Page 64 of Fight For Me

When she settles on her lounger, I send up a silent prayer of thanks that she didn’t take her sarong off first. I need some time to adjust to being close to her before I see her in a bathing suit.

“So.” She looks at me over the tops of her sunglasses. “First impressions?”

“It’s not bad. The villa kicks ass.” I gesture around at the pool. “This is pretty nice.”

One of the waitresses returns with a bucket of beer bottles. “Yeah,” Alex says, grinning while she takes one. “This isn’t bad at all.”

We sip our beers in silence for a while, people watching and enjoying the sun. Unfortunately, the poolside DJ is playing some really loud electronica crap that has me gritting my teeth.

“What?” Alex asks, and I realize I had let out a quiet chuckle.

“I was just thinking that I wished they would turn the damn music down.”

She smacks a hand down on her lounger. “Right? It’s so loud. And who the hell wants to listen to electronica at the pool?”

“Thank fuck,” I say. “I’m glad it’s not just me. That’s why I was laughing—I was feeling like the oldest lame asshole in the world.”

She grins, shaking a fist. “Those darn kids and their loud music.”

I snort. “Exactly.”

“Well, the good news is that we won’t be down here for very long.”

“What’s the bad news?”

She taps on her phone screen before handing it to me. She’s pulled up what looks like an itinerary. Apparently, every minute between now and our flight home has been scheduled out by the production team.

“Jesus,” I mutter.

“You don’t have to do all that,” she says quickly. “You’re supposed to be having fun. We’re the only ones who should have to work.”

I give her a look. “The point was for us all to hang out with each other. If you guys have to do this shit, we’ll be there, too.”

She raises an eyebrow. “Even if that means listening to loud electronica? Because a couple of the clubs they picked out for tonight don’t sound too promising.”

I wince. “I’m starting to feel like this entire trip was designed to make me feel incredibly old.”

She sighs, leaning back against the lounge and closing her eyes, face tilted towards the sun. “Then I must be incredibly old, too. Because all I really want to do is find some good food, lay in the sun, take as many naps as possible, and maybe have a couple drinks or something.”

Funny, that pretty much sounds like the perfect vacation. Especially if I’m doing all those things with Alex.

You are so screwed,I think to myself as I close my eyes. But with the sun shining overhead and the most gorgeous woman in the world at my side, I’m finding it pretty hard to care.

Alex

I’m sitting cross-legged on the floor of my bedroom in the villa after a long day of travel and sunshine, trying to quiet my mind enough to finish my meditation, when there’s a knock on the door. “Alex? Can I come in?”

Everly. My stomach dips as I realize what it’s going to look like to her when she walks in here. The only lights I have on are some candles flickering around the room, I have my travel essential oil diffuser running, and the soft sounds of Tibetan singing bowls emanates from my phone speaker. She’s going to know exactly what’s going on.

“Alex?”

I sigh. It’s not like I can really hide it from her. If I go much longer without sleep, things are going to get real messy. “Come in.”

Just as I expected, her eyes widen when she sees me and she quickly pulls the door shut behind her. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” I say quickly. “Just trying to destress before bed.”

She wrings her hands, pacing back and forth. “Shit. How long has this been going on? Is it the show? It’s the show, isn’t it?”