Chapter 19
If I thought Positano was gorgeous from our villa, it’s even more spectacular from the water.
The boat rocks under us as it floats in the center of a swimming area.
I’m relaxing on the net on the front of the boat feeling while everyone else floats in the water around me, loud cheers and laughter ringing through the air as the sun warms my skin.
It’s so peaceful I feel every ounce of stress I’ve ever felt just leaving my body, never to return.
I could totally get used to this.
The net dips beside me and I crack open an eye. I’m met with a full plastic champagne flute and a perfect grin that melts my insides.
“I think you should burn every piece of clothing that isn’t this shade of blue,” Reid says as he settles beside me, pressing the glass into my hand.
“What about the things I own that are red?”
He pretends to consider it for a moment. “Fine. You can keep the red, too. But this,” he gestures a hand at my light blue bikini, then brings his fist to his mouth and bites his knuckles. “Phenomenal.”
“I could say the same about you.” I prop myself up onto my elbow and lower my sunglasses with my free hand. Unabashedly, I drag my gaze down his tanned chest and his toned abs. “I mean, I won’t, but I could.”
He laughs. “And why not?”
“Gotta keep that ego in check.”
“When you’re ready to offer the compliment, I’m ready to accept.”
“We’ll see.” I sip my champagne, but the smile on my face betrays me. I look over at him again and find his eyes still on me. My face flushes. My heartbeat skips. “I’m happy to see you,” I finally offer.
“Likewise. Makes my day a little brighter when I get to see that smile.” My lips turn up even higher of their own accord, and when he smiles back I realize I could stare at him all day. “There it is. Gorgeous.”
I nudge him with a shoulder. He wraps an arm around me in response and pulls me to his chest. “This right here,” he says, “is heaven. A beautiful view, a beautiful girl, a beautiful view of a beautiful girl.”
“Okay, now it’s getting to be overkill. Take it down a notch.”
“Sorry this is my first time in a relationship. I don’t know how to act.”
That one word—relationship—has my face flushing, my heart jumping, my hope swelling deep in my chest.
I tip my head back to look at him. “Are we in a relationship?”
“I’d love to know too,” a voice says behind us. All the warm fuzzy feelings from before disappear, leaving my body frozen and cold. I turn, tragically falling out of Reid’s embrace in the process, and face Jessica.
Her hands are on her hips, her jaw is clenched, and her wide eyes are filled with rage as they bounce between me and Reid.
I’m overcome with the need to deny it, to apologize, to turn to Reid and ask “what exactly are we?” But no words come out, so I turn to Reid, mouth open, silently begging him for help.
“Well?” Jessica asks. I can hear the impatience in her voice, and I know that tone means she’s about six seconds from having an absolute catastrophic meltdown if she doesn’t get an answer from one of us.
“No,” I say quickly.
“No?” Reid asks. The pain in his voice has me feeling immediate regret, but I still power through.
I can explain this to him later, but for right now I need Jessica to think there isn’t anything happening until I can tell my sister myself.
Preferably after her wedding. I look in his direction again, hoping the expression on my face is more please trust me than oh crap.
“No,” I double down. Jessica narrows her eyes at me. “We are spending a lot of time together, though, for the wedding, of course. And we will likely continue to spend a lot of time together. But no, we aren’t dating.”
I can’t bring myself to look at Reid.
“Right,” he agrees, and the one word hurts to hear more than I care to confess. “Not dating.” He sighs, then gets off the net. “I’m going swimming. I’ll let you two . . . hang out.”
“Thank god,” Jessica says, immediately sliding into his spot on the net beside me.
I grit my teeth together, not at all thrilled to replace Reid’s presence next to me with hers.
She immediately lays down, shutting her eyes and sunning herself like a lizard on a rock.
Reid gives me one last look that has me flashing back to yesterday, to the kiss on the airplane and the excitement I felt up until this very moment.
And then he’s gone, leaving me alone with my little sister’s horrible college roommate.
“Are you?” Jessica asks. I pull my gaze from where Reid was standing to look at her.
She’s slid her oversized sunglasses down her nose and is peering at me.
“Are you dating him?” There’s a hint of something sharp in her voice, and I want to call it jealousy, but I know that can’t be right.
Why would she be jealous about me potentially dating a man she had a crush on years ago?
Her ego, a small voice in the back of my mind says. She can’t stand rejection, let alone someone else getting the man who rejected her.
“No,” I finally spit out, because no matter the truth, I’m not confiding any of my relationship with Reid to Jessica of all people. “We aren’t dating.”
“Good.” She pushes her sunglasses back up, turns back to the sun, totally unbothered by the conversation while something in my chest is burning at the confession. “Because that would be one of the dumbest things you could do.”
I stare at her open-mouthed. “Why is that?”
“Reid doesn’t date. He’ll just string you along and use you and then never talk to you again. He’s a play boy, Jane. Don’t fall victim to his charms. You’ll only get hurt in the end. Trust me.”
“I don’t know, I feel like he’s different from that persona. He’s sweet and kind and funny and—”
“Jane,” she cuts me off. “He’s a boy. A play boy.
Besides this is my best friend’s wedding, and I’ll be damned if everyone is busy talking about her perpetually single sister trying to seduce the forever-a-bachelor best man.
How mortifying would that be to explain to everyone when you’re crying at the reception because he’s hitting on a waitress? ”
Her words settle with me for a moment. Perpetually single sister. It was meant to make me look like one of those girls who can never land a relationship no matter how hard she tries. One of those girls that have been single so long people ask what’s wrong with her and start to shy away.
Especially people like the forever-a-bachelor best man. A man who blatantly said yesterday he doesn’t do relationships or feelings. That he has no clue what he’s doing. A man who is used to casual relationships and not knowing people’s names and administering consistent rejections.
She could be wrong. I could be wrong, too. I’m not sure who to trust right now.
I look over the edge of the boat to Reid in the water.
As if sensing my attention, he turns his head, his gaze locking on mine.
I stop breathing as he flashes me a brilliant smile and winks.
I already have feelings for him, but I don’t know what this will look like when we get back home, back to our normal lives where we don’t keep getting thrown into wedding planning.
What will that look like for us without having this wedding to talk about or bond over?
When this trip ends, will we realize we were just in a close proximity and that we have nothing in common?
Will we realize we’re not right for each other and go our separate ways with the memories?
The difference is that he’d move along just fine and I’ll probably always struggle to move past the guy in Positano with the piercing blue eyes.