Page 27 of It's All Sun and Games

Rick looks over at me. He must be stressed because he doesn’t even acknowledge the dress situation.

‘Oh, Robin, it’s such a mess,’ he says. ‘I had booked a translator, because the Come a Casa bigshots don’t speak English, and they’ve turned up here to greet us, as planned, but the translator hasn’t. Apparently there is no sign of my booking at all. And this is Beppe Barone, it’s his company, and I can’t talk to him. We look like amateurs right now.’

‘I speak Italian and English,’ Andrea offers up.

‘Oh, thank God, help me out, mate,’ Rick says to him.

Andrea steps in and starts acting as a go-between, bridging the gap between Rick and Beppe. I move forward, to listen to their conversation, but then I realise James is staring at me.

‘Hi,’ he says with a flirtatious smile.

‘Hi,’ I say back.

‘That dress…’ he starts. ‘Wow. I like what you’ve done with the front.’

I laugh.

‘Literally cannot wait to get it off,’ I reply. ‘And get my bikini on.’

Rick laughs wildly as he slaps Andrea on the back.

‘I didn’t realise Davide from Love Island was driving taxis now,’ James jokes, nodding towards Andrea.

‘Oh, haha, no, well, he’s not a taxi driver,’ I babble. ‘I know him.’

The second the words leave my lips, I realise I probably should have just said he was my taxi driver, to save on any further explanation, but for some reason I just felt like I needed to jump to Andrea’s defence, because it felt like James was making fun of him.

The smile drops from James’s face in an instant.

‘You know him?’ he says, asking for clarity, although I feel like I was pretty clear.

‘Yeah,’ I say simply.

I notice James’s jaw tighten as he looks over in Andrea’s direction.

‘The two of you aren’t…’ His voice trails off.

Oh my God. Is he… is he jealous? Surely not?

‘Ciao, ciao,’ Rick says to Beppe and his associate. ‘So, he says he’ll see us tomorrow? So that gives me time to find a translator. You saved the day, seriously. Are you two together?’

I realise Rick is talking about me.

‘Together, yes,’ Andrea replies. ‘Me and Robin.’

Oh, shit. When he says it like that, it makes it sound like we’re a couple.

I look at James and, wow, he really is jealous. I can see it all over his face. Honestly, you flirt with a guy for years and you get nothing, then, as soon as he thinks you’re taken, that’s it.

Oh my God – that’s it. He was like this with Liz too, when he thought she was seeing that guy at the bar. James doesn’t just want a girl – he wants a challenge.

‘Robin,’ Rick calls.

I turn to face him and it’s only now that he notices the situation with my dress. That’s not all he notices.

‘You’re engaged?’ he says, clocking the ring on my finger. ‘You’re engaged to this guy?’

I look at Andrea, not sure what to say.

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