Page 86 of Going Overboard

‘If this were wrestling, I would have just won,’ he points out.

‘Well, I can’t argue with that, can I?’ I reply. ‘Are we going to resolve all of our issues like this?’

‘It’s like I said before… for as long as you’ll have me,’ he jokes.

‘Well, I suppose we could share it,’ I suggest. ‘We are already both in it, so…’

‘…so I suppose we could,’ he says. ‘But can you keep your hands off me, that’s the issue.’

‘Says the man who is currently on top of me,’ I reply.

‘Want me to move?’ he asks, although from his smirk I can tell he already knows the answer.

‘No,’ I reply.

He leans forward and kisses me, holding my wrists above my head with one hand while the other takes his weight.

‘Is this a wrestling move?’ I ask between kisses.

‘Yes,’ he replies. ‘Perfectly platonic, no funny business, just sports.’

‘Ah, and I do love sports,’ I say sarcastically.

‘Just wait until I take you to your first cricket match,’ he says.

‘Oh, boy, can’t wait,’ I reply.

I’m teasing him but I actually can’t wait. I know, I don’t like sport, and I definitely don’t understand cricket, but I can’t wait to see him in action, doing his thing. I don’t care if it’s on the field, on TV or just him coaching kids.

Being here together, sharing this room, it feels so different to sharing a room on the ship. Obviously we don’t have our room-mates – not sad about that at all – but this time it feels like ours, like something has shifted between us.

‘You want to be careful,’ he warns me. ‘Because this is starting to feel pretty real.’

‘I think it might be real,’ I joke.

Brody fakes a gasp as he strokes my cheek.

‘No more pretending?’ he replies.

‘No more gym, no more spa…’

‘Oh, but I did love the spa,’ he replies. ‘I don’t remember the last time I laughed so much.’

‘And I’ll miss the gym,’ I tell him. ‘Even if I did mostly go just to perv over you.’

‘It’s comments like that, princess, that make me think that you might struggle to keep things platonic later,’ he jokes.

‘Only if you play your cards right,’ I reply.

I really could stay here all day, in his arms, but we’ve got a dinner to get dressed up for.

This is it. No more secrets, no more pretending. Just us.

Tomorrow we’ll watch our best friends tie the knot and then after that… who knows? But I’ll bet it’s going to be good.

34

The hotel coffee bar looks like something you would see on Instagram and instantly wish you could go there – the kind of thing you see and forward to the person you love or your bestie. Well, I don’t need to, because Kelsey is here with me.

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