The Love Square (26 page)

They found three lounge chairs in a corner, away from the few people out that early, so Dylan wouldn’t be noticed. Dylan sagged into his chair and hid behind sunglasses, feeling grumpy.

“Wow, Clare from Nebraska. You’ve got a bod, huh?” Alex teased.

Dylan rolled his eyes at Alex’s reaction to her red bikini.

“Shut up, Alex. Here,” she said, throwing a plastic sunscreen bottle at him. “Lotion me up.”

“With pleasure,” Alex said.

Dylan watched Alex as he squirted the lotion onto Clare’s back. “You’re doing it wrong,” he huffed. Clare’s sunscreen was usually his job.
“Give it to me.”

Alex handed it to him, and Dylan twirled his finger, indicating to Clare to turn around.

She turned her back to him.

“You have to rub it in your hands before you put it on her back,” he said. Clare held her hair up. Her neck felt tiny under his hand as he rubbed in the lotion.

“Clare, can I do your ass?” Alex asked.

“Really, Alex?” Dylan scowled.

“You’re such a flirt,” she said to Alex. Dylan recognized her playful tone as she took the bottle.

Alex brazenly watched her douse herself in lotion as Dylan glanced at her from behind his sunglasses.

“Oh, Clare,” Alex whispered, “I’d love to get my hands on you—”

She threw the bottle at Alex, hitting him in the shoulder.

“Ouch!” he said, rubbing his shoulder. A red mark formed where it had hit him. “Jenna throws things all the time, but she never hits me. You have a good arm. We should play catch later.”

She ignored Alex and turned to Dylan. “Speaking of Jenna, how is she? Nervous?”

“She seemed more nervous about Scott finding out she was with me last night than the competition. Hey, did you do your ears?” he asked.

“I did, I think.” Clare turned her face to the sun.

“We’re in the desert. Do them again,” he demanded. He waved at Alex, who threw him the bottle. He caught it with one hand and handed it to Clare.

“Okay, okay,” she said, squeezing the lotion into her hands. “Jenna’s a pro. She’s prepared. She’ll do great.”

“Hopefully you didn’t tire her out. You two are like rabbits,” Alex muttered under his breath.

Clare giggled. “I’m sure she’s fine, Alex. A little lovin’ won’t tire her out.”

“Obviously, you’ve never been loved by D-Barnes,” Alex teased.

“Oh and you have?”

“I’ve heard the rumors.”

Dylan concentrated on remaining miserable.

“You are so inappropriate,” Clare said to Alex. Then to Dylan, “Is he always this inappropriate?”

“Yes,” Dylan answered. “Don’t listen to anything he says. He gets around beautiful women and then spurts out nonsense.”

“All you have to do for a woman’s attention is smile. I have to work to get my women,” Alex said, then growled at Clare.

“Stop making animal noises at me. There are plenty of women in Vegas besides me,” she said.

“You’re the one he’s spending his nights with,” Dylan mumbled.

Clare and Alex stared at him, eyes wide, but he didn’t care. He ignored them and went back to sulking.

“On that note,” Alex said, “I’m going to take a swim.”
He jumped into the pool, splashing water at Clare as he swam away.

She squealed. “Gosh, he is a pain in the behind, isn’t he?”

Dylan didn’t answer.

“What’s your problem, Lusty?”

“I don’t have a problem,” he lied.

“Did you and Jenna have a fight?”

“Nope.”

“Why are you being so weird, then?” Clare asked, shaking his arm to get his attention.

Dylan knew he had no right to his feelings, but he glared at her anyway. “Alex, Clare?”

“What about him?”

The hot sun had already turned her shoulders into one giant freckle. He sat up and rubbed her shoulders roughly, adding more lotion. “Ow, slow down,” she said as he frantically applied lotion to her back. “Give me that.” She grabbed the bottle and placed it on the ground.

“You spent the night with Alex.”

“So?”

“So?” Dylan said. “I thought you had more class than that.”

“Excuse me?”

Dylan cheered up, happy to engage and piss her off.
“My best friend, Clare?”

Clare poked him in his bare chest. “You? Of all people. What about you and Jenna? You assaulted her in a bar, and now you have the audacity—”

“Audacity?”

“Yes,
audacity
to start a relationship with her without regard for Alex’s feelings. And then you beg me to come here with you and you abandon me—”

“I didn’t beg, Clare, and you knew I was coming to see Jenna.” He leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms. “I didn’t think you were like that, that’s all. It was a little slutty of you.”

Clare stood over him, blocking his sun. “For your information, Dylan-I’m-so-perfect Barnes, I did not sleep with Alex last night. I mean…technically I slept with him…but we didn’t…you know. Not that it’s any of your business.”

“You didn’t?”

“No!”

Suddenly, he felt hot and fidgety under Clare’s glare.

“That being said,
you
are a jackass. A judgmental, hypocritical jackass, and I don’t feel like being around you anymore.” She grabbed her towel and her bag, stuck her chin in the air, and walked into the hotel. Heads turned to watch her stomp away in her red bikini.

Oh great.
He had crossed a line. Still, he didn’t understand why the women he loved had to love Alex too.
Did I just admit I love Clare?
Of course he loved her. She was his friend—his friend who kissed like a maniac.

She’s engaged
, Dylan repeated to himself for the hundredth time since Clare smashed her truck into his car. And he had Jenna.
Beautiful, insatiable, adorable Jenna.

Dylan’s head hurt, so he shut his eyes and willed himself to relax. He pushed aside feelings of guilt for calling Clare a slut. Maybe that was awful, but too bad. She would come around. In the meantime, he would think about Jenna as he lay there next to the pool to enjoy the beautiful Vegas day.

Five seconds later, he sighed and stood up, then left to find Clare to apologize.

Chapter 28

Clare

Clare marched straight to her hotel room, threw her bag on the floor, except for her camera which she gently placed on the table, and ran a bath. She poured liquid soap into the water to make bubbles and peeled off her suit, hoping to scrub off all the suntan lotion cranky Dylan had rubbed into her skin.

As the tub filled, she wrapped herself in a towel and wandered into the room, plugged her camera in to charge, and pulled her book out of her bag. She had an hour until Jenna’s competition, and the idea of spending it reading in the tub sounded ideal.

Clare’s phone chimed, and she checked the screen. Dylan’s name and annoying, beautiful face flashed at her. She opened his text.

Dylan: Sorry.

“
Argh
,” she screamed as she threw the phone on the bed.
Sorry?
He made her want to pull her hair out.

She checked the progress on her bath and thought she heard her phone ring again. She ignored it, shut off the water, and then sank into the warm bath.

Clare shut her eyes and commenced breathing exercises. Just as she started to relax, she heard her door click open.
The cleaning people?
She couldn’t remember if she had hung the
‘Do Not Disturb’
sign on the door. Then she heard her name.

“Clare?”
Darn it.
She’d forgotten Dylan had her second key. Maybe if she hid in the bathroom, he’d think she was gone. She stayed silent, cursing herself for leaving the bathroom door open a crack.

“Clare?”

She arranged the bubbles to hide her naked body as Dylan pushed open the bathroom door. He had changed into a T-shirt that stretched the span of his shoulders. His sunglasses perched on his head, holding his hair off his face, and his desert tan made his eyes seem even more gold and flecky.

Clare forced her gaze away. “In case you haven’t noticed, I’m in the tub.”

“I did notice,” he said, scanning the water. “I wanted to apologize. You didn’t answer your phone.”

“I’m not ready to accept your apology.” She lifted her knees and wrapped her arms around them to hide her body. Her kneecaps stuck out over the water line. “Now get out.”

“I want to talk.”

“I’m not exactly in a position to do that right now.”

He half grinned. “I don’t mind in the least.”

“Sheesh, Dylan. Well, at least turn around.”

Dylan turned away, and she stretched her legs in the tub.

“I’m sorry,” he said.

“You act like this obnoxious big brother who…who…” Clare struggled to find the words. “…annoys me.”

Dylan leaned against the sink, still with his back to her. She really had no choice but to check out his ass.
It’s right in front of me.

“You think of me like an annoying brother?” He shifted his hips again, and Clare bit her fist. “Really?”

“Hmm,” she said, more about the view than his words.

He looked over his shoulder.

She darted her eyes upward. “Oh, um, yes. A super-annoying brother.”

He turned to face her, and she remembered her state of undress. She pushed the remainder of bubbles toward her upper body.

“You would kiss your brother like you kissed me on the plane?” He smirked and crossed his arms over his chest, watching her.

Her entire body tightened.
Get it together, Clare. Being naked and talking about kissing with your lusty gladiator probably isn’t the best idea right now.

She shook her head, clearing her thoughts, and pointed to a towel. He handed it to her.

“We have to be at your girlfriend’s competition in less than an hour. Can you stop about the stupid kiss?”

“Kisses,” he said. “Plural. Stupid kiss-sizz.”

She scooted up, quickly wrapped the towel around herself, and stepped out of the tub. “Yes, big deal. Kiss-sizz,” she emphasized. “I don’t know how many times I have to tell you they don’t mean anything. You have a girlfriend who you just spent the night with. Any casual kisses between friends should not even be on your mind.”

“But they are,” he said.

Don’t do it, Clare. Don’t melt into a ball of mush. He’s not yours.
“Get them out,” she continued, waving a wet hand around. “Or considering how you berated me for being a slut, perhaps you can add those kisses to the evidence list.”

“Stop,” he said, watching her tuck her towel so it would stay up over her body. “I didn’t mean that. I should have known…it’s just…honestly? I was jealous.”

Jealous?

“That’s enough,” she said, holding up her hand. “Don’t say any more. We’re about to see your girlfriend. Get your mind straight.”

When he leaned against the sink again, this time facing her, she repressed the urge to open her towel and wrap him in it with her. His hotness aggravated her today, but so did his brooding. To move things along, she blurted, “Fine. Apology accepted. Can you leave now?”

“We need to talk about this,” Dylan said as he left the bathroom, “when we get back to California.”

“Please just go,” Clare begged, holding the towel tight against her body, acutely aware of her nakedness underneath. She needed to put space between them.

He must have sensed her needs because without another word, he left.

Clare dressed and packed her camera and lenses. After a last quick look in the mirror, she fluffed her hair, grabbed her bag, and headed down to the ballroom.

Sooner or later, she would have to tell Dylan she’d broken off her engagement and planned to stay in California. She knew he’d be happy she was staying, but she didn’t want her decision to be about him. The whole point of coming to California was to gain her independence, figure herself out. Throwing herself into something with Dylan wouldn’t achieve that goal.

Not to mention Jenna. Obviously, they cared for each other, and she couldn’t imagine a better match—the movie star and the dancer.

She shouldn’t take Dylan’s talk about kisses and jealousy seriously. They all needed to get on with their lives.

***

In the ballroom, Clare avoided conversation by fiddling with her camera and checking out the lighting and the setup. Soon enough, people shuffled in as the judges seated themselves at the table at the head of the dance floor. Unlike the tango competition that took place on a lighted stage, today’s dances would be performed on the ballroom floor with the audience gathered around. Clare considered the lighting and the crowd to plan her shots.

She jumped when someone grabbed her waist. “Hey, Clare from Nebraska,” Alex said from behind her. She smelled his aftershave before she turned around and checked him out.

He was handsome in an athletic way, with that dark-haired, blue-eyed combo like the men on the covers of romance novels. With Dylan, Clare could stare in awe all day, wondering how any person could have such a chiseled face and beautiful skin, such a perfect shade of thick hair, and flecky, gold eyes. Eventually, you’d think about undressing him and discovering every inch. Alex was more the type of guy you looked at and immediately wondered what he’d be like in bed. Dylan was California dreamy and swoon-worthy, but Alex was New York rough-and-tumble sexy.

“Hey, Alex from Brooklyn,” she said. “You smell good.”

He glanced over her black pants and the sheer shirt over her black camisole. “You clean up nice too. Whatcha doing?”

“Measuring the light, checking angles for good shots. I wanted to frame a couple for Jenna and Scott. Hey, nice move abandoning me at the pool. Dylan yelled at me for being a slut.”

“D-Barnes? I don’t think he’s ever used that word. We must have really rattled him. Yeah, I snuck away like a coward. I thought you two could use some alone time.”

“Gee, thanks. We got in a big fight. Where are you guys standing?”

Alex pointed to Dylan, who was directly across the floor. Dylan noticed her and waved.

Clare smiled as the lights dimmed and the announcer introduced the first couple. Alex darted across the dance floor to Dylan while Clare squatted in front of the crowd on the edge of the floor and waited for Jenna and Scott’s turn.

As she watched the dancers, Clare occasionally glanced at Dylan across the dance floor. When he caught her looking, he’d wink or make a face, reminding her of her art gallery show.

Clare’s face warmed. Dylan must be crazy if he was jealous over her. She was nothing special compared to Jenna.
Could Dylan be into me that way?
He did kiss her back when she made her moves at the art gallery, then again on the plane.
What am I thinking?
He’s a gladiator and I’m a—

Clare snapped back to reality when the judges introduced Jenna and Scott. Jenna took the dance floor in a stretchy red dress and black shoes, Scott in black pants and a matching red, satiny shirt. As they stood in the spotlight waiting for the music, Clare snapped a shot. Jenna looked beautiful, confident, and elegant. Not nervous at all. When the music started, they glided around the floor, and Clare took picture after picture until they stopped in front of her.

With the spotlight shining on them, Clare was able to see across the dark room to Dylan, Alex, and Dom. Dylan beamed, Dom looked nervous, but it was Alex who Clare found the most interesting. She pointed her camera across the floor and took his picture.