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“Oh. Umm, I don’t know?”
My brow creases at her wording it as a question, but I let it go for now. I’m entirely to blame for her hesitance around me, the uncertainty, but I plan to put that right, by building back up all that I tore down when I had my head in my ass.
“We can either head back to the island and the beach house, or if you’d prefer, we can stay here on the mainland for a few days. We have a hotel suite with plenty of rooms booked. Or there’s even the option to stay somewhere else on the island if you need a change of scenery.”
“I just want to go home…to the beach house, I mean.” It pleases me that she calls it home, and I don’t hide my smile from her.
“It’s your home too. For as long as you need or want it.”
“Thank you. But…”
“But?” I prompt her gently.
“But a couple of days break sounds amazing.”
“I’ll ring the others and tell them we’re coming to the hotel. You can stay as long as you need.”
“Put me down then,” she protests, trying to wiggle free. I hold her tighter to avoid dropping her or doing something really stupid like spanking her ass for not letting me look after her.
“No,” I tell her firmly. “I can multitask.”
A beat passes, then she says, “I’m sorry.”
She tries to look away but I capture her gaze with mine and then slowly raise a brow. “Why are you sorry?”
Shrugging, she breaks the bond between us and looks away. “I shouldn’t have gone to class, like you said.”
Sighing, I shift her in my arms so that I can better see her face, and make sure she’s looking right at me again before I tell her, “They’re the police, Malia. They would have found and taken you eventually. You did nothing wrong, and Bhodi was with you. If anyone should be apologising it’s me.”
“You? Whatever for?”
“The list is too long to even start. But I’m sorry I wasn’t in class when they took you.” I mean every word.
“You wouldn’t have been able to stop them, you said it yourself.”
I smirk. “True.”
“So neither of us have anything to be sorry for.” She gives me a soft, hopeful smile that makes me want to kiss her again.
I’m certainly not sorry for kissing her back inside the station if that’s what she means.
The guys are elated to see me when the professor drops me off at their hotel. I’m kind of sad that he doesn’t stay and can’t help wondering if he regrets kissing me. He must. And that hurts. Which is stupid, because I’m dating Bhodi and Cove and there’s definitely also something there between Reef and me. My hands are more than full. I wasn’t even interested in dating before coming here. I feel ridiculous now, like I’m trying to compete with Summer and her five guys.
But I honestly have no idea where that kiss with the professor came from. To begin with I thought it was a lingering fever dream from last night.
What a crazy night. I really want to tell someone about it, but I don’t even know how to go about bringing it up with the guys. And I guess confiding in Summer is well and truly out.
My stomach growls and all eyes in the room turn to me, making my cheeks heat.
“Hungry, little dot?”
I nod. “Yeah, the professor said I shouldn’t eat or drink anything at the station.”
“Shit,” Cove curses, looking guilty. “We knew that. We should have ordered something already.”
“We could go down to the restaurant,” Bhodi suggests. “It’ll be quicker.”
“True. Malia, what do you want to do?” They both turn to me expectantly.
