Chapter 32
ALICIA
‘Stella!’ I said, throwing my arms around the bride-to-be. ‘It’s so good to see you!’
‘You too!’ She squeezed me tight. ‘I’m so glad you could make it.’
We were at the hotel having a girls’ lunch on the grand terrace before Stella and Max’s big day tomorrow.
Stella’s golden-brown skin was glowing and her honey-coloured curls looked longer than the last time I’d seen her. They were now just past her shoulders.
‘I’m just so glad to be here. Hi, everyone!’ I waved at the women around the table.
‘Sammie’s running a bit behind,’ Stella said. ‘She’s busy doing wedding prep, bless her. Refused to let me help. Anyway, I should introduce you to everyone.’
As bad as it sounded, I was kind of relieved that Sammie was busy. She knew me so well that I was worried she’d take one look at me and immediately know Noah and I had slept together.
Of course I’d tell her, but like I’d said to Noah, I’d prefer to stay in our bubble for a little while longer before sharing the news with anyone.
‘This is Jasmine.’ Stella pointed to a black woman with sleek dark hair who reminded me of the actress Kerry Washington. ‘Jasmine is a Love Empress now, but before she was our Love Alchemist at the Spanish resort, and it was her scheming and meddling that helped bring me and Max together.’
‘You’re welcome!’ Jasmine smiled. ‘Lovely to meet you, Alicia. Your sister has told me lots about you.’
‘All good I hope!’ I laughed.
‘Naturally!’
‘Jasmine is with Cuisine King, Alejandro. They were colleagues who hooked up at the Love Hotel Jamaica and have been together ever since.’
‘Cool!’ I said.
‘Then we have two other Love Hotel success stories,’ Stella continued. ‘First up, celebrity nail technician extraordinaire, Halle, who met the love of her life, Jake, at the Love Hotel California and fabulous philanthropist Laila, who met her soulmate Gabriel at the Love Hotel Paris.’
‘Lovely to meet you!’ I said as they both said hello. ‘Wait. I’ve read about you two. Halle, your Jake is the Jake Myers, right?’
‘The one and only!’ She beamed, running a hand through her bob. If Halle Berry had a younger sister, I’d imagine she’d look exactly like her. ‘I’ll introduce you later if you like?’
‘No way!’ I gasped. ‘I mean, I didn’t mean no way as in there’s no way I’d want to meet him, because of course I would. I meant no way as in yes, please!’
‘Don’t worry! I knew what you meant!’ She chuckled. ‘I’m doing nails for these ladies later too if you fancy getting yours done.’
‘Hell, yeah!’ I said. ‘That’d be amazing!’
‘My pleasure,’ Halle replied.
‘And Laila,’ Stella continued. ‘You got set up with your bestie’s son, right?’
‘Yep!’ Laila smiled.
‘Who’s a millionaire!’ Stella added.
‘Some women have all the luck!’ I chuckled.
‘Cassie would know all about that.’ Stella gestured towards a woman with light brown skin and the shiniest curls I’d ever seen.
‘Why’s that?’ I frowned. ‘Did you also bag yourself a millionaire?’
‘Nope.’ Stella shook her head. ‘Cassie’s an overachiever, so she had to get herself a billionaire!’
Aha.
I remembered Sammie mentioning that there were some millionaires and billionaires coming to the wedding. So these were the people she was talking about.
‘I didn’t know he had money when we met.’ Cassie flashed a playful smile. ‘I just thought he was an arrogant dickhead!’
‘That must’ve been a nice surprise, then!’
‘It was a massive shock,’ Cassie said. ‘Most days I still feel like I’m living in a dream.
Nico, that’s my other half, he’s an investor in the Love Hotel resorts.
That’s why we’re here. We met Laila at the Love Hotel Riviera in the south of France because her boyfriend, Gabriel, is a good friend of ours. ’
‘Wow,’ I said. ‘I love how many people the Love Hotel brought together. Not just the romantic relationships, but the friendships too.’
‘Amen!’ A voice I instantly recognised as Sammie’s sounded from behind me. ‘Hi all! Sorry I’m late. Had to double-check something with the cake for tomorrow.’
‘Sounds like essential work!’ Laila said. ‘Can’t have a wedding without a decent cake.’
‘Yep!’ Sammie agreed. ‘And Stella’s cake is so big, there’s probably enough to feed the whole island twice over!’
We all burst into laughter.
‘Is everything else all okay?’ Stella asked, taking a sip of water.
‘Everything is tickety-boo. Don’t worry, hon. All the essentials are sorted including the flowers, cake, DJ and the catering. You had your final dress fitting earlier, right?’
‘Yeah,’ Stella confirmed. ‘Max said his suit fits perfectly too.’
‘Well, then you’re good to go!’ Sammie said. ‘Are you nervous?’
‘I’m actually not,’ Stella replied. ‘More excited. I know Max is the one for me, so the wedding is just a way to make everything official. And an excuse to have a party in Santorini. I mean, look at this place!’ She gestured to the sea views.
‘It really is stunning,’ I said and the whole table gushed in agreement.
Multiple waiters, or Cuisine Champions as they called them here, brought a selection of starters to the table.
‘These look lovely!’ Stella said.
‘Here we have dolmadakia.’ A female Cuisine Champion pointed to the first plate. ‘It is vine leaves stuffed with rice, onions, pine nuts and herbs. Then we have Greek salad and some tomatokeftedes, which are tomato fritters with onions and herbs.’
‘Yum!’ I said.
She rattled off several more dishes, but when she mentioned spanakopita, my ears instantly pricked up.
That was Noah’s favourite.
‘Aren’t they just for breakfast?’ I asked.
‘It is popular for breakfast but can also be enjoyed for lunch and dinner.’ She smiled.
‘Ah, cool,’ I said. ‘Do you have any more of these please? I’d love to take some to…’ I paused.
Shit. I hadn’t thought this through.
I was about to say that I wanted to take some to my room to give to Noah. But if I did, maybe snoopy Sammie would think it was suspicious.
No. It was fine. I knew they were Noah’s favourites, so I wanted to bring some to him. It’d put a big smile on his face, so it’d be worth it.
‘I’d love to take some to my room later,’ I added. There. Short and sweet.
‘You haven’t even touched the starters yet and you’re already asking for a doggy bag!’ Sammie laughed.
‘No problem.’ The Cuisine Champion nodded. ‘I will box some up for you. Come and see me when you have finished and you can take them away. Enjoy.’
She left the table and we all got stuck into the extensive selection of food, piling everything onto our plates.
‘So,’ Stella said, once she’d finished chewing one of the fritters, ‘how’s the Love Hotel’s experiment going with you? Sammie was a bit tight-lipped about it when I asked her earlier, then she had to dash off.’
Sammie and I looked at each other. I wasn’t sure whether I was allowed to say anything.
And I also wondered whether it was a good idea to tell Stella.
The mood right now was all super positive with lots of stories about love and how brilliant the hotel was at bringing couples together, so introducing a tale about a match misfire wasn’t exactly a good conversation topic at a pre-wedding lunch.
‘The Gordon family curse has struck again,’ Sammie jumped in.
‘Her match was a muppet, but the good news is, Ali’s bestie, Noah, also took part in the experiment and because his match didn’t work out either, now they’re spending time together…
’ Sammie cocked a suggestive eyebrow and my stomach tightened.
I hoped she wouldn’t start banging on about us hooking up. Especially because little did she know, true to her prediction, we had.
‘I remember Noah!’ Stella said. ‘You two have been friends forever, right?’
‘Yeah.’ I shuffled in my seat nervously.
‘And he’s the one Sammie is convinced is your Mr Right?’
‘Yep!’ Sammie jumped in, before her head swivelled to the right. Her eyes popped, then a wide grin spread across her face. ‘Speak of the devil. Noah!’ She waved. ‘Come and say hi!’
My head spun around and as I saw Noah on the other side of the terrace, I swallowed hard.
The man looked like a god. I instantly wanted to run over, wrap my arms around his body and kiss him. It’d only been a couple of hours since our lips were locked, but it felt like months.
Crazy.
We’d gone our whole lives without kissing and now I missed his lips more than a person drowning needed oxygen.
When I saw that he was wearing the T-shirt I’d bought for him in Mykonos, my stomach fluttered with a mixture of happiness (because he must like it to be wearing it in public) and raw desire as memories of our night there together popped into my mind.
At the time of buying it, the slogan ‘Mykonos Made Me Do It’ seemed like a bit of innocent fun. But since then, it’d taken on a whole new meaning.
And damn, it looked good on him.
Talk about the perfect fit. It clung to his firm chest and accentuated his muscular arms, without looking too tight or try-hard.
As he strode over to the table, I caught myself swooning. Then I quickly remembered that I was supposed to be playing it cool in public. If I wanted to keep this under wraps, I couldn’t start giving Noah heart eyes. Otherwise, super spy Sammie would guess in a heartbeat.
Even before Noah reached us, his rich woody scent surrounded me and I was reminded of how amazing he smelt – especially close up, when I had my head resting on his chest or nuzzling in his neck.
Those thoughts would’ve been the most sensible place to stop. But instead, my mind was instantly filled with filthy flashbacks. Especially when he greeted me.
‘Ali.’ He smiled and a full technicolour vision of his head between my legs growling about how good my pussy tasted flooded my brain. Promptly followed by the memory of how feral he’d sounded when he came and called out my name.
‘H-hi,’ I stuttered, telling my mind to stop showing me highlights from my Noah porn reel.
‘Sammie.’ He smiled. ‘Ladies. I’m Noah. Ali’s friend.’
Was it just me or did he put some kind of strange emphasis on the word friend?