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“And this is where you’ll be staying.” The little line of golf carts was slowly coming around a cul-de-sac of villas. His driver was a cute redhead named Ariel with a bright smile as she stopped in front of the pathway up to a small house. The oppressive heat of the island was enough to make him very glad for the little electric misting fan that had been handed to him upon arrival. He’d known it was going to be hot, but somehow, he hadn’t expected it to be quite this hot. It might be more the humidity than the actual heat—Maryland was humid by August, but he hadn’t been prepared for this level of moisture in the air.
“Great, thank you so much for the ride,” he said, giving her his best smile. Which had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that right in front of him, Rae was being helped out of her golf cart by the far-too-handsome driver. Her braids were piled on top of her head to keep them off her neck and shoulders. Her dark skin gleamed bronze in the sunlight that danced over her exposed cleavage and back, and he didn’t miss the way her driver’s gaze slid over her rounded ass as she moved past him before he went to get her bags.
“Let’s get you set up,” Ariel chirped.
Brian yanked his attention back from Rae and her driver, who was now getting her bags from the cart. On the other side of him, Iris and Law were headed into their own villa. Their group took up the entire cul-de-sac, with Mitch and Domi in the first villa, followed by Zach and Kincaid, Rae, him, Iris and Law, and finally Avery and Nick.
Why he had to end up next to Rae… well, what was done was done. He sure as hell wasn’t going to make a fuss about it. This trip was not about him. It was about making sure Mitch and Domi had a fun, relaxing time before their wedding. For the others, it was about allowing them to celebrate their recent engagements—or in the case of Kincaid and Zach, to hopefully work through their shit.
He was worried about those two.
There wasn’t much he could do about that at the moment, though. What he could do was go into his villa and not cause any issues right at the beginning of the trip, just because being right next to Rae made his skin crawl with hyperawareness of her nearness. He could deal with it for a few days. And nights.
“Here’s the main room, then the bedroom is right over here,” Ariel said, waving her hand as she led him through the villa.
Brian was holding his own suitcase—he didn’t care if she worked here, there was no way he was letting a woman nearly half his size carry his suitcase—as he followed her into the bedroom, setting it next to the closet. He’d unpack later.
“Bathroom is right here, and you have a walkout to the balcony for your beach view from both the bedroom and the main room.”
“Everything looks great, thank you,” he said honestly. The cool air inside the rooms was a relief. He wasn’t sure he’d be spending much time on the balcony, though he couldn’t help the impulse to step out and see the view… and as he did so, he saw movement out of the corner of his eye.
Though there were quite a few lush branches of greenery in the way, that didn’t stop him from recognizing Rae… also out on her balcony. She seemed to sense him at the same time, turning her head, and their gazes clashed. Then she turned away and went back inside. Brian’s muscles relaxed. He hadn’t even realized they’d tensed until he felt them unclench.
Dammit.
“Alright then, if you need anything, just call the front desk,” Ariel said cheerfully behind him.
“Thank you so much,” he said, turning back around to go inside and give her a tip. After he’d done so, he looked out the bedroom window—which just happened to be the one facing Rae’s villa.
Just like out on the balcony, there were plenty of plants obscuring the view… but not entirely. His window looked into her main room, which had a glass door leading onto the wrap-around balcony. The curtains could be drawn, but right now, they were wide open, and if he positioned himself just right, he could see straight in through the tree branches to her balcony and past it into her villa.
Where she was standing with her hand on the arm of her driver.
Fuck.
The surge of jealousy that went through him was not promising. He thought he’d gotten past this when she’d been dating Master Damian. And it wasn’t like he’d been celibate… he’d dated, too. It was just that nothing had come of any of it, and now they were both single again and here with a bunch of couples.
Taking a deep breath, he looked up at the ceiling and let it out slowly. That was probably the real issue here. Knowing they were the only two singles, it felt inevitable they should be paired up together… but they already knew that wouldn’t work. Setting himself up for rejection again was not on his to-do list.
He’d tried in the past. After being one of the Doms during her Introduction classes at Marquis, the local kink club they both belonged to, he’d gotten one glorious night with her. Yes, it had been a discipline scene she’d earned through bad behavior, but he’d also seen it as his chance to show her how good being his babygirl could be.
He thought he’d done it, too.
But the next day, she’d never texted him back after he texted her, much less picked up his calls. The next time they’d run into each other at the club, she’d acted like the night had never happened.
Brian had gotten the message even before she’d started dating Master Damian.
Just thinking about trying again made his chest hurt. He’d learned his lesson in the past about giving people too many chances, and Rae had already had far too many from him.
Tearing his gaze away from her, Brian went to unpack his suitcase.
Rae
What does one wear to dinner at a kinky island resort?
Rae sifted through her suitcase. Since the weather was supposed to be hot as fuck, she’d been able to pack a lot more than she needed, which was both good and bad. Good because she had options, bad because she had too many options, and she wasn’t sure what to go with.
Fetwear?
