Chapter 32
BEN
My mum always said that when God gave her Phoebe, he created a woman in her own image; feisty, strong-willed: her nemesis in fact.
It’s all I can see in Bella too. Bella who made my heart drop out of my arse when she broke into this place to find her mother, and who reminds me so much of my little sister, of her stubborn, unyielding female energy.
I don’t think we will ever be friends. Over dinner, she told me that she had been ready to take me down when she got here.
I’m not sure how she planned to do that, but I laughed.
She didn’t. She sipped on the glass of wine her mother allowed her to have and eyeballed me, still full of mistrust. I secretly liked her reaction because it only showed how much she cared.
I lie down now in my cottage, looking up at the ceiling, my arms folded behind my head.
Maybe I should lock the door? Get a dog?
I remember how I felt when Miguel had told me someone had broken into the villa.
The idea that someone had trespassed and might trash the place or steal something made me unfeasibly angry.
Maybe I need new locks, better protection.
I need to look after this place properly.
A knock at the door grabs my attention. I sit up as the door opens and Chloe furtively peers in. She’s wearing a strappy slip dress, no make-up, bare feet. I’m hit with sudden nerves and excitement that she’s here.
‘I didn’t tell you to come in. I could have been naked here. It could have been a very inopportune moment,’ I say.
‘Nudity doesn’t faze me anymore. I’ve seen it all,’ she says, looking at my bare chest.
‘All OK?’ I ask. ‘No Renata at the gate with a gun? No teenagers breaking in? You have enough towels?’
‘Everything’s great.’ Chloe comes and sits on the edge of my bed, looking around the cottage.
It’s actually a pool house that I converted into another room thinking it would be best to give the guests privacy.
The converted bathroom at the back used to be a sauna; it was the one room in the whole place that Miguel advised I demolish completely. I didn’t ask why.
‘I just thought I would come and say good night. We haven’t really had much chance to chat today. It’s been eventful,’ she says.
‘It has,’ I say, remembering that when we got interrupted in the market before, I was mid-speech, telling her everything I liked about her. I still like all those things very much and I’m curious as to where this could go.
‘I just wanted to clarify, maybe take a moment to… I mean, we hardly know each other… and things have gone from zero to eighty in a matter of days.’ There’s a tone to her voice which makes me think she’s here to tell me differently. ‘I’m not usually like this,’ she says.
‘You’re not usually hilarious and adorable?’ I say and she grins, a blush rising in her cheeks.
‘I’m not normally so impulsive or sexually—’
‘Active?’ I suggest.
‘Adventurous,’ she says, her smile broadening further.
I feel pangs of excitement because she’s here, wearing a tiny dress. I’m not sure she’s crept in here to just talk.
‘I’m usually a bit more measured with everything. I don’t normally jump into things so quickly. I’d never had sex outside before two days ago,’ Chloe continues.
‘Really?’ I ask.
‘I’m a mattress girl. Maybe once on a chair, the floor,’ she declares giddily.
I shouldn’t laugh. ‘Maybe it’s the effect of the sun, the sangria, being on holiday. Perhaps it’s given you a bit more courage?’
‘Or maybe it’s you,’ she says, whispering, unable to even look at me. I pause as I take that in, my chest skipping with emotion. ‘I have no idea what to do with all these feelings. With you.’
‘I have some ideas,’ I say, trying to lighten the mood, the intensity of the moment, but I can see that like me, maybe she’s starting to overthink things. Where could this go? What could it be?
‘Two more days,’ she whispers.
Two days before I put her back on a plane.
Do I get on that plane with her? Do I ask her to stay?
At the moment, I’m pulled in so many different directions with no clue what the right thing to do is.
Would it be madness to ask someone I’ve known for days to just stay in this bubble with me?
Additionally, how could I leave this all behind?
It feels like it’d be going in the opposite direction.
‘I like you,’ Chloe says, continuing to whisper, still avoiding my gaze.
I move across the mattress to get closer to her, sitting beside her on the edge of the bed and putting my hand to her chin to tilt her face so she’s looking at me.
‘I like you too. I feel ridiculous because you know, we’ve only just met, but there’s something that makes me want to hold on to you… like…’
But Chloe doesn’t wait for me to finish. She goes in to kiss me, desperately. The kiss is magnetic, obliterating all sensible thoughts. She straddles me on the edge of the bed and I reach down to lift up the skirt of her dress and cup her curves. She’s not wearing any underwear.
‘What are we even doing?’ she asks breathily and I laugh because she knows exactly what she’s doing.
I pull down the material covering her breast and take her nipple in my mouth, watching as it makes her spine straighten.
I lift her gently to allow me to pull my shorts down and then she gently lowers herself on to me, all while looking me directly in the eyes.
But she doesn’t move. She stays there for a moment, studying my face before sliding ever so slowly over my cock and lowering herself down again.
The effect it has is unworldly: it makes me put my hands to the mattress to steady myself.
I moan deeply. She smiles and does it again.
‘Fu…’ I can’t even get the word out.
‘SO WHAT’S IN THERE? THAT BUILDING BY THE POOL? IS IT A GYM?’ A loud voice outside is suddenly audible.
I sit up quickly, Chloe wraps her legs and arms around me in shock, trying not to make a sound, her eyes wide.
It’s Bella’s voice. The room is unlocked.
Shit. I hear her footsteps pad to the door.
I’m still inside Chloe. I know Bella’s not an innocent teenager but this is not good or going to repair any misconceptions that young lady has about me and the nature of this retreat.
Especially since she found her mum’s new sex-toy collection.
I’m also aware that we’re trying to keep this from Jess and Zara to spare our own blushes.
‘It’s Ben’s bedroom. Don’t go in there,’ I hear Zara say from behind her.
‘Why not?’
‘God, let the man rest, Bella. You broke into this house,’ her mother tells her. ‘It’s his own private room.’
I see the door handle press down.
‘BELLA!’ Zara shouts.
Fuck. ‘HELLO, WHO’S THERE?’ I shout out as calmly as possible, putting a hand over Chloe’s mouth to contain her laughter. The handle resets itself.
‘It’s Bella and Zara. Mum was just giving me a tour of the villa. Can we come in?’
‘Maybe not now, Bella. The place is a mess. I’m just in the middle of something. I’ll be out in a minute,’ I say, noticing the tone of my voice wavering.
‘Middle of what?’ she asks inquisitively. Lord, this kid is relentless. I feel Zara’s pain.
‘Bella, stop being a nosy cow,’ her mother warns her.
‘A workout.’ I can feel Chloe’s lips quiver with laughter under my hand. ‘I’m not dressed.’
‘You work out in the buff?’ she asks, laughing.
‘BELLA! Get away from that door now,’ Zara warns her.
‘You told me to be nicer to him. See, it is a gym. I thought I heard him grunting… Oh look, a cat!’
We don’t move until we hear their bickering and laughter fade, and the door to the main house shut.
When it does, I lie back on the bed, chuckling quietly.
Chloe dismounts from me and crawls over, her body collapsing on top of mine, her head resting on my chest. I kiss the top of her head, liking this moment of silent laughter, enjoying how well she fits in the space under my arm.
‘Does that door have a lock?’ she asks me, whispering.
‘It does. I’ve just never needed to use it. Before, it was only the goats that used to gatecrash this place.’
I feel her body tremble with laughter. ‘Are you calling me a goat?’
‘A hilarious and adorable goat,’ I joke.
She prods me in the side before climbing on top of me again. ‘I believe she used the word grunting when it came to you…’
I laugh. But the weight of her, the way a strap has fallen, exposing the top of her left breast, her eyes still fixed on mine signalling all that intention, fills me with desire.
I trace my fingers up and down her arm before taking her hand and squeezing it tightly.
I sit up so my mouth finds the curve of her neck.
‘Go and lock the door. I’m not done with you,’ I tell her.
‘You’re not?’ she says.
‘I’d like to do that… what you did just there… forever.’
Chloe smiles. Forever. That was too much. Physically far too much, but she smiles and stays there for a moment looking me in the eye.
‘Hold that thought,’ she whispers.