Chapter 22
ALICIA
‘Are you sure you’re okay?’ Sammie asked.
We’d just got off the boat, and she’d pulled me to one side and asked me to tell her what happened with Adonis and Kayleigh so that she could report back to Petros.
He was staying back with the cheaters, who’d been banned from travelling on the coach to the hotel with the rest of the group.
After Sammie had interrupted my conversation with Noah on the boat, I’d rushed to the loo (which thankfully this time didn’t involve seeing my match screwing another woman), then returned to the deck and watched the sunset with him.
It was just as gorgeous as I’d imagined with a beautiful kaleidoscope of red, orange, yellow and pink hues all merging together beautifully before the sun dipped beneath the horizon.
I’d taken millions of photos, including some with me and Noah together. I didn’t want what had happened on the boat earlier to ruin the whole day, so it was good to have some more positive memories to look back on.
‘Yeah, I’m fine,’ I replied. ‘If I’m being honest, Adonis wasn’t right for me, so it was better that I saw his true colours sooner rather than later.’
‘Yep.’
‘Plus, I knew that this was an experiment and there was a chance the matches wouldn’t be as good as if I’d gone through the normal process, so I can’t complain given how much I paid. At least I got to come to Santorini and I still have the wedding to look forward to.’
‘I’m glad that you’re looking at the positives. It’s not your fault. I reckon it’s a family curse.’ She laughed.
‘How d’you mean?’
‘Well, the hotel has a flawless track record for matching people the first time, except when it comes to anyone from our family. Remember what happened to me?’
‘Oh, yeah!’
Sammie was originally matched with a dickhead and, after things went tits up with him, she ended up spending more time with her Love Alchemist Romeo and the rest, as they say, is history.
‘Hopefully it’ll be second time lucky for you like it was with me.’
‘They don’t have time to match me with anyone else. The wedding is in four days!’
‘I meant with Noah.’ She grinned.
‘Not this again!’ I protested feebly. After what Kayleigh said earlier, I didn’t feel like I could dismiss Sammie’s theory so strongly.
I hadn’t got to speak to Noah about ‘feelings’ yet. We were too captivated by the sunset and it didn’t seem like the right time or place.
But I still wanted to address it. I would.
Soon.
‘I saw you.’ Sammie cocked her head.
‘You saw me what?’
‘I saw the way you looked at Noah when he took off his T-shirt.’
‘Wh-what?’ I swallowed hard.
I should’ve known Sammie would be spying on me.
‘I saw the way you ogled him. How you couldn’t take your eyes off his chest. I don’t blame you. It was pretty impressive. I mean, not as impressive as my Romeo’s, obvs, but still solid. And I saw the way he looked at you.’
‘He looked at me?’ My eyes widened. If Sammie wanted my attention, she’d just got it.
‘Yep!’ she said smugly. ‘Couldn’t take his eyes off you. He was completely captivated. And aroused. Poor bloke had to jump in the sea to hide his boner.’
My jaw dropped.
No way.
This was probably just one of Sammie’s underhanded matchmaking methods, where she made up stuff to get a reaction from me.
And I hated to admit that it was working.
I turned around to check that Noah wasn’t listening behind us, but thankfully he was already in the queue boarding the coach. The coast was clear.
‘You’re lying!’ I scoffed. I didn’t believe for one second that what she’d said was true.
‘That Kayleigh might be a cow with no morals just like that wanker Adonis, but she’s right about one thing. You two are delusional. Or delulu as the kids say. You really should just put yourselves out of your misery and bang already. You’d be perfect together. Trust me. I’m an expert.’
‘We’re not going to bang,’ I said, ignoring the tingles shooting down my spine as a flashback of Noah’s delicious chest invaded my thoughts.
Dammit.
Things would be so much easier if I hadn’t seen him take his top off.
‘Yeah, yeah, keep telling yourself that.’ Sammie rolled her eyes.
‘Anyway, lucky for you we’ll have to park this conversation here because the coach is ready to leave.
The offer still stands to order a separate car for you and Noah to go back to the hotel just in case you feel awkward travelling with everyone else. ’
‘Thanks, but like Noah said when you suggested it before, we’re fine.’
‘It’d also give you some time alone… the cars the hotel uses all have a privacy screen so the driver won’t see what you two get up to…’ She winked.
‘I’m going!’ I said, wishing she’d stop with her obsession of pushing us together. ‘See you later.’
‘I still can’t get over how stunning that sunset was!’ I said.
The coach had just dropped us back at the hotel and Noah had offered to walk me to my room.
‘It really was something,’ he agreed. ‘I’m just glad you didn’t miss it this time.’
‘Me too,’ I said, remembering what happened during the trip to Oia on Sunday. I should’ve known then that Adonis was a twat. Anyway, I didn’t want to waste another second thinking about him.
The journey back to the hotel was actually great. Noah gave me the aisle seat and as always, we chatted easily before scrolling through the millions of photos I’d taken, which took up most of the journey.
Now that we didn’t have matches, we wouldn’t have to do the Love Tasks and take pictures, but I still wanted to have some memories for myself.
I’d sensed that a few couples were whispering about us, but I doubted that they really knew what had happened. Sammie and Petros obviously were trying to keep everything under wraps.
Although the hotel had said from the start that they couldn’t guarantee the same results as the matches going through their tried and tested programme, the last thing they wanted was for it to get out that two non-matches had been caught banging on the boat.
Anyway, like I was saying, the journey was great because for the first time since I’d arrived, I didn’t have to worry about sounding like a diva for choosing to have a particular seat, or whether or not I needed to explain myself.
Nor did I have to feel guilty about Kayleigh swapping seats or whether or not Adonis was comfortable at the window. I could just relax.
With Noah I could just be myself.
‘Thank you,’ I blurted out as we stopped in front of my room door.
‘For what?’ Noah frowned.
‘For being you. For always accepting me. For being supportive. For being such an amazing friend.’
His face fell, then returned to a neutral state.
‘That’s just what friends do.’ He shrugged. ‘We’re there for each other. Y’know. Just like it says in the Friends theme tune.’
‘Well, I just want you to know that I appreciate you. I really care about you, Noah. Like, a lot.’
I swallowed hard as I fixed my gaze on his. Noah really did have the most beautiful brown eyes.
He was standing right by the light, which gave them an extra sparkle.
I couldn’t tear my gaze away.
We just stood there, staring.
The same electricity that I’d felt earlier on the boat crackled in the air.
What was with that?
Sammie’s words flew into my head. I wondered whether what she’d said about Noah looking at me in my bikini was true.
Had Noah really got a hard-on because of me? I wanted to dismiss it as nonsense, but right now, he wasn’t looking at me like I was just a friend. There was something more in his eyes. I could be wrong but it seemed like desire.
I wouldn’t be surprised if I was giving him exactly the same look.
Noah really was ridiculously hot.
I mean, he’d always been cute, but now? Lord have mercy. He was a bloody inferno.
My pulse raced and my heart thundered in my chest.
There was some kind of magnetic force, pulling me towards him.
Before I even realised it, I’d stepped forward.
Noah did the same.
Our faces were now just inches apart.
I tilted my head upwards, causing a loose curl to fall on my face. Noah gently brushed it away, then stroked my cheek.
Feeling his thumb connect with my skin sent a thunderbolt rocketing through me.
Every nerve ending in my body sprang to life.
Goosebumps erupted across my skin.
My lips parted.
Oh. My. God.
I wanted to kiss him.
So badly.
I realised earlier on the boat that I was attracted to Noah.
But now I knew it was a lot stronger than I thought.
I was like, really, really, really attracted to him.
Need pulsed between my legs.
This was wild.
It was as if all of these feelings had just come from nowhere.
Shit.
Was he feeling this too?
Maybe now was a good time to have that conversation about what he was thinking.
Noah’s eyes were still fixed on mine, but now his pupils were dilated and the colour of onyx.
His head inched forward.
This was actually happening.
We were about to kiss.
I knew I should stop it. That we should discuss this properly first. There was a lot at stake. If we crossed this line, our friendship would be toast.
Was it really worth risking decades of companionship and breaking such an integral bond for a quick snog?
The answer was most definitely no.
But like I said, there was a strong pull that I couldn’t control. Even if I tried, I knew it was impossible to stop it.
I just had to let nature take its course.
Noah lowered his head, then cupped my face.
I sucked in a breath, bracing myself for the kiss, then leant forward.
‘Alicia, Noah!’ a deep voice boomed from a distance.
We both sprang apart then searched for the source of the interruption. Seconds later, Petros came into view.
‘Petros!’ I squeaked. ‘Hi!’
‘I am glad that I found you. I know that it is late, but may we have a talk in the office, please? As you know, Sammie explained the unfortunate issue on the boat. I stayed back to address the situation and alongside my Love Emperor, Kostas, we would like to update you.’
‘Er…’ I looked at Noah, who nodded. ‘Yeah, sure. Lead the way.’
As we followed Petros in silence, I chastised myself for what had just almost happened.
What the hell was I thinking?
Noah and I couldn’t kiss!
That would’ve been completely reckless.
It didn’t matter how good Noah looked in his swimming trunks earlier.
Or how sweet he’d been to me during this trip.
Or how gorgeous his eyes were. I had to kick those thoughts to the kerb. There was no way that I’d allow anything to happen. And especially not five minutes after I’d walked in on my match screwing someone else.
Thank fuck Petros turned up when he did.
We were about to make a terrible mistake.
The crisis had been averted.
Now I’d just have to make damn sure I never put myself in a position like that with Noah ever again.