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“Hope you like it in the suite.”
I stop. “You changed my flight?”
“I’m not flying economy, especially on an international flight.”
“Okay, but I’d feel better flying coach.”
He shakes his head at me. “You are one weird-ass chic, Bridge.”
“The more you do stuff like this, the more I feel I owe you.”
His eyes take on a darker, molten quality. “Maybe that’s the idea.”
I don’t have a response.
Amy, my friend and roommate from Cal, comes up to us. “I wish you’d stay longer.”
“I wish I could, too,” I answer. “But I can’t miss much more school and work.”
I wonder that Amy can seem so nonchalant about her classes and job. I know she’s missing at least one test in her chem class, though she’s so cute, she can probably talk her professor into letting her take it when she wants.
“Where’s JD?” I inquire.
“On a business call,” Amy says. “He’s pretty mad. Something work-related. Like a bad shipment or something. It sounds super serious. I’m actually worried about him.”
She looks over to Darren, who puts on his sunglasses even though we’re standing in the shade of several sugar palm trees.
“He’ll be fine,” Darren says.
“Does this kind of thing happen often?” Amy asks.
Darren shrugs. “Things have always worked out for my cousin.”
Amy appears a little more at ease. “I didn’t realize his line of business could be so stressful.”
Darren doesn’t say anything further on the topic. I remember that JD imports and exports chemical compounds or something like that.
“I’ll go check out,” Darren says before heading over to the reception.
Once he’s out of earshot, Amy gushes, “Can you believe how lucky the two of us have been? Spending a week in paradise with two super-hot guys? It feels like I’m dreaming, and I hope I never wake up!”
I finger the stitches in my lip.
“Except for you getting hurt, of course,” Amy adds.
“Still worth it,” I reply.
“It’s too bad that Mok guy didn’t end up in jail.”
I agree, but Darren threw the first punch between the two of them, so if Mok went, Darren might have as well. And apparently both men had sat in jail before. Which didn’t surprise me terribly when Darren had told me. I’ve always sensed there was an edge to Darren, and I don’t usually go for guys like that. If it weren’t for the chemistry…which I don’t understand either. Pheromones, I guess?
“The only thing that would make this trip perfect,” Amy continues, “is if JD weren’t so stressed about work and if she wasn’t here.”
I follow her gaze to the swim-up bar in the pool where a beautiful young woman sits, wearing a glittering gold one-piece swimsuit that has less fabric to it than a bikini. I wish I could reassure her that she has nothing to worry about, but I just don’t know JD well enough. I’ve caught him glancing at other women with appreciation in his eyes, which doesn’t automatically make him a player or disqualify him for relationship material, but I still get a less-than-trustworthy sense.
I should probably apply that sentiment to Darren, even though he seems to have rebuffed the women who have come onto him during our stay here in Phuket. Noting that Darren’s most recent ex-girlfriend is a lingerie model, I think it’s probably a matter of time before he does give in to the attentions of women hotter than me.
Well, in that event, it will have been fun while it lasted. Frankly, as much as I’m attracted to him, I’m not sure that Darren’s relationship material either. At least not for me.
