and dragged both hands through his hair to slick it back. He grinned when he turned back, like he was having the time of his life and was just soaking it in.
That grin made me feel slightly jealous of him. He seemed to have everything in life perfectly under control, content with every fucking thing that happened to him. Like he knew the universe would cater to his every whim and he simply trusted it to do so.
My tongue stuck to the roof of my mouth. What would it be like to live like him?
“What do you do?” Ember repeated my question through the phone. “You be yourself and you—” She stopped talking, sighed, and changed direction. “Actually, you don’t be yourself. You be someone else. Just for this week. You live someone else’s life and you see where it takes you.”
“That sounds like a horrible idea,” I said, but I nodded my agreement with her plan anyway. “I’ll let you know how it goes.”
“You do that.”
We ended the call shortly after that, and I thought about what she’d said. Jaxon didn’t know me and neither did anyone else on this island.
If there was ever a time to cut loose and just go with it, this was it. My one and only opportunity.
Ember was right about the resort having cameras. If I suddenly disappeared, they would know to start with him. He hadn’t been wearing a cap or anything, so he should be easy to identify.
Besides, going out to the beach with him seemed like a minuscule thing in comparison to agreeing to share a room. Since I didn’t have a suitcase or any other clothes than what I was wearing, I went to splash some water on my face before making my way out to the beach.
Jaxon broke into a huge grin as I padded onto the soft, warm sand. “Come hang out with me, roomie. It’ll be fun.”
I ground my teeth but sat down at the edge of the water, praying that this time I was actually making the right decision.
Chapter 8
JAXON
Lindsay had obviously washed the tears off her face, and she looked even fiercer than she had before. Her eyes tracked my every movement, the blue in them reflecting the darker parts of the horizon she was pretending to stare off into.
Even though she’d agreed to sit with me, it seemed she was averse to making eye contact. She sat in the sand just beyond where the water could reach her but stretched out her legs so the surf touched her toes when it came in.
She was skittish, but I couldn’t blame her. She was obviously still pissed I was sharing her room with her, and she didn’t quite know what to make of me.
Can’t fault her for that either. “Do you really think I’m a serial killer?”
Breaking the ice felt like the right thing to do. I couldn’t really make conversation with the girl if she was convinced I was going to gut her.
She brought her gaze to mine as she folded her arms around her knees. “Are you?”
“No.” A wave crashed into the backs of my knees, but I took a step forward to avoid toppling onto my face just in time. “I’m here for the same reason you are.”
“You got stood up on your wedding day and decided to go on your honeymoon anyway?”
I chuckled. “Maybe not the exact same reason. I’m assuming you wanted to get away from it all. So did I.”
She shrugged. “Everything had already been paid for. It seemed like a waste to not make use of it. I don’t know. Coming here was a spur of the moment decision.”
“You don’t make a lot of those, do you?” It didn’t take a genius to see that she was uncomfortable, and it wasn’t just because I was rooming with her.
She dipped her head in acknowledgment. “I prefer plans as opposed to spontaneity.”
“You can’t plan for everything.” I smirked and pointed a thumb at my chest. “There’s no way you could’ve planned for meeting me, for example.”
“That’s because you might be a psycho. Who goes around hotel lobbies eavesdropping on private conversations and then inserting themselves into that person’s life?”
“Me. I didn’t plan it either, if that makes you feel any better. I just walked in there hoping to get a room, and I ended up standing near the chair you were sitting on. When I heard what you said, I thought maybe we could solve both our problems.”
“How much did you