Page 2

Zoe

W aves crashed in a cacophony of sound behind me, taunting and teasing me. A litany of warnings and the possibilities not yet realized. The ramifications if my plan went south. Which it wouldn’t. I’d come this far, and refused to leave anything to chance.

My heated skin felt damp in the salted sea air, but the warmth raising off me wasn’t from thes un since it set over two hours ago. No, it had everything to do with the man I had spent the last few days watching, working up the courage to carry out my plan.

And was watching even now.

My very carefully laid plan that no one, not even my best friend Eden, knew about.

Oh, she knew I had decided to escape for a few days to the beach, not only because it was my favorite place, but because I told her the new job was going to be a stress ball the first few weeks.

And I wanted a little downtime before my first real job in the NHL kicked off full throttle and the pre-season chaos ensued.

For the next six months, if things went as planned.

The path to the Stanley Cup was long and didn’t end until almost June.

I’d taken a weekend getaway here and there, so it wasn’t exactly unusual behavior for me.

But, I still treaded carefully, not wanting to give anything away to Eden or Noah.

Or, anyone, really. Or jinx my plan. Especially since Eden had this weird way of figuring things out, and the last thing I needed was Eden asking Noah if I was acting funny.

Especially since the person I had been lowkey stalking was Noah’s big brother.

As well as the man I planned on having a one night stand with, and my best friend’s big brother.

When I arrived a few days ago, I made sure to stay under the radar, and avoided any situation where we would run into each other.

One random social media post and my cover would be blown.

So I watched, waited, and laid in the sun, enjoying the sand and listening to the waves crash at night with my balcony door ajar.

But tonight was the night I’d either crash and burn, or takeoff. Fingers crossed that all the prep and heels , plus the damn push up bra that made my tits even more…pushed up…paid off,

The wedding party had finally started dying down, the bride and groom having left earlier. As guests slowly made their way either to their rooms, in most cases, or the resort bar, the object of my attention lingered.

Brett watched the last few guests on the dance floor, a I almost gave up hope. But then, he tipped back the rest of his drink and made his way toward the bar. Where I waited, ready to put the final stage of my plan into motion.