Girl Gear 3: Bound to Happen (6 page)
For several moments no one made a comment, as if talking behind Anton's back was as bad as talking in front of Lauren. Finally Poe split the difference with a mumbled, "Well, since I managed to so beautifully blow that, I think I'll console myself with a quick and painless death by drowning. Or at least a long walk along the beach."
"Oh, Poe. You didn't blow anything." Kinsey reached across the table and took hold of the other woman's hands. "If you're in the mood for company, I'd love to come along. My head could use the fresh air."
Poe got to her feet, her gaze lingering on Jess as she asked, "Anyone else care to join us in walking off dinner and drinks and the rest of the evening's disaster?"
"I'm going to take a shower." Lauren stood, stared at the table's surface as if getting her balance or her bearings, then headed for the circular staircase separating the dining area from the villa's main room.
Once Lauren was gone, Doug slapped his hands on the table, jarring the room from its pensive mood. "I'm all for a walk."
"Me, too," Jess said, taking Kinsey by the hand and dragging her off toward the villa's front entrance. He stopped halfway there, looked back and held out his other hand for Poe. "Doug, Ray?
Sydney
? Let's go."
Doug rose and headed for the group.
Sydney
stayed seated and shook her head, running a finger around the rim of her near-empty glass. "You all go on. I'm going to finish cleaning the kitchen, then head for the shower once Lauren is through."
"Ray? You coming?" Kinsey asked as she followed the others across the room and out the front door.
Ray glanced from
Sydney
to the departing group and back again. His brows drew down over clearly indecisive eyes. His lips pressed together uncertainly. He stepped closer to
Sydney
's chair and stared down, reaching out to tack a lock of hair behind her ear. "You want some help?"
Sydney
rubbed her cheek against his lingering hand, then looked from her glass up to Ray and, smiling, said, "Help with the kitchen or with the shower?"
Ray's breath hitched and he stared down at her, his expression having darkened, the tic in his jaw a hard echo of the pulse throbbing in the hollow of his throat. "Don't give me a choice you don't want me to make."
For a moment, just for a moment,
Sydney
closed her eyes. It would be so easy to say yes, to drag him into the shower off the first-floor bedroom suite that no one but her father ever used. But as much as she wanted him, she wanted to wait, to let the tension build, to keep their liaison a private affair.
And right now there were too many people waiting for him to join them on the beach. So what she did was get to her feet, reach across the table and gather up as many of the highball glasses as she could manage with two hands. Then she turned to face him.
"Truth or dare?" she asked, and as she did, Ray's mouth quirked upward. "Would you rather I accept your help when we're liable to be interrupted any minute, or would you rather wait until we have time alone?"
"The truth? I'd rather wait." He looked off toward the door as if even now he expected to be interrupted. Then he looked back at
Sydney
, his eyes flashing, his smile a silent promise of seduction he intended to keep. "The dare? You find us the time."
"I
DON'T KNOW
why I ever agreed to this trip." Lauren pummeled the pink, satin-cased pillow, then crossed her arms and hugged it close. "I knew this was a mistake the minute I found out Anton was going to be here."
"So why'd you come?" Sitting on the corner of Lauren's bed and wearing nothing but a lemon-yellow silk chemise,
Sydney
rubbed lotion into her freshly shaved legs, intending to ferret out Lauren's feelings for Anton in a private one-on-one, since Poe's more dramatic efforts had sent the two lovers off in opposite directions.
Kinsey was actually the one bunking with Lauren, as
Sydney
had chosen to share a double room with Poe down the hall. The other two women hadn't yet returned from the moonlit stroll they'd taken along the beach with three of the four men.
Anton hadn't left the room he was sharing with Doug since taking the decanter of bourbon and calling it a night.
Sydney
doubted he was in any condition to put one foot in front of the other, moonlight or not.
Lauren's condition wasn't much better. Unable to sit still, she bounced this way and that, crossed her legs, then stretched them out and flexed her toes. Finally she tucked two pillows behind her, kept the one in front, leaned back against the headboard and collapsed.
Unfazed and possessing the patience of a saint, Sydney snapped the squirt cap of the lotion bottle and repeated her question. "Why did you come if you thought it was a mistake?"
Lauren finally accepted that
Sydney
wasn't going away and heaved a huge sigh. "I know he's been seeing Poe. And I knew she'd be here."
"And you couldn't stand a week at the office without her so you decided to come along?"
Sydney
asked wryly.
"Very funny." Lauren glared, then sulked. "The truth is, I couldn't stand thinking of the two of them here together."
"So do you plan to stalk any woman Anton goes out with? Or tag along on all his dates?"
Sydney
asked, having a hard time keeping a straight face.
Lauren massaged both temples, then rubbed the heels of her palms over her eyes. "I know,
I
know. I regretted moving in with him. Now I regret moving out. I don't want him dating anyone else, but I'm not sure how I feel about him. Or how he feels about me."
"Don't you think it's time to find out?"
Sydney
wrapped her fingers around one of Lauren's feet and playfully, teasingly squeezed. "Don't you think being here together gives the two of you the perfect opportunity to see where exactly you stand with each other?"
"It might." Lauren's expression conveyed her irritation as sarcastically as did her tone of voice. "Of course we'd have a better chance if certain other people weren't here stirring up trouble. I mean, c'mon. What was that business with the way Poe cleared off the table, anyway? Rubbing all over Anton and Doug. And truth or dare? Give me a break."
Sydney
shrugged, walking a fine neutral line between her friendships with the two women. "I think she was trying to break the ice. You have to admit it worked. Too bad Macy wasn't here to take notes for
gIRL
gAMES
."
Lauren blew out an inelegant snort. "What I want to know is where Poe gets off thinking it's her place to break the ice?"
"Why don't you ask her?" Poe said, walking uninvited and unexpected into Lauren's room and plopping on the end of the bed opposite
Sydney
. "I wasn't intentionally eavesdropping. I came back for my suit—" she dangled the black bottoms to the top she'd been wearing all day "—and to ask if either of you wanted to join us in the hot tub on the sundeck. But now that I'm here, I'm more than happy to clear any air that needs clearing."
"All right." Lauren cocked her head to one side and considered the other woman and her offer. "This isn't exactly a tropical reality show, Poe. We don't need a cruise director. We're all adults. We know how to get along and how to entertain ourselves, thank you very much."
Poe shrugged carelessly. "Maybe so. But it's obvious that certain tensions exist between some of us that will ruin this vacation for others if not dealt with."
Lauren pulled up her knees and pressed them into the pillow she held tightly to her chest. "You're talking about me and Anton."
"That, yes." Poe inclined her head, lifting both brows in a visual challenge. "And your feelings toward me."
"What about my feelings toward you?"
"Obviously they are hardly charitable. And obviously they are rooted in the fact that Anton has taken me out a couple of times since the two of you broke up."
"Well, then, what else is there to say?" Lauren asked, clearly believing she held the upper hand.
Sydney
glanced from Lauren to Poe, who easily yanked away Lauren's hold by replying, "You mean, besides the fact that you can't have it both ways?"
Frowning, Lauren asked, "What are you talking about?"
"Either you want to be with Anton or you don't." Poe got to her feet, begin untying the knots holding her sarong pants in place. "You can't dangle your feelings like bait, hoping he'll bite. That's hardly fair to him. It's certainly not fair to me. But most of all, it's unfair to yourself."
"And how do you figure that?" Lauren asked, watching along with
Sydney
as Poe's pants and barely there bikini panties hit the floor.
Poe slipped one foot, then the other into the swimsuit bottoms and pulled them on. "Are you dating anyone else?"
"I've been seeing someone, yes," Lauren answered, then, avoiding
Sydney
's gaze, hurried to add, "It's not serious, though. We're just very close friends."
"Are you happy just being very close friends? Or do you miss being in a committed relationship?"
"I don't see how that's any of your business."
Poe snagged her pants from the floor, tossed them over one shoulder and crossed her arms beneath her breasts.
Sydney
suddenly knew that Poe was about to breathe the fire by which she'd earned her
dragonlady
reputation.
"C'mon, Lauren. If you want Anton, go for it. If you love him, fight for him. Fight
with
him, if you have to. Because I can tell you right now that he won't be unattached for long. He's intelligent and successful. He's kind and he's funny and he's sexy as hell.
"If you're sitting around waiting for him to come crawling back on his knees, it's not going to happen." And then Poe's voice softened. "But you know that, don't you? You know exactly what he's worth. And exactly what you're missing, now that you don't have him in your life."
As
Sydney
watched, tears filled Lauren's eyes. She reached for Lauren's foot, wrapped a comforting hand around her ankle. But before
Sydney
could soothe her friend with heartfelt words, Poe said, "Don't cry, Lauren. Get tough. Get mean. Stand up to him. Stand up for what you want from him. There are so few men worth fighting for. And you've found one.
"Don't let him go, because if you do, I guarantee he'll be snatched up before you can blink. And I can't say that I won't be the first woman in line."
3
W
RAPPING AN ARM
around a beam supporting the second-floor balcony,
Sydney
stared out across the stretch of white beach and over the rippling water.
The moon was high and full, and the light thrown across the sea and the sand was easily bright enough to see by. The view was almost no different at
than it had been at sunset, except the sky was now a velvet cape of star-studded indigo and the
Caribbean
a darkly mysterious surface of sinuous, white-capped waves.
She couldn't sleep. She wasn't sure if it was being in a strange bed or being in strange company. This group would try the patience of the pope. At least Lauren and Poe seemed to be headed toward an understanding, if not a complete truce. And though
Sydney
had never before considered enlisting outside help in her initiative to get Lauren out of her funk, Poe's direct approach had certainly given Lauren food for thought. And given
Sydney
a lot to consider, as well.
She supposed it wasn't easy for Lauren to see Anton in the company of any woman with their relationship so newly ended. But there was something about Poe as the other woman that might even have given
Sydney
pause. Poe made no effort to suppress her sexuality. She made no apologies for her candor. And she had the potential to make for tough competition as a business adversary or as a rival for the attention of a man.