Chapter 4
RAFFA
I don’t sleep well.
Despite only napping for short periods during the flight, in favour of getting as much work done as possible, my brain won’t stop doing loops and let me rest.
And I’m not just thinking about work.
Ida keeps popping into my head too.
It’s funny, but whenever we chatted over DMs I always pictured her with light-brown hair for some reason, with a wide-eyed, soft prettiness to her.
But that’s not the reality I’m faced with here.
Her face is all angles and sharp cheekbones and the expression in her amazing dark eyes is shrewd, but playful.
She’s clearly very intelligent and she wears it on her face like a badge of honour.
There’s no pretending to be anything other than she is and I dig that.
I get the impression you get exactly what you see with her, which is refreshing.
I like a person who’s straight with me. Who plays no games.
But I have to keep reminding myself that she’s here as a friend, as a favour – and for a cool free holiday, of course – but I absolutely can’t take advantage of the situation. Even if I do find her extremely attractive in real life.
I’d hate to lose the budding friendship we have right now.
I’ve really enjoyed having her to chat with online recently.
If I’m honest, those easy, fun exchanges have been a saving grace recently. They’ve kept me grounded during a particularly stressful time at work.
And I just know it would make things way too complicated if we ended up sleeping with each other. I don’t want to have to navigate the ‘where are we with this relationship’ question that’s bound to come up if we have sex.
Reaching for my phone, I see it’s already mid-morning. I really should get up and get moving. I’ve got another call to do before lunch with my lawyer, then I’ll need to do a final read-through of the contract that needs sending back by the end of today.
Then I can chill for a bit before we meet all the guests at this hen-and-stag-in-one thing.
Just the thought of that makes my stomach sink.
After taking a fast shower, I head to the kitchen diner to see that breakfast has been delivered and set out, as I requested. I wanted to have some time on my own to come round before having to make nice with the wedding party.
It looks as though Ida has already eaten. There’s an empty plate and mug by the sink in the kitchen area and clear spaces where she’s taken a pastry and some fruit.
There’s no sign of her though.
Perhaps she’s doing as I suggested and making her own fun right now.
I try not to let my mind wander too far with that thought and help myself to some breakfast, gulping down two mugs of coffee in a row in an attempt to get my brain firing.
Then I grab my laptop and phone and sit down at the dining table with my back to the floor-to-ceiling windows, so as not to get distracted by the view, and get to work.
A couple of hours later, I’m deep into reading the contract when I hear the sound of the doors swishing open behind me and I turn to see Ida coming into the villa.
She’s dressed in a sarong, over what looks like a bikini, and sandals. Her hair is up and covered by her baseball cap again and she’s wearing sunglasses that cover half of her face.
She looks a bit like a movie star who’s trying not to be recognised.
‘Hey. There you are,’ she says, walking towards where I’m sitting. ‘I got bored waiting for you to wake up and did my own thing. I didn’t think you’d mind.’
‘I don’t,’ I say. ‘I needed some time to get this contract read anyway.’ I gesture to my laptop. ‘What did you end up doing?’
Pulling out one of the chairs opposite me, she drops into it and when I look directly at her, I see myself reflected in her sunglasses.
‘I sat out on our deck for ages, reading my book and dozing, then I went for a walk around the island – just keeping to the beach, not going near the hotel,’ she says with emphasis, as if she’s aware I’d be worried about her bumping into people without me.
‘I thought we could explore over there together later.’ She leans in.
‘It’s absolutely incredible here. Such a beautiful place.
You should take a look around yourself.’
‘I will. But later.’
She frowns. ‘Have you been working this whole time? With your back to this beautiful view?’
‘Yeah. I wanted to get things wrapped up so I can be fully present for the evening. I’m nearly done now.
Just need to finish reading this contract and send it back.
’ I run my hand over my hair, realising it must look a mess from all the times I’ve pushed my fingers through it while I’ve been reading.
‘Do you want to stop and eat something, at least?’ Ida asks.
‘Nah. I had a late breakfast and I’m not hungry. Go ahead and call for some food to be sent over if you like. There’s a menu by the phone over there,’ I say, waving towards a console table on the other side of the room.
She nods. ‘I might just get a salad to tide me over. We’re eating at the party tonight, right?’
‘Yeah. There’ll be a buffet,’ I say, distractedly. My head is still very much in the contract and I’m itching to get back to it.
Ida seems to intuit this because she smiles and walks over to the phone, then makes a call to our butler, asking for something on the menu to be delivered.
I tune her out and focus back on my screen.
It’s only a matter of minutes before there’s a ring on the bell and a server appears at the door with Ida’s salad.
I try to ignore her as she goes to collect it, then comes to sit opposite me at the table to eat it, still wearing her sunglasses.
I guess they must be prescription ones and she can’t be bothered to go and find her glasses.
I’m not sure what she’s ordered but I think it must be the loudest salad I’ve ever heard eaten in my life.
There are several minutes of crunch, crunch, crunching as she works her way through it, giving little sighs of pleasure as she eats.
These are only broken by her glugging away at a glass of juice she’s fetched from the fridge.
I keep my eyes on the screen, clenching my teeth so as not to ask her to pipe down.
I’m sure she doesn’t need to be eating it that loudly. I mean, I know it’s quiet in here and I’m hyper aware of her presence, but come on.
‘Yummy!’ she pronounces as she finishes the last mouthful and throws the knife and fork onto the now empty plate.
I look up at her, my brows pinched. ‘You enjoyed that then,’ I say, with deep irony. No one could have been in any doubt about that, judging by the almost orgasmic-sounding vocal soundtrack.
‘Sure did. It was delish!’
‘Glad to hear it,’ I say, unable to stop myself from smiling at her apparent delight.
Yeah. I think she knows exactly how distracting that was for me and is clearly finding the whole thing hilarious, judging by the poorly suppressed grin on her face.
She gets up from the table and puts her plate and crockery into the dishwasher, then saunters past me, out towards the door.
‘Right, I’m off for a sunbathe and a swim. Gotta make the most of this glorious sunshine!’
Before I have a chance to reply, she’s out of the door and turning to walk along the deck in front of the window. As she strolls past, she lifts her kaftan over her head, revealing a pink triangle-style bikini beneath it.
I try not to stare. Very, very, hard. But it seems it’s impossible for me to tear my eyes away from her as she saunters towards the swimming pool.
Once she’s out of sight I feel itchy and wired, like my body wants me to get up and do something, but my mind is telling me to stay put and keep working.
With regret, I listen to my mind. I have to stay focussed on this bloody contract or who knows what I’ll end up signing away.
So I force myself to look back at the screen again and keep reading.
It’s a few minutes until I stop vibrating, but I finally manage to get my eyes to focus on the words and my brain to decipher what I’m seeing.
I’m deep into a particularly dense paragraph when I’m suddenly aware of a change in the air behind me.
‘Do you want to come for a swim?’ Ida says behind me, making me jump. I turn to see her walking to the kitchen area and open the fridge to grab herself a bottle of water. She’s still in just her bikini and sunnies. Water droplets glisten on her skin.
Oh, man.
‘Er, no. Not right now,’ I say, my voice sounding husky and strangled. I cough, then gesture to the laptop. ‘Still not quite done.’
I’m having immense trouble keeping my eyes on her face, but I somehow manage it. I don’t want her thinking I’m a perv.
‘Okay. But it’s your loss. It’s gorgeous out there,’ she points out, her brow furrowed, but her expression playful. Lifting the bottle, she puts it to her lips and takes a long drink, exposing the column of her throat. A lone droplet of water runs down it into the hollow at the base of her neck.
There’s something incredibly sensual about the sight of this and my whole body goes on high alert, my pulse throbbing in my veins.
I pause for a long moment, wondering whether I should take a break and go for a swim with her.
It’s what I want to be doing right now, that’s for sure.
But the need to get this thing finished wins out. I wouldn’t enjoy myself with this unsent contract still hanging over my head.
‘I’ll swim tomorrow,’ I tell her firmly.
She lowers the bottle, her body language clearly showing her disappointment.
‘Look, sorry. I don’t mean to be rude, but I really have to get this done,’ I say, determinedly turning back to my laptop.
‘Okay, dude.’
My heart is thumping hard and it’s all I can do to keep looking at the screen as she walks – what feels unnecessarily close – past me on her way back outside.
If I didn’t know better, I’d swear she was deliberately messing with me.
* * *
A couple of hours later, I’ve sent the signed contract and, aware that Ida has gone to shower and change for the evening after coming in from outside – this time mercifully not disturbing me on her way through – I’ve also freshened up and changed my clothes.