other: Stacey’s wedding would be an absolute dream, and things looked fine to them. They slipped out with
a couple of their friends, and headed to the beach to relax a bit.

The rehearsal dinner was meant to be tonight. A quick phone call revealed that Stacey had miraculously found a photographer who she was happy with, and was taking a quick nap. Things seemed to have been fixed, so after a few drinks with the girls, Lea headed up to her new room to have a bath before getting dressed for dinner.

***

The warm water of the bath was so relaxing, and Lea found herself almost drifting off to sleep.

Aromatherapy oils provided by the resort scented the air with their subtle notes, and soapy bubbles covered the surface of the bath. The dinner was more than an hour away, and Lea let her muscles relax and her mind drift away.

Was Mel right, should she just have fun on this holiday and maybe go out on a few inappropriate dates? So far, her cousin’s advice had come in handy – she couldn’t help grinning as she remembered Adam’s reaction to her green bikini.

Adam… her sleepy mind conjured up images of his twinkling brown eyes, his carefree attitude, and of course – the fact that he wasn’t pursuing her. That last thought made her heart sink. As Amelia Wilson, she’d been used to men chasing her. She was always the one pushing them away.

But Adam wasn’t having any of it – he’d made it clear he was interested, but it was up to her to decide if she was up for some fun.

But that wasn’t her. She wasn’t chasing after some random guy, no matter how cute and adorable his grin. It was too bad, though…

She sighed, and sunk further into the bath, wondering what might have happened if only he’d insist on coming after her. What was wrong with being a caveman?

She was busy remembering his lips on her, the way he’d pulled her wrists above her head… Suddenly, she heard the bathroom door fly open and looked up to see Adam standing in front of her.

A loud gasp escaped her and she sat up straight in shock, before remembering that she was naked and quickly crossing her arms across her chest and sinking down into the thick, opaque layer of bubbles again. She was briefly thankful that she’d filled the bathtub completely and then she vaguely noticed that he was wearing only a pair of tight boxer-briefs and was staring at her, open-mouthed.

Irritation flooded through her. “What’re you doing here?”

He closed his mouth. “What’re
you
doing here? This is my room.”

She narrowed her eyes. “Could you leave, maybe?”

He seemed to realize that he was wearing only his underwear and suddenly looked just as uncomfortable as she felt. “Uh, sure, sorry.”

He left the room, and she heard him pulling on his jeans noisily. “I couldn’t see anything,” he called
out, sounding pretty cheerful. “You’ve got a whole bubble-thing going on.”