Chapter 19
Those words, steadying and heartfelt, meant everything and confirmed Lola’s thought about Rhys being there for her.
As a friend, she trusted him completely, but would it be possible to continue trusting him if he was more than a friend?
The idea that she was even considering letting someone close again scared her.
Lola gulped back a sob as all the stress of the last two days bubbled over. The tears fell and not just because of the shock of being confronted by Jarek, but at the realisation that she was no longer on her own dealing with him.
Rhys wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close, whispering that it would all be okay as his fingers threaded her hair.
The desire to trust and believe him scared her as much as it soothed, yet she allowed her pent-up emotions to overflow, sobbing against his chest until her tears had dried tight on her cheeks.
* * *
After Lola had cried her heart out, they talked a bit more and Rhys promised to keep what had happened with Jarek between themselves.
He probably thought not saying anything was a bad idea, but she’d been adamant that nothing should get back to Mirabel.
It might have been wise to give Fabs a heads-up about what was going on, but Lola convinced Rhys not to, because there was no way that Fabs would keep anything from Mirabel.
At least them leaving together early from Porto Cervo didn’t need explaining when everyone assumed they’d come back for some alone time before that evening’s gathering.
If only , Lola thought as the villa filled up with friends.
Doing something pleasurable with Rhys would have been preferable to having to deal with the fallout from Jarek.
He’d hijacked her emotions and diverted her attention away from the conversation she’d meant to have with Rhys about their kiss.
Now her thoughts were straying into territory she was uncertain how to navigate, thinking about Rhys in a completely different way.
What was real and what was pretend had become entangled.
Lola’s first impression of Rhys had been that he was nice-looking in an understated way.
He had a James McAvoy vibe about him, whereas she usually went for men who had more of a Chris Hemsworth build.
Muscles over personality, perhaps. Although Jarek had seemed to have it all: looks and personality – until he didn’t.
Six-packs and sexiness didn’t mean a thing if someone was cruel.
Rhys was handsome in a way that had crept up on her, perhaps because his personality shone through his soulful eyes.
There were even more people at the villa than usual with Fabs’s Italian friends joining them for drinks. Although Gareth had backed off with his flirting, Lola was conscious of Valentino’s attention in particular, because she’d noticed him looking her way with come-to-bed eyes.
‘I didn’t think anyone could be more handsome than Fabs, but hell,’ Deni said under her breath as she leaned close to Lola, ‘he has some damn fine-looking friends. To be that good-looking should be illegal.’
‘Missing your husband by any chance?’ Lola quipped, knowing her tone was clipped but not caring because she was annoyed with herself for being attracted to Valentino’s dark brooding looks when he reminded her of Jarek.
‘I do miss him,’ Deni said smoothly, her own tone laced with something that edged towards annoyance. ‘But he’s never looked like that.’
Lola hmphed.
‘Not that I ever wanted him to be that good-looking.’ Deni drew closer to Lola, her tone softer.
‘To me, my husband’s the most handsome man in the world because I love him – not that I tell him enough.
I’ve never wanted someone so stupidly good-looking I’d spend my whole time worrying that I wasn’t good enough for them. ’
‘Because you think you’re out of his league?’ Lola subtly gestured towards Valentino. ‘Because that’s a load of bull made up to make people feel shitty about themselves.’
‘I don’t believe for a minute anyone’s ever said anything like that to you.’
‘Not to me, no, but they have about Rhys.’
‘Oh.’ Deni nodded. ‘Because you and he are?—’
‘What? Not well suited?’
Deni shrugged. ‘You don’t think that’s the case?’
‘Of course not.’ Lola drained the rest of her wine.
‘Saying someone is out of someone’s league is as shallow as it gets.
It suggests that someone not traditionally beautiful or handsome shouldn’t be with someone who is, when there are so many other things to consider in a relationship, like personality – if the person is kind, loving, thoughtful. A good person.’
‘Mr Drop Dead Gorgeous over there might be all of those things.’
‘Yes, he might be,’ Lola said, then thought, But I already know that Rhys is.
They fell silent and Deni sipped her drink while they watched everyone. Although Lola avoided looking in Valentino’s direction, she could sense him glancing their way. She shifted so her back was to him.
Deni noticed and opened her mouth, then closed it.
She laid a hand on her arm. ‘I’m sorry if we’ve been overly pushy about all those sexy blokes who’ve been tripping over themselves to capture your attention.
’ Deni laughed, but it was gentle. ‘I know I’ve been living vicariously through you; Sarah and Polly too.
Our intentions are good, but perhaps we’ve been a bit full on. ’
This was the conversation Lola should have had with Deni ages ago; she should have been open about the way she was feeling.
She should have been able to talk to her friends and tell them in the nicest possible way to back off from trying to set her up with men, but she knew that would have led to deeper conversations, and that was what she’d feared.
Not that she’d had any problem opening up to Rhys.
Lola was about to say she knew their teasing had all been in jest when Deni’s eyes went wide.
‘Heads up,’ she said.
And then Valentino was next to them, all six-foot-something of chiselled Italian good looks with distractingly snug trousers that made Lola want to walk swiftly in the other direction, except he was clutching two glasses of white wine and his eyes were fixed on her.
‘I noticed your drink was empty.’
Hell was he smooth.
Deni lifted her own nearly empty glass and raised her eyebrows. Lola inwardly sighed but accepted the drink from Valentino.
‘Thank you,’ she said, not wanting to be rude but also annoyed at his snub of Deni, who, Lola realised with horror, was slowly backing away.
‘Just going to grab some food,’ Deni said. Her voice was full of amusement, although she looked sympathetic. Perhaps there was a touch of glee. Lola knew she wouldn’t go far, not when she’d want to see how this played out.
Lola took a sip of the citrusy wine. Where was Rhys when she needed him?
‘We have not had much chance to talk since the first night.’ Valentino leaned against the wall. A waft of sultry spiciness encroached on her personal space.
Although his English was almost as good as Fabs’s, his accent was richer: deep and seductive. And he knew it.
‘Lots of people to talk to, that’s why.’ She’d make polite small talk, then find an excuse to escape to her friends. Deni was already snuggled up on a sofa with Sarah, both watching her, as she’d anticipated.
Annoyance flared. Despite what Deni had said moments before, she knew they would still prefer her to hook up with a sexy Italian rather than believe she could be into Rhys.
‘You are enjoying yourself in Sardinia?’ Valentino asked smoothly, while his chocolate eyes bored into her.
She could do this: a polite, uninteresting conversation. She opened her mouth to reply when he added: ‘With the Englishman?’ A smirk tugged at his full lips.
Fire raged inside her. ‘Yes, I have, thank you,’ she snapped. ‘And he’s Welsh, not English.’
‘If you want to have more fun than you have with him, you only have to say.’ His voice was dripping with suggestion.
He was clean-shaven and classically handsome.
Valentino might be benign, but there was no way to know without putting her trust in him.
But his arrogance incensed her, along with his belief that he’d give her a better time than Rhys because of the way he looked.
The idea of a fling with a sexy Italian should have been tempting, and yet… He put her on edge, whereas around Rhys she’d felt relaxed and safe from the moment she’d sat with him at the end of the dock, their conversation flowing effortlessly.
She scrunched her lips. ‘You honestly think I’d have more fun with you?’
He raised an eyebrow and snorted like he could see right through her, that the fun she was having with Rhys wasn’t the sort of fun he was suggesting.
But what if she and Rhys could have fun that way?
Their kiss. She hadn’t stopped thinking about it.
Something had ignited and he’d surprised her.
He was quiet instead of confident. He didn’t dominate, crowd her out or overpower.
He allowed her to be her. He listened and understood.
He was sensitive and thoughtful. His eyes twinkled when he laughed, and the way the hollow of his neck pulsed and focused her attention on his skin, imagining how it would feel beneath her fingers…
‘I am certain you would have more fun with me.’ Valentino’s voice was deep and seductive.
Lola held his gaze, her annoyance growing at the way he was invading her personal space, his eyes zoning in on her lips and shifting down to her cleavage. ‘Yet I’m not sure I would with you.’
‘You only have to say if you change your mind.’ He leaned closer and kissed her on each cheek while his hands caressed her arms.
‘I won’t,’ Lola said lightly, because despite his looks, he left her cold. But most of all he wasn’t Rhys. That alone was enough to make her walk away and not look back.
* * *
Rhys wanted to pace over and claim Lola because his blood was boiling so much, yet he stopped himself because of how inappropriate that was.
Claiming Lola was what Valentino was trying to do; sex appeal oozed off him, while his eyes undressed her.
Claiming her was what Jarek was still attempting to do.
No one should be treated like that. What Rhys wanted to do was protect her, to hold and kiss her.
To be with her and there for her. So he watched from afar, letting his friends’ conversation wash over him as he clenched his bottle of beer and breathed through his annoyance.
She wasn’t his, they weren’t really together, and he couldn’t – wouldn’t – interfere.
It had been different earlier with Jarek, to witness her shock as the blood had drained from her face before she’d stormed up to her ex and confronted him.
Rhys had feared for her safety then. He’d wanted to help her, to make sure she was okay and could walk away unscathed – at least physically.
Emotionally, he knew she was a mess. But he had no right to interfere now, even if he loathed the look Valentino was giving her because it was the way he wanted to look at Lola, with seductive desire and longing.
Not that he’d have the nerve to be so blatant, and he sure as hell wasn’t a tall, dark, handsome Italian who could effortlessly sweep her off her feet.
Valentino had obviously tried to do that; Rhys didn’t need to lip-read to understand his intentions when his body language said it all, but Lola’s reaction was clear too as she leaned away, angling her head to avoid that intense gaze.
When he’d kissed her on each cheek, she extracted herself from his hold and walked away.
Across the room, Rhys met Valentino’s eyes, dark moody pools that narrowed arrow-like at him.
Valentino batted his hand, a dismissive gesture as he pushed away from the wall and stalked off into the garden.
Rhys should have felt smug, yet he didn’t.
Lola had obviously shut down Valentino’s advances, but she hadn’t sought him out either.
Now he didn’t know what was right: to go and find her or leave her in peace.
So he took the easy, least complicated way out and followed Gareth and Barnaby onto the terrace.
Ten minutes later when Lola hadn’t returned and he noticed Deni and Sarah leave – presumably to find her – he regretted his cowardice. But by then it was too late. Doing anything now would feel like an afterthought and he hated himself for his indecision.