I open my eyes to find him blushing furiously beneath the brim of his cap. His gaze drops from my face, and when he sees that I’m wearing a bikini, he looks away again, and his flush deepens.
Do I look this awkward to Genesis and her friends?
Luke’s flush finally fades and he makes another valiant effort at communication. “You’re not going to drink that, are you?”
My hand tightens around my nearly empty cup. “It’s just one drink.”
“I meanthatone.” He looks at something over my shoulder, and I turn to see Benard and Milo heading toward us with my second cocktail and two beer bottles. Luke glances at my insulin pump, and I bristle again.
“What do you know about it?” I already have a brother, mother, and grandmother looking over my shoulder. I don’t need some boy from my math class telling me what to do.
Luke shrugs. “My dad has type one. He always eats when he drinks.”
“Voilà!”Benard sets the fresh, bright-red cocktail on our table. I should apologize and tell him I can’t have another one. But the heat in his eyes—and the sunlight gleaming on his broad chest—reminds me why I’m here in the first place.
“Thanks.” I pick up the new drink and take a long sip through the straw.
Luke stands and sets his plate in front of me. “Ham and cheese.”
I blink at the neatly cut sandwich half, then look up at him.
“I haven’t touched that part.” He steps off the wood plank floor and wanders off down the beach.
Benard sinks into the chair next to mine and places two bottles of water on the table. “Who was that?”
“Just a boy from my school.” But I’ve already forgotten about Luke.
“You two have fun.” Milo clinks his beer against Benard’s and gives him a look I can’t interpret. “The music calls ...” He heads for a crowd gathered around an Afro-Colombian band playing outside the restaurant.
The sun continues to sink below the horizon while we talk. When I realize my cup is empty again, I look up to see that we’re the only ones left in the restaurant. The owners are wiping tables.
Benard rises and pulls out my chair for me as I stand. Vertigo washes over me, and I clutch the table, waiting for it to pass.
“Are you okay?” he asks, and when I nod, he leaves the issue alone. He doesn’t even glance at my insulin pump.
“Shall we find a spot on the sand?”
I grab my towel from where I left it hours before and follow Benard to a secluded spot on the dark beach. He spreads out the towel and sits, then laughs as I drop onto it next to him, still trying to find my balance. We’re out of sight fromthe crowd, but we can still hear the music.
His arm around my waist steadies me. The rhythm of the waves lapping the beach lines up with the beat of the drums behind us. This moment is perfect.
“Tu es très belle.” Benard’s lips brush my ear, and the warmth of his breath makes me catch mine. His fingers trail lightly up my neck and into my hair, and I shiver from the touch.
I close my eyes.
He kisses the back of my jaw, and a sigh slips from my throat. For a second, I feel embarrassed by my own inexperience, but Benard only groans and turns my face toward his.
His mouth finds mine, and suddenly I am kissing a beautiful Belgian boy on a moonlit night at the edge of the Caribbean Sea.
79 HOURS EARLIER
GENESIS
I take a hit and pass the joint to Neda, then I turn back to the window. A breeze blows through the two-story open-air hut, bringing with it the scent of the ocean. The hut sits at the top of a rock outcrop, jutting into the water, and the view is spectacular, even at night.
I feel like I’m floating high above the ocean, looking down at the rest of the world.
“Mind if I join you?”
