“I can’t find Jason and he’s not answering his phone. Please?”
You know what, that’s a good enough reason for me. And the adorable way he says please, all drawn out like a child begging for ice cream before dinner? Adorable. I couldn’t possibly say no.
I sigh. “Is there any chance you can tell me where you are?”
He’s silent for a moment, and I picture him looking around, trying to find some kind of location marker for me. “I’m by a door.”
“Okay, so no. Oh, wait.” I pull the phone from my ear and tap the “Find my Friends” app. Sure enough, a pin with Reid’s name pops up. “I still have your location.”
“From what? I have no memory of giving you that,” he muses.
“I don’t imagine you’ll have much memory right now at all.” The map comes up and gives directions between me and Reid. He is somehow less than a ten minute walk from our villa, which blessedly has lighted walking paths. I get to my feet, my phone still pressed to my ear. Elise looks up at me. “Don’t move. I’ll come get you and walk you back.”
Thankfully, he gave up his own search for our villa a mere four streets away. I’ve only been walking a few minutes when I find him perched on a stone ledge outside another house. His dark hair is mussed and the top two buttons of his cotton blue button up are undone, showing off a tanned and toned chest. He’s dangling his feet like a little kid waiting for the bus. I burst out laughing when I see him. His head snaps in my direction and an easy, lopsided smile graces his lips.
He flings his arms to the side. “Jane, you found me!”
“Again, I have your location.”
He jumps off the ledge and clumsily strolls up to me, doing his best to ooze his usual confidence. Instead, he just looks like a happy boy, carefree and enjoying a summer night. He throws his arms around me in a tight hug.
“Imissed you.”
I, of course, hug him back, breathing in his scent and soaking in the moment. “I literally saw you yesterday.”
He tightens his arms around me. “Yeah but that was yesterday. This is now. Plus, you got all weird when Jessica came over. So I’ve been worrying that you hate me now.”
The idea that he could even consider me hating him hurts my heart a little bit.
“Reid, I could never hate you,” I murmur against his chest.
He releases me from the hug and steps back. He tries to give me a confrontational look, but his eyes are so glassy that it’s more comical than anything. “You avoided me this morning.”
“I did not.”
“You did. You avoided me before you left for your spa day and it made me really sad, because all I wanted before I went off today was to see you and give you a hug and an espresso because I know how much you love them. But you avoided me.”
“I—” I start to deny it, then stop myself. Okay, I did. I stayed in my room until I was sure the boys were gone for breakfast so I didn’t have to see him. I figured a night of rest would help me come to a decision about whether or not to close myself off to him. It didn’t do anything. In fact, I barely slept at all because of it.
Then I figured maybe seeing him would lead to a gut feeling of what to do. But even just hearing his voice had me pacing my room and weighing the pros and the cons.
Pros: he’s sweet, he’s funny, he’s hot, he can cook,
Cons: former womanizer, it would make Kate mad, he has the power to shatter my heart.
In reality the pros should’ve outweighed it all, but they didn’t. So I hid. But now he calls and I come running? Maybe my gut is trying to convince me of something after all.
I brush aside the thoughts and loosen my hold on his waist. It takes Reid a good five seconds toprocess that I let go, but then he releases me from his hug as well and the air suddenly feels ten degrees colder.
“I’m sorry. I promise not to avoid you ever again,” I tell him.
His smile grows wider, somehow making my heart swell. “Good. Because good relationships need healthy communication. So we must talk about our feelings.”
He looks slightly dazed. I know he won’t remember this tomorrow. If he does, it’ll be in bits and pieces. And the idea of that is oddly giving me enough confidence to ask. Especially because drunk words are sober thoughts, right? His guard is down. I can have this talk without the fear of rejection.
“Are we in a relationship in your mind?”
“Didn’t we talk about this on the plane?”
