Gemma leaned back into Rory’s stable body and sighed. “You know you are giving off very mixed messages right now.” She turned and looked into Rory’s face, which was again a picture of tension.
“I know,” Rory sighed, “I blame the alcohol and that dress.” She smiled a weak smile at Gemma and led her back to the sun lounger.
They settled back as they had been before, this time with Gemma snuggled in her blanket. She watched as Rory pulled her hair out of its bun and fluffed her hair for a moment before twisting it back into a ponytail.
That simple action reignited the flame that had reduced to a smoulder in Gemma’s tummy. Everything Rory did tonight was sexy as hell. “I’m not surprised you found a blanket out here, you could always magic things up from mid-air, but where in the heck did you get it from?”
“Oh, there are baskets of them around the pool area.” Rory swallowed hard. “Darcy and I were thinking of having our wedding here, but she rejected it as ‘not classy enough’.” Rory pulled a face and sighed. “It was one of the many things we argued about before we split up.”
She paused, and Gemma was about to nudge her forwards when Rory spoke again.
“If I’m honest, things hadn’t been great between us for a while. Since she moved in, she did less and less around the house and spent more time at the country club. Once I proposed, she gave up work and became a full-time, professional fiancée. Everything was about the wedding. I wanted to talk about our future, kids, etc. but she wasn’t interested. All she was concerned about was how the wedding would look on her socials and who she could invite. I was a bit player at my own nuptials. As you know, my parents and I have used this hotel for years for corporate entertainment and parties. I always wanted to get married here, but shewas not only adamant that we wouldn’t be married here, but she would also only consider getting married in London where her friends could see her.” Rory took a deep breath as if to steady herself. “Things really came to a head when we were talking about dresses. I had always told Darcy that I wanted to wear a white suit for the wedding, but she got more and more annoyed with me. She was adamant that I would wear a dress. I told her I didn’t want to, and it came to a head in a hideous argument.” Rory swallowed, and Gemma could see moisture collecting in her eyes. She blinked the tears away.
“She said that she was marrying a woman and so wanted me to look like a woman on our wedding day, not some butch dyke. I spent the night in a hotel and got very drunk on whisky. When I sobered up, I realised I wasn’t the person I wanted to be when I was with her.” Rory shuddered. “She was changing me to be the fiancée she wanted. It wasn’t me she loved, but some idealised version of our life together. I called off the engagement, and we split up. It was fairly acrimonious as she had to find somewhere to live, and she dragged her feet on that. She wasn’t upset that we had split up, more that she would look bad in front of her friends.”
Gemma clasped Rory’s hands in her own, again marvelling at how strong yet soft they were. “I’m sorry you had to go through that.” Gemma gave Rory’s hands a friendly squeeze.
“It’s okay.” Rory shot her a sad, lopsided smile. “I’m happier to have found out before the wedding than after that she wasn’t all that much into me.” She shrugged. “The hardest thing was that after we split, all the people I thought were our friends turned out to be her friends, and I had to deal with things on my own. I didn’t want to admit to my family what a colossal cock-up I’d made of things. One ofthe main reasons I decided to come tonight was that I wanted to see you again. I wanted to see if we could be friends again. But the moment you stepped out of the taxi in that dress… ” Rory mock-fanned herself and blew out a whistle. “Well, as I said, the combination of that and the red wine robbed me of rational thought. I’m sorry if I led you on.”
Rory sat back on the lounger, and Gemma just wanted to sink into her friend. As she ran everything that Rory had just told her through her head, she felt her anger at Rory’s actions tonight dissipate. She pulled the blanket up around herself and thought back to the times she and Rory had stargazed as kids. She tucked her legs underneath her again and leaned forward to rest her head against Rory’s chest. Rory’s shirt was open enough for Gemma to occasionally catch a glimpse of cleavage and she longed to explore Rory’s body again, but she knew her friend was hurting and wanted to support her, so pushed thoughts of uncovering Rory’s breasts to the back of her mind. She snuggled into Rory’s heat and looped an arm under Rory’s suit jacket.
“Do you remember when we used to lie like this as kids?” She lifted a head to look at Rory. “We didn’t know the constellations, so we made up our own.”
She felt Rory’s chuckle vibrate through her.
“I remember that being with you are my happiest memories of my childhood.”
Rory pulled the blanket up around Gemma and sighed. “We should probably head back to the hotel. We have breakfast with the parents and then a day with the grandmothers to prepare for.”
Gemma sighed. “Oh God,” she groaned. “And after tonight, they will think that we are going to get together.”
Rory tightened her arms around Gemma but said nothing in response to that. Gemma relaxed her bodyagainst Rory. She didn’t want to be anywhere but here. Being in her friend’s arms was safe and calming, and she didn’t want to move even though she knew she had to magic up a swimsuit from somewhere.
“Hey, is there a shop here?” She lifted her head to look at Rory. “I kind of need to find a swimsuit to wear tomorrow.” She couldn’t resist adding, “Because, although skinny dipping is fun, it’s not something I want to do around our parents.”
Rory’s face flashed through a variety of emotions as she thought, and Gemma wondered if, like her, the thought of them being naked in a swimming pool together was flashing in her mind.
“Yeah, the spa here sells them.”
“Cool, I bet you brought something with you just in case?”
Rory coloured slightly, and Gemma knew she was right. Her friend was always the better prepared of the two of them. They lay for several minutes in companionable silence, looking at the stars and savouring being together, without the parents watching over them. After a while, Rory raised a hand to Gemma’s face and brushed a wayward lock of hair away.
“So tell me Gemma. What have you been up to for the last ten years, and why hasn’t someone swept you off your feet yet?”
8
RORY
“Sir, Madam?”
Rory clenched her eyes shut before snapping them open in alarm. She looked into the eyes of a young man, who shifted awkwardly from foot to foot as he gazed at her. Her back was cold and uncomfortable against the hard plastic of the sun lounger, but her front was deliciously warm with a soft body pressed against her. She took a moment to clear her thoughts and then remembered talking with Gemma last night. They must have fallen asleep last night on the sun lounger. She sighed slightly and sat up.
“What time is it?” Her voice was raspy and full of sleep, and her head ached slightly from the alcohol they had drunk yesterday.
“It’s just gone six thirty. I came out to check the patio was tidy and found you here.” He blushed slightly.
Rory shifted and tapped Gemma.
