Chapter 15
15
Cameron
The last thing I ever expected to delay our return to the resort was a pile of logs strewn about the coastal highway. It was a scene straight out of Final fucking Destination . Thank fuck we weren’t the stars of that reenactment. Only one side of the road was blocked, and workers were already directing traffic, so the holdup was a short one, but now I’m in a mad rush to make it to my photography session in twenty minutes. Ezra heads to his room, and we make plans to meet up at the bar later, so I dump my bags in my room, shower and change, and take the shortcut through the lobby.
Halfway across, I stop dead in my tracks.
It can’t be.
There’s no fucking way.
Three little birds, inked on a woman’s tricep. My brain has malfunctioned, and before I know what I’m doing, I’m grasping for said tricep and twisting its owner toward me.
“Oh!” The woman’s green eyes widen, and she sucks in a breath.
“Oh, I’m so sorry.” I hold up my hands and take a step back, too disappointed to be embarrassed. “I thought you were someone else.”
She drinks me in. “That’s okay. I’m happy to be someone else,” she purrs.
Definitely an American on vacation. It’s not against hotel policy to fraternize with vacationers, and while she’s a beautiful woman, she’s not the woman .
Damn if her tattoo isn’t identical to Joey’s, though. Birds are a common choice, sure, but in that location, and that precise configuration? This is too freaky.
The strawberry blonde shrugs when I don’t respond and turns to whatever she was doing before I interrupted her with my delusion.
I round the activities desk and head to my office to grab my name badge. Heading back out, I clip it to my shirt. My standard uniform could be worse. The off-white linen shirt goes well with the resort-issued cerulean blue shorts. And after a memorable encounter with goat poop my first week here, I now exclusively wear sneakers instead of flip-flops.
As I approach the fountain where I typically meet with my photo clients, I catch sight of the blonde from the lobby.
“Hello again.” She extends her arm, a dozen gold bracelets clanking. “I’m Millie.”
I shake her hand, and instead of greeting her like a normal person, I ask, “How did you get that tattoo?”
“Excuse me?” Her brows pinch together.
“Your three birds tattoo. How?—”
She pops up on her toes and cranes her neck to look around me. “Here’s our girl!”
Following her line of sight, I turn. You know how in movies, time freezes?
Yeah, that just happened .
“This is Joey,” my new client says. I think. My ears are buzzing too loudly to be sure. My body is coiled with too much energy, like an animal stalking its prey.
She taps my shoulder, but my sole focus is the ghost in front of me. Tan legs on display below the hem of her mini dress. Strong calves and toned thighs. Perfect hips that taper to a narrow waist. Ample breasts beneath shimmering gold material.
“Oh, you wouldn’t believe the trip she had to Greece last year…” Millie goes on, shuffling around me.
She’s here. Fuck. Please don’t let this be a hallucination.
The woman is still talking. Something about a sleazy ex-boyfriend and getting stuck in the rain. About a taxi ride with a sex worker and the best sex of someone’s life. I don’t catch any more than that because I’m entranced by the gorgeous woman beside her.
“Okay, that’s enough, Amelia!” Joey, eyes wide and cheeks flushed, slaps a hand across the woman’s face.
“No, no, Amelia, please continue,” I say, finally pulling myself out of my stupor.
Joey grabs her arm and tugs. “I’ve changed my mind. I don’t want to take pictures.” She doesn’t look at me when she adds, “Thanks for your time.”
“What? No.” Millie yanks free of Joey’s grasp. “My mom already paid for the session and demanded I send them to her ASAP. Plus, you look fucking hot.” Agreed. “We’re doing this.” She ducks close and whispers, “What’s your deal, Jo?”
Yeah, what is running through your mind right now, Josefine?
Chewing her bottom lip, my gorgeous blast from the past looks from her friend to me to the lobby doors, clearly in fight-or-flight mode.
“Will you excuse us one moment?” She finally turns those beautiful eyes that only visit me in my dreams my way, and it’s like a punch to the gut.
Swallowing thickly and giving her a silent nod, I step back. I don’t go more than a couple of yards. It’s all I can manage now that I’ve found her. I take her in again. There’s no way she’ll be able to walk in those stilettos on the beach. I can’t help but imagine bending on one knee and removing one, then the other, brushing my fingers against her smooth skin as I go.
I’m far enough away now that I can’t hear what they’re saying, but the “holy shit!” that flies out of Millie’s mouth can be heard all the way to Mykonos. Then she click-clacks her way over to me, her arms flailing.
“ You’re Cam?” She shoves a finger in my chest. Apparently she doesn’t do personal space.
Pointing to my name tag, I hit her with an award-winning grin. “Cameron,” I correct her. “Nice to meet you, Amelia .”
She bounces on her toes and clasps her hands in front of her. “Well, if this isn’t the perfect Crete cute , I don’t know what is.”
“The perfect what?” Joey and I ask at the same time. Her eyes dart to mine, then away as fast as lightning.
“A Crete cute. Like a meet cute, but we’re on Crete.”
Joey pushes Millie’s arm. “Oh my god. You’re ridiculous.” The smile she cracks is like an instant hit of dopamine.
Her friend’s responding expression is one of pure elation. She’s eating this up. It’s obvious by the way Joey’s avoiding even looking at me that she’ll be hard to crack, but Millie here might be my perfect accomplice.
I turn to the woman I’ve been dreaming about for a year and give her another long look, starting at her toes and working my way up over that sparkling gold number that shows off all her curves. When I get to her face, I catch her sizing me up, too, her plump, glossy lips pursed and her eyes somewhere between curious and guarded.
Unbelievable. My Joey is here. On this island. Standing in front of me.
Figuring the best way to keep from scaring her off is to do what we’re all here for, I clear my throat and revert to professional mode. “Are we ready to get started?”
It was all I could do not to get a hard-on during our sunset session. Every time I looked through my lens, I was reminded of the night we shared last year. Zooming in on her flawless skin instantaneously brought me back to the way it felt to have my hands on her.
After thirty torturous minutes of looking but not touching, I thanked Millie and excused myself, but not before whispering to Joey that I’d find her at the bar later. I didn’t give her an opportunity to object before I strode in the opposite direction.
Now, I close the door to the office I share with the other resort photographers and breathe a sigh of relief when I find it unoccupied. I immediately upload the pictures to my work laptop. Enthralled, I toggle between the images. Sure, I got plenty of the girls together, but then Millie stepped away, insisting Joey take center stage.
I click from one image to another but freeze when one in particular pops up. The light island breeze swept up her hair, and Joey raised her arms to tame it. In that instant, I captured her with her hands buried in her hair, her elbows wide, her sculpted biceps flexed, and a spontaneous smile on her face.
Without a second thought, I save the image and send it to my phone.
This one’s for me.
Ezra better have drinks on deck because he’s not going to believe it when I tell him.
I’m approaching the bar when I feel her. I halt in my tracks and give her another appreciative once-over, only to realize she’s looking at me too. Conveniently, Ezra is standing next to her. I take a step forward, ready to introduce the two of them, but stall when Joey leans in close and speaks to my best friend.
She sets her delicate hand on his forearm and glances over at me so quickly I nearly miss it. My legs are like lead, holding me in place, and the blood in my veins heats. What is she up to? If Ezra knew who she was, he’d shut this shit down, but he doesn’t, so I give it a moment to see how this plays out.
With a laugh, she tosses her head back, and in that instant, I know exactly what she’s trying to do.