Page 45 of Insta Bride

Kye stood up so quickly, his chair went flying back towards the wall and everyone stopped talking.

“Clint, you’re bunking with me tonight. Darnelia, you’ve got a new roommate.” He pulled me to my feet, planting one of his panty-drenching kisses. “Elena, I know we wanted tonight to be special, but I trust you to look after Darnelia. Head down to her villa and I’ll bring down your toiletries.”

Surprisingly, I had no hesitation in cupping his face and returning his kiss. Yet again, he’d shown to be the opposite of an asshole.

He hadn’t hung me out to dry—or let the others bother or tease me.

He hadn’t let Clint and Darnelia wear the brunt of the producer’s need for controversy.

Underneath the gorgeous exterior, Kye was a good man. A great kisser, and my body responded to his warmth and strength.

I deepened our kiss, wanting him to know how much I regretted writing down the wrong name. Kye matched me, gripping my ass tight against his hips. Damn, the lust I had for this man should be illegal.

He softly released my lips, brushing them with his thumb, “We’re good. Okay?” I nodded. “Look after Darnelia and we’ll continue this tomorrow.”

“Sure.”

Kye grabbed Clint by the shoulders and propelled him out of the dining room while Darnelia remained on the verge of tears.

“Come on,” I said, holding out my hand. “Let’s go and be bed buddies.”

Kye and I might have avoided our own conversation, but I enjoyed lying back on Darnelia’s bed, as she listed all the things she liked about Clint. All the ways they could work, given the right circumstances. But she wasn’t blind to their differences.

“My friends would never accept him.”

“Clint adores you. Surely, they would see that.”

“And I adore him, but we come from different worlds. When would we spend time together?”

“What if instead of flying into his hometown, he could fly home to you. You’d spend seven days together and then he’d go back to work.”

“But I don’t know.” Even in the muted light, I could see her eyes welling with tears. But, there was a way that fly-in-fly-out could work, for them.

“Look, he’s a really good guy and FIFO would be tough on any relationship, but you also work insane hours. Don’t you think if you tried to make it work, you could do the crazy hours when he’s away, and normal hours when he gets to town.”

“I guess, I just don’t know. How do you know when a guy is worth it? Why did you choose Seb?”

“I guess the same thing. Kye and I are amazing. But he’d never look at me twice if we met on the mainland. Yes, we both come from Sydney, but I don’t know his crowd and he doesn’t know mine.”

“Do you go out to the same places.”

“Apparently, but I’ve never come across him before. Doesn’t that tell you something? I’m not in his league.”

Darnelia just hugged me, “You are in everybody’s league, you just don’t see it. I don’t know what head games your ex did to you, but you deserve better.” Darnelia released me and sighed, “I watched Kye with you today. He could have let his ego take control and said, fuck you babe. Even tonight, he could have let the wolves gnaw at your bones. He didn’t.”

“I know.”

“I think you should give him a chance.”

Darnelia looked at my microphone then back at me. “I don’t know what happened between the two of you, but I’m telling you that the night in the restaurant?”

I nodded, smiling. I’d never forget that night. Our first and only night together.

“He claimed you. He made his decision, totally and absolutely. Back then, you were still giving him the cold shoulder, but he didn’t care. Every woman alive wants a man to look at her the way Kye looks at you.”

I tried to cover my face with a pillow, not wanting Darnelia to see my grief or guilt, but she pulled it away.

“What did he do? He’s still trying, you’re the one backing away.”

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