Secret Surrender (Forever 2)
Page 26I looked down at my forearms. It hadn’t even occurred to me that I would be tanning, but I was getting some pretty good color. “Dating a billionaire has its perks, I have to say.”
She laughed. “Things have been quiet here.”
I unwrapped my string cheese and pulled off a strand to eat. “You seem to be feeling better at least,” I said, chewing.
She nodded. “That I am. Better to be bored than sick. So how is Vincent, anyway? Have you two had the talk?”
“The talk?”
“You know, boyfriend/girlfriend, that kind of thing. It’s getting to be about that time, right?”
Could everyone see through me this easily? How would I ever keep dating Vincent a secret when people could read me like a book? I needed to remind myself to never, ever play poker. “We did, actually.”
“Oh yeah? How did it come up? Did you start it?”
I grimaced at the memory of the previous afternoon. It had ended well, but there were some bumps. “Kind of. We actually had a bit of a fight beforehand. While we were down there we ran into an ex-girlfriend of his.”
My roommate’s eyes widened. “On his private island?”
I shook my head. “No, we were on a bigger island nearby grabbing lunch and supplies for the cabin.”
“Oh okay. That sucks. Was she hot?”
I threw my hands up. “A little sympathy would be nice!”
She shrugged. “I’m finding out how much sympathy you need. Judging by your reaction I’m guessing she was a knockout. Sorry, that sounds brutal.”
Riley’s eyebrows shot up. “Did she flirt with him?”
“Oh yeah. Vincent said he thought she was testing me.”
It was her turn to grimace. “How did he react?”
Remembering Vincent’s reaction, or lack thereof, to Ariel’s flirtations brought a fresh bubble of nausea to my stomach. “He went along with it. Didn’t seem to think it was a big deal.”
“I can see why you had a fight. What’s this surfer chick’s name?”
“Ariel Diamond. And yeah, but the talk we had about it ended up being good.”
While I was talking, Riley had whipped her phone out and was tapping and swiping at the screen. Her mouth made an ‘O’. “Look at those abs, Jesus. I’m really sorry Kristen, having a girl this hot hitting on your man had to be excruciating.”
I snatched her phone from her grasp. “Riley, you’re really not helping!”
She tried to grab her phone back, but I pulled it away. “I’m just getting a grasp of the situation, Kris! Give me my phone back. I promise I’ll stop checking this girl out.”
I shook my head. “You haven’t even listened to the part that was good yet.”
She made one last attempt to grab her phone away, but I was too quick for her. Finally, she put her hands in her lap. “Okay, fine. So this borderline sea nymph with abs out of an anatomy textbook shows up. Then what happens?”
I snorted. She was going to be petulant about this. “Fine. here’s your phone, but no more comments about how hot Ariel is, okay? Or her body.”
Riley smiled and took the phone like a child receiving candy. “Thank you. So you ran into this woman and then what?”
At this, Riley laughed. “‘Vinny?’ Do you call him that?”
“No! I don’t think it fits him at all.”
She shook her head, still laughing. “Me neither.”
I told her about their dating history, leaving out the part about the tattoo. Riley nodded attentively. “So it sounds like they’re just friends now, right? Obviously their personal connection is helpful professionally, but he’s not actually into her now.”
I tapped my finger on the counter, thinking whether I should spill about the tattoo. “Well, there is one weird thing. He had a tattoo of a diamond on his ribs.”
I watched Riley process for a second before her mouth dropped. “Wait. Is it for her?”
I nodded. “He got it when he was twenty.”
Her mouth puckered as she considered. “He’s like thirty now, right? That’s a long time ago.”
“Thirty-one, yeah. He says there’s no reason to get it removed because they’re still friends. It’s not like things are ugly.”
“That’s fair, actually. If he still loved her but couldn’t be with her, it would hurt to look at that thing every time he had his shirt off. I know when I’ve a bad breakup I have to get rid of everything that reminds me of the guy.”
I rubbed my pinky. Sometimes you can’t get rid of every reminder.
“I guess you have practice,” I said.
Riley smiled. “I even throw out the underwear I’m wearing when we break up.”
She half smiled. “Sorry, TMI?”
“Good lord, yes! Why on earth would you do that?”
She closed one eye, chuckling. “Do you really want to know?”
I thought about it, but shook my head. “You’re right, I don’t.”
She continued laughing for a minute before getting a hold of herself. “Anyway, he has this tattoo. You said there was a good part.”
I told her about how Vincent had assured me, as well as the picture he took. She was impressed that he would want a photo of me for his cabin and condo. Seeing how she reacted to the story made me feel better about my reaction to the situation. It had been a bit of a shock to see him around Ariel, but all in all things had ended up in a good place.
“Well that all sounds good,” she said. “I’m super happy for you. How’s the other part of your relationship going?”
“Which part?”
“The sex, silly.”
I blushed. Riley’s mind was never far from the gutter. “It’s going well.”
She waited, her blue eyes urging me to go on. “‘It’s going well?’ You can’t date a man that gorgeous and leave me with that. I’m watching reality television and chugging diet coke over here.”
I shrugged. It wasn’t something I liked to talk about, even with Riley.