The New Year Resolution (5 page)

Ryan sat on the side and dangled his legs into the water. Nicole was right. It was cool enough to be refreshing but warm enough to submerge yourself without a shiver. He immersed his body into the watery depths and sighed in relief. “I needed this.”

“I know. Great, isn’t it?”

Now that his eyes were at water level, Ryan was hard pressed not to notice Nicole’s bobbing breasts floating on top of the water. Voluptuous, soft and pale, they looked enticingly attractive, especially her nipples which were responding perkily to the gentle caress of the water. He wouldn’t normally have noticed had the material not been so wet and revealing.

Hastily, Ryan averted his eyes.

“Did you manage to find the Mahlers?” Nicole asked, distracting him from the direction of his current thoughts.

“Yes, we’re meeting them for cocktails at six in the main bar,” he confirmed. She had such a sensual, womanly figure, flaring in all the right places, but slim at the waist and thighs – and she looked amazing in that barely there bikini.

Nicole nodded, oblivious to his less-than-chivalrous thoughts. “So, while we’re here are there any ground rules?” she enquired, innocently.

She had a point. After all, she was pretending to be his girlfriend. They should probably put some ground rules in place so they both knew where they stood.

“Good idea,” Ryan agreed, making small circles with his hands in the water. “Obviously I want to show them that I’m not the philanderer they think I am, so we must make an effort to look like a couple.”

“Aren’t you?” Nicole asked, pushing herself into a standing position and exiting the water. She took a seat on the nearest lounger and looked at him, one neat eyebrow raised.

“A philanderer? No, that’s not a name I’d call myself.”

The eyebrow stretched higher. “Really?”

Damn. He didn’t want to get into this now. And the way she was sitting with her legs slightly apart, with water dripping from every part of her body was making him feel like a hypocrite. He blinked hard.

“Yes, it’s a long story but I’m really not the womanising type. I’ve just had bad luck with girls lately.” That was close enough to the truth.

“Ah-huh.” It was clear she didn’t believe him.

“Anyway, that doesn’t matter. The point is I need to create a good impression so we need to pretend we’re in love. Do you think you can do that?”

“I think so.” She flashed a cheeky grin. “It’s been a while, but I’m fairly convinced I remember what to do.”

Ryan didn’t immediately reply. Nicole had been in love before... well, of course she had. She’d already been married and had a child, things he knew nothing of. For some reason that disturbed him, but he shrugged it off. If she had to draw on her past experience to pretend to be in love with him, then so be it. So long as it was authentic.

“Vincent won’t be easily fooled,” Ryan pointed out.

“We’ll have to make sure we’re convincing then,” Nicole reassured him, lying back on the lounger.

“How are we going to do that?” Ryan asked in a rare moment of self-doubt. The last thing he wanted was for Vincent to see through his whole charade and refuse to finance his project.

Nicole turned her head to the side so she could look at him. “We’ll hold hands, laugh at private jokes, finish each other’s sentences... you know, the normal cheesy love stuff.”

Ryan looked blank.

Nicole clocked his look. “Let me guess,” she said slowly. “You’ve never been in love before?”

“Well, love is a very subjective word.” Ryan shrugged. Could his relationship with Gabriella count as love, or Inge? Probably not, that was more infatuation or lust, or even mutual appreciation, but not love.

“But being in love has the same universal symptoms,” pressed Nicole. “We have to look like we’re crazy about each other, like we can’t keep our hands off each other.”

“Sounds like a lot of touching,” commented Ryan, who didn’t consider himself a touchy-feely kinda guy. Sure, sex was one thing, but walking around holding hands with a gooey expression on his face... mm.... He wasn’t so sure.

“There usually is.” Nicole raised her arms above her head and stretched luxuriously, languishing in the late-morning sunshine.

Ryan feasted his eyes on her body’s perfect profile and swallowed. Luckily he was still submerged in the cool water else he may be fighting a hard-on right about now. His stomach fizzled with anticipation. It was more like the feeling he got when he was on the brink of completing a new engineering project, not normally one he associated with women. Once they were with the Mahlers, he had
carte blanche
to touch that body as much as he liked – and she would respond.

“So ground rule number one would be to give each other some space and privacy when we’re not with the Mahlers. That way we won’t feel like we’re living on top of each other.”

“Fine by me,” murmured Nicole, her eyes closed against the sun’s rays. “I’m looking forward to exploring the island and working on my tan.”

Ryan’s gaze dropped once again to the concave dip of her belly where little rivulets of water were rapidly evaporating. “And there’s no need to continue with the charade when we’re alone.”

“Of course.”

“And once this week is over,” he added, “everything returns to normal. There will be no ties between us.”

“No ties,” Nicole confirmed with a half-smile. “Don’t worry. I get the picture.”

“Good.” Ryan nodded, relieved she didn’t have a problem with that.

Nicole was quite unlike any other girl he’d ever dated. But then he wasn’t dating her, was he? This was a pre-arranged agreement. She didn’t have the hots for him, clearly. And she was quite happy to let him go at the end of it. He was grateful she had no expectations, but he had to admit, it was a novel experience.

“What about sleeping arrangements?” asked Nicole, turning over onto her stomach.

“You take the bed,” offered Ryan, gazing at the sensual curve of her spine. “I’ll sleep on the couch.”

“If you insist.” Nicole smiled. “I hope you won’t be too uncomfortable.”

Not as uncomfortable as sleeping next to you
. Ryan was pretty sure of that.

“I’ll be fine.”

He sank to the bottom of the pool, feeling the cool fingers of water thread through his hair and freshen his hot face. This holiday was going to be interesting, that was for sure.

“You know, couples in love usually know quite a bit about each other’s pasts. Perhaps we should fill each other in on the basics so we can answer, or field, any difficult questions.”

Nicole was in the lounge, pouring herself a G&T from the mini-bar. She still wore her bikini, but had wrapped a sarong around her waist. It was more for decency’s sake than because she was self-conscious. Nicole didn’t have a problem with her body. She’d always been slim with big breasts – much to the envy of her best friends. As a consequence she’d never had to diet or worry about her weight. The up-side of that was she had never developed the paranoia associated with yo-yo dieting and poor body image, like so many other girls.

After their little dip in the pool earlier, she’d grabbed a bread roll and some cheese from the lunch buffet and gone for a leisurely walk around the island. Why not take advantage of ground rule number one? As Medjumbe Island was only a kilometre long, walking the circumference was hardly taxing, but she’d taken her time, stopping to admire the sandy beaches and swim every now and then in the lukewarm ocean.

“Good idea,” called
Ryan from the patio. He had his laptop open in front of him and was sipping an ice-cold beer. Nicole didn’t ask what he’d got up to for the last few hours – but judging by the complicated-looking spreadsheet in front of him, she could guess.

“Why don’t you start?”

Nicole took a seat next to him, also facing the beach. The still waters of the Indian Ocean lapped at the sand only metres away. It was truly an idyllic setting... perfect for a honeymoon.

“Okay.” She paused to think for a moment. “I suppose the best place to start is with Stephen.”

“Stephen?”

“My ex-husband.”

“Ah.”

“Stephen and I met at a work convention. He was an aeronautical engineer. Really smart.” She raised her eyebrows. “Much cleverer than me.”

She sipped her G&T, gathering her thoughts. Ryan waited patiently. In this place the pace seemed to slow down to a crawl. There was no rush, they had all afternoon.

“I fell hard for him,” Nicole continued. “Within weeks we were having copious amounts of sex. Within months we were married.”

Ryan’s face remained impassive.

“Then after two years of seemingly married bliss I discovered Stephen was having an affair with one of the bridesmaids at our wedding – a really good friend of mine, actually. They’d been screwing each other’s brains out for almost a year. I had no idea.”

“So what did you do?” Ryan watched her carefully.

Nicole shrugged. She could do that now. Act like she didn’t care. And she didn’t. Not really. It still hurt, or rather the memory of what her husband had done to her still hurt, but any feelings she had had for Stephen were long gone.

“I divorced the bastard.”

“Oh. Of course. Sorry, stupid question.”

“I divorced my friend, too, in a manner of speaking. Never saw her again. They live in New Zealand now.”

Ryan sat up straight. “He sounds like a piece of work. You’re probably better off without him.”

“Hmm.... I didn’t think so at the time, but now I’m relieved. At least I don’t have to put up with his derogatory comments and controlling nature. I only answer to myself now. It’s wonderful.”

“He obviously isn’t interested in his daughter,” Ryan observed.

“Oh, Olivia isn’t Stephen’s,” replied Nicole, with only the slightest hesitation.

“What?” Ryan looked confused. Nicole didn’t blame him. She exhaled. How to explain this one?

“Olivia isn’t Stephen’s daughter,” she reiterated. “Olivia’s dad is a polymer chemist. He works in a different branch of the same company as me. We met the year after Stephen and I got divorced.”

“So you had a relationship?”

“No,” she scoffed. “Nothing as serious as that. I was on the rebound, still reeling from Stephen’s betrayal. It was a purely sexual fling that turned out to have some rather long-lasting consequences.”

“I see.” Ryan drained his full glass of beer. Then he swallowed. “And do you still see him? Olivia’s father?”

“Not romantically,” Nicole was quick to assure him. “We communicate about Olivia, of course, and he sees her every second weekend, but that’s it. He’s got a girlfriend now and I believe they’re pretty serious.”

“How old is Olivia?” asked Ryan.

“She’s three,” Nicole told him proudly. Three glorious years with her daughter. Three years without sex. Not even a hint of a liaison, illicit or otherwise. To say she was sexually starved was an understatement.

Ryan cleared his throat. “What about now?” he asked. “Are you seeing anyone?” He supposed he should have asked that question before he’d whipped her away on a week’s holiday.

“Oh, I gave up on all that years ago. I suppose I’d like to meet a man I can settle down with one day, but I’m in no rush. Besides, he’d have to be pretty special to make me share the time I have with my daughter. I work full time – Olivia goes to daycare - so the time we have together is precious. It would have to be someone really special to make me give that up.”

“I don’t have kids,” admitted Ryan. “So I don’t know what that feels like, but I can understand not wanting to incorporate anyone new into your life.”

Nicole shrugged. “I’m happy the way things are. I don’t need a man to complicate them.” She looked into the distance. “I have to admit, it would be nice to go on the occasional date, or out to dinner, but I don’t want anything more serious than that.”

To get laid occasionally might be nice too, but she didn’t add that. Three years was a long time.

Ryan nodded like he understood. Nicole picked up her drink and took a long satisfying gulp. She felt drained after talking about her personal life.

“What about you?” she asked, redirecting the focus onto him. “I don’t know anything about you.”

Ryan looked uncomfortable. “There’s not much to tell.”

Nicole chuckled. “Not according to the press.”

“They never get it right,” snapped Ryan, glaring at the waves which were merrily lapping up against the shore.

“Explain it to me,” suggested Nicole.”We have an hour before we have to go and get dressed.”

“Okay.” Ryan leant back in his chair and placed the tips of his fingers together. “I met Vincent’s daughter at university. I was studying engineering. She was studying law. Both fairly demanding career choices. Our relationship lasted about six months but she was always more attached than I was. After I graduated I started my business and she went on to do her bar exams. We barely saw each other.”

“So you broke up with her?”

“There was no point in continuing the relationship. Our careers kept us apart.”

“Except she was upset,” guessed Nicole, from Vincent’s attitude at the New Year’s ball.