Chapter 17
Chapter Seventeen
‘ M orning.’ Felipe was already poolside, sunglasses shading his eyes and the brilliant early sunshine soft on his silken skin.
He sat with his feet dangling in thewater and when he gave her his ready smile, she immediately relaxed.
With Felipe, she always knew where she was.
There was never any game-playing. He’d never been anything but honest, though he’d never mentioned about being there when his uncle and father died.
Not that he should have done– it was deeply personal and most likely traumatic.
Despite that, she wished she’d known before.
She sat down next to him, conscious of the scant inches between his skin and hers. That familiar buzz of sexual awareness thrummed through her, bringing her up short. Where did they stand now?
‘So that’s Will, is it?’ asked Felipe, taking his sunglasses off. The question was simple and easy.
‘Yes,’ she replied, staring down at her knees. Her head felt too heavy to lift.
‘I think he missed you.’
‘He did.’
‘You don’t sound happy about it.’
With a sigh, she looked up at him. ‘I don’t know how to feel. I mean, the shock… I never expected to see him here. I’m still processing.’ She snorted. ‘That sounds wanky, doesn’t it? I’m confused, surprised and cross.’
‘Cross?’
‘Yeah, I feel like I’ve been blindsided. Like it’s all on his terms.’
‘Ah,’ said Felipe as if he understood exactly what she meant.
‘This has come out of nowhere and I’m… confused.’
‘There’s no hurry to make any decisions.’ He leaned in, his shoulder touching hers. ‘You do what you want.’
She turned to face him, his mouth just a touch away. A pang of longing caught her.
Their eyes locked. The longing turned into an ache. Just as she was about to lean in further, Felipe slipped into the water.
‘Still think you can beat me?’ he asked, his features settling into their usual teasing grin.
It pierced the tension like a pin in a balloon.
Felipe was fun but he’d had so much to bear.
So much responsibility on young shoulders for so long.
He wasn’t looking to add any more responsibility to what she now knew was a very long list. She understood why he’d made it clear from the outset that serious relationships weren’t on the cards for him.
She needed to remember that and remind herself that her feelings for him were nothing more than a crush and a lot of lust, because there was no denying the man was good in bed.
He was good at a lot of things, like making her feel good about herself, and that wasn’t something she’d ever regret.
Will was what she’d always wanted. It was just unexpected the way he’d turned up.
‘Of course I can,’ she said, standing up and diving into the water in one fluid motion.
She surfaced and swam the length in a fast, fierce freestyle. Reaching the end, she bobbed up, gasping both with the cold and the sudden exertion.
‘Beat you,’ she said with a cocky smile as he swam towards her.
His mouth opened in an O of outrage, making her laugh with mischievous delight.
‘We hadn’t started. You cheated.’ He lashed at the water sending a big spray towards her. She ducked and sang, ‘Snooze, you lose,’ at him.
In response, he lunged towards her and she turned tail and dived away, shrieking as he grabbed her ankle.
She struggled, making sure she splashed him, deliberately thrashing the water with her other leg.
He hauled her back and grabbed her before dunking her underwater.
She emerged spluttering as he swam away.
‘I’ll get you back for that, Felipe!’ she yelled, sending another plume of water his way, flicking her long hair out of her eyes, breathless with laughter.
‘Morning,’ called a cool voice and Rebecca glanced over to find Will standing at the top of the steps in a pair of brightly coloured board shorts.
‘Hi,’ she squeaked, embarrassed although she wasn’t sure why.
‘How’s the water?’ he asked.
‘Fine… once you’re in,’ she called back.
‘Lovely,’ called Felipe now floating lazily on his back. ‘Come on in and join the fun.’
Rebecca shot a quick look his way. She wasn’t sure why she was suspicious; she just was. Felipe gave her a bland, innocent smile back.
Will inched his way into the water, holding his hands above his head.
‘It’s best just to take the plunge,’ advised Rebecca.
Will’s mouth pursed but he did as she suggested and threw himself forward, swimming hurried, clumsy breaststrokes all the way to the other side of the pool.
‘Wow, that’s cold,’ he said.
‘Just keep swimming,’ said Rebecca, paddling towards him.
‘Certainly wakes you up,’ he said.
‘Some of us need to go to work,’ said Felipe, hauling himself up and out of the water, and Rebecca wondered if it was a deliberate show of his athletic prowess.
She couldn’t help admiring the way the muscles in his back rippled as he raised his body up onto the side of the pool, nor could she help remembering what those muscles felt like beneath her hands as she explored his body, ran her fingers down his spine, learned the dips and rises of the landscape of his back just days before.
Felipe walked away and Rebecca forced herself not to watch, although she had no trouble imagining his loose-limbed walk, the memory of which, a naked version, was already etched into her head.
She swam a leisurely length, realising that her crawl outstripped Will’s untidy breaststroke. She stopped and waited for him at one end.
‘What sort of work does he do?’ asked Will.
Rebecca shrugged, glad that she could answer honestly.
‘I haven’t a clue. Something around the hotel, I think.
His family owns it.’ And that was a good reminder as to why Felipe wasn’t for her.
By his own admission, he wasn’t looking for anything more than fun, which they’d had, but perhaps now she ought to be thinking about her future.
‘Nice place. Very peaceful.’
‘It is. I’ve got a class starting in an hour so I need to shower and have breakfast.’
‘Why don’t you have breakfast with me?’ suggested Will. ‘That terrace is a beautiful spot and I’d love to spend some time with you before I start work.’
‘It will have to be a quick one,’ she said, catching her lip and giving her watch a quick look, not wanting to disappoint him. She’d probably have time to swallow down a glass of orange juice.
‘Okay. I’ll see you in the restaurant in half an hour. And what about this evening? I have a work call at eight but we could go for a drink.’
‘Are you not going to stay to swim?’
With a shudder, he stood up and began to wade to the steps. ‘Too cold for me.’
Feeling obliged to get out as well, she swam to the steps and got out of the pool.
‘Someone’s left their sunglasses behind,’ said Will, stooping to pick them up.
‘Oh, they’re Felipe’s. I’ll give them back to him.’
She walked over to Will, her towel in her hand, conscious that this was as naked as she’d ever been in front of him, but he didn’t even give her body a second look, just handed the glasses over.
He picked up his own towel, wrapped it around himself and busied himself putting on his sandals.
She guessed it was new territory for both of them and Will had always been very methodical and precise.
He didn’t like to be hurried into anything.
She’d waited this long for him, she ought to have a bit of patience with him.
‘Hey, Rebecca, Felipe says you want us to help you with some fashion advice,’ chirped Cristina the second she set foot in the kitchen on her way to breakfast with Will. Rebecca shot an accusing look at Felipe, who merely shrugged.
‘Seize the day.’ Then he addressed his young cousin. ‘Just don’t make her look like Barbie.’
‘As if,’ sneered Cristina.
Ana appeared with her usual basket of pastries and greeted Rebecca, who handed Felipe his sunglasses. ‘You forgot these.’
‘Don’t worry, Rebecca, one of us has taste.’ She winked as Cristina protested, ‘I have taste.’
‘I have the best taste,’ announced Katerina, swanning in.
Rebecca eyed her distressed jeans which were more holes than denim and the tiny crop top that encased her generous chest. Dramatic dark kohl outlined her pretty brown eyes with little cat-eye ticks that Rebecca didn’t think she could emulate in a million years.
‘I’m not sure I could carry that look off.’ She glanced at Ana, enviably elegant in simple, flowing white linen trousers and a red T-shirt, her long dark hair scooped up in a messy bun. She was equally certain she couldn’t carry that style off either. Basically, she was clueless.
‘I don’t know what I want. I just need some ideas because I don’t have any.
’ And didn’t that sound woefully pathetic?
She hadn’t had the sort of relationship with her own cousin where they’d swapped confidences, let alone clothes.
She felt a bit guilty about that. Her cousin had very much been the odd one out in the family.
Orphaned in her teens and catapulted into the sports-mad Hayes-Love family.
At the time, Rebecca had been too busy jockeying for her own position to pay much attention to her younger and very different cousin.
But Anna had found true love and Rebecca was genuinely happy that she’d found her place in life with a man who loved her as much as she loved him. If only she could discover that place.
Almost as if he read her mind, Felipe spoke. ‘Rebecca needs to find her own style. You can help her. Help her, not bully her into something that will make her feel uncomfortable.’ Felipe gave his two younger cousins a stern stare.
‘Rebecca and Felipe sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G,’ sang Cristina.
Both Rebecca and Felipe turned on her and glared with such ferocity that Ana giggled.
Rebeca sneaked a glance at Felipe and caught him doing the same. They gave each other uncertain smiles– they’d been discreet about what had happened in Lisbon.
Felipe suddenly blurted, ‘Rebecca is in love with someone.’
She didn’t know how she felt about being outed like this. One, it was private, and two, very surprisingly, she was a little hurt by his quick denial that there could possibly be anything between them.
‘Yes,’ she said, narrowing her eyes defiantly at Felipe. ‘I am, and I’m going out for a drink with him before dinner this evening.’
‘Who? Who?’ asked Cristina with childish enthusiasm, her voice pitching with excitement. ‘The man on the terrace?’
‘Who?’ asked Ana.
Rebecca sighed, wishing she’d kept her mouth shut. Katerina had now joined the table along with Maria and they were all studying her with the sort of amazed incredulity of a scientist making a major breakthrough.
‘It’s a friend from home. Will. He arrived at the weekend.’
‘Oh, the boring English man in room three,’ said Katerina, pulling a face. ‘He just sits in his room all the time.’
‘He’s a writer. He’s writing a book,’ said Rebecca, compelled to defend him, although she had no idea why. Sitting inside in this glorious weather when you didn’t have to made no sense to her. ‘I didn’t know he was coming.’
Ana clasped her hands in front of her and leaned forward. ‘Did he follow you out here?’
‘Yes,’ said Rebecca, now wishing she hadn’t said anything.
‘That’s so romantic!’ declared Katerina.
‘It would be, except he doesn’t know.’ She gave them all a stern stare. ‘So you are not to say anything.’
‘Oh no,’ said Cristina, clutching her heart. ‘But you love him.’
Rebecca nodded.
‘You must tell him.’
Felipe gave her a ‘told you so’ nod.
‘It’s not that simple,’ said Rebecca with a sigh.
‘He would be a fool not to have you,’ said Maria firmly, surprising everyone at the table with her sudden pronouncement.
Rebecca felt her eyes fill with unaccountable tears at the older woman’s absolute certainty.
She couldn’t remember her own mother ever being so supportive.
She winced, remembering overhearing her mother laughing the morning after the ball.
She’s so silly, mooning after him. Everyone knows he’s not interested in someone like her. Look at who he went off with.
Ana gave Felipe a thoughtful stare and nodded before saying, ‘Back to clothes– which is way more interesting. Why don’t we get together on Friday evening, have a makeover session, and we could plan a shopping trip?’
‘Yasss!’ said Cristina, grabbing her schoolbag and hustling out of the door. ‘Shopping. Yeeha! See you guys later.’
‘Bye,’ called Katerina, hurrying after her sister. They departed like a pair of whirlwinds, leaving peace in their wake along with the detritus of breakfast, which Ana automatically began tidying.
‘Are you sure?’ asked Rebecca, knowing that the other woman worked long hours and always seemed to be on the go. She picked up a couple of empty coffee cups and dirty plates and carried them over to the dishwasher.
‘Positive.’ Ana’s face lit up with an uncharacteristic cheeky grin. ‘There’s no way I can leave you to the mercies of those two. Felipe is right, you would look like Barbie.’
‘Thank you, although I think Inês is already halfway there. You should have seen my first uniform tunic.’
Felipe smirked. ‘I thought it was cute.’
Rebecca rolled her eyes and poured herself a cup of coffee then sat down at the table opposite him. ‘And when are you coming to my Pilates class?’
‘Who said I was?’ he asked, sipping at his own coffee.
‘Oh, you should come. It’s very good, although I was a bit sore for a few days after,’ said Ana.
‘Are you too chicken?’ asked Rebecca, quirking one eyebrow in challenge.
‘No. Too busy. Today at least.’ He looked at his watch. ‘ Adeus , ladies.’ He picked up his coffee and sauntered out of the kitchen.
‘Shit!’ She’d forgotten the time. Will would be waiting for her.