I might have been able to convince Gregory, but I had no choice but to face the undeniable truth. There was nothing remotely brotherly about my feelings for Molly.
Chapter Eight
Molly
The gym was a sprawling room with twos types of every exercise machine you could imagine. Glass windows substituted walls so that you could see the brilliant blue ocean no matter where in the room you had your workout. There were small TVs set up, too, and a few people were even watching them, but for me, nothing compared to that view.
I had spent forty minutes on the treadmill, before doing steps for twenty minutes. Now I was rounding out my workout with some elliptical training. I noticed from my peripheral vision that Alani had just entered the gym. She was wearing a nice white shirt, tucked into a black pencil skirt. Her thick black hair hung loosely around her shoulders, and I thought she looked like a modern-day Pocahontas.
I noticed how almost every guest in the gym turned to her like magnets. She greeted them all with friendly smiles and warm words. One of the guests actually stopped his weight training to walk over to her. She spoke to him for a few minutes and then politely excused herself to walk over to me.
“Exercising on vacation?” she asked accusingly. “I wouldn’t have pegged you as the type.”
I laughed. “Exercising helps me feel strong,” I admitted. “And with all the rich food I’ve been indulging in, I think a little exercise is necessary.”
“Fair enough,” she nodded. “Now…on to the more pressing matter—”
“How was dinner last night?” I guessed.
She laughed. “How was dinner last night?” she nodded.
“The restaurant was lovely, the food was exquisite, and David was…sweet,” I admitted. “But not my type. The conversation was a little boring in parts… He was constantly talking about his businesses. I don’t think we had very much chemistry.”
“Who cares if you did or not,” Alani said bluntly. “What matters is that Tristan saw chemistry between you and another man, whether it was there or not.”
I stopped the elliptical and got off the machine. I toweled myself off and took a big gulp of water. “I did everything you advised me to do,” I told her. “I dressed to kill, I laughed a lot, and I touched him more times than I can count. I pretended like I was enjoying myself, even if that wasn’t always true. I thought I did a pretty convincing job, actually… But I don’t know if Tristan even cared.”
“What makes you think he didn’t?” Alani asked.
“He came over to say hello, and he was extremely polite to both of us,” I said. “It didn’t seem like he was very jealous.”
“He came over?” she asked.
“Uh… yeah.”
“That’s a good sign.”
“It is?” I asked, wrinkling my brows. “Wouldn’t he have done that for anyone he knew eating at his restaurant?”
“Not necessarily,” she said vaguely. “What did you speak about when he came to your table?”
“Mundane things, nothing important,” I reported. “I introduced the two of them, David complimented Tristan on the resort, Tristan wanted to know where David was staying, then we asked him to recommend some dishes, and then he excused himself and headed off.”
“Kani mentioned that Tristan was curious about David,” Alani revealed.
“Who?”
“He’s one of the waiters at Pepe Albero,” she told me. “He waits on Tristan every night. When I checked in with him this morning, he told me that Tristan was very keen to know about your guest. He also told me that Tristan ordered a two black Russians last night for dinner.”
“Is that important?” I asked, slightly amused.
“Only because Tristan never drinks anything remotely that strong. He has one drink before his meal, and that’s it. He almost always has meetings after dinner, so he has to be alert. Something tells me that the sight of seeing you with another man might have thrown him a little.”
“You think?” I asked, not daring to hope.
“I do,” she nodded. “I think our plan is definitely working.”
I couldn’t help but smile. “I’ve gotta hand it to you, Alani, I thought this was a long shot.”