Alex shook his head in astonishment and they exchanged excited looks as they watched the turtle majestically swim around them without a care in the world. They didn’t speak, just watched, afraid to frighten the animal away.
After a few minutes of circling, it dipped its head and launched itself with surprising speed into the depths of the water. In only a few strokes they’d lost sight of it.
‘Oh, damn, we missed a turtle!’ cried Savannah as she made her way to the side of the boat, her flippers slapping as she walked. She jumped down into the water feet first, causing a huge splash.
Alex wiped the moisture from his face, glad that he’d taken the worst of it. He gave Ellie a conspiratorial nod of agreement. She was right – sometimes it was better to leave things be and mind your own business.
‘Shall we go back up?’ he asked.
Three more flipper-dives rocked the water around them.
‘Good plan,’ she replied, with a barely suppressed giggle.
Rain was falling heavily by the time they returned to his parents’ house, signalling the start of a tropical storm.
They all piled off the yacht as soon as it docked, and ran indoors laughing. They were drenched, but it didn’t matter; they’d been in and out of the water all day anyway, and it had been a refreshing change to the tropical heat.
The day had been surprisingly enjoyable, mostly due to Ellie’s presence, but he was grateful for the excuse to go straight to their room.
He grabbed two towels from the bathroom and began to rough-dry his hair with one, having passed Ellie the other. Her hair swung around her in dripping tendrils, laughter kissing her lips as she stared back at him with bright eyes and flushed cheeks from the sprint indoors.
He had a horrible feeling that he’d been staring at her for far longer than necessary. And had he taken a step closer?
‘Shall we have a movie night?’ he asked.
Ellie blinked in surprise. ‘Errr…’
‘It looks like it’s going to rain for a while.’ He pointed towards the window, as if the rain running down the glass would convince her to stay with him. ‘I could get us some snacks. Or we could just stay in here and chill. Have a break from my family.’ Avoiding his family was an excuse, a valid one, but still an excuse. He wanted to be alone with her. To shut out the world and curl up with Ellie.
‘Oh, sure,’ Ellie replied, a little breathlessly, and then with a blush headed towards the bathroom. ‘I’ll just have a shower and put my pjs on.’
‘Great.’ He was rooted to the spot until the bathroom door closed. Then he punched the air with a silent cheer. After a moment, with a shake of his still-wet hair, he gathered his wits and headed down to the kitchen.
He almost turned tail when he saw his brother rummaging around in the cupboards, a tray of fruit and Savannah’s vegan crackers beside him. Liam stilled, as if he’d been caught red-handed.
‘Hey…’
‘Hey…’
Liam set a chilled bottle of champagne and two glasses on the tray. ‘I think the others are going to do some games in the sun room. If you’re interested?’
‘No, we thought we’d have a quiet night. Watch films and… chill.’ Jeez, he may as well have said, I’m off to have sex. Which wasn’t actually true…Unfortunately.
‘Cool. Same,’ said Liam, staring at the champagne and looking more than a little awkward. Hewasoff to have sex, by the looks of it… with Alex’s ex.
Strangely, it didn’t bother Alex any more. He’d actually rather spend an evening not having sex with Ellie than be in Liam’s shoes. Savannah and he had always been… tepid.
‘Are you using the boat tomorrow? I thought I might take Ellie to one of the islands.’ He wasn’t sure why he’d asked, maybe to break the weird atmosphere growing between them. Plus, it sounded like something a loving boyfriend would do with his girlfriend.
‘Oh. Sorry. We need the boat tomorrow. Eddie’s got to pick up the flowers Savannah’s having flown in from New England.’
Alex’s eyes ached from trying not to roll them. ‘Ah, yes. The pink English tea roses and peonies? She always insisted on them for her trailer. No matter the season.’ He tried to hide the scathing criticism in his voice, but obviously failed, because Liam glared at him with barely concealed rage.
‘You know why she likes them, don’t you? Or was that another thing you never bothered to ask?’
Alex stared at Liam in shock. Partly because his perfect brother was finally snapping at him for a change, and partly because he was right. He had never bothered to ask Savannah why she insisted on having pink tea roses. Why hadn’t he? He remained silent, unable to say anything unless it incriminated him further, and he had the uneasy feeling that itwouldreflect badly on him.
Liam tutted. The bastard actually tutted. ‘No, of course you didn’t. You act like I stole her from you, but you never even knew her. Not really.’ He picked up the tray, before looking at Alex with narrowed eyes. ‘They’re her favourite because they were her mother’s favourite flowers.’
