Page 32 of Beautifully Wild

She sighs. “In Adelaide working for my father.” She rolls her eyes. “He loves Ethan. Hoped we’d end up together.” She shakes her head.

Samuel picks up the knife and twirls it in his fingers like it’s a spear.

“Even thinking about him makes me angry, and that my father has employed him. But it’s a story for another time.”

A story Samuel wants to eventually hear.

No. He can’t invest in the emotion.

The pizzas arrive.

“What are your plans for the rest of your stay here in Ilhéus?” Samuel asks before taking a bite.

Eden swallows a mouthful of pizza. “What are yours?”

“I asked first.”

“Okay… to be with you.”

He nods. “Then I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Eden’s gaze flicks over his face. He senses doubt.

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” he promises. “Tonight, I need sleep as I barely slept last night worrying about today and how you’d react. We have the rest of the week to be together.”

It’s all he can offer for now.

19

Eden

“Ifinditweirdhe has no social media presence,” Amy had said last night.

“I find it refreshing,” I’d replied, although it did spook me a little, almost to the point he doesn’t exist. When Yasmine googled him, the searches popped up from ten years ago detailing his medical achievements at Stanford and around six years ago at a hospital in California. We found images of his father, a renowned hematologist. He possessed the same fair hair and blue eyes as Samuel and an identical browline.

The nerves in my stomach haven’t settled at the idea of us sleeping together. Yet I sense him holding back, and it confuses me for most guys I know sprint to third base for a home run.

Even the way he dresses baffles me. From our internet searches, his family has money. Except for the tux he wore to the Copacabana ball, his fashion choice indicates he’s barely getting by. I’m not being judgmental, only trying to understand his character.

I step out of the bathroom to Yasmine waking with a weary moan. “So, you’re meeting him for breakfast. Then what?”

I shrug. “Last night he mentioned the beach.”

Yasmine pushes up onto her elbow. “I can head into the town center, so you have the room to yourself.” She offers a smile, although I know she senses my uneasiness.

“No need. He has his own room if it comes down to that.” I turn to the mirror and pull my hair into a messy bun to keep it off my neck. I adjust several strands ignoring the way her eyes study my reflection.

Dressed in denim shorts and a white tank, I leave my friends for the day. And, the night, hopefully.

“Hey,” I say and smile when I meet him on the path outside my room. “How did you sleep?”

He scratches at the whiskers along his jaw. “Not as well as I’d hoped.” He takes my face in his hands and kisses me. Warm, soft lips caress mine, conveying why he didn’t sleep. “You hungry?” he says against my mouth.

A double entendre.

“Always.”

He takes both my hands and gazes down as if our linked hands hold answers. His expression retains anguish behind happiness.

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