‘The examiner said he’d never seen someone fail so epically.’
‘Christ.’
‘Luc fucking told the team, didn’t he. They put L plates on my race car. Still haven’t let me live it down.’
She settles back against me and slowly, airily, starts to giggle. ‘I can’t believe you did that.’
‘Me neither. How many times did you take?’
‘One.’ The triumph in her voice is annoying. Why did I bother asking?
‘Course you did. Probably had a binder for that too.’ I boop her nose.
She yelps and rockets to her feet. Goosebumps spring all over my body.
‘I’m going to the bathroom,’ she announces.
I lean towards her and play with the stings of her bikini bottom. They’re too tempting. This bikini was surely designed for a girls’ holiday – I could never cope at a hotel with her wearing this. ‘Need a hand?’
Her smile’s long-suffering. ‘You’re relentless.’
‘Yup.’ As she turns to go, I smack her arse and the clap echoes around the garden. I’m still laughing as she disappears inside.
What’s a man to do without entertainment? I search around for my phone when Minnie’s Kindle gleams from the paving stones. They aren’t like diaries, right? I’m not crossing a line? Nah, it’s only a book.
It takes an embarrassingly long time to figure out how to turn the damn thing on, and immediately the word ‘nectar’ piques my attention. When Minnie emerges, she stops at the sight of me grinning like a Cheshire Cat.
‘What is it?’ she mutters, resuming her path around the pool.
‘You’re a horny bastard.’
She doesn’t compute right away – the Kindle’s back where I found it. Then her eyebrows lift above her sunglasses. ‘You read my book!’
‘Do you want tomilkme? I’m not a shy guy, so if you want?—’
Her blush reaches her hairline. ‘YouknewI read romantasy!’
‘Faerie porn, yes, but I didn’t find any faeries. I did findminotaurs, though.’
‘Just one minotaur!’
‘Sorry, my mistake. Are you wanting role play? Should I behave like a minotaur? I guess I could moo.’
Her hands clap over her face. ‘No! And they don’t moo. He wears a suit, for crying out loud.’
I guffaw. ‘Not in the bit I read!’
‘You’re such a child.’ She smacks my leg.
I spread my arms. ‘Get back in here.’
‘Not if you’re going to moo.’
‘I won’t. Promise.’
With a sigh, she rejoins me and props her sunglasses on her head. Tension radiates off her in thick waves, and it makes stifling my moo even harder.
‘Don’t do it,’ she growls.
