If Declan didn’t know differently, he’d have thought Oliver blushed at that. Oliver moved his hand forward until it brushed against Declan’s, his fingertips grazing Declan’s palm. Declan found it difficult to breathe.
Oliver’s eyes had starlight in them, and his gaze made Declan feel suddenly unmoored. He looked at their hands, wondering what it meant that Oliver had reached for him.
He glanced up, and Oliver’s expression was dazed, as though realising what he’d done. Declan desperately wanted to look away, to shrug off Oliver’s hand like it was nothing, but he couldn’t. He glanced at Oliver’s lips, at how they parted as he drew in a shaky breath. Their faces were closer together now, without Declan noticing he had moved at all. Overwhelmed, like some outside force was compelling him forwards, he leaned in.
And then panicked as their noses nearly collided. He shifted away, Oliver blinking at him. Declan cleared his throat roughly. Oliver let go of his hand.
‘Well,’ Declan whispered. ‘Good night.’ He turned over without waiting for a reply and didn’t move for the rest of the night.
Chapter 14
Declan
Unsurprisingly, Declan woke up feeling like he hadn’t got any sleep. He had been in agony the whole night, replaying what had happened over and over in his head. He couldn’t believe he had tried to kiss Oliver. There was no way his intentions could have been misconstrued, nothing else he could have been doing leaning towards him like that. Declan was exposed, with no facade to hide behind any more. Oliver had stripped him of it.
He couldn’t resist looking at the man sleeping soundly next to him. Aside from the small puddle of drool on his pillow, Oliver looked as perfect as he had the night before. Declan carefully slipped off the daybed to get ready for his swim.
He lingered over the workout, swimming more laps than he normally would. When he finished, it was Eavie, not Oliver, waiting poolside with a cup of tea for him. Oliver was in the kitchen with the rest of the contestants, and Declan tried not to read anything into that.
‘Hi,’ Eavie said, concern in her eyes as he shifted his gaze back to her. ‘Are you okay?’
He smiled, trying to wipe away whatever honest emotion she had seen. ‘Yes,’ he said, pulling himself out of the pool and sitting beside her.
She handed the mug to him wordlessly, one eyebrow arched, and he sighed. ‘You’ll find, if you stick around, that this isn’t exactly a holiday. The pressure has got to all of us one way or another. I guess it’s finally getting to me.’
Eavie frowned. ‘Having a change of heart for Zoë?’
‘No,’ he said emphatically. ‘I’m fully committed to her.’
Her mouth pulled down at the corners. ‘That’s not exactly what I asked.’
And something in him broke. He wanted nothing more than to be off the island and away from Oliver and the rest of them. He was so tired of being Declan King for the cameras, pretending nothing could touch him. He wanted to go home, to see Georgia again, to train his ass off and win back his title so that no man in England could dare call him soft.
He knew he must look mad staring down Eavie, but he couldn’t lie to her. He didn’t want to lie to her. If she asked him again how he felt, he couldn’t be sure he wouldn’t blurt out every non-platonic thing he’d ever thought about or done with Oliver Wright.
To his relief, she backed off. ‘It’s fine,’ she continued, waving dismissively. ‘My real motivation for coming over here was to ask for your help in seducing Oliver to my side. Don’t get me wrong, Faye is great, but Oliver is too amazing to pass up.’
‘He is.’
She laughed like he’d made a joke.
‘Oliver already likes you,’ he said, looking her over. She really was beautiful – she and Oliver would look good together. ‘No seduction necessary.’
‘Well, put in a good word for me, if you can,’ Eavie said. ‘Based solely on what I’ve seen, he does have a tendency to be thick.’
Declan chuckled at that. ‘Come on, let’s join the others.’
The contestants were finishing their breakfast when the PA system chimed.
‘Girls,’ Darcy said, ‘the sun may be setting on your time in the villa. Tonight, we’ll see which couples stayed true and who will be saying adieu.’
‘So that’s it, then?’ Jack asked. ‘We pick our girls and hope they haven’t cracked on with some new bloke?’
Niall nodded, his eyebrows drawn together, staring glumly at nothing in particular.
‘Well, that’s shit,’ Jack said, crossing his arms and looking distraught for possibly the first time ever. Seeming to remember the new girls, he looked around sheepishly. ‘No offence.’
Amelia put a hand on his shoulder. ‘Jack, I had my tongue on your nipple. If that wasn’t going to sway you, I don’t have much else in my arsenal that would.’
