“Good. Get a move on!” Rhea called back before she turned to me and let her eyes drift down over my outfit. “Damn, Bee.You’re looking good. Someone’s letting that coral string bikini do all the talking for her, huh?”
I glanced down at my outfit, which I’d half covered up with a very loose-fitting, billowy thin white beach shirt that hung off one shoulder.
“Henry’s going to go mental over that when he sees it.”
I looked up at her sharply. “Can we not talk about him, please?”
“Okay.” She laughed, but I didn’t miss the subtle shake of her head.
Eventually, Bailey came rushing out of her room wearing a striking white bikini and a huge bag with God only knew what inside it as she pushed her thick, black sunglasses over her eyes. “Right. Let’s go. The beach is calling.”
“What?” Rhea gasped. “No more stories of your date with Andy or how you decided to hold out for yet another night like a good little virgin because you like the way he chases you and you want to drag it out for as long as possible? Please. Don’t stop. We need more.”
“Jealous, Rhea?”
“Busted.”
We made our way out of the apartment and down the stairs, and I couldn’t ignore the butterflies stirring in my stomach at the possibility of seeing Henry around the pool. Hopefully, his hangover would have been too severe for him to have been up so early, because I didn’t want to face him just yet after the things he’d said to me the night before.
Still, the thought ofnotseeing him…
I didn’t have long to overthink it, though, because the moment the striking aqua blue of the pool came into view, there he was.
My enemy in paradise.
His strong, tanned, toned back glided through the length of the pool with ease; his face down as he swam like he’d been born and raised in the water. My heart hammered and my legs turned to jelly at the sight of him, leaving me completely out of control of my own body, and I hadn’t even seen his face yet.
Mum’s words came back to me in a rush:There’s a fine line between love and hate, Phoebe. Always remember that because the feelings they both bring to life are often too similar to differentiate. When you get them mixed up, all hell breaks loose.
She’d been trying to explain to me how her relationship with my father really worked, and at the time I’d half-tuned her out, but now? Now, I kind of understood what she’d meant.
I loved to hate him, and I hated wanting him, yet I couldn’t look away.
When Henry reached the end of the pool, and his hands found the edge, he lifted his head out of the water before standing tall and running his palms down his face. When his eyes eventually opened, they found me within a heartbeat. His lips parted and then…
That bastard smiled.
Hesmiled.
At me.
And his face didn’t crack, or the world didn’t implode, and everyone around me carried on like they hadn’t just witnessed the same miraculous phenomenon I had.
Henry Cohen seemed sober, present, not under duress, and he looked… happy to see me?
I hadn’t realised I’d stopped walking behind Rhea and Bailey until they both turned back to find me from roughly ten feet away, pulling my attention from Henry to them.
“Phoebe?” Bailey made my name sound like a question.
“Yeah,” I said in a rush, forcing my feet to move again and walk over to the girls. “Sorry. I was just?—”
“Ladies!” Andy called, commanding our attention in that unmistakably charming voice of his. For once, I didn’t mind his interruption. I had no idea what I’d been about to say to Bailey and Rhea to explain my temporary paralysis.
Andy jogged over to us in nothing but his red swim shorts, pushing his hand through his blond hair as his grin grew ridiculously bigger at the sight of Bailey.
They were both goners whether they liked to admit it or not.
I could feel the heat of Henry’s stare on me even though I now had my back turned to him, choosing to face Andy instead, because, well, Andy did nothing for me. My body didn’t react to him. He was safe, especially when I was around Bailey and Rhea. They had to believe my no men rule was stronger than ever, otherwise, how would I?
