Total pages in book: 100
Estimated words: 96513 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 483(@200wpm)___ 386(@250wpm)___ 322(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 96513 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 483(@200wpm)___ 386(@250wpm)___ 322(@300wpm)
I picked one up and nibbled on it as I moved into the bathroom. It was like walking into a dream. The space had a waterfall shower and a large free-standing tub with an assortment of salts, bubbles, and oils. Even for someone with my expensive taste, it was above and beyond.
“Is everything to your liking?” Paulo asked, hovering near the open-air doorway.
“Superb,” I said honestly.
Our luggage had already been rolled in and deposited near the bed. I didn’t know how they had beaten us here, but the service was to my liking.
Camden nodded and passed him a twenty.
Paulo pocketed it without comment. “If you need to reach me, dial 1 on the hotel line or use my personal number.” He gave Camden his card. “I hope you enjoy your stay with us at St. Vincent’s Resort.”
He ducked out of the room.
I arched an eyebrow at Camden. “Well?”
“I have a conference call in an hour. How drunk can we get before then?”
I shook my head. “Aren’t you still drunk from last night?”
“I think I sobered up too much on the plane.” He reached down and grabbed the champagne, which I realized was a Yellow Label Veuve Clicquot. He popped it open and poured us each a glass. “That was a mistake.”
I took mine from him and drank deep. “Well, let’s get into bathing suits and find our friends, shall we?”
“I had other ideas,” he suggested.
“Oh?”
“We could finish this bottle and fuck instead.”
“So eloquent,” I said, taking another sip.
He shrugged, downed his champagne, and poured another. “I’m a man of simple tastes.”
“Liar.”
His smirk was particularly deadly. “Fine. I’m a man of expensive tastes. We’re in a grand villa thousands of miles away from home. I want to get you naked and spread you like a feast on that bed.”
My blood heated at his words.
We hadn’t been intimate in… months. After the honeymoon, things had been great. But then Camden found me in Penn’s arms at Natalie’s party. Nothing had happened, but it didn’t matter. Something intrinsically broke between us. The feeble trust we’d had shattered. He’d returned to his old ways, and I’d been left bereft. It would be so easy to fall back into how things had been. So easy. But a part of me resisted. A part of me feared what would happen if I gave that small bit of trust to Camden Percy. Would he break me with it again?
“As appetizing as that sounds,” I said, glad there was no waver to my voice, “I think I’ll have to take a rain check.”
He seemed unsurprised, turning away from me as he said, “Then get dressed, and we’ll go find Lark.”
I didn’t know why it sounded like he was disappointed. Camden was the one getting plenty of ass. It was me who wasn’t sleeping around after all.
Still… his disappointment made me wonder why I’d refused.
* * *
A half hour later, after I put on my dark purple cheeky bikini and lathered myself in sunscreen, Camden and I departed the villa. He’d changed into cerulean-blue board shorts that stopped a few inches above his knees, revealing his muscular legs and six-pack. The only thing Camden did other than work and play pool was work out. Apparently, it was the only way for him to release his anger… and he was still a raging jackass most of the time.
Lark had texted me her location, and we found our friends seated around one of the large pools in front of the swim-up bar. Of course.
Anna English saw us first and jumped up from her beach chair, where she had been leaning into her boyfriend, Court Kensington. English was our resident Hollywood babe with long platinum-blonde hair and a rocking bod.
“Katherine,” she cried, throwing her arms around me.
“Hey, English,” I said. I dropped my beach bag next to an open seat as Lark and Whitley hurried over to me.
Camden touched my wrist before they could bombard me. “Drink?”
I nodded. “Anything with a fucking umbrella.”
He grinned and yanked me forward into a kiss. “I can do that.”
I pulled back, flushed, as he strode away. As if he hadn’t just pushed me off-kilter with that kiss.
Lark raised her eyebrows when she got to me. “What was that about?”
“Nothing,” I said at once.
Lark didn’t look like she believed me. Well, that was fair. I didn’t believe myself.
“So, you’re finally here,” Whitley Bowen said. Her hair, which had been blood red at Halloween, was now a caramel color. She was the resident pixie of our group, not even reaching five feet tall, but unequivocally with the biggest personality.
“I made it,” I told her.
“Do I have a story for you.”
“Oh god,” I muttered. “Do I even want to know?”
“Yes,” Lark said at the same time English said, “No.”
They all laughed. Whitley was known for outrageous dating stories. But I’d thought that was temporarily behind her since she started dating Robert Dawson. My eyes glanced over all my friends in one place. Court Kensington, Sam Rutherford, and Gavin King were at the bar, talking animatedly to Camden. But, hmm… Robert wasn’t among them.