It was only then that it hit her that she wasn’t at home in her own bed. She was in a foreign bed with soft white cotton sheets and a floppy duvet. The sun streamed in from the window, bringing diffused light. Behind her back was a furnace. A hard furnace. Then suddenly, that furnace wrapped an arm around her and pulled her close, kissing the nape of her neck.
Then with sudden clarity, she knew where she was. She knew who she was with, and she knew what she had done. Holy hell. She’d slept with the best man. Damn Gabe and that crooked smile of his. What was a girl supposed to do?
Jump him, clearly. Okay. Done that, but now what? She wasn’t normally so careless, but he’d been sweet, and fun, and there had been karaoke. It wasn’t her fault she’d given in. When in doubt, blame the karaoke. He sang Shai to her, for the love of God.
And unlike the rest of Adam’s friends, he wasn’t just some bored rich kid spending his parents’ money. He had dreams, and he was trying to do something with his life. That doesn’t matter now. Right now, it was time to get out of Dodge.
Elina slipped out from under his arm and froze when he rolled into her closer, as if in search of her heat. Would it really hurt to linger in bed for just another hour? Yes, yes it would. She had broken her own cardinal rule number one. No sleepovers. She hadn’t had a long-term boyfriend since college, and she wasn’t into sleeping around. But she knew what overnights generally meant. Attachment. And she wasn’t going to do that.
When Gabe rolled over and snuggled her pillow, she stood up slowly and gathered her clothes off the floor. Holy walk of shame. Wait, not walk, swim. She was still on the damn boat.
Elina dressed hurriedly and told herself she wasn’t going to look back at the sleeping Gabe. Don’t look back. Don’t look back. Do. Not. Look. Back. But of course, she turned and looked back. And unfortunately for her lady parts, he was just as good-looking asleep as he was when he was awake and flashing that grin of his.
At this rate, she’d be just as bad as her mother. As she carried her stilettos up the stairs and out, she saw that they were docked in the marina.
Oh God. Reece must be looking for her. She turned on her phone and sure enough, there were five messages from her friend.
“Hey, Elina, where are you? We’re about to toss the bouquet and I want you here.”
Next message.
“Hey, babe, you’re not sick, are you? Are you holed up in the bathrooms puking your guts out? Call me. Find me. I’m worried.”
Next message.
“Hey, slacker, is it a coincidence that you and Gabe are missing together? Or did you really decide to swim to shore and ruin that perfectly good Cavalli dress?”
Next message.
“Okay, I’m worried. Even if you’re with Gabe, call me as soon as you get this.”
She didn’t bother to listen to the last message. She knew how it would go. Instead, she called. Checking her watch, she breathed a sigh of relief. It was only seven thirty. Reece and Adam didn’t leave for their honeymoon until ten. She wouldn’t be interrupting anything...hopefully.
Reece answered on the first ring, and she was not happy. “Where the hell have you been? I have been worried sick. If you hadn’t gone missing with Gabe I would’ve assumed you were man overboard.”
Elina skipped down to the dock, or rather did a half run, half skip since the dress had zero give. “I’m so sorry. I swear to God I will make this up to you. I didn’t mean to abandon you at your reception.”
“What? You think I’m upset because you abandoned me? Dude, you’ve done your duty. I was married. I was busy dancing my ass off, eating some cake, throwing a bouquet, which you missed incidentally. I was just really worried. It’s not like you to vanish.”
She felt terrible. “I am so sorry. I don’t even know what happened. First we were dancing, and then there was karaoke and...” She let her voice trail off.
“Honey, I’m just giving you a hard time. Now that I know you’re okay, can we talk about exactly where you were?”
Elina laughed as she waved down a taxi. “No, we cannot talk about it. Matter of fact, I never want to talk about it. We’ll just pretend the whole thing never happened.”
“You know you can’t get away with that, right? Gabe Alexander? You sly dog, you. I mean, the man is positively smoking, but I thought you weren’t in a guy phase?”
“I know what I said about the guy phase thing. And I wasn’t. I mean I’m not.” Nope, she was just in the Gabe Alexander phase. Hell. No, she was not. “It was a onetime thing. We got carried away and that’s that.”
“Uh-huh? And just where is the yacht-owning lover boy right now?”
Elina winced. “He owns the freaking yacht? That’s just fantastic. I may or may not have sneaked out on him.”
Reece laughed out loud. That kind of full belly laugh that only her best friend was capable of. “You know what, I’m sure that this is some kind of karmic payback for something he’s done in the past. Don’t worry about it.”
Elina leaned forward and gave the taxi driver the address for her hotel. “Yeah, but I do feel terrible.”
Reece stopped laughing. “Oh my God, was he bad?”
Bad? No. Hell no. The man was made for sex. But it had felt like more than just sex. They’d been so connected. And then she’d run out. Like a freaking coward. Elina scrubbed a hand over her face. “No, he is very well practiced.”
“I knew it. He’s just one of those guys that looks like he moves well, you know?”
Did she ever know. “Look, Reece, this goes into the vault and we don’t talk about it. With any luck I won’t see him again for a very long time and I can just forget the whole thing ever happened.”
“Why do you want to forget if it was good? Especially if he wants to see you again?”
“Reece, have you forgotten who you’re talking to?”
Reece sighed. “You’re really going to let him slip out of your fingers?”
“He’s not mine, Reece. And I’ve got a different focus now. Someone like him is just going to distract me.”
“I know you. You wouldn’t have slept with him if you didn’t feel a genuine connection. Are you sure this is the best move?”
No, she wasn’t sure. And right about now her body was certain it was the wrong plan. But her brain would eventually wake up and realize she’d done the right thing. She was not her mother. Good sex didn’t equal love.
* * *
Gabe nestled in closer to Elina’s scent. When he reached over to her side of the bed to pull her close, it was cold. He blinked awake rapidly, then called out for her, “Elina, are you here?”
But there was no answer. Oh hell. She’d left? He sat up in bed and ran his hands through his hair. After last night, she’d actually run away?
His first instinct was to call Adam and Reece and get her number. Not that he was desperate; he was just making sure she was okay... Okay, yeah, that sounded desperate. What is wrong with you? It’s just a girl. And he’d slept with plenty of girls.
But he never made love to one before. He might’ve only just met her, but that’s what it felt like. At the very least, it was one hell of a connection.
He showered quickly before checking in with the captain. He usually split his time between New York and Los Angeles, but his father liked to keep the yacht in the marina