* * *
Thirty minutesand some slightly sore knees later—tiled floors weren’t ideal for kneeling on—Henry was on his way back to his own villa for a change of clothes when his phone rang.
Ella.
Of course it was.
Surprised it took her this long to call.
Tapping the phone screen, Henry smirked when his sister’s smiling face appeared. “Hey, sis. Fancy hearing from you.”
She rolled her eyes. “You’re lucky I waited this long to call you.” Glancing behind him, her eyes twinkled with amusement. “And you’re out for a walk, how nice.” Grinning, she asked, “Are you walking to or from somewhere?”
Henry sighed, knowing she’d get the details out of him one way or another. And to be fair, he didn’t mind. Ella had been his go-to confidant since they were little. “I’m walking back to my villa.” That didn’t mean he had to make it easy for her, and her little huff made him smile.
Her eyes narrowed, “Are they last night’s clothes you’re wearing?” She was fishing and they both knew it.
Shaking his head, Henry fixed her with a pointed look. “I know what you’re doing, but as a matter of fact, yes they are.”
She squealed so loudly that Henry quickly hugged the phone to his chest, lest she scared small children and animals. After a couple of seconds, he lifted it away and glared at her. “Finished?”
“Sorry.” She looked anything but. Smiling at him, she whispered, “Henry West, did you havesexlast night?”
He glanced around to make sure no unfortunate family happened to be walking nearby and, when convinced the coast was clear, answered, “I might have.” His smile was impossible to contain, and he gave up, taking his sister’s ribbing in good humour.
“Good for you. I won’t ask for details—”
“I wouldn’t give you any.”
She ignored him. “But you have to tell me what’s happening now. Are you seeing him again? Was it a one-off holiday thing? Was the sex good?” She waggled her eyebrows in a way that made her look ridiculous, and Henry laughed.
“I’m meeting him in about half an hour, so not a one-off, but definitely a holiday-only thing, and yes it was.”
Ella was quiet while she sorted through his answers, and when her eyebrows scrunched together, he knew what she was going to say next. “Why just a holiday-only thing. If you get on that well, there’s no reason why—”
“I’ve known him for one day.”
“But still...”
He let out a long-suffering sigh and made it loud enough that Ella heard it. “We’re both just out of relationships. We don’t live near enough each other to start something and neither of us is looking for anything more than a bit of fun.” It was the truth, Henry knew, but the words felt funny on his tongue. He shook it off and pointed a finger at her on his phone. “Take that look off your face. You told me to come away and have fun, and that’s exactly what I’m doing. Don’t try to make more of it.”
After a moment’s silence where she glared at him and he glared back, she grudgingly agreed not to press. “Okay. Well, have fun today and I’ll talk to you later.”
“Bye, sis.” He blew a loud kiss at her and made her laugh.
Much better.
They hung up as his villa came into view and Henry stopped suddenly, smiling at the two grey squirrels running about near his front door. They both scarpered when they noticed him, and Henry watched them dart up the nearest tree, making a racket as they went. They weren’t all that active at this time of year. Henry remembered reading that they slept a lot more, so he felt even more fortunate at having seen them.
His villa looked as pristine as when he’d first arrived yesterday. Hardly surprising since he’d spent most of his time at Dom’s. Henry was no stranger to a holiday romance. He’d had his fair share in his late teens, knew how intense they could feel in the moment. He liked to think he was old enough now to appreciate the feeling was temporary and not let himself get too caught up in it.
Like he’d said to Ella, this was a holiday fling.
Nothing more.
And that suited him just fine.
Stripping off his clothes, Henry found some clean boxers and a fresh T-shirt and pulled them on. Yesterday’s jeans were fine, but after a moments deliberation, he changed his socks too.
