Love, Lies, and Deception(61)

Not waiting for a reply, I hung up the phone. Just a mere second later Kristian came strolling into the room.

“I see you’re awake,” he said, holding a glass of water and a bottle of Ibuprofen. He handed them to me and I happily opened the bottle, shaking out a couple of pills.

“Thank you,” I sputtered, popping the medicine in my mouth. The water was soothing as it glided down my dry throat, and I prayed the medicine started working fast.

Kristian glanced at the television and narrowed his eyes. “I see you saw the news. It appears your ex got into a little trouble at the airport.”

“Yeah, I saw that. It was stupid of him to do that, too. Now the media’s gonna start prying into why he was there and soon they’ll get my name.” I covered my face with my hands and groaned. “This is not what I need right now.”

Kristian sat on the bed and pulled my hands away from my face. “You’re right, it’s not, which is why we’re spending the day on the beach. My interview is tomorrow so today I’m all yours.”

“As much as I’d like to spend the day on the beach, Kristian, I can’t. I don’t have a bathing suit, not unless we go out shopping for one, but I really don’t feel in the mood to go out anywhere,” I informed him.

Grinning from ear to ear, Kristian left the room and came back in with a shopping bag. “No worries, baby girl. I got you all covered.”

When I opened up the bag, I glared at him as his smile grew bigger. “Yeah, you barely got me covered,” I muttered sarcastically.

He shrugged. “Hey, it’s better than nothing. I also got you some donut holes and left them on the kitchen counter. We can go to the store later and get more groceries. Now stop sulking and come on. It’s a beautiful day outside.”

He turned to leave and walked out of the room. “I’m heading outside,” he called out from down the hall. “Meet me out there when you’re done in here.”

Dumping the bathing suit on the bed, I cringed when I saw how skimpy it was. Holding it up in the air it didn’t even look like it would cover up my ass. Kristian was going to pay for that.

I got up and shut his bedroom door so I could change out of my sundress from the day before. Once the bathing suit was on, I borrowed a pair of Kristian’s sandals that were sitting on the floor in his closet and slipped my feet in them. With my hand on the doorknob, I was about to twist it when my phone started to ring. I knew who it was going to be.

My heart started to ache again, and it was demanding that I talk to him. I missed him … missed his touch, but I hated him. He hurt me worse than anyone had ever hurt me in my life. I loved him and he betrayed me.

Turning the knob, I left it ringing where it sat, the tone echoing in my ears as I made my way down the long hallway and out into the bright afternoon sun.





“Damn, Mare, your skin is scorched. Why the hell didn’t you put on sunscreen?” Kristian scolded when he took in my red body. It didn’t hurt, but it sure did look bad. Normally, when I got out in the sun it usually turned brown within a couple of days.

Rolling my eyes, I scowled at him from across the table. His bare chest had already gotten brown in the short time he was here, and his hair had lightened up a little making his stormy gray eyes stand out.

He stared at me intently and it made me falter and sputter my words. “It’s not … it’s not that bad. I usually get red my first real time out in the sun. Give me a couple of days and I’ll be just as dark as you.”

Lazily, he shook his head and smiled. “I’m sure you’ll say ‘it’s not that bad’ when you develop skin cancer.”

I threw a fortune cookie at his head and laughed. “Speak for yourself. I know you think tanned girls are hot. You said it yourself when we were in Fiji. Anyway, I can’t help it. I like to get a little bit of sun.”

Nighttime had come and Kristian and I were getting ready to eat take-out from the little Chinese restaurant down the street. Neither of us wanted to go to the store so we ordered in food, not to mention we’d spent the whole afternoon on the beach and were wiped out.

Kristian passed over my sesame chicken and fried rice while he opened up his container of beef and white rice. Since I wasn’t an expert on chopsticks, I chose to eat my food with a fork. Kristian, on the other hand, refused to eat his food with anything except the chopsticks.

“I think you look good no matter what, Marissa, tan or not. After we eat, how about we go for a night swim?” he asked with a twinkle in his eyes. “I’m sure the cool water will feel good on your … burnt skin.”

“Ha-ha,” I taunted sarcastically. “But that actually does sound good.”

My phone started ringing again in Kristian’s bedroom and he snuck a sidelong glance at me. He paused and then bit his lip, contemplating. “Are you ever going to answer his calls?” he asked curiously. “Because if you don’t he’s just going to keep calling until you do.”

I shrugged noncommittally. “I guess at some point I will, but I’m hoping he’ll forget about me and leave me be. Maybe if he does that then whoever sent him those notes will forget about me as well.”

“I highly doubt he’ll forget about you, Mare. You might also want to call the detective and see if they’ve found out anything about the case.”