My smile suddenly faded. “No,” I sighed. “He even said so himself: I’m the last thing he wants right now. Plus, we’ve known each other less than three days, Bailey.Three days.”
“You’re telling me you’ve never seen a guy in your life you’ve just had to have. One you haven’t been able to get over until you get under?”
“I’ve been with Rob for so long?—”
“Youwerewith Rob. Past tense. You’re not with him now,” Rhea reminded me, and even though those feelings I had for my ex had changed completely in light of his extracurricular activities, the sting of us not being a thing anymore still, well, stung.
“I know that.” I shook my head, pushing Rob to the back of my mind only to be slapped up the side of the head with the memory of Henry’s intense gaze on my heated skin. “But you’re wrong about Cohen. I mean nothing to him.”
“You don’t have to mean anything for him to want to fuck you.” Bailey smiled. “You’re gorgeous, single, and you just so happen to be on holiday for the exact same two weeks as he is. Makes sense to me.”
“Well, it doesn’t to me.”
Bailey and Rhea looked at each other again as though there were more to this story than they were letting on, and I didn’t dare ask. This conversation hadn’t gone the way I thought it would.
“That doesn’t even matter, anyway. Regardless of what I think of all… that, none of what you’re saying explains why you guys were arguing with him. Care to explain?”
Bailey’s smile turned into a smirk. “He made the mistake of trying to tellmewhat to do, and it backfired. When that gorgeous guy you were dancing with let his hands fall to your peachy cheeks, Henry stepped in and decided it was time formeto break the two of you apart.”
“That doesn’t make any sense. Why get you involved?”
“Couldn’t exactly do it himself, could he? That would have been too obvious.”
When my gaze drifted between the two of them, I saw everything they weren’t saying out loud.
And I hated it.
Closing my eyes, I waved their stupid opinions and ideas away. “You’re wrong. So wrong. You’ll see. I gotta go. I’ve got to… yeah. Go.”
Before either of them had the chance to argue, I left, making my way back to my room to get ready for another day by the pool.
Only this time, I took a little longer to get ready than usual, lying to myself the whole time about who I was really making the effort for.
“Cocktail?” the barman asked with his thick accent when I approached his poolside hut.
“It’s barely ten a.m.,” I said with a smile. “What’s wrong with you?”
“You’re on vacation.” He threw his hands out to his sides. “Every hour is Happy Hour. There are no rules here.”
No rules. If only that were true. I had a very strong one in place, and I intended to stick to it.
“Thanks, but I think I should invest in a little H2O. For now, at least.”
“Rough night?” he asked as he bent down to retrieve a bottle of water from one of the fridges under the counter, never taking his eyes from mine.
“Wish I could remember.”
“That’s what holidays are for. Making memories and mistakes.” He handed me the bottle and offered a friendly wink before taking my money.
“I’ll stick to the memories. I've enough mistakes waiting back home.”
The barman’s eyes drifted to something beside me, and I didn’t even have to look in the same direction to know what and who it was. His domineering form brought the same cloud of oppression with it as an approaching thunderstorm, shifting the atmosphere and sucking the air out of my lungs. That intoxicating scent of his aftershave, shower gel, and sun lotion drowned my senses far too quickly.
“What mistakes are those?” Henry asked, his voice intimate enough to send an unwanted shiver across my neck and shoulders, bringing goosebumps to life that I prayed he didn’t notice.
Somehow, I swallowed down the traitorous feelings of desire that rose in my throat as I gripped the bottle of water with both hands and smiled at the barman. “Thanks for the drink. I may be back for that cocktail sooner than I thought.”
“I’ll be right here.” The barman smirked.
