His eyes rose to meet mine. “Your bag has a zip. Use it.”
When he turned away and handed the empty basket back to the woman, I found myself blinking several times to try and understand what the hell had just happened.
How had he managed to turn me speechless with just a few words?
Before I could find the use of my voice, Henry nodded to the woman again to dismiss her, then turned to grab me by the elbow to guide me away from the mini market and back to the hotel like he owned me.
The worst thing about it?
I let him.
I let him hold onto me and take me where he wanted us to go without asking a single question about his intentions.
We were far too close as we stepped back through the gates of the complex and found ourselves alone on a quiet pathway, surrounded by nothing but green trees, white buildings, bright pink flowers, and the sound of my beating heart trying to burst its way through my chest.
Then he stopped and turned to face me.
Chapter Four
Henry
Two weeks of seeing her face were going to kill me, and at this point I’d welcome the end. It would be less tortuous than this already.
No distractions,I’d promised myself.This holiday isn’t about anything other than rebuilding bridges—ones I’d fucking burned with my selfish actions.
Turning away from Phoebe on more than one occasion had been the easy choice to make, because looking at her reminded me of why I hadn’t wanted to come on this trip in the first place. There’d be too much temptation at every turn, and it had only taken one day for me to walk smack bang into the most beautiful temptation of all. Now she was everywhere I turned, drawing me in whether I liked it or not with her blonde hair, blue eyes, and soft skin.
I did not like it.
I didn’t want any woman’s attention again for a very long time.
Least of all from someone like her.
She was a ten, and her smart-arse mouth made her a goddamn twenty, and those kinds of numbers were too dangerous for a guy like me to play with.
She made me want to pack my shit up and jump on the first flight back to London, if only I hadn’t owed this trip to Andy. To Jace in some ways, too. This was my effort to make amends. I couldn’t fuck it up after just two days. If I could just put a smile on my face and at least pretend to be enjoying our time here, they’d get off my back for a minute. But pretending had never been my forte, and I apparently liked the weight of regret on my shoulders.
I also apparently couldn’t stay away from the woman still looking up at me as though she expected me to be the one to get this conversation rolling.
Good luck with that, angel eyes.
Those pale blues were going to be my undoing if I didn’t get a hold of myself.
“What the hell was that?” she eventually snapped.
“Didn’t realise I had to state the obvious but, okay, yeah. I just saved your arse.”
“Right,” she said, swallowing carefully, the action making her delicate neck hold my attention for a beat too long. “And while I appreciatethatpart of it, the attitude afterwards I could live without.”
All I could do was stare into her eyes, wondering how she’d managed to create a whole new hue of blue I’d never seen before. My silence made her uncomfortable, but she had no idea how much worse my words would be.
I had no talent for speaking. Only destruction.
“Are we back to the silent treatment now?” she asked before practically growling, “You’re beyond infuriating.”
“A simple thank you will do.”
“You make it hard to say thank you, Henry.”
