I open my mouth to respond when Aria’s voice cuts through the air like a bucket of ice water.
“Are you two coming to play volleyball, or are you gonna stay there eye-fucking each other all day?”
Milo’s eyes drop to my mouth one last time, dark and full of promise, before he slowly releases me. I push away from him, already missing the heat of his body. As I swim toward the edge, I feel his gaze burning into my back the entire way.
And as the rest of the afternoon continues, I feel his gaze on me constantly—on my mouth whenever I talk. On the curve of my ass whenever I bend to grab something. Even on the way mynipples strain against my bikini while I lie on the lounger and read my book.
By the time the sun dips below the horizon and we finally head back to the villa, with Aria reminding me about the girls’ night I promised her tonight, my heart feels too full and my body too empty.
Whatever’s happening between Milo and me has made me realize that maybe I don’t want to go back to the life I knew before him… maybe I want to see where whatever this is between us goes.
Chapter Seventeen
Sienna
The green cucumbermask is cool and tingly on my skin, already starting to crack at the edges from all the laughing we’ve been doing.
It’s just Aria and me in her villa, doing the kind of thing we used to do when we were teenagers—sneaking into each other’s rooms for midnight slumber parties.
There’s a half-eaten fruit platter on the coffee table, mostly pineapple, strawberries, and watermelon with melted chocolate to dip them in.
Aria sits cross-legged on the couch above me, her pink mask flaking as she carefully braids a section of my hair. I’m on the floor, back against the couch, legs stretched out, trying not to fidget even though my knee keeps bouncing against the rug.
The restless energy has been worse than usual tonight. My brain feels like it’s running a billion tabs at once, and every single one is labeled “Milo.”
“We haven’t done this in years,” Aria says softly, her fingers gentle as she twists another strand. “Just you and me. It feels… nice.”
I smile, even though the mask makes my face feel tight. “Too nice. I forgot how much I missed it. Remember when we usedto do face masks every Friday night? You’d always steal my cucumber mask and then complain it made your skin break out.”
She laughs. “And you’d steal my chocolate one and complain it smelled too much like chocolate when you were trying to cut it out. God, we were ridiculous.”
“We still are,” I murmur. My knee bounces harder. I press my palm to my thigh, trying to calm it, but the energy just reroutes to my fingers, tapping the edge of the couch.
This is supposed to be relaxing sister time, but my brain won’t shut up. It keeps replaying last night in the hot tub—the way Milo’s mouth crashed into mine, teeth clashing, his hands gripping my hips like he never wanted to let go.
Aria tugs gently at my braid. “You’re bouncing again. What’s going on? You’ve been jittery since you got here.”
I exhale through my nose, staring at the ceiling. “I kissed him.”
Aria’s fingers pause mid-braid.
“Last night,” I continue, my voice quieter. “In the hot tub. I straddled him and kissed him like the world was ending. It was…God, Aria, I’ve never kissed anyone like that in my life.”
She’s silent for a moment, then lets out a soft, surprised laugh. “Finally! I was wondering when one of you would make the first move. Ethan owes me fifty bucks and a foot massage now!”
I twist my head slightly to look at her, mouth parted. “You… bet on us?”
A flush creeps up her cheeks. “Since the first night when I saw the chemistry between you two. Ethan said Milo would make the first move, but I know you. I knew you’d think too much about it and hyperventilate… and well, look at you now.”
“I’m not hyperventilating.”
She laughs. “You totally are.”
I groan, covering my face with my hands. “It’s not funny. My brain is more scrambled than it already is. I’ve known him for five days, Aria. And I’m sitting here thinking about his hands, his mouth, and the way he looks at me. I never get like this. I’m pretty sure the sun is giving me sunstroke or something.”
Aria laughs again, but it’s gentler this time as she resumes braiding. “It’s not sunstroke, Sienna. It’s chemistry. The kind that doesn’t care about timelines.”
I drop my hands and play with the loose thread on my shorts, my knee bouncing faster. “I failed chemistry for a reason—we just don’t get along. That’s why I’m a fun only girl. There are no complications that way.”
