Truth or Dare: A Sweet Romantic Comedy Collection by Laura Burton (free ebook reader for ipad txt) 📗

I sit up sharply at the silky sound of the woman’s voice. Then I sit there blinking dumbly into the blinding sunlight, looking for the woman who just addressed my man. Finally, my eyes land on a Beyoncé lookalike, with skin like smooth cocoa and long brown hair fanning over her shoulders like a mermaid.

“Tessa?” Jonah says in a strangled voice. The woman rises from her stomach to a seated position. She has killer curves and the kind of full lips that would make any man weak at the knees. This is Tessa? The woman who broke Jonah’s heart last year. She looks a bit like the person in the video, but far more attractive in real life. And she’s ten leagues above me.

I want to shake my fist at the universe. Of all the weekends, of all the places, how have we ended up at the same resort at the same time? Fate has a sick sense of humor.

She walks over, eyes locked on Jonah. I feel like a forgotten beach towel on the sand. They hug and my hands ball into tight fists.

“It’s so good to see you again,” Tessa says as they break apart. Jonah doesn’t speak. He’s probably just as stunned as I am. I sit frozen in place, my jaw hanging and brain going over the burning question; How is she here?

“Honey, come and meet Jonah. This is my fiancé, Eddie.”

“You’re getting married?” Jonah stammers. His words bring me back to life and I stumble to my feet just as a tall black man walks over.

“Hey there, Jonah,” he says. The man is head and shoulders taller than Jonah, with broad shoulders, a shaved head, and a glint in his eye. He’s a man’s man, with big, strong hands which he now uses to grip Tessa’s waist. Veins bulge out of his forearms. They look like a power couple ready for a photo shoot.

Jonah and I, on the other hand, are small and average-looking next to them. I glance at Jonah’s crestfallen face and do the first thing that springs to mind. I move to his side and grab his hand.

Tessa’s hazel eyes shoot in my direction and for a moment she sneers at me, pulling a face like she just picked up a bad smell. But then she recovers herself with a smile and looks back at Jonah again. “Who is this?” she asks.

I squeeze Jonah’s hand, but nothing brings him to life. He's staring at Eddie like he’s going to rip him to pieces. Or try, at least. “I’m Michelle. Jonah’s girlfriend.” I hold out my hand and offer a charming smile.

“I didn’t know you were seeing someone,” Tessa says to Jonah, ignoring my existence again. I lower my hand with a feeble smile, then Eddie and I glance at each other, seemingly sharing the same concern. Is there going to be a problem here? Should we be worried?

There’s an awkward silence and Jonah’s hand grows clammy in mine. “Babe,” I say, patting his shoulder. “We should get ready for dinner.”

Jonah startles and looks at me, then he clears his throat and turns back to Tessa and Eddie. “It was nice to meet you, Eddie, good seeing you Tessa... Congratulations.”

We pick up our belongings and trudge up to the hotel, neither of us looking back, wanting to get as much space between us and Tessa as possible.

On the way to the hotel, we bump into Holly and Cameron, chilling by the pool with Debbie and Mark. Debbie shoots me an odd look but I shake my head with a frown. The last thing we need is to talk about this awkward situation. With any luck, we won’t even see Tessa and her fiancé again. I mean, this resort is massive. There must be a couple of thousand guests here. Lightning can’t strike twice, can it?

We go straight up to our room and Jonah sits on the bed dazed as I open the patio door and let the sea air come in. “Well, that was unexpected,” I say, trying to sound breezy like we bumped into an old teacher or something.

Jonah’s face is pale and he stares at the floor for a long moment, then he finally looks up at me. A single tear rolls down his cheek. “Tessa’s here, and she’s getting married.”

I gulp. My hands tremble slightly as I imagine myself punching Tessa in the throat for hurting Jonah like this. But then my heart pangs. Getting Jonah to move on will be so much harder than I thought. Especially now that she’s here. No. It’s going to take more than holding hands and shoulder rubs. It’s going to take something big.

Jonah

I can’t believe Tessa is here in Hawaii. With a guy who could pummel me to the ground without breaking a sweat, and a giant rock on her ring finger. When we broke up, she said we wanted different things. I wanted to settle down and get married. She wanted to travel the world and enjoy the single life.

Now I’m the single one and she’s getting married. It’s like I’ve walked into a parallel universe. I can’t think straight. I just sit on the edge of the bed, staring blankly into space as Michelle gets ready for dinner.

Seeing Tessa again stirred up all the emotions I'd been bottling up for the past year. How can she move on so fast? Or is it odd for me to be stuck in this rut? All this time, I had sworn off being in another relationship in the vain hope that Tessa would come to her senses and ask to have me back.

But she’s never coming back to me.

The bathroom door opens and Michelle walks in. I’m not sure whether it’s my new revelation or the vision of Michelle in a rogue red dress that has my stomach doing flips. I sit up and watch her cross the room to sit at the dressing table.

“What’s the special occasion?” I blurt. Sure, we’re on vacation, but