Chapter 13 #2
“Cheat!” Ellie said as she caught her breath. “You didn’t even give me a chance!”
“You’re just slow.”
“I’m not slow.” Ellie splashed water at her in retaliation. “You’re a cheat!”
Alba yelped and splashed back, but the brief skirmish only lasted ten seconds before they both dissolved into laughter. Ellie leaned back against the pool wall and wiped the water from her eyes. God, she hadn’t laughed like that in a long time. It felt good, though.
When she opened her eyes again, Alba was smiling at her.
The sunlight had shifted, catching in Alba’s hair and turning the darker strands almost copper in the light.
As water slid slowly down the line of Alba’s neck and she pushed her hair back from her face, Ellie felt that strange sensation deep inside of her again.
The same one she’d felt on several occasions now.
Alba…looked good. So good. Ellie had noticed it before, anyone with functioning eyesight would, but noticing someone was attractive and this… Well, they were two very different things.
This was awareness. One that made Ellie suddenly conscious of how close they were standing in the water, and one that made her wonder whether Alba could hear the subtle shift in her breathing.
Alba tilted her head as she narrowed her eyes. “What?”
“N-nothing.”
“You’re staring at me.”
Ellie scoffed, though she could feel the heat creeping onto her cheeks. “I am not.”
“You really are.”
Ellie rolled her eyes and pushed herself away from the pool wall, swimming back to the middle again. Just when she thought she would have a moment to think up an excuse, Alba appeared beside her.
“Alright,” Alba said, draping her arms along the pool edge. “If you weren’t staring, what were you doing?”
Ellie leaned her elbows on the edge beside her. “Thinking.”
“That’s even worse.”
Eh? How did that make any sense? Ellie just wanted to end this conversation now. She was only going to get herself into trouble or make a fool of herself. “How is that worse?”
“Because now I’m wondering what you were thinking about.”
Ellie paused. She certainly wasn’t about to tell Alba the truth.
So, she shrugged instead. “I was thinking about how nice this is. How peaceful I’ve felt since we checked in.
” Liar! There’s nothing peaceful about how you’re feeling.
“That…I’d love to do it again sometime. Maybe we could make it a thing. ”
Alba’s expression softened. “I’d love that.”
Phew. That was close. Ellie cleared her throat and pushed off the wall. “Right, I think it’s time to dry off and have breakfast. We have a day of treatments ahead of us.”
As they both left the pool and reached for their robes, Alba leaned in and nudged Ellie with her elbow. “You were definitely staring, by the way.”
Ellie laughed as she rolled her eyes. “God, you’re insufferable.”
“Charming.” Alba snorted. “That’s no way to speak to your favourite employee!”
Oh, you’re so much more than that. You’re my favourite everything.
And right now, Ellie wasn’t sure she minded at all.
Alba stretched out on a lounger and closed her eyes, allowing the warmth of the indoor pool area to slowly settle over her skin, easing more of the tension she’d been carrying since this morning.
The outdoor swim had helped. Not entirely—nothing was going to magically untangle the mess she’d created inside her own head—but it had helped enough for her to feel as though she could breathe again without her chest collapsing in on itself.
She shifted on the towel beneath her and adjusted her position, listening as the water lapped gently against the edge of the pool. It was peaceful, and finally…exactly what a spa weekend was supposed to feel like.
The lounger beside her creaked, and Alba opened one eye.
Ellie had stretched herself out, her damp hair spread over the towel behind her head.
She’d pulled her sunglasses down over her eyes, even though she didn’t need them in here, and now lay comfortably with one arm tucked behind her neck, the other resting across her stomach.
Alba watched her, then quickly shut her eye again.
Don’t stare.
This was precisely the situation she needed to avoid.
Unfortunately, her brain was spectacularly bad at following instructions like that.
Because instead of not staring, Alba found herself noticing everything.
The way the sunlight caught on the droplets of water still clinging to Ellie’s shoulders as it shone through the huge windows.
The slow, steady rise and fall of her breathing.
The faint line of the scar Ellie had shown her back at home, barely visible beneath the edge of her swimsuit.
Ellie had spoken about it so matter-of-factly, but Alba had wanted to throttle Colin on her behalf when she’d heard the story about him insisting she hide it.
Prick!
Alba shifted again, folding her arms behind her head and forcing her attention away from Ellie.
“Comfortable?”
Alba cracked one eye open again. “You say that like I look uncomfortable.”
“You’ve moved about six times in the last minute.”
Alba exhaled slowly. “Maybe I’m just getting used to relaxation. It’s not a skill I’ve perfected yet.”
“Well, you’re doing better than most of the teachers I know.”
“Oh.” Alba turned her head to Ellie. “You mean the ones who panic if they’re not marking something?”
“Exactly those ones.”
Ellie angled her face towards the ceiling again and smiled.
This should have been easy, it was nothing more than two friends relaxing at a spa, but Alba’s mind had other ideas.
Because every now and then, Ellie shifted a little, and Alba would catch the smallest movement from the corner of her eye.
A stretch of her arm, the turn of her head, the subtle curve of her waist as she adjusted her position.
And every time it happened, Alba had to remind herself of the same thing.
She’s not interested in you. The sooner you accept that, the easier this weekend will be.
Ellie lifted her sunglasses and side-glanced her. “You’re the one staring this time.”
“I am not.” Alba groaned. “Don’t start this again. I’m literally looking at the ceiling, so unless you’re up there…I’m really not.”
“Mm. You were looking at me a second ago.”
Alba took the corner of her bottom lip between her teeth. She hadn’t planned to get caught, but it was always going to happen. That’s just the way her life went. Now she was going to lie here, wondering if Ellie thought she was a pervert. “You’re incredibly paranoid.”
Ellie lowered her sunglasses and grinned. “Or incredibly observant.”
“Oh, don’t flatter yourself.”
Ellie laughed again, the sound of it doing everything imaginable to Alba’s body. God, she loved that laugh so much.
Once she was satisfied that the coast was clear, Alba relaxed and tried to think of anything other than Ellie lying beside her. Then Ellie shifted again…and Alba found herself eyeing her once more.
This time it was a real stretch. Both arms lifted slowly over her head as she arched against the lounger, and Alba’s brain short-circuited. That movement had just done something deeply unfair to the shape of Ellie’s body.
Alba squeezed her eyes shut.
Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant.
“Are you alright?” Ellie asked suddenly.
Alba opened one eye again. “Why wouldn’t I be?”
“You’ve just made a very strange face.”
Alba exhaled slowly through her nose. She needed to stop this right now. “I…was thinking.”
“You’ve done that a lot since you woke up, and it’s not even midday.”
“Well, I do occasionally think, believe it or not.”
Ellie chuckled. “I’m glad to hear it.”
Ellie pushed herself up, resting on her elbows as she looked out across the pool. There was something peaceful about her expression, even though just moments ago she’d been ribbing Alba. Light, free, and far more relaxed than Alba had felt so far.
God help her. She loved seeing Ellie like this.
Ellie eyed her again. “What?”
“Nothing.”
“You’re doing it again.”
“I’m not.” Alba sighed and dropped an arm over her eyes dramatically. “This is harassment.”
“Sure it is.” Ellie reached out and poked Alba’s thigh. “You’re just lucky I find it amusing.”
Amusing. That was a good word for it. Much better than the truth, anyway.
Because the truth was that every moment she spent looking at Ellie Hamilton…
it just made it harder and harder to pretend she wasn’t already half in love with her.
And unless the universe had suddenly decided to become incredibly generous overnight, that was never going to end well.