Especially knowing she gave it out so sparingly.
We’d spent the early hours whizzing around the tiny island, with the wind on our faces, her arms firmly around my waist, and her chin resting on my shoulder. There was a welcomed familiarity to her touch already that should have made me uncomfortable. Instead, I revelled in it. I never wanted to get off that moped or remove her arms from around my body. I never wanted to take her back to the apartments, where I’d have to share her with everyone else. With her holding onto me, a peace I’d been seeking my whole life sank into my veins.
“Today was a nine out of ten,” she declared, kissing me reverently before she had to let me go and walk away again, making my shoulders deflate the moment she disappeared around the corner to go find the girls.
The day after that, we escaped to Venice Beach by day, where I made sure to spend every second of my time with her wisely, never letting her slip away from me for even a moment. Later that night, while the others danced in a bar farther along the beach, I convinced Phoebe to sneak away to a secluded area and streak naked down the shoreline with me, delighting in every echo of her happiness that rang out around me while I chased her fine, naked body along the sand, with only the moon as our witness.
I guessed I could share her with that… begrudgingly.
The moment I caught her, scooping her up around the waist and spinning her around so her hair fanned out around her, her legs kicking free, the sound of her soul-deep happiness and carefree laughter lit up my own damn world. She had the powerto make me forget about my own desires, because the only thing that mattered now were hers.
“I can’t believe I’ve just done that,” she’d said breathlessly as she fixed her dress back in place and looked up at me, her cheeks rosier than ever. “You’re turning me into a mad woman, Henry.”
All I’d been able to offer her was my shit-eating grin and my obvious look of satisfaction, because if I’d even tried to voice what she’d turned me into, she’d have run. I’d started to need her company, her voice, and her touch the way I need the blood in my veins.
Phoebe made me forget about every mistake I’d ever made.
Every fault I’d ever found in myself.
Every person missing from my life.
Which was what made it hard to process that I’d only known her for such a short amount of time as I watched her from behind my sunglasses the next day, her lithe body sliding through the water. She made her way to the opposite end of the pool, where Bailey and Andy were wrapped around each other, no longer caring how they’d pretty much alienated themselves from everyone else over the last few days.
Phoebe swam past them, and I saw the subtle smirk on her face before she hit the end of the pool, turned in the opposite direction, and began swimming back towards me. As soon as her eyes found mine, the heat in them told me everything she couldn’t say out loud.
She wanted to be able to do with me what Bailey was doing with Andy right now.
In front of everyone. Loud and proud.
Time spent apart felt wasted as the clock ticked down to us having to part ways.
If I’d have known how deeply she’d dig her claws into me, I never would have started anything between us, but that was irreversible now. Those claws were buried down to the bone, andthe only regret I had was wasting those first few days pretending not to want her.
I’d never wanted anyone more.
When she reached the end of the pool by my feet, she half-pulled her body up on to the edge, her arms folded against the wet tile as she bounced in the water and looked up at me.
I cast a quick glance Andy’s way—although the four of them were getting used to Phoebe and me being around each other now, since we hadn’t had much choice—and when I saw him totally immersed in his own holiday romance, I scooted to the edge of the sun lounger, my legs parted, with my arms dangling between them as I leaned down to get closer to her.
“You okay?” I asked.
“Mmhmm.” She rubbed her lips together as water beaded down the side of her face, but I could see something lingering in that look she gave me.
“What is it?”
“What is what?” she asked.
“That thing turning over in your head.” I cast a quick glance Andy and Bailey’s way before looking back at Phoebe. “Is it them?”
“No.” She paused, then sighed, shuffling her weight against the pool’s edge. “I’m happy for them. For Bailey. I love that she’s found someone who’s making her summer so special.”
“But…?”
Her big eyes held me captive, and all I wanted to do was run my thumb over her pouty bottom lip.
“But…?” I asked again.
“We don’t have much time left,” she said softly.
