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‘How can you stand it?’
‘I can’t. I’m sitting,’ I reply. It takes him a moment and then Noah groans.
‘God, I’d drown you if you weren’t in literally four inches of water.’
‘And if I wasn’t far stronger than you,’ I reply. Noah’s all bone and lean muscle. I’d take him in a fight any day.
‘Have you thought about the holiday any further?’ Noah asks.
‘I’ve booked somewhere.’
‘Really? Where?’
‘It’s a secret.’ Noah’s face scrunches. ‘Not good with secrets?’
‘It makes me feel all itchy not knowing.’ He laughs. ‘Is it by the water? Oh god, you’re not one of those people who thinks climbing a mountain is a holiday, are you? Gabriel, I’m not climbing a mountain. I’ll go as far aslookingat one from the deck of a bar, but that’s it.’
‘No mountain climbing,’ I promise.
31
Noah
Bella from the Rosewood calls me just after three. Gabriel and I are curled up on his bed watching a French movie. At least, we had been until Gabriel nodded off and I’d found more interest listening to the little noises he makes in his sleep than anything happening on the screen.
Gabriel must feel the phone vibrate between us, though, because he wakes and stretches his body like a cat, his joints cracking and popping as he flexes.
‘Don’t go,’ he mumbles against my shoulder. Fingers find their way under my shirt, caressing my stomach. I try to wiggle away but he wraps one strong arm around me, pinning me against him.
I find my phone in the folds of blankets and pick it up.
‘Hey, Noah, sorry to bother you,’ Bella says. ‘Ashley called in sick. Could you come in for a shift tonight?’
I don’t know who Ashley is but fuck her.
‘Sure, I can be there in an hour,’ I reply. As much as I don’t want to leave Gabriel, I need the money. ‘Do you have a spare shirt? I won’t have time to go home and change.’
She says she does, and I promise to be there soon. I hang up and kiss Gabriel’s temple, his cheek, the corner of his mouth.
‘I will pay you double to stay and cuddle me more,’ he murmurs.
‘Tempting,’ I reply. ‘But a bit too sugar baby for me. Let’s just stick to the “free companionship and sexual favours” deal we have going already, yeah?’
Gabriel rolls onto his back, pillowing his head on a crooked elbow. ‘Agree, it could get very expensive for me very quickly.’
He looks divine spread out on the white linen of his hotel bed. It’s almost a sin to leave him there, but I pull on my shorts and sneakers and give him a kiss goodbye.
He holds me by the collar of my shirt. ‘Will you come to the final?’
‘Of course,’ I say. ‘I wouldn’t miss it for the world.’
Gabriel kisses me again, hard and passionate. ‘I want to look up and see you there. Whatever the outcome.’
‘You will,’ I promise.
‘It’s a buck’s party,’ Bella groans as I swipe in for my shift. ‘Keep an eye on them and call me if it gets too rowdy.’
The bucks are obnoxious and completely take over the beer courtyard, playing round after round of cornhole. Each time, the bet gets a little bigger; a little more dangerous until one of them has to scull an entire litre of beer. Bella then kicks them out for bad behaviour, and the litre of beer is regurgitated just outside our front door.
