Chapter 38
We emerge from the bar and walk hand in hand towards the complex. The streets are deserted, the heat and noise behind us. The only thing that can be heard now is the chirrup of cicadas echoing into the night. I look at my watch. It is 3.06am. But I am in no rush to get back and not just because of the hill we have to climb. Once we get there, it’s not at all clear what will happen next.
Our apartment is out of the question. The others are all back there now, with Nora in the bed next to mine. Sam is sharing a flat with three other men, one of whom is my brother, who may well be snoring off his excesses, but that’s still not a risk I’m prepared to take.
All I can think about as we drift back is how desperately I want Sam’s mouth on mine. I want to stop right now and drag him by the collars until our mouths collide. Make this five-minute walk last an hour, because we’re locked in each other’s arms, unable to continue. But he seems intent on heading back, albeit at a stroll, leaving me to make do with the full sensory reaction his fingertips ignite when they circle the delicate skin at the heel of my hand. When we’re halfway home, I nod towards an opening in the road.
‘Wonder what’s down there?’
‘Another pool complex. I took a detour through it on the way back from the supermarket yesterday. It’s nice; a lot smaller than ours. Very . . . private.’
I look up and our eyes catch.
‘Want to go and see it?’
I give a little shrug, as if I even need to think about it. ‘Why not? I always do my sightseeing at three in the morning.’
The passage is flanked by high stone walls sprawled over by jasmine. We emerge into a neat patio area with a small, kidney-shaped pool. There are two or three villas nearby, but they’re facing the sea and the lights are off. Nobody, it appears, is home.
I pull up a sunbed and sink into it, settling on my side against the thick cushion. He grabs another and pushes it in flush, reclining until his body is facing me.
‘This is a nice spot,’ I say, as quietly as possible.
‘It is. Though why are we whispering?’
‘Because we don’t want to get caught.’
‘I think this whole part of the resort is unoccupied. There was certainly nobody staying here yesterday. Besides, I’m not aware of any such crime as lying on a sunbed after hours . . .’
He picks up my hand and runs his fingers along the heart line, gently massaging my wrist. It shouldn’t amount to anything. It’s a nothing move. But there’s a direct plumbline between that and some secret spot, deep and low in my abdomen, that until recently has been asleep for years.
‘We really should be past this sort of thing, you know,’
I murmur.
‘What sort of thing?’
‘Staying up this late. Dancing till three. Creeping into places we’re not supposed to be . . .’
He crooks an eyebrow. ‘I’m sorry . . . “past it”? Last time I looked you were the same age as me. We’re not pastanything.’
‘Well, I don’t know about the wild abandon you’ve been living your life with, Sam Delaney, but last time I stayed up this late was when Frankie was a baby. Fun times.’
‘Oh yeah?’
I nod. ‘Four hours sleep a night and cracked boobs.’ I glance up at him. ‘They’remuchimproved now, by the way. The boobs, I mean. Just in case you were wondering.’
He coughs and arranges his face into a comical look, feigning nonchalance.
‘Good to know.’
I clamp my hand over my mouth to stifle my laughter as he grins. I turn to the pool once I’ve recovered and sigh.
‘Doesn’t that look lovely?’ The surface is a mirror, illuminated by a fat, shimmering moon.
His thumb stops circling my hand. ‘Well, there’s nothing stopping us.’
‘Yes there is. You’re not allowed in after 10pm. There’s a sign.’
