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I couldn’t stay away anymore.
“I gotta go,” I said, glancing at the clock and realizing that I was going to be late for breakfast if I didn’t get in the shower right now.
We ended the call, and I rushed through my morning routine. I needed to push all thoughts of Summer from my mind for now and focus on the work retreat. I wasn’t just here for pleasure, and my future at the company could be determined by how well things went this week.
CHAPTER5
Summer
It was my second day on the island, and I had hoped that I would feel nothing but completely relaxed by now, with not a care in the world. I wanted to be thinking of nothing as I lounged by the pool with a fruity cocktail, soaking up some sun. That was what a vacation should be.
Instead, my mind kept replaying the steamy kiss that Levi planted on my lips last night.What a cocky asshole.He needed to learn to keep his hands to himself.
Okay, so I kissed him back at first. I lost myself in the white-hot passion that flooded me at the contact of our lips. It was overwhelming, the kind of thing that stayed with a person long after she rejected the kiss.
But Ididreject it.
It was harder to do than I expected it to be. If I was honest with myself, I would have to admit that I liked the kiss.Morethan liked it. I wanted to feel those lips of his all over my body. I wanted to invite him inside and put my king-sized bed to good use, which was a serious problem.
So, I shoved Levi away, reminding myself that I couldn’t trust him enough to consider him to be a friend anymore, much less sleep with him. The problem now was that my body was at war with my mind. I wasachingfor him despite myself.
“What are you thinking so hard about?”
I looked up from the book I was staring at for the last half hour and peered at my friend, Poppy, from behind my sunglasses.
“I’m reading,” I said, not willing to be honest. I could barely wrap my mind around my issues with Levi, but I wasn’t ready to share them with anyone else yet.
“You haven’t turned a page in over five minutes,” she pointed out.
I smirked. “I’m guessing that you’re having trouble focusing on your book too since you noticed such a thing.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said unconvincingly, turning her head away to look back at the romance novel in her hands.
I snapped my book shut and sat up in the lounge chair. It was early afternoon and we were at the hotel pool area, surrounded by people swimming and floating in the lazy river that wound around us. There were at least a dozen kids on the other side of the outdoor space, using a big red water slide over and over again as they laughed and squealed in amusement.
Everyone was having fun here, but I felt like I was in a funk. My island getaway wasn’t supposed to be like this.
“Are you having guy problems?” I asked curiously, and Poppy sighed.
The two of us had known each other for a long time and always gotten along well. Our brothers were best friends, so we had a natural connection. I was glad to have her here to spend time with instead of just hanging out with my family or avoiding Levi for the entire week.
“You could say that,” she replied, but when she didn’t elaborate, I let the subject drop. If I wasn’t willing to talk about Levi, I wasn’t going to push her to spill the beans about her own issues.
Instead, we both put our books aside and started chatting about nothing in particular. Poppy was an acupuncturist, which I found fascinating, and I loved to hear about her work. I was so caught up in the conversation that I didn’t even notice someone approaching us until a shadow fell over me.
Turning, I looked up at the man towering over me, the bright sunlight outlining his tall, muscular form. He looked like a model or something with his thick blonde hair and dimple chin. He smiled, showing off perfectly straight, white teeth. It was a panty-dropping smile if I’d ever seen one, and it was directed right at me.
“Hi there,” he said in a deep voice. “Don’t I know you?”
I let my eyes roam over him before I answered, taking in the tanned skin over taut muscle. His swim trunks sat low on his hips, and I had to admit that I was impressed with his physique.
“Are you really trying that old pickup line?” I asked, grinning up at him. “We’re in a popular vacation spot.Howwould we have met each other?”
“Pretty and smart. I like that,” he replied, pulling up the lounge chair beside me as close as possible before taking a seat.
I glanced over at Poppy to find that she’d picked her book back up and was staring at it, trying to act like she wasn’t listening in on my conversation with the man. I cleared my throat and she looked over at me with a fake innocent expression.
“It’s upside down,” I told her, pointing to the book.
