Page 53 of What Happens in Paradise

There was only one woman I dreamt of these days and if I was with her, there was no way I would be dreaming about anyone else. Not even a famous movie star.

‘I’ll text you at the weekend to let you know what time Evita is coming.’

‘Vale. Duerme bien.’

‘Sleep well too. And don’t forget: keep your dick away from Jasmine! Love you!’ She hung up.

As I cleared up the kitchen, I thought about what Lola had said. She was right. It was too risky. There was a strong attraction between Jasmine and me, but I could not pursue it. It was true that there were billions of other women in the world I should wait to find a connection with one of them instead.

After I lost Freya, I thought I would never be interested in another woman ever again. But I was wrong. I had very strong feelings for Jasmine. So if I was able to find two women that I liked, then in time, I would find someone else. I just had to be patient.

Right now, it was time to focus on my career. Then in a year or two, I could start thinking about a relationship.

Just as Lola reminded me, there was a time and a place for expressing your feelings and now was not the time. Jasmine had repeatedly told me that she did not wish to pursue anything so I would respect her wishes. I would not tell her how I felt about her again.

From now on, everything I said or did around Jasmine would be strictly professional.

Time for a fresh start.

I picked up a knife, cut into the cake, then slid a small piece into my mouth.

Madre mía.

It tasted like heaven. I squeezed my eyes shut. The balance of pineapple and the coconut was perfect. The rum was not too strong. I would definitely like to make this for the head chef when he returned and see if he agreed that this could be a contender for the menu.

Next, I would need to experiment with what to serve it with. Perhaps a scoop of vanilla ice cream, or some homemade coconut ice cream? That would be less overpowering than a traditional rum and raisin flavour. But maybe that would be too much coconut?

I would be interested to hear what the Jamaican chef thought. I was looking forward to learning from him and exchanging ideas for the menu.

Jasmine would be so happy to know how well the cake she made had turned out. For some reason, she seemed to believe that she could not cook or bake, but this showed that she was wrong.

She needed to taste this cake. If this was a few hours ago, I would not have hesitated to take it to her room.

But I had just promised myself that I would keep my distance. That I would not see Jasmine unless it was absolutely necessary. So that was exactly what I intended to do.

18

JASMINE

A loud knock at the door made me jump off the bed. I’d been trying to distract myself by reading a book so I wouldn’t keep having flashbacks about my conversation with Alejandro in the kitchen earlier. But seeing as my favourite genre was romance, it wasn’t exactly helping to extinguish the flames of desire. Instead it was fanning them.

I could still picture the way he looked at me: the need burning in his eyes.

My first thought was that it was Alejandro at the door.

He was very determined, so although I’d told him I wasn’t interested, a man like him didn’t seem like the type to give up easily.

Maybe he’d come to convince me to throw caution to the wind and give in to our urges.

But then I heard his front door slam and the sound of the shower in his bathroom next door switch on at the same time that there was another knock at the door. So unless he’d developed the ability to clone himself, I knew it couldn’t be him.

‘Room service,’ a woman with a thick Jamaican accent called out.

That was strange. I hadn’t ordered room service. Room service didn’t even exist, because apart from the builders, Nadine and a couple of housekeeping and admin staff, Alejandro and I were the only people who worked at the hotel whilst it was being renovated.

After tightening my dressing-gown belt around my waist, I went and opened the door. Sure enough, it was a member of staff, clutching a tray.

‘Good evening,’ the lady who I didn’t recognise said. ‘This is for you, ma’am. Have a good night.’

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