Chapter 11
RAFFA
I wake up the next morning with bright sunlight shining onto my face through a crack in the blinds.
Turning my head, I see Ida is already awake and is gazing back at me with a crooked smile on her face.
So here we are. In bed together. After only meeting each other in real life a few days ago. The off-the-charts chemistry between us has been undeniable and unignorable.
I guess that’s not something we could have predicted from our random chats about computer games in an online forum.
But then most couples seem to meet on the internet these days, don’t they? Through dating apps, or whatever.
When you’re as busy as I am, there isn’t time to go out and meet women at bars and parties.
If I’m being honest, I’m too busy for whatever this is too, but I don’t seem to be able to say no to it.
‘Last night was fun,’ I say to her, aware of how croaky my early morning voice is.
‘Yup. Not in any way boring for me either,’ she says with a smirk.
‘Nothing worse than being boring.’ I let out a yawn, which I cover with my hand.
‘Agreed. I clued in from an early age that the best way to get people’s attention was to be entertaining.’
‘Yeah, well, you certainly are that.’
Sitting up a little, she props her head on the heel of her hand. ‘Well, thanks.’
‘You know, I loved chatting with you over DMs,’ I admit. ‘I’ve never done that with a stranger before.’ I fold the pillow and use it to support my head whilst looking back at her.
‘Really?’ she says, seeming surprised by this.
‘Yeah. I’m usually too busy for new people, but I liked that you seemed to be on the same wavelength as me about a lot of things.
It was like we had a short-cut to the heart of what we were talking about.
That’s what made me think you’d be a good date to bring here.
I figured, even if we didn’t have chemistry in real life, at least we’d have good conversations. ’
‘But we do have chemistry.’ She grins at this.
‘Yeah. We do,’ I agree. ‘But I want to be straight with you. I’m really not looking for a relationship right now. My life is crazy and I don’t have time for anything outside of work at the moment.’
‘But you’re happy to keep having sex with me while we’re here?’ She waggles her eyebrows then gives me what I think is meant to be a sultry smile.
I laugh. ‘I definitely am. But are you happy with that?’
There’s an infinite pause before she shrugs and says, ‘Yeah, sure. I’m always up for a bit of fun.
I’m not in the market for anything serious either.
I have enough on my plate right now with my show blowing up.
I can’t let anything distract me from making the most of that.
A week away is one thing, but having someone expecting me to repeatedly show up and put a relationship with them first is another.
I’ve made a promise to myself to keep things light and fun at the moment.
So don’t worry, you’re safe with me. I’m not going to be hounding you for more dates after this.
We can ringfence it as just sex while we’re here and go back to being DM buddies once we’re back. ’
I’m feeling a strange mixture of relief and something a bit like regret as she says this, but there’s no point in analysing it. Obviously, we both need to keep things fun and casual between us right now. ‘Seriously? That works for you?’
‘It does.’ Extracting her arm out of the bedcover, she spits on her palm then offers me her hand to shake.
I pull a face. ‘You don’t actually expect me to shake your hand now you’ve gobbed on it?’
‘Sure I do. You’ve already kissed me so we’ve swapped saliva. What’s so weird about having it on your hand now?’
‘You’re a strange person,’ I say.
‘I’m known for it, dude. And proud of it too. As previously discussed, who wants to be dull?’
I laugh. ‘Good point, well made.’
‘But okay, fine.’ She wipes her hand on the cover then offers it to me again.
I put my hand in hers and squeeze it gently.
She nods slowly, like that’s decided then.
Taking my hand back, I rub my eyes, trying to wake myself up fully. It was a late one last night and a lot of energy was expended. Memories of what we got up to flash though my mind and my morning boner twitches.
But I probably shouldn’t initiate any more sex right now or there’s a chance we’ll never get out of this bed.
I have a lot to do today.
‘Speaking of dull,’ I say reluctantly, ‘we should probably get up and go and mingle with the other wedding guests this morning so my stepbrother doesn’t accuse me of deliberately avoiding him now the wedding’s over and done with.’
‘Which would be a fair assessment,’ she says, looking at me from under her brows.
I frown. ‘Whose side are you on?’
‘I refer you back to my previous statement: no one’s side.
I’m just making an observation. If I had a sibling, even a step one, I think I’d make the effort to at least pretend I’m having a good time during their wedding week.
’ She sits up and folds her arms. ‘Maybe you should be the bigger man here. Forget the past for the time being and let the guy enjoy his time here without worrying about any fallout from sibling rivalry.’
‘The bigger man, huh? When you put it like that…’ I flash her a suggestive grin.
She gives me a gentle, teasing shove on my shoulder. ‘You really have to win at everything, don’t you?’
I blink at her, my eyebrows raised in incredulity. ‘Who wants to be a loser?’
‘There are different levels of victory though. This thing with your stepbrother could be verging on the pyrrhic for you.’
I let out a small moan and roll onto my back. ‘Yeah, okay. Fair enough. Far be it for me to come out looking like the dick here.’
‘Okay then, let’s get into it. Fruit shots at the breakfast buffet?’ she suggests, already getting out of bed.
I turn to watch her. ‘Wow. Hardcore.’
‘I don’t mess around when it comes to powering up for the day.’
I laugh, enjoying the sight of her standing unashamedly naked in front of me. ‘I like your style. It’s refreshing to be around someone so tenacious.’
‘Thanks. I take that as a huge compliment.’
‘It was meant as one.’
* * *
Ida
There are a surprising number of people already at the breakfast buffet in the hotel when we get there.
I guess all that dancing last night has made people hungry this morning.
A lot of people are wearing sunglasses though, so I expect a load more alcohol was consumed after we’d left to have our own party.
We take a seat at the edge of the room, which affords us spectacular views across the lush green gardens surrounding the hotel, with glimpses of the turquoise sea appearing in flashes through the gently swaying foliage.
Picking up the menu, I glance over it, my mouth already salivating at the sound of the amazing-sounding options.
Out of the corner of my eye, I see Raffa glance at his mobile, which seems to be ringing. I fully expect him to pick up the call and walk away to chat business for an hour, leaving me alone here, but to my surprise he refuses it and puts the phone back in his pocket.
I give him a questioning look. ‘Not answering?’
‘I make business calls, I don’t take them,’ he says with an alpha-type of confidence in his voice that hits me deep inside in a very pleasant way.
‘Really? You never answer your phone?’
‘I didn’t say that.’
‘Okay. So who are the people that you’d pick up a phone call from? Only the folks who mean a lot to you, right? Like Elliot?’
‘Yeah. Kit and Elliot, definitely. We’re in regular contact still, even though we don’t work together any more. But we usually message each other. It’s rare we talk on the phone. So it would have to be about something really serious if they did phone me. Which would be alarming.’
‘I wouldn’t usually call a mate either. It seems invasive, somehow.’
‘Yeah. Which is crazy because we’ll let a text message on our phone distract us from a conversation in the room with someone, which is also invasive.’
‘But you do have a choice about when to answer it. Not like a call. It’s very immediate.’
‘True. With calls, it feels like you have to be on your A-game and able to give sensible answers without having time to think about it first.’
‘I guess that’s why I liked our chatroom DMs. It gave me a chance to finesse my responses.’
Raffa holds up a finger. ‘Speaking of – I missed someone off my take-a-call-from list,’ Raffa says.
‘Oh yeah. Who?’
‘You.’
Warmth pools in my chest. ‘Me?’
‘Yeah. I’d consider you a good friend now. And I feel like I owe you big time for coming to this thing with me and being so cool about it all.’
‘You really consider me a good friend?’ I can’t stop a smile of delight from pushing at the corners of my mouth. So much for being cool.
‘Sure. Don’t you consider me one?’
‘I guess.’
Raffa holds a hand over his heart. ‘Ouch.’
‘No! I didn’t…’ I let out a low breath and shake my head at myself. ‘Of course I consider you a good friend.’
The server approaches the table with a cafetière of coffee and pours us each a cupful, which we both pick up to drink immediately.
I’m grateful for the interruption. It was all getting a bit too emo for comfort.
Once we’ve given her our meal choices, we turn back to each other, the atmosphere a little strained now.
Raffa surprises me by asking, ‘Do you have a lot of other chatroom mates, other than me?’
I cock an eyebrow. ‘Why? You jealous?’
‘No. Just making conversation.’
If I didn’t know in my bones that there’s no future in this – not with a workaholic billionaire, and I know a workaholic when I see one, having grown up in a house with two of them – then I might be more worried about how presumptuously I’m coming across.
As it is, I don’t have an issue with showing him my authentic self, especially as there’s no potential real relationship to protect.
I’m just here to have a good time and maybe to get some fun anecdotes out of it.
So, I say, ‘Just you, dude. Just you.’
‘Good to know,’ he says with a wry smile.
We drink our coffee in silence for a minute.
‘Okay. Tell me something fun about the business world,’ I say, needing to break the quiet.