“My kind of man,” Bailey said, taking a long sip of her own drink and batting her eyes at him. That was when I knew that whatever Andy wanted, Bails would likely offer it to him willingly. She very rarely played hard to get, even when she thought that’s what she was doing. Bailey didn’t believe in games. If she wanted something, she got it, and if she didn’t want it, she got rid.
“I leave you alone for fifteen minutes, Hyde, and you’re surrounded by women,” another male voice spoke from somewhere behind me.
Andy’s head snapped up to look at whoever was there, his smile brightening as he tipped his beer to him. “Come join the party, bro. Grab yourself a beer.”
Within minutes, after a quick trip to the bar, another man had walked around my sun lounger to join us; this one just as handsome as Andy, with his reddish hair aglow under the Mykonos sun, a beer in hand. He took a seat at the very end of Rhea’s sun lounger, and it wasn’t long before the two of them got lost in conversation, which was very unlike the Rhea I knew all too well.
The guy’s name, it turned out, was Jace Draper, and Rhea, who never usually giggled, was soon tucking her feet under her arse and leaning closer to Jace on her sunbed, completely enraptured with everything he had to say, giggling.
“How long are you guys here for?” Rhea asked Jace.
“We got here first thing this morning. So, we’ve got a full fourteen days and nights to enjoy. How about you?”
“We got here today, too, just not as early as you,” she answered.
“Good timing on both parts. Almost seems like… fate.”
Rhea hit him back with a small smile. “Don’t be cheesy. Is it just the two of you on holiday together?”
Jace shook his head. “We have another friend with us.”
“And where is he?”
“Erm. How do I say this? Cohen is… different. He’s?—”
“Be careful what you say,” came a third male voice from behind me again.
Only this time, I didn’t need to turn around to see who was standing there. I recognised his deep tones instantly. That moody edge mixed with arrogance and entitlement. The smile slid from my face like butter from a hot knife, and I watched as Andy and Jace’s grew, and they each lifted their almost-empty glasses of beer up to him.
Mr Moody was their friend? Of all the people in this complex? Great.
“Cohen, you grumpy fuck! Nice to see you’ve finally come out of the cave to play out in the light!” Jace proclaimed.
Cohen? What kind of name is that?I thought.
Despite every part of my traitorous body wanting to turn around to look at this ‘Cohen’ again, I remained facing forward, and I lifted my straw to my lips and took a large as hell sip of my pina colada, unable to stop the way my body tingled in both annoyance and appreciation.
Like hell was I going to pay that rude twit any interest.
“Pull up a seat, my man,” Andy told him, gesturing to the white, wooden chairs nearby.
My stomach flipped, wondering how this Cohen would react when he saw me properly instead of the back of my head. Part of me hoped he’d refuse their invitation and take off, so I didn’t have to face him again, especially after my parting insult earlier. The other part of me, however—the part made up of nothing but stupid—wanted him to come around to see if his grumpy nature was a permanent thing not just induced by me.
Bailey and Rhea turned in Cohen’s direction, each taking a good look at him. When I saw their brows rise with appreciation before Bailey turned back to give me that ‘look’ of hers, all I could do was roll my eyes and focus back on my drink.
“Yeah, sit down. You’re welcome to join us. You’d be evening up the numbers,” Bailey told Cohen as she looked him up and down, her lashes fluttering against the vision of him, which only made me want to groan out loud for all to hear.
I was surrounded by arseholes.
Cohen sighed heavily before mumbling something about grabbing a beer, then time seemed to stand still while I waited for his return. The others talked amongst themselves, but I didn’t really check back into the conversation until the scraping of a chair across the tile flooring had me daring to look up in Cohen’s direction.
Damn. He really was something to look at, despite his ugly as hell personality.
I watched as he swung the white chair around with ease before dropping down into it next to Andy. His muscular legs parted; the material of his swim shorts tight against his thick quads. He didn’t look at any of us, only down at his beer, and my stomach flipped some more as I waited for him to glance my way.
I supposed I could appreciate his beauty without appreciatinghim.
With his elbows resting on either arm of the chair, Cohen took a long sip of his drink and then, oh so slowly, his eyes rose to meet mine behind my sunglasses as though he hadn’t even noticed the barrier between our gazes.
