Chapter 3
CHLOE
My alarm wakes me up with a start. I’m disorientated for a few seconds and can’t work out where I am.
Then it all comes flooding back to me.
I’m in Japan. On my honeymoon. Without the key ingredient: a husband.
And Kit is here.
Rolling onto my back, I stare up at the ceiling. My skin feels tingly and strange, like someone’s just gently caressed me with their fingertips and all my nerve endings have sprung to attention.
It must be the jetlag.
I roll over and sit up, giving myself a shake.
Time to wake up and get out and about, otherwise I’ll never sleep tonight and my body-clock will be out of sync for the rest of my time here.
If I was able to afford to stay for two weeks it wouldn’t have mattered so much, but I can’t, so I’m going to need to be organised about getting the most out of my time.
Maybe a swim will freshen me up.
I find my tankini and pull a vest top and shorts on over the top of it.
I’m not sure if it’s okay to take the towel from my room, but I figure since I’m paying five-star prices, the least they can do is provide me with an extra towel when I need one.
I’ll ask reception about getting one later.
I drop my phone, sunglasses and the paperback I was reading on the plane into the tote I’ve brought, in case I feel like hanging out by the pool once I’ve had a swim.
It’s quiet inside the hotel and I don’t see anyone else as I stroll down the corridor, following the signs towards the outdoor pool. It becomes clear why it’s so deserted when I walk out into the pool area and find it thronged with people. If fact there’s only one lounger available.
And it’s next to the one person I hoped I wouldn’t see out here.
Kit seems to be asleep, stretched out in the sunshine, his body gleaming in the light like some golden trophy. He’s looking good. Really good. Clearly he’s been working out at the gym a lot as he’s more ripped than I remember him being when I first knew him – not that he wasn’t always fit.
But this vision in front of me is something else entirely.
My body floods with heat, and desire starts to coil through me.
Dammit.
This is the last thing I need.
I’m in mourning for my last relationship and I don’t need the complication of my inappropriate age-old lust for Kit to add to my torment.
It’s nice to know my libido hasn’t completely died though. That there’s still some life in the old girl.
Anyway, sod this. I’m not going to spend my time here hiding in my room. I have just as much right to be by this poolside as he does. It’s not like I’m stalking him. It’s just pure coincidence that the only space available is right next to him.
So I stride over and dump my bag next to the free lounger, then spread my towel out along the cushion, keeping my gaze determinedly off Kit’s sleeping form.
Turning my back on him – just in case he wakes up and thinks I’m deliberately stripping in front of him – I pull off my vest and shorts and drop them on top of the towel before walking over to the other side of the pool and tentatively dipping my toe into the water.
It’s just the right temperature, warm enough not to give me a heart attack when I get into it but cool enough to not make me hot while I swim.
I do a few lengths of breaststroke, keeping my gaze fixed in front of me and not allowing myself to glance over to where Kit is still asleep on the lounger.
At least I assume he’s still asleep. For all I know he could be watching me right now, with his dark-eyed gaze assessing my performance.
He’s got the most incredible eyes. They’re the deepest brown I’ve ever seen and can look almost black in some situations. Whenever he’d look at me, back in the day, with his intense gaze, my whole body would feel fizzy with lust.
It was like he was sexing me with his eyes. I know that sounds weird, but he just has a way of turning me on with his attentiveness.
Had a way.
I’m not falling for that surface-level kind of attention again. Because that’s what I realised it was. He never took our relationship seriously. He was the kind of guy who was always on the lookout for the next new thing. Or that’s what it felt like, anyway.
It sounds like he found a person he was happy to stick with though, if he was going to get married. Katya, I think he called her. I imagine she’s just as attractive and cool as he is. Those things always seemed to really matter to him.
I finally allow myself to glance in his direction and my heart starts to race when I see that he’s awake and is in fact watching me.
How is it possible to actually feel someone’s gaze on you? It’s like he’s physically touching me right now, judging by how my body’s reacting.
Dammit.
Well, he’ll soon get bored with it. With me. No doubt. There are a lot of beautiful women here at the hotel, sitting around the pool in their tiny designer bikinis, their long, toned and tanned limbs stretched out in perfectly poised poses.
And I’m not here to flirt with Kit. I’ve come to have a relaxing, restorative time.
With that affirmation in mind, I climb out of the pool and walk, dripping, over to my lounger.
‘Looking strong there, Dasher,’ Kit says as I move my clothes so I can pick up my towel and pat myself dry with it before laying it back onto the lounger.
‘Thanks,’ I say, keeping my tone friendly, but final. I don’t want to get into a conversation with him about the state of our bodies.
No way am I admitting out loud that I’ve even noticed what his body looks like.
‘Do you still dance?’ he asks, clearly undeterred by my indifferent tone.
‘Whenever I can,’ I say, sitting on the lounger and making myself comfortable. Taking my sunglasses out of the tote, I put them on and lie back, hoping he’ll take the hint that I don’t really want to chat right now.
He doesn’t.
‘You always did love to dance. I remember you doing it for hours whenever we went out clubbing.’
‘Hmm.’
‘I’ve not been to a club for a while. Katya, my ex, didn’t like dancing.’
‘Oh. Shame.’
There’s silence for about thirty seconds before he says, ‘So what else do you do with your time now?’
I let out a jokey sort of sigh then turn to look at him.
Which is a mistake.
He’s looking back at me in that intent way of his and I feel something dangerous stir deep inside me.
It’s that pull of desire I always felt whenever he was around.
It’s what attracted me to him in the first place and what kept us together for as long as it did over those few intensely sexually charged months.
I look away quickly and try to compose myself before speaking. I’m terrified my voice is going to come out wobbly.
‘Um… I’ve been working for a charity that protects woodland and the endangered species that live in it since I graduated,’ I say, relieved when it comes out sounding relatively normal.
‘Oh wow,’ he says, his deep voice infused with what sounds like real warmth. ‘You must get a lot out of that.’
‘I do,’ I agree. ‘It’s a great place to work, but it’s becoming increasingly difficult to get people to donate. Trees often get pushed down the pecking order when people are struggling to feed their kids. But they’re such an important part of our ecosystem. And someone has to fight for them.’
‘Thank God for people like you,’ Kit says.
I think he genuinely means that too.
‘Thanks,’ I say, aware of heat rising up my neck to my face.
It’s so weird sitting here with him, fielding his compliments. The last time we’d been together for any significant amount of time we’d been awkwardly bringing our fling to an end. There hadn’t been any real bad feeling between us, but we’d been pretty emotionally distant with each other.
‘How about you?’ I ask, aware I’m being rude by not asking him any questions back.
He bats a hand like it’s of no consequence what he’s been up to.
‘Ah, you know. Business shit. I’m heavily investing in a new tech start-up which has the potential to be seriously disruptive.
I can’t talk much about it right now though.
It needs time to incubate before we introduce it to the world, and we’re trying to fly it under the radar of any competitors. ’
He sits up and waves towards a guy on the other side of the pool, who’s just finished serving drinks to a couple sitting on the loungers opposite us.
‘Do you want a drink?’ he asks me.
‘Err… sure,’ I say, caught off guard. I thought perhaps he was shutting down the conversation now, but it seems he’s actually intent on keeping it going.
‘I’ll have a beer,’ he says to the server when he gets to us, then looks at me with a questioning expression. ‘And?’
I pause for a moment. Perhaps this isn’t such a good idea. ‘Actually, I’m fine.’
‘You sure? It’s on me. Go on, let me buy you a drink so we can raise a glass to our freedom.’
His smile is warm and friendly, and I have a sudden urge to stick one to Adrian by having a drink with my ex. An ex he hated. Plus I’m finding it very difficult to reject Kit’s offer when he’s being so charming.
‘Okay. I’ll have a cocktail,’ I say wildly, feeling the need for something strong to help me relax. I’m a bit jangled, if I’m being honest, sitting here with him, trying to pretend this is a totally normal situation.
‘Can you do me a Mai Tai?’ I ask the server, scrambling for a cocktail I remember the name of. I know it’s not a very Japanese drink, but my mind’s gone completely blank.
‘Yes, of course,’ the server says, giving us both a nod before turning and heading over to the bar on the far side of the pool.
Kit doesn’t comment on my choice of drink and lies back on his lounger and stares up at the sky.
Glad of a reprieve from his attention, I lie back too and close my eyes for a moment, enjoying the sensation of the sunshine on my face.
It’s been a while since I sunbathed, and it feels wonderful to be just lying here, not doing anything.
I’ve been so busy at work and at the same time planning the wedding, I’ve not had much time to chill recently.