Page 82 of Pomegranates and Olive

The girls are all on the bow of the boat cheering loudly and I throw my fist up to the sky to show the world that I did it!

"Oh my God! Did you see that? Did you see that? That was crazy!"

Searching for Luca’s face, I expect to see a smile or maybe even a thumbs up, but there is neither. He turns his back to me and steps down into the galley and out of sight. Rolling onto my back I float, my arms spread out, weightless, as I catch my breath. My ears in the water, I can hear my heart pounding hard from the intense adrenalin high.

I just jumped off of a fucking cliff!

“You did it!”

I start treading water again as Deniz swims over to me.

“I can’t believe it!”

“You are brave and beautiful and I never doubted you for a second!”

We swim the last few metres back to the boat together. I climb up the first runner with Deniz right behind me. He’s so close that as he whispers into my ear I am acutely aware of lips against my earlobe, his hot breath sending shivers down my spine. "Biz birlikte olmak için yaratilmisiz."

18

Cheers To All My Haters

I don’t understand why Luca’s so angry at me. He should be beaming with pride but instead he hasn’t said a word to me since my cliff jump and ruined the rest of the boat cruise for me. I’m not going to let him bring me down, though. I have done something I never thought I would or could ever do.

I jumped off a cliff!

And I did it all by myself, for myself!

In fact, I should be the one angry at him. He was too busy chasing Rosie off the cliff to see that what I really needed was a little encouragement so I could take that leap myself.

We race back to Ginny’s where we quickly shower and change. Rosie is over the moon with the chance to style each of us and I admit she’s doing an amazing job of it.

Kat and Aricia are both wearing Rosie’s signature black slip dresses which work beautifully with their tanned features. Kat has on the minidress which highlights her fabulous breasts and slim figure while Aricia wears the midi-dress that fits her like a second skin. Ginny quickly changes into a flowy, green dress, clearly chosen by her to cover her secret baby bump, but she still wears the Saint Laurent heels, making her legs look endless. I choose to wear the russet dress I wore on my first night here and I’m putting the finishing touches on my outfit when Rosie bustles into the room. “Oh no, sister, I can’t have you wearing that.”

“You do realise it’s one of your designs, don’t you?”

“Yes, but this isyournight and you’re going to want to look smoking hot!”

I glance at Rosie, looking exquisite in a clingy, gold dress, her hair an explosion of sun-kissed curls down to her butt, and, rather than her usual eclectic collection of jewellery, she chose simple, gold earrings.

Mysorellinais finally all grown up.

I’m just about to compliment her when she snaps her fingers and pulls her dress up and over her head. She stands before me in only her black g-string. “We’re swapping!”

“I can’t do that!”

“Yes, you can and you are.” She yanks off my russet, strapless dress and steps into it before helping me slide her gold dress over my head. She races out the door before returning with a pair of strappy stilettos that, from the sound of Ginny’s screech down the corridor, she’s just stolen from Ginny’s wardrobe. Rosie helps straighten my hair and does my makeup so I’m wearing much more than I normally would, but she’s transformed me from (yes, I’m going to say it) a nerdy librarian into a 1930’s screen siren. And I freaking love it.

Makeovers complete, we all make our way back down to the restaurant where Aydin, Burak and Luca are at the bar along with Deniz, two bleached blondes and the man I saw Deniz arguing with the other night.

Deniz pours the man a drink, which he downs in one gulp. Their meeting is over before its even begun with them shaking hands and slapping each other on the back, both clearly happy with the outcome. Thinking back to what Ginny told me about the problems that Aydin’s been having with competing restaurants, I hope that Deniz has finally sorted out the issue for good.

Aydin crosses to speak to Deniz in hushed tones before returning to us with two bottles of wine which he places on a table that has been set up on the grass across from the bar.

Luca seems happier than he was when we first returned from the cruise. “You look amazing!”

“Thank you, kindly.”

He looks down at the salvar pants and white shirt he’s still wearing from this morning. “All the men seem to be a little underdressed, don’t you think?”

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