“Yeah, Henry,” I said, hoping my voice didn’t shake. “What are we missing?”
Bailey, Rhea, Andy, and Jace cast not so subtle glances at each other while I focused on Henry, watching as he ran a hand through the top of his thick, black, wavy hair.
Time seemed to tick on forever until he eventually drained the rest of his beer, slammed it down on the small table next to him, then rose to stand.
“Doesn’t matter. You guys do whatever you want. I’m out of here.” Without another word, he took off, leaving all of us staring after him as if he had three heads and tentacles for feet.
“He seems… nice?” Rhea said, breaking the silence, only for Andy and Jace to lean into one another and start talking amongst themselves.
“He’s an arsehole,” I muttered once I knew they were distracted.
“Let’s not judge him too quickly,” Rhea said, leaning closer so only I could hear her, a mischievous smile on her face. “He could be one of those hot, brooding types that’s slow to thaw. You know… just like in these books you love to read.” She picked up my abandoned paperback copy of Forever Engaged from the small table beside me and wafted it around. “In fact, I bet if we looked through all your highlighted parts in this book, we’d find you swooning over someone exactly like Mr Cohen, no?”
I leaned forward to snatch my book from her, another blush bringing my cheeks to life. Only my best friends knew how I loved to highlight pages in my favourite novels with pastel-coloured markers to remind myself that love really could exist out there. Not the sort of ‘love’ I’d had with my idiot ex-boyfriend, but the stuff that lasted a lifetime.
The kind I used to dream of.
The defying all odds, once in a lifetime love.
I may have been a woman scorned, but that didn’t mean I’d given up all my hopes of a happy ever after with a man who spent the rest of his days sweeping me off my feet at some point in my life. It didn’t have to be anytime soon. I had zero intention of making that happen. But my future? I needed to at least imagine it possible.
“I can judge him just fine, thank you.” I tucked the paperback into my beach bag. “That guy is rude, arrogant, and, well… rude again.”
“What washisdeal?” Bailey asked Andy and Jace, drawing them back into the conversation. “Does your friend always look ready to murder someone?”
“Pretty much.” Andy nodded. “He’s a story for another day, though. Let’s just say Cohen’s all bark, no bite. Mostly.”
But I couldn’t believe it.
I had no doubt his bite was as vicious as his bark, and I didn’t want to get stuck with a group of guys for our entire holiday when one of them looked like he wanted to kill me for no good reason.
No man would ever make me feel inferior again.
That was the rule.
And by Christ, I’d make sure I stuck to it, no matter how growly my opponent happened to be.
Chapter Two
Phoebe
Paradise Beach Club turned out to be exactly that—paradise—filled with enthusiastic music lovers who were more than ready to party. Music blared through the warm summer air, from dance to house, to old school R’n’B, to remixes of some absolute classics from the sixties and seventies. When we stepped out into the sand, it sank between our open-toed shoes, the sound of the ocean providing a heavenly backdrop whenever the heavy bass from the speakers died down.
If Heaven had a nightclub, this would have been it.
Had we done our research of the place properly, though, we’d have shown up wearing our bikinis like most people there had. Instead, Bails, Rhea, and I had worn much fancier outfits, and the pale blue, strappy mini dress I’d thought had looked good now felt like a ballgown. It clung to my skin in the heat of the night. At least I didn’t have a curtain of blonde, humidity-ruined hair around my shoulders to contend with, thanks to the tight, high ponytail I’d wrapped it up in.
The three of us found a set of beach loungers close to the ocean, and we sank down onto them, with Bailey sitting next to Rhea, while I took the one opposite them.
They looked good, my best friends. Bailey wore her signature yellow colour against her brown skin, with her hair pulled back like mine, both of us opting to spend another hour lounging on the balcony of our apartment rather than wasting time combing and preening. Rhea wore her signature colour, too—black, obviously—which suited her ivory pale skin that already had a lobster glow to it after only a few hours in the sun.
I’d been about to tell them how gorgeous they both looked when I saw Andy approaching, and my heart sank into my stomach. Before I could warn the girls, he crept up and made them jump, earning himself a round of laughter before Jace joined the party only seconds later.
“I knew you wouldn’t be able to resist us!” Jace cried, holding his bottle of beer up in the air before he plonked himself down next to Rhea and threw his arm around her shoulder.
She eyed him up and down before raising a finger to the low neck of his thin, white T-shirt. “Showing a little chest for anyone special?”
“Wouldn’t you like to know?”
