Page 20 of The Twelve-Hour Rule
The drive back to the resort feels extremely short. The shuttle smells like coconut air freshener, and the driver hums along to “All I Want for Christmas Is You.” It’s a fitting metaphor that makes my stomach flutter. The closer we get, the lighter I feel, like the decision is pulling a weight off my shoulders I didn’t know I was carrying.
By the time we pass the front gate, the sun has already started to set. The resort glows golden, music spilling from the bars, people laughing over dinner, glasses clinking. It’s warm and alive and nothing like the apartment waiting for me in Manhattan.
I wheel my suitcase down the path toward Ben’s building, heart thudding so loud it downs out everything else.
When I reach his door, I sit on the floor across the hall and wait. I have no idea what I’ll say when I see him.Hey, surprise, I missed my flight?Or maybeHi, I’m Sol and I’m completely out of my mind but would you let me stay with you for a few days?
The sound of laughter drifts up from the courtyard. Then footsteps. Two men’s voices, one of them familiar.
He turns the corner with a jacket slung over his shoulder, shirt half untucked, hair mussed from the wind. He’s smiling, easy and relaxed, until his gaze lands on me.
“Sol?”
“Hey.”
He blinks a few times. “Okay. I’m way drunker than I thought. Or hallucinating.”
“Neither,” I say, pushing to my feet. “I, um… missed my flight.”
He laughs, slow and disbelieving. “Missed it? How?”
“Or… skipped it,” I admit, trying not to slap my forehead at how pathetic I must sound. “Still deciding on the wording.”
His grin widens, but his eyes are searching mine, like he’s not sure this is real. “You came back.”
“Yeah.”
He takes a small step closer, that crooked smile starting to form. “So what you’re saying is… fate intervened again?”
I shake my head, smiling despite myself. “Don’t push it.”
“Right. Right. You’re here purely for the food.”
“Obviously.”
He chuckles, then gestures toward the door. “Do you need a place to stay?”
As he unlocks the door and the soft light spills into the hallway, I feel it—the quiet certainty blooming somewhere deep inside me.
Maybe this could work. Only for this week.
CHAPTER 10
BEN
“God, you’re a fucking dream, Sunshine.”Sol is standing in the middle of my room, hand tight around her suitcase, and a look on her face I can only describe as bewildered. It’s like she can’t quite believe she’s doing this, and I’m too afraid to move so she doesn’t go running again. I lick my lips, eyes flickering back and forth between hers, waiting for her to say something.
Inside, my pulse is doing somersaults. She’s here. She didn’t get on the plane. And that shouldn’t mean anything because people miss flights and change plans all the time, but I can feel it buzzing in my chest anyway, this stupid, impossible hope that maybe she didn’t want to leave. Maybe she came back for me.
I don’t let myself believe it for long. I’ve done that before; read too much into moments, built entire stories from a single glance. Still, watching her now, cheeks flushed from the humidity, hair messy from travel she never took—it’s hard not to imagine what it would feel like if she stayed.
She drops her hand and her purse, and takes one tentative step in my direction, and that is all the consent I need. I rush forward until her chest is against mine and my fingers thread through her hair. “If you don’t want this you need to say soright now. Otherwise, I’ll fuck you until you forget all those adult problems you say you’re having.”
Sol whimpers and her eyes find my lips before landing back on mine. Her pupils are huge, and I can barely see the greens of her irises in the dim light of my room. Outside the world is wild, but I can only focus on her—her soft body against mine, her arms wrapping around my waist and pulling me against her, and how her breath is getting more and more erratic.
“You have to say it, honey, or else I walk away.”
“Please fuck me,” she replies, and I see the moment her cheeks flush. She looks fucking adorable standing in front of me, completely vulnerable and open to whatever this could turn in to. At least that’s what I hope. I mean, just the fact that we live in the same city is already a huge coincidence, let alone that she’s here, willingly. “Remember those things you wanted to do to me today? I have time.”
