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Back at the yacht, I saw Henri, Edward, and Lauren waiting for us, a look of panic on their faces.
“Is she alright?” Henri jumped onto the smaller boat and grabbed my hand, helping me up. Luca’s hand was still on my waist, steadying me as I took Henri's outstretched hand. I still hadn’t said anything, but I could slowly feel my body come to as I nodded in response, taking a step back and letting out another cough. I could feel Luca still standing behind me, his hand on my waist as I leaned onto his chest, catching my breath.
“I…I’m okay,” I said finally to the expectant group. Henri nodded and then grabbed me away from Luca, leading me toward the kitchen.
“Let’s get you some water.”
After another hour of assuring everyone I was alright, Edward had made Lauren and I a comfy spot at the front of the boat for the two of us in the shade of an umbrella. Once Henri and Hugo had stopped fawning over me, I had convinced the boys to go snorkeling, promising that Lauren and I would be okay sitting on the boat drinking smoothies – which she had conveniently spiked with some rum when no one was looking.
As we sat on the back deck and chatted away, Lauren finally asked the question I could tell she had been dying to ask all day.
“So, you and Luca seem much closer than I expected,” she gushed, a look of mischief in her eyes. “You know Edward…”
Before she could finish her sentence, I chuckled and cut her off, “Edward is betting on us actually getting together. Yes, I know.”
“Well…”
I wanted to tell her about Sunday. Hell, I wanted to scream it from the rooftops, but I knew better than that. If I told Lauren, Edward would know by sunset, and then he would be congratulating Luca – and I couldn’t be having that.
“There’s nothing to tell. We agreed to be friends, and here we are on vacation.”
“Oh, bullshit,” she blurted out. My eyes went a bit wide at that. Lauren had always been so quiet and reserved, and her outburst was unexpected. “Sorry, I just see the way Luca looks at you. Edward sees the way he looks at you. It’s not like he looks at other people. I mean, your brotherclearlysees something.”
“Henri?” I asked incredulously. “Henri is the most oblivious person on the planet.”
“Oliver sort of overheard Henri telling Luca off at Monday’s brunch.”
I gave Lauren a questioning look, and I could see the hesitation in her eyes, but finally, she relented. “Apparently, he’s a bit concerned about Luca's intentions.”
“Little late now,” I scoffed. “If Henri had a problem with this, he probably should have said something back in Spain when I was being bombarded with this ridiculous idea.” Lauren judged me silently and then nodded, not quite sure what to say.
So that’s the reason Henri had been so adamant about joining our trip. And here I thought my brother had actually wanted to spend time with me – not take up a gig as a bodyguard.
“Look, I’m not sure what everyone thinks is going on here, but Luca is clearly not interested in me that way. As long as I’ve known him, I’ve only ever seen him date models. He’s incredibly attractive and wealthy. I’m sure he’s got plenty of women. He doesn’t need the added stress of a professional race car driver as a girlfriend.” Lauren gave me an annoyed look.
“If you wanted to be a model, Georgia, I could call any agency, and they would happily take you,” Lauren announced. I rolled my eyes at that and playfully swatted at her shoulder. Lauren – not a mean word could come out of her mouth. “Look, all I’m saying is, I see how Luca looks at you. It’s different.” I sighed as I took a sip of my rum smoothie.
“How much has Edward bet on this? Must be a lot if he’s got you over here hawking Luca at me.”
“Fine, fine, believe what you want. At least tell me you’re getting some on the side.” Lauren wiggled her eyebrows at me as she shimmied her shoulders. “That man is just too fine for you not to be getting some.”
Oh, little did she know.
“A polite woman never tells.”Why had this become my go-to answer?Lauren just gave me a knowing look, which I ignored.
“Fine, fine, keep your secrets.”
* * *
Luca
By the time we boys had arrived back at the yacht, it was dinner time. Henri was, of course, burnt to a crisp, and I watched Georgia scold him for being irresponsible, which I knew he would ignore. My parents and sister had decided to head to the shore for dinner, so it was just us drivers plus Lauren and Hugo for dinner on the yacht tonight. We had decided to dress comfortably and have dinner while watching the sunset at the front of the boat.
The wind had picked up more than I had expected considering how warm the day was, and it had begun to feel fairly chilly on the top deck of the yacht, although I was appreciating the coolness on my face since I had picked up a little bit of sun today. Georgia sat to my right, which I knew was due to some sort of engineering between Edward and Lauren because Henri had desperately tried to get her to sit next to him. When Edward plopped down next to Henri's open seat, I could see the annoyance on his face, but he said nothing.
As Georgia sat next to me, I could see her quietly shivering. Now that the sun had officially set, the temperatures had dropped. I picked up my jacket, which was sitting behind me, and placed it over her. She gave me a small smile and offered her thanks, putting her arms into the holes of the Hermes jacket.
“The color purple looks good on you,” Edward teased as she huddled into the jacket further for warmth. The jacket was quite big on her, and she looked adorable, snuggling deeper into her LR52 jacket.
