Chapter 13
Chapter Thirteen
Phoebe
H e seemed different today, and from the moment we hit the beach I felt his eyes on me from across the volleyball net.
Bailey and Rhea were preoccupied with bickering among themselves about where they wanted to be positioned, leaving me to stand there with my hands on my hips while I waited them out.
On the other side of the net, Andy, Jace, and Henry were huddled together in game mode, but I had a feeling Henry wasn't paying as much attention to Andy's pep talk as he should have been.
All too often, his gaze would drift my way with a fire in his eyes I hadn't seen up until now. It made me nervous and excited, but I tried to convince myself that excitement wasn't for anything other than the prospect of me kicking his arse. My 'no men' rule remained firmly intact, after all.
Still, the way the hairs on the back of my neck stood to attention, like my own body was calling me out for being a liar…
“That’s that, then,” Bailey said, clapping her hands as she spun my way. “Phoebe at the net, Rhea in the middle, me at the back.”
“Roger that.” I saluted.
We took our positions, and the guys moved in to place on their side of the court, Henry's eyes never leaving mine as he took his spot by the net right in front of me.
Of course, that's where he wanted to play, with barely two feet between us, and nothing but a thin net to stop me from reaching out to trail a finger down his sun-kissed chest if I so wished.
Not that that's what I planned on doing or anything.
He didn't hide the fact that he let his eyes rake up and down my bikini-clad body before they rose to meet my gaze, and that smokin' hot smirk of his lit up his face.
Henry suited the brooding look, sure, but when he wore his happiness without the usual shame hanging over his head, something special happened.
He came alive.
He hitched up his shorts in front of me, bent at the knees, and then the scoundrel ran his tongue over his bottom lip, making it impossible for me to concentrate on anything but his mouth.
“You ready… Captain ?” he asked with a subtle wink, staring at me like we were about to rugby tackle each other.
Well, if he wanted to play those kinds of tricks, game on.
With a moan I usually reserved for the bedroom, I raised my hands above my head and stretched, elongating my entire body in front of him, making my tits look perkier than ever in my string bikini. “I guess I've got a spare bit of time to show you how it's done, Cohen ,” I strained, faking a yawn.
I didn’t miss the way his nostrils flared at my use of that name. “Looking forward to it,” he said, cracking an actual smile.
Two in one day. What in the world had happened to him overnight?
Within seconds, Rhea had struck the first volley of the ball over the net, and the game went into full swing.
Admittedly, it had been a while since I'd played any type of volleyball from back in our high school days, but it didn't take long for me to remember how much I'd enjoyed it as a teenager.
Rhea and Bailey worked well together for a change, although most of the effort came from Rhea and me for the majority of the first round.
We called out to each other in perfect timing, catching the guys off guard on more than one occasion, but the hotter we got under the midday heat, and the more sweat that clung to our almost naked bodies, the harder I found it to concentrate on the ball and not Henry.
The way his body stretched whenever he jumped towards the net before he smashed the ball down over onto our side with more power than one man should have been capable of, the thirstier I found myself, and it wasn't for water.
Every time he got one over on us, he'd high five the guys behind him, then settle back into position in front of me, barely panting for breath while I probably looked like a needed an oxygen mask every time I glared at his cocky face.
“What's the point here? Look at them!” Bailey cried. “We can't beat them.”
“Can't is a banned word on this side of the court,” Rhea snapped back. “Just because they're bigger doesn't mean they're better.”
“It might mean it a little bit.” Jace laughed from his side of the court, and when Rhea turned her narrowed eyes his way, he held up his hands in surrender. “I'm just saying. Facts are facts.”
“Aww, come on, Jace,” Andy said smugly. “Don't tease losers that way. Didn't your mother ever tell you to help those in need, not kick them while they're down?”
“It isn't over yet,” I said, locking eyes with Henry in front of me again.
“You sure about that, Captain? You're looking a little heavy with the breathing there.”
“That's because I'm choking on all that aftershave you're wearing, Cohen. Your eau de arrogance is poisoning the Greek air.”
His amusement shone brighter than the sun in the sky. “I'm not wearing a thing, and you know it.”
“Hmm. Must be your disgusting natural odour, then.”
He brought a finger up to the corner of his mouth. “That why you're drooling here a little every time you get close to me, darling?”
“That's not drool. It's vomit.”
“Wondered what that stink was coming from your side of the court.”
“Screw you.”
“You wish.”
“Like hell I do.”
“Can't fight what you can't hide.”
“You're such an egotistical piece of?—”
“What are you two muttering over there? Come on.
We've got a game to finish!” Andy called out, cutting me off, and it was only then that I realised Henry and I had leaned in towards each other, both of us glaring into each other's eyes as though this wasn't just a battle that had to be won at all costs, but a war.
“Cohen was just telling me how he wishes he could smash his balls as well as I can,” I called out to Andy. “Wait. Sorry. The ball. What was I thinking?”
A huff of laughter fell from Henry as though it was the most natural thing in the world for him to do. “Sounds like you're thinking about me more intimately than you care to admit, Phoebe Turner.”
My usual tricks weren’t working on him today, and I didn't know what the hell to do with this new version of him after being so used to his grumpy caveman form. Though I also couldn't deny I preferred this version of Henry to all the others I'd met so far.
When Rhea served the next ball, I wasted no time in pulling out my best moves, and something about my and Henry's exchange seemed to fuel something extra between us until it became a game of who could smash the ball onto the other's court the hardest. My muscles ached like hell, and my breathing became embarrassingly laboured every time I retook my position to stand back in front of him again.
It didn’t take long for Bailey to lose interest, and even Rhea grew whinier than usual.
Me? I had a point to prove. What it was, I couldn’t be sure, but every time I stared into those brown eyes, it stoked a dangerous fire within me, and the second the next ball was served, each of us jumped into action.
When the ball went over into their side, the three of them did what they had to do, and I could see Henry about to deliver his signature smash of the ball down by my side.
That's when I jumped higher than I'd ever jumped in my life, and some way, somehow, when Henry hit the ball to bring it down onto our side of the net, I managed to block it with all my might, catching him by surprise, sending the ball sailing back down to the sand on his side of the court. I didn’t have time to celebrate before gravity had me landing on my arse in the sand with an almighty thud.
Rhea and Bailey ran over to me, pulling me up on shaky feet and cheering for all their worth like we'd won some kind of championship. I let them shake and push me around while my eyes met Henry's through the net, and my smile grew impossibly wide.
I expected him to glare at me as he placed his hands on his hips, or to at least look annoyed with himself for the loss. Instead, his blank expression morphed in to a smile that should have been painted for all of history to remember forever.
“Hey, Phoebe?” he called out.
“Yeah?”
He chucked his chin. “Great play.”