Total pages in book: 107
Estimated words: 102355 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 512(@200wpm)___ 409(@250wpm)___ 341(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 102355 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 512(@200wpm)___ 409(@250wpm)___ 341(@300wpm)
“Bollocks! You’re up?” she exclaimed, throwing the door open wide. “Why can’t you have a proper lie-in like a normal person?”
This morning, she doesn’t even bother with pretenses. She strolls in a few minutes after I wake up, gives me a groggy “Mornin’,” and starts unceremoniously yanking off her clothes on her way to the bathroom.
I sit up in bed, propping up my pillows behind me. “Where have you been?”
“Oh, nowhere!” she calls out innocently as she shuts the bathroom door behind her.
“With Felix again?” I shout.
“Yes! We might have snogged and it might have been fantastic!” she shouts back.
I wonder what Annika thinks about her brother shacking up with Simone. Fortunately their apartment has separate bedrooms, unlike the one I share with Simone. There’s a chance Annika isn’t even aware of the situation.
I throw off my blanket and rush into the bathroom so I can ask Simone about it.
“Get this!” She yanks the shower curtain aside and pokes her head around it. “Last night, Felix and I were snogging on his couch, his hand up my knickers and everything—don’t get me started on how good that was—and we were so nervous Annika would walk in, but she never did. Come to find out, she was with ETHAN!”
“Seriously?”
“Seriously. They are in looove. Big time!” She laughs and lets the curtain fall closed again. “Sorry we abandoned you yesterday. Was your shift absolute crap without us?”
“Um, it was okay,” I say, picking up my toothbrush.
“Antonio walk you home?”
“No, I got a ride.”
She laughs loudly. “I knew that bloke wouldn’t stay away from you. Was it innocent or did you two carry on like you did on the yacht?”
There was no keeping my pool-time rendezvous with Cristiano from Annika and Simone. When I returned to the aft deck, Simone took one look at me and grinned like the Cheshire cat.
“Um…”
“Oh my god. You little minx. What did you do?”
She cuts the shower and grabs for a towel, wrapping it around herself before she steps out.
“Just… stuff.”
Her jaw drops. “Stuff!” Her eyebrows wiggle. “Sounds scandalous.”
There’s no sense in trying to deny it. Looking back, I know it absolutely was scandalous. Tinted windows or not, we were playing with fire in the front seat of his car. It was so unlike me to get carried away like that.
Simone’s expression sobers as she studies me. “Oh dear.”
My eyes widen. “What?”
She looks grim. “You haven’t forgotten, surely? What this is? Where we are?” She shakes her head with a heavy sigh. “Cristiano, Felix, Ethan… these lads aren’t looking for girlfriends.” She snorts. “Which is fine, because we’re not looking for boyfriends, either. These are summer flings, and when they’re done right, they can be absolutely magic, just the thing to add a little spice to your trip. Be smart about it, though. That look you were just wearing scared the shite out of me. You can’t go losing your heart to one of these men. They’re after a bit of fun, that’s it.”
“I know,” I insist emphatically. “I totally get that. I haven’t forgotten.”
She looks relieved. “Good. Now listen, I’ve been thinking of your list. I know you wanted to go to a proper club to check off that dance party task. Not Aura, of course, but the next best thing. There’s this huge blowout on Friday night at Solaría, and since you and I are both off, I figured we could go.”
“Sounds good.” I nod, still sidetracked by the previous topic.
I could tell her Cristiano has offered to help me complete my list now, too, but I don’t want to hear her warnings about it. She’s right, after all. I need to be a little smarter about how I handle things with him. Spending a summer on an island as beautiful as Ibiza obviously has a way of filtering every experience through rose-colored glasses. Surely I can be smart, though, and have my cake and eat it, too, and when August comes and it’s time for me to pack up and visit Lita in Marseille on my way back to the States, I’ll be able to share all my stories of adventure and love without feeling any residual heartache.
With sturdy armor newly encasing my heart, I return to my room and see a new text from Cristiano waiting for me.
I’m going to come pick you up in fifteen. Wear a bathing suit.
I bite back my grin, realizing that if he’s swinging by to pick me up, he must have worked his magic to get me the day off with Hugo.
I look at the time and panic. The text arrived five minutes ago, which means I only have ten minutes to scramble before he arrives.
Simone asks if I want to go down to the cafetería, or “canteen,” as she calls it, but I tell her I have plans.