Page 88 of What Happens in Paradise

It was clear.

Alejandro had ruined me.

Using a vibrator after having sex with him was like staying in a five-star hotel then being moved to a cockroach-infested, one-star hostel. There was no comparison.

But it was what it was. The weekend was fun, but now it was over between us.

There were a lot more staff buzzing around the hotel today. It wasn’t deserted like last week, so we couldn’t hook up without someone noticing.

My computer started ringing. When I glanced at the screen, Hazel was calling. And it was a video call.

Shit.

I should’ve phoned her straightaway instead of thinking about Alejandro.

‘Hazel! Hi! I’ve just finished my meeting with Hortense and was about to call you!’ I said as brightly as I could, despite the fact that my heart was thumping in my chest.

‘I was starting to wonder if you were still alive,’ she said solemnly. ‘I was expecting you to call me back on Saturday when I called multiple timesandmessaged.’

‘So sorry! I was having problems with my phone,’ I lied, hoping I wouldn’t be sent to hell. I was about to elaborate by adding something like the fact my battery had died because I wasn’t expecting to be staying there overnight but Hazel knew as well as I did that all reputable hotels had spare phone chargers. Best to keep it simple.

‘Really? What kinds of problems?’

Dammit.Why couldn’t she just accept I had problems and leave it at that?

‘Reception was patchy. And I wasn’t sure if you had time off, so I didn’t want to disturb you.’

‘Hmmm,’ she huffed. ‘I was working all day. It’s very unlike you not to get back to me straightaway. So? How was it?’

I filled her in on our trip to Rick’s Café (minus the part about me rubbing my arse against Alejandro’s cock on the dance floor of course).

‘So as I mentioned to Hortense earlier, I think it would be a great addition to the itinerary. We’d need to check with legal regarding guests jumping and add something to state that they do so at their own risk.’

‘Of course. But do you think it will stimulate romance?’

‘Definitely!’ I said as a flashback of my mouth pressed against Alejandro’s jumped into my mind. ‘The sunset is very romantic. And the atmosphere is very… charged,’ I said diplomatically.

‘How so?’ She rested her finger on her chin.

‘Well, there were lots of couples dancing closely and even the cocktails are named with togetherness in mind.’

Yes.Closelywas one way of describing the provocative bumping and grinding people like me and Alejandro did.

Andtogethernesswas a professional of way of avoiding going into detail about the ‘Mating Season’ drinks that were on offer.

She didn’t need to know that Alejandro had researched the Jamaican Viagra cocktail personally, or that whilst I couldn’t prove it was responsible for the after-effects, Icouldvouch for the fact that he was hard all night.

And I definitely wouldn’t be stupid enough to add that I’d tried the Sex With Rick cocktail which had unrelatedly led to me having Sex With Alejandro several times over the weekend.

No. The less Hazel knew, the better.

‘I see. And didyoudo any of this dancing?’

‘Me?’ My eyes widened as I tried to buy myself more time. ‘I was there to observe. Most people were couples and I’m obviously single, so…’ I shrugged, pleased that I’d answered the question without having to outright lie. ‘I did however try the cliff jumping and it was thrilling!’

‘Tell me more.’ Hazel leant forward and I gave myself a mental high five for diverting her attention away from the dancing. ‘Sounds great. And tell me about the sunset. Better still, send me some photos right now. I’d love to see it, especially as that’s one of the main attractions.’

My stomach bottomed out.

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