Page 21 of More Than Just Friends

I’d be more into Kayleigh then.

I was sure of it.

7

ALICIA

I checked my watch for what felt like the hundredth time. It was nineteen minutes past nine and I’d agreed to meet Adonis for breakfast at eight forty-five.

Although I hadn’t gone to his room last night (go, me!), he’d persuaded me to come for a drink at the hotel’s bar, where we’d stayed chatting until just before midnight. He was telling me all about his extensive travelling. He’d visited so many places.

Adonis even said he saw himself returning to London, which was another big green flag. It meant that if things worked out between us, we wouldn’t have to do the whole long-distance stuff.

Okay, I knew I was getting ahead of myself. Day two had barely started and I was already thinking about the future, but there was nothing wrong with feeling optimistic.

If I was being honest though, I wasn’t a fan of lateness. Sometimes shit happened so it was fine to be held up for a few minutes when something was out of our control. But being over half an hour late without even a courtesy message? That wasn’t ideal. And it wasn’t like he’d got caught in traffic or a train had been cancelled. His room was literally seconds away from here.

And given the number of times I’d been ghosted and more recently stood up, I found it triggering having to sit here on my Jack Jones, not knowing whether my match was going to turn up or not.

After checking the time again, I pulled out my phone and fired off a text asking if he was still coming to breakfast.

Adonis had suggested we exchange numbers last night, just in case I changed my mind about ‘joining him’ in his room.

I didn’t.

Sammie would be so proud.

My phone buzzed a few minutes later.

Adonis

Good morning, beautiful Alicia.

Reading those words instantly made me beam. It was embarrassing how being called ‘beautiful’ made me smile.

Adonis

I am still in bed.

See you at the briefing.

Wishing you a wonderful breakfast.

On the one hand I was a bit cheesed off that he hadn’t apologised for not coming to breakfast, but his messages were so sweet. And he was probably tired. It was no big deal. The briefing was at ten, so I’d see him soon enough.

Until then, I’d just enjoy the views.

This was a world away from the way I usually had breakfast in London. Instead of eating toast at my desk with a mug of cold tea whilst glaring out at the cloudy skyline, I was in stunning Santorini.

Here I was sitting on a sun-soaked terrace of a luxury five-star hotel, with the rays heating my skin. There wasn’t a single cloud in the bright-blue sky and the sea, which had a large cruise ship right in the centre, stretched as far as the eye could see.

Yep. I was living the dream.

I took a bite of a Greek cheese pie a waitress had recommended for breakfast called tiropita, which was delicious, then scanned the terrace.

I spotted Noah laughing with his match. Just like he was last night. At least she’d turned up. Now she was gazing at him like he’d just started walking on water.

Looked like everything was going brilliantly. He’d texted last night whilst I was at the bar asking how it was going, so I’d sent a quick reply saying I was with Adonis so I’d catch up with him later and I hoped he liked his date.