by T L Swan
I frown as I start to dish out the omelette. “Not necessarily.”
“Oh bullshit,” she snaps. “Get a reality check.”
“Just shut up and dish out the food Abbs and keep that opinion to yourself. Don’t say anything to Didge. She can like who she wants. I like Ben,” I reply.
“Get this. She kissed him last night on the lips on the dancefloor and then he broke away.”
I frown. “What… tongue kiss?”
“No, like a peck. But there was probably more that I missed.”
“And he pulled away?” I frown.
“Yep, totally.” She nods. “But then he was looking at her all doe-eyed all night, like he wanted more to happen but he didn’t make a move.”
“Hmm, I will ask Josh about it later,” I whisper as Adrian walks into the room.
“Morning ladies.” He smiles.
I smile broadly at someone who is fast-tracking his way to being one of my favourite people. “Morning, Mr Murphy, how was the gym?” I ask as Cameron walks in and takes a seat at the table.
“Yeah ok.” He flicks on the coffee machine.
“Go ask him now,” Abbie whispers over the bean grinder.
“Shhh,” I whisper. “Abbie, you are so punishing.”
“That’s why you love me,” She replies.
Joshua returns from his shower and the seven of us all take a seat. I place the large Spanish omelette in the middle of the table with the fruit and toast I have prepared, and everybody starts to tuck in. Joshua is sitting opposite me.
“What’s on the agenda today?” I ask.
Joshua swallows his food. “I thought we would go down and get you a motorbike licence.”
I look at him in horror across the table. “Why?” I answer.
“So we can go riding together,” he states matter-of-factly.
I screw up my face. “Ah, no, not happening. I could think of nothing worse.”
Joshua smirks. “What now? Why wouldn’t you want to ride a motorbike?”
“Because I hate them and these roads here are frigging dangerous. I don’t normally like to get killed on holidays,” I mutter as I bite into my toast.
Abbie, Bridget and Adrian smile.
“Wouldn’t you rather die doing something you love?” Joshua frowns.
“Exactly.” I point my fork at him and he smirks as he takes another bite of his food.
“How would you want to die then?” He raises his eyebrows.
I shrug. “So doing something I love right?” I question.
He nods as he continues eating.
I think for a moment. “I would like to die in my sleep or eating a Big Mac.”
Joshua screws up his face in disgust.
“I would like to die getting a head job,” Cameron interjects. “What a way to go.” He shovels more food into his mouth.
Ben laughs and Adrian rolls his eyes.
“I would like to die in Paris,” Bridget says, smiling. “Underneath the Eiffel Tower.”
Ben smiles warmly at Bridget and I drop my head to hide my smile at their interaction.
“What about you Josh—where would be your favourite place to die?” I ask.
“Next to you,” he replies quietly. I smile broadly and take his hand in mine over the table as I melt. The rest of the table breaks into moans of disgust at his gushy reply.
“What about you Murph? Where would be your favourite place to die?” Joshua asks.
He shrugs and takes a sip of his coffee. “I don’t know. I don’t think I have a favourite place.” He frowns. “Maybe here.”
“Don’t dare fucking die in my house.” Joshua shakes his head in disgust.
“That could be arranged you know,” Cameron says matter-of-factly. “Ben and I could knock you off in your sleep.” He drinks his coffee.
Adrian fakes a smile at Cameron.
“Can I get a motorbike licence Josh?” Abbie asks.
“Yes, of course. All three of you girls can. It will be fun and then we can ride around the island today.” He smiles.
My stomach drops in fear. This is going to end badly. I just know it.
Turns out I was right. I told them to listen to me. After taking three hours to get my motorbike licence Joshua was so appalled at my lack of prowess he wouldn’t let me drive one anyway. So I spent the afternoon on the back of his bike while everyone else had their own. We did have fun exploring the island—what a beautiful place it is… and the food is magnificent.
It’s now 6 pm. We have stopped at Kamala beach and have been tubing for the last hour. Tubing. Being towed behind a boat on a huge inflatable tube, now this is what I call enjoyment. I keep falling off and have to be dragged into the boat by the poor workers. Joshua has even pushed me off a few times. It’s every man for himself on this thing. The boys are doing everything in their power to push each other off at full speed. My stomach is sore from laughing, and I can’t remember having this much fun. The boat drivers are getting in on it and doing zig zags in the water to try and throw us off. Abbie’s bikini top even came off, much to Cameron’s delight. The boat slowly pulls in and we swim slowly to shore.
“Hold onto my back presh,” Joshua whispers as he goes under water.
“I can swim Joshua,” I splutter.
His eyes dance mischievously in the water.
“I know.” He smiles as he grabs me and pulls me onto his back, and the others all continue to swim into the shore. He grabs my legs and wraps them around his body.
“Let’s fuck,” he whispers over his shoulder.
I laugh out loud. “Let’s not.” I pick up a handful of water and splash him in the face.
“Did you just splash me?” he asks, affronted.
“No, it was a wave,” I squeal as I start to make a dash for the shore.
Joshua grabs my ankle and pulls me back to him and dunks me hard.
I squeal with laughter as he continues to drown me.
“I see nothing’s changed.” I giggle.
“What do you mean?” He laughs as he chases me through the water.
I cough and splutter as I laugh. “You used to try and drown me back in the day, remember? You are still a behemoth.”
He raises his eyebrows as he smiles broadly. “Behemoth hey? I think I need to fill that smart mouth of yours with my dick to shut it up.” He splashes me in the face.
“This doesn’t happen in my romance novels.” I laugh as I splutter and go under, his warm arms then go around me and instantly I can feel his arousal. The mood instantly changes and we are both brought to silence.
“Is this more like your romance novels?” he asks as his lips drop to my neck and his hips grind into mine.
I nod and kiss him gently on the lips. “Yes.”
He smiles broadly. “Nice try Marx.” He dunks me hard again and swims to the shore.
“Watch out for sharks,” he yells over his shoulder. Oh, of all the nerve.
“You are going to cop it later, Stanton,” I yell after him.
“Promises, promises,” he replies as he swims off in the distance.
It is true, this doesn’t happen in my romance novels… and you know what? This is life exactly how I want it.
“Shit, look at the bruises on your body,” Cameron gasps
I look down at myself. We are on Adrian’s pool deck. Adrian is in a deckchair on the right and then Joshua, me, Bridget and Abbie are lying on towels and Cameron is on a deckchair on the other side to the left. I’m not sure where Ben is.
“I know, all Joshua’s fault pushing me off that tube of death yesterday.” I smile with my eyes closed and my face tilted to the sun.
Joshua leans up on his elbow to inspect the bruises on the insides of my arms. “It looks like fingerprints.” He frowns.
Cameron sits up and takes a closer look. “Yeah, that would be where they were pulling her back onto the boat.”
“Oh right,” Joshua answers. “Look at your hipbones for Pete’s sake.”
I s
mile again with my eyes closed. “I didn’t even feel it. Hey, take a photo on my phone so I can send it to Mum.” I hand Joshua my phone and he starts to take photos of the bruising.
“I think I can safely say I won the tubing challenge presh.” He gives me a smirk and a wink.
“Haha so funny,” I mutter. “Name the photo ‘Joshua’s trophies’.”
He smiles broadly and texts it in.
“How did you go last night Cam?” Joshua asks as he lies back down next to me.
“No good,” Cameron replies with his eyes closed. What are they talking about? Oh right, they are talking about picking up.
“Do you like Thai girls Cam?” I ask.
“Ahuh.” he answers, still with his eyes closed.
“What is it you specifically like about them?” Abbie asks as she raises the back of her forearm over her face to shield it from the sun.
“I don’t know, the natural thing,” he replies.
“Natural?” Bridget repeats.
“Yeah, you know, the carpet matches the curtains.”
“The carpet matches the curtains.” I giggle as I decipher that mentally.
Abbie screws up her face in disgust.
Joshua smiles and starts to slowly rub my oil sunscreen into my hipbones. He discreetly pulls me closer. I smirk—he loves my hipbones.
“Oh, dear god, Cameron, please tell me you don’t date girls who have a carpet?” Adrian murmurs as he screws his face up in disgust.
Cameron smiles with his eyes closed. “Yeah, I can work with a sixties vibe,” he replies.
“Oh gross,” Bridget sighs.
“Yuk. I definitely don’t work with carpet,” Abbie groans. “In fact, sixties vibe carpet is a deal breaker.”
“Yeah, especially shag pile.” Bridget giggles and I laugh.
“How about you Tash, does the carpet match the curtains?” Cameron asks as he leans up on his elbow to see my face.
“Fuck off,” Joshua snaps. “Get your filthy mind off Natasha’s carpet.”
I giggle. “I’m right here, you know.”
“Market research,” Cameron mutters as he lies back.
“Not on the fucking market,” Joshua snaps. Adrian laughs as his phone starts to vibrate.
He answers. “Murphy.” He listens and then stands up in a rush, and we all fall silent.
“Don’t you fucking dare!” he sneers. Joshua sits up immediately at the tone of Adrian’s voice. Who the hell is on the other end of the phone? The girls and I glance at each other and frown.
“Don’t bother,” he snaps. “I’m not listening.” He narrows his eyes in contempt as he shakes his head in anger.
“Don’t call me, don’t email me and stay the hell out of my life Nicholas. We are done.” He listens again. “Too little, too late.” He hangs up the phone and throws it on the deckchair with such force that it bounces and flies straight into the pool. Cameron immediately dives in after it and Adrian storms inside. Joshua’s eyes meet mine. I wait five minutes to see how the boys handle this. They all lie still and start to chatter as if nothing happened and nobody is going after him. Men are hopeless. I tentatively stand and walk inside where I find Adrian lying on his bed. I slowly lie down behind him and cuddle his back.
“Tash.” He shakes his head as his anger steals his ability to speak.
“I don’t want to say anything. I just want to lie with you,” I reply quietly.
He lies silent and still while I troll my brain for the right thing to say. What did Nicholas say to upset him this much? He was only with him for a month… who am I kidding? I was only with Joshua for a month when we first got together and I have been fucked over ever since. A lot of love can happen in a month.
“I want to go home,” Adrian sighs.
I nod. “Ok,” I answer. “We can go early. We are due to go in three days anyway.”
Adrian shakes his head sadly as he rolls onto his back and puts his arm under my head. I gently kiss his chest.
“It will be ok Adrian,” I whisper. I know how a broken heart feels… it’s lonely.
“I want to go home,” he replies.
I nod and squeeze him that little bit harder. “Do you live near Josh?”
“No. I want to go to my parents’ house,” he replies.
My heart drops and my eyes close. I know both his parents are dead.
“I want to be depressed at my mother’s house and have her fuss over me and make me fattening food and my father to tell me that Nicholas didn’t deserve me in the first place. But no. They had to die, didn’t they?”
He’s angry that they died. It’s a natural progression in the grieving process. I am still angry with my father for leaving me. I can’t even imagine the pain of losing both parents at the same time.
“They would be here if they could honey, you know that. It was a terrible accident, Adrian. They didn’t want to die,” I whisper as I kiss his chest again. He pulls me closer but doesn’t answer. We lie still for another 15 minutes both lost in our own thoughts. Joshua walks in and sits at the end of the bed and grabs Adrian’s foot.
“Want a drink? I’m making cocktails,” he asks Adrian as he twists his foot.
“No,” he replies flatly as he yanks his foot from his grip.
“Want to beat up Cam?” Joshua asks as he raises his eyebrows in question.
Adrian smirks. “Possibly,” he replies.
“Get up and stop carrying on. If you want him back, go and fucking get him.” Joshua stands and holds Adrian’s gaze for a moment and then leaves the room. I smile at Adrian.
“Jeez, he has so much empathy,“ I smirk.
Adrian shakes his head. “That was Joshua being empathetic. Cameron is the soft one.” I smile. My man is probably the worse communicator in the human world with me. It never once occurred to me that he is like it with everyone. And I didn’t ever imagine that Cameron would be a soft-hearted communicator. I really am learning something every day about these complicated men that have come into my life.
Chapter 2
I lie in a post-orgasmic state in Joshua’s arms with my head on his chest. A deep level of contentment fills me that I have very quickly become accustomed to. Our love-making this morning was tender and gentle. The deep connection we have now is incredible. I woke to find that he already had my body half there. He is the master of arousal and the fact that he doesn’t bother to wait until I wake just amps me up even more. Gently he runs his lips back and forth over my forehead as he thinks. Our hands are linked on his chest.
“We go home in two days.” I smile as I kiss his chest.
“Hmm,” he answers vaguely.
I look up at him. “Can we stay a while longer? I love it here,” I ask. “In fact I think I want to live here permanently.”
“I wish. No,” he replies. “Would be nice though.”
“Mmm,” I reply sadly.
“Adrian needs to get back to work. I’m worried about him,” he murmurs.
I smile as I pick up his hand and kiss the back of it. “That was some pep talk you gave him yesterday.”
“What do you mean?” he frowns.
“Get your ass out of bed—you sounded like his drill sergeant. It sure didn’t sound like you were worried about him.” I smile sympathetically for poor Adrian.
He rolls his eyes. “What would you want me to say? Oh, you poor thing, your life is over. Go and listen to a self-help tape.”
I giggle. “Self-help tape,” I repeat. “Have you ever listened to self-help tapes Joshua?”
He narrows his eyes and rolls over me as he holds my hands above my head. “The only self-help tape I listen to is how to fuck my girl into next week without ripping her apart,” he whispers.
I laugh out loud as I roll to try to escape his grip. “I have never heard of that audio adaptation. What’s it called?”
He bends and bites my neck hard as he holds me down and I laugh out loud as I try to escape. “Pound Town 101.” He growls into my neck as he bites me
hard again.
I laugh out loud as I squeal and struggle.
He nods as he smiles wickedly. “Second disk is called, ‘Bend her over without breaking her’.”
I squeal with laughter again as I continue to fight him.
“Shut up and fuck me, Marx,” he whispers darkly. “You are about to cop it.”
It’s our last day in Kamala. Our plane is flying us away from this heaven on earth tomorrow at 2 pm and into my new life. I’m nervous. Nervous about the life I am going to live. I feel confident that everything is going to work out between us and I trust him completely. I smile. I trust him completely. I know in my heart of hearts that he wouldn’t do anything to jeopardise our future together now. It was the best thing of all him finding my diaries. He knows now how deeply he is loved. The girls walk in to the kitchen where I am making the toast. The boys are in the gym.
“So I have made a decision,” Bridget whispers nervously as she looks around.
I frown. “About what?”
She looks around nervously again.
Abbie rolls her eyes. “No one can hear you in here, you idiot,” Abbie snaps.
I smile and shake my head at Abbie who has obviously been forced to listen to this decision-making process more than once.
“I like Ben,” Bridget whispers.
I smile broadly. “You do?” I ask as I raise my eyebrows.
She nods nervously. “And I think he likes me.”
I nod and pull her into an embrace. “I think he likes you too Didge. He would be stupid if he didn’t.” I smile.
She pulls out of my grip. “Did Josh say anything to you? I mean about him liking me?”
I shake my head. “No and he wouldn’t tell me anyway even if he knew. You know Josh isn’t a gossip,” I reply.
“Anyway, blah, blah, blah,” Abbie replies. “What are you going to do about it is the question.” She takes a seat at the table and pours herself some orange juice as she waits for the reply.
Bridget’s eyes meet mine and she shrugs. “Not sure.”
I take a sip of my coffee. “You should just wait to see if something happens,” I reply.
“I’ve been doing that and nothing has happened. I was thinking that even if he did like me, he couldn’t really make the first move because he is Joshua’s bodyguard and I am a relative. So technically it would be unprofessional for him to make the first move.”