She nodded softly. “You know she’s a lot more aware of other people’s feelings than I am. We both promised you a holiday away from men, yet we’ve been with these three since day one, and I think Rhea’s been feeling a little like we’ve let you down for that. I mean, I know I have, and I promise, I tried to resist Andy at first. That’s why I put off putting out for him for so long?—”
“Bailey, please tell me that’s a joke.”
“No, honey.” She shook her head.
“I didn’t need you to put off anything. Neither of you have let me down. I… I mean… I can’t believe you thought that.”
“We wanted to be there for you. That’s why we’re here after all, right? To get you away from everything back home. When Jace started thawing Rhea out, I could tell she wanted to give in but felt she couldn’t. Not because of anything you said, butbecause that’s the kind of friend she is. The guilt has been eating her up.”
“Did she tell you that herself?”
“Not in so many words. But she definitely didn’t want you feeling like a gooseberry out here.”
The shame of the secret I carried had never felt heavier.
Rhea had been postponing her own happiness for mine. She could have been having with Jace what I’d had with Henry over the last week, and her holiday would have been all the richer for it, yet she’d been keeping her eye on me for the sake of a promise I hadn’t even bothered to keep myself.
“Shit,” I sighed. “I had no idea.”
“Hey, now.” Bailey’s hand landed on my shoulder. “Enough of that. I didn’t tell you this to make you feel responsible for it. I just wanted to say thank you for giving her the encouragement she clearly needed.” She pressed her fingers into my skin. “You’re the best of us, Bee.”
Right then, I felt the worst.
“I love you both the way you two love me. You know that, right, Bails? I want you to have as much fun as possible. You’re not responsible for me. You’re not my carers. You’re my friends. What kind of friend wouldIbe if I didn’t want you to get everything your hearts desired in return?”
“Of course, I know that. Rhea just took a while to catch up, that’s all.” She smiled. “Now, are you sure I can’t interest you in a bit of Cohen before we go home? The six of us all coupling up could go down in the holiday history books as the most epically romantic happenstance ever to be had.”
At the mention of his name, my heart skipped a beat, and I almost, almost, almost felt the need to tell her I’d already had a lot of Henry on this trip. But the secret I’d promised to keep bound my lips together until I somehow managed to swallow those particular words down and lock them away forever.
“Go to Andy, Bails.” I chuckled. “You’ve played matchmaker enough for today.”
With a shrug, she fluttered her lashes. “Cupid’s work is never done…but if you insist. He does look extra delicious today with that golden tan of his, doesn’t he?”
The six of us swam in the ocean together, visiting small, isolated, white sandy beaches, with the two established couples now flirting openly while Henry and I had to keep things at a distance, only able to gift each other with secret smiles and longing looks. It had been the first day since our first kiss that we hadn’t managed to sneak time away alone, and my need for him was becoming impossible to hide.
When the sun began to set, Henry and I had to settle for friendly chatter and the occasionally thigh contact when we were made to sit beside each other by accident. At one point, his little finger grazed my knee when the others hadn’t been looking, and the simplicity of that single touch had created an inferno within me, leaving me with no choice but to walk away. If I hadn’t, the romantic setting mixed with my need for this man would have sent me into a tailspin, and who knew what I would have done in front of everyone just to get a hit.
The mixture of wanting him, the alcohol, and the long day of sunshine had my head spinning a little too much, sending me in search of H2O in the kitchen area of the boat. I drained a full bottle of the stuff while the others stood out on the deck before the need to use the bathroom took over, and I made my way down the few small steps that led to one of the two hulls, where the sleeping quarters and toilets were. Anyone would have thought I’d run a marathon twice over with the way I had totry regulating my breathing once I stood over the sink, taking my reflection in. My emotions were going haywire, and I couldn’t dilute this need to go out there and kiss Henry fiercely in front of everyone.
I was halfway through washing my hands, when a knock on the door had my head turning in that direction.
“Phoebe, it’s me.”
Henry’s low voice soaked into my bones, making me reach over the sink to turn the water off. The thrill of those three words after daydreaming of a moment alone with him had me drying off my hands and opening the door as quickly as I possibly could, until there he stood in front of me, all sun-kissed skin, hard muscles, and those dark eyes staring down at me. His hands were planted on top of the small doorframe, and I didn’t even blink before I reached out for the waistband of his shorts and pulled him inside the tiny bathroom with me.
The door slammed shut behind us, and it took less than a second for his hands to find their way into my hair and his lips to land against mine. We kissed like we were starved, bumping in to walls and basins, because the space around us was so ridiculously tiny. He groaned, and I moaned breathlessly, all the desire I’d been trying to tame centring itself in the very depths of my belly, making me ache. The smell of him, the taste, the feel… I would never get enough of him to satisfy the dark craving that lurked within me.
“I’ve been wanting to do that all day,” he panted between needy kisses.
“Why didn’t you?”
“I have no idea.”
“You’re an idiot.”
“Only for you.” He reluctantly pulled back, his hands moving to cup my face as he angled my head up to him and looked into my eyes. “It’s taken everything in me not to come to you. I’ve notbeen able to take my eyes off every inch of you. All I can think about it touching you. Kissing you. Being inside you again.”
“This is torture, Henry. Seeing them all together, knowing we can never be like that in front of them. Knowing we can’t tell them the truth.”
