Page 29 of Her Fake Island Wedding

Chapter Fourteen

Lucy had spent most of her free time in the last few weeks planning activities to keep Justine as busy and engaged — and therefore, out of Lucy’s hair — as possible. The tour of the resort in a golf buggy, pointing out all the beauties the island possessed, was just the start, and occupied the rest of the morning. They caught up with Bryce for lunch at another of the resort’s restaurants, this one an Asian noodle bar overlooking the beach and coral lagoon beyond.

“I thought you might want a rest this afternoon, so I’ve scheduled to go into work for a few hours,” Lucy told Justine as they ate their lunch. “If you don’t want to sleep, you could relax by the pool, though.”

Justine looked dissatisfied, and turned to Bryce. “What about you, Bryce dear? Are you busy?”

“Taking out a dive at two,” he said cheerfully. “I’d say come along, except you shouldn’t dive for forty-eight hours after a long flight.”

“No, thank you anyway.” Justine shuddered slightly. “I don’t care for being underwater. I’m proud of what Lucy does, but I’ll have to settle for admiring her work from above the waterline.”

“Well, there’s plenty to see at the marine biology centre anyway. The stingray feedings are my favourite.”

Justine looked a little uncertain. Lucy chimed in again with another suggestion.

“Or there’s always the spa. You’ve got a VIP account which means you can jump the queue for spa bookings, or even have a therapist come to your suite, if you want. Watch a movie on TV and get your nails done, maybe?”

“Nowthat’sa good idea,” Justine said with an approving nod. “Then if I want a snooze, I don’t even have to move! Clever girl.”

Bryce really didn’t care for her patronising tone, and from the corner of his eye he saw Lucy’s jaw clench. Silently, he reached under the table and took her hand in his, feeling the tension in her stiff fingers. Gently, he massaged her palm with his fingertips until she relaxed again.

* * *

Lucy thanked her lucky stars, as she carefully loaded a batch of newly-grown corals into a transport tray, that her work wasn’t something she could just walk away from completely for too long. For at least a couple of hours a day, she could escape Justine and lose herself in doing something which mattered to her, and today she had almost a whole day’s escape. A large batch of corals was ready for replanting and she was going out with several other staff from the marine biology centre on a dive to replant them on a depleted part of the Reef. Pioneered in the Caribbean, the program was already showing great promise after only a couple of months here. Of course, the team had been growing the corals in the ‘nursery’ for months before she arrived, but Lucy still felt as though every one was her ‘baby’ as she directed the replanting program.

The other especially good thing about today, apart from a full day’s respite from her mother, was that Bryce was assisting on the dive. She’d only climbed out of their bed an hour ago, and here he was again now, smiling down at her as he helped her load the transport trays onto the boat.

“I’m really looking forward to today,” he voiced exactly what she was thinking, and she smiled back at him happily.

“Me too.” She’d even fished out her best bikini for the occasion — Bryce had made a remark to Justine the day before about Lucy wearing a red bikini the first time they met. Surprised he’d remembered such a small detail, she nonetheless dug it out of a drawer and put it on before donning her usual work uniform of blue T-shirt and khaki shorts. No sooner had the boat pulled away from the dock, everyone settling down for the hour-long trip to the replanting site, than she pulled her shirt off and cast Bryce an inviting look.

“Want to rub in some sunscreen for me?”

“Temptress,” he said with a laugh, pushing his sunglasses up on top of his head and taking the bottle from her hand. “You’re lucky there’s nowhere private on this boat except for a very small toilet, or you’d be about to get ravished.”

“Yeah?”

“Damn right. That bikini shouldn’t be legal.” His eyes were locked on her breasts, though they did drop lower as she removed her shorts too with a shimmy of her hips. “Hot damn, Luce. You trying to give me a heart attack?”

From any other man, such a display of blatant lust would have given Lucy the creeps. But this was Bryce, Bryce who told her he admired her brain just as frequently as he remarked on her looks, Bryce the most considerate man she knew. Even as he rubbed in the sunscreen, warm hands massaging her skin sensuously, he took the time to warm the cream in his hands first before putting it on her skin.

“You shouldn’t be allowed to be brilliantandbeautiful,” he murmured in her ear, nibbling on her earlobe, making her shiver in sensual delight. “Makes the rest of us feel inadequate.”

“Same as you shouldn’t be allowed to be sexy and charming,” she riposted, but her voice was high and breathy. She’d made a tactical error, she realised; she felt hot and needy, her nipples jutting hard against the thin fabric of her bikini, dampness welling between her legs.

“When we get back to the cabin,” Bryce murmured in her ear, hands sliding down to massage her upper thighs and up to the high edge of the bikini bottoms, “I’m gonna bend you over the bed and fuck you until you scream my name.”

Lucy had honestly never realised just how sexy being talked dirty to could be. When Bryce did it, her knees trembled and her pulse raced, her breath coming faster.

“Since you can’t get a room right now,” Jodie the boat pilot called to them then, “take your hands off her before I make a citizen’s arrest for indecent behaviour, Bryce Seabrook!”

Laughing, he lifted his hands and took a reluctant step back. “Later,” he told Lucy with a dark look full of promise before he turned and headed aft to check on the oxygen cylinders.

“I can’t wait,” she muttered hoarsely to his retreating back, before turning with a sigh to pull her wetsuit from her dive bag. With hours to go before they returned to the island, she was going to have to concentrate on her work, or the time would drag interminably.

They couldn’t even bolt straight off the boat once they docked, of course. Lucy had to help her team get the empty trays back to the research centre, and Bryce had to take all the oxygen cylinders back to the dive hut for test and refilling. By the time everything was done, it was almost six o’clock, and they’d agreed to meet Justine for dinner at seven. Lucy should really be washing out her salty hair in the shower and deciding what to wear, but instead she was lying on the bed, wearing nothing but her red bikini, waiting for Bryce to get back.

At last, the screen door slid open and he brushed aside the curtain hanging over it with a puzzled look, since Lucy rarely bothered to draw it.

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