Then a message from Isabella.
The official announcement will be Thursday morning 8 a.m.I’m so sorry, Dan.I never planned for any of this to happen.
So that’s it.
In two days’ time, he and Isabella would be completely over, no more theNation’s Favorite Couple—as if that title had stopped her from shagging another man.
Not that anyone, other than a carefully chosen few, knew about that rather unfortunate, upsetting fact.Lawyers were now involved in their breakup.Discretion was fundamental.There were too many careers at stake.Too much money involved.Not even his mum and sisters knew what Issy had done.
Nor who she’d done it with.
Somethingsmall,warm,andsoft patted Libby’s cheek.
“Mamma, splash!”
“Hmm?What?”Libby cracked her eyes open, pained to be awake after sleeping only two minutes—or that’s what it felt, anyway, until she was blinded by broad daylight instead of a dawn sky.
Karim jumped on her.“Mamma, splash!”
“Hey, honey,” she croaked.“Did you have a nice sleepie?”
Karim climbed over her, his little legs hanging over the edge of the bed as he lowered himself to the floor.
“Splash,” he said again and toddled off to the bathroom.
“You need to pee?Good job for telling Mommy.Let’s go.”Somehow, Libby hauled herself out of bed and reached for Karim’s hand.In her sleepy daze, his fingers slipped away from her, and he pushed through the bathroom door.He stumbled over a bag and some towels, which she saw too late.She tripped and burst into the room.
“Hey!”a rough voice shouted.
She screeched to a halt at the tub, where her gaze hit large male hands cupped between muscular thighs.
“Do you mind?”
“Oh, man!”Libby slapped her hand over her eyes.“Why didn’t you lock the door?”
“I would’ve if it had one,” he growled.Skin rubbed and squeaked against the tub, as if he were clambering to cover himself up.Water spilled onto the floor.
“Splash!”Karim squealed.
Right.Now it made sense why he’d said that earlier.He must’ve heard the water running.
“Excuse us,” she said and fumbled for Karim with her eyes half shut.She steered him toward the toilet.“Come, let’s pee-pee and leave Mr.Jones in peace.”
Libby sat Karim on the toilet, rushed through the shaky-shaky routine and handwashing, and then hustled him out as fast as she could, closing the door firmly behind her.
Gee, that woke her up!
Last night’s fiasco slapped her in the face.She had to get dressed, find Mr.Hehu, and sort this mess out.
She also needed to pee badly herself.
“Let’s go, honey.”
Both dressed in record time, Libby scooped Karim up, grabbed her go bag—what she liked to call her combination purse, diaper bag, and emergency bag all in one—and then called through the bathroom door to tell Cranky Jones that they were heading out to the main house to resolve their rather awkward rooming situation.
Making her way through the tropical garden, she tried to point out interesting things to Karim—the pretty flowers, the tweeting birds, the palm trees—but she was in too much of a hurry, and way too flustered, to properly absorb her new surroundings.Seeing that in their bathroom definitely wasn’t how she’d imagined her and Karim’s first Cook Islands morning.The sky was still overcast, too, not the tropical blue she’d been expecting, and the air, though fragrant, was uncomfortably sticky.
As she approached the house, she followed the music toward a large, spacious kitchen, where other guests—mainly young backpackers—mooched around, eating breakfast.
