Page 44 of The Sounds of Her

“Me? No. Not for a while.”

“Sandy, you’re hot as hell. You have your shit together. Who wouldn’t want you?”

“Have you tried dating sites?” Elle asks.

“Oh God, no, I’m way too old for that.”

“You’re not old,” I poke her arm. “And, again, you’re fine as fuck.”

Elle nods. “You can’t put an age limit on love, or sex,” she nods again. “Some of my readers are well into their sixties.”

Elle pauses when a server appears out of nowhere and offers us more booze. Sandy holds up her glass with a smile.

“And they’re the ones telling you they’re getting busy?” Sandy pushes her glasses up and peers at Elle once the woman has moved away.

“Yep.”

“Well, I have that giant dildo from Jenna’s bachelorette party.”

I bust up laughing and Elle grins. Ben was approaching as Sandy said that and diverted, heading back the way he came.

“You’d think he would be used to it by now,” Elle rolls her eyes. “He’s been at signings with me when women say far worse things than that.”

“I need to hang out with you more, Elle,” Sandy tells her.

“You’re welcome anytime,” she smiles.

We chat for a while longer until Elle gets up to make sure Ben isn’t traumatised. I walk to the water with Sandy, and we slip off our cover-ups and dive into the warm water.

At lunch time the staff bring out a buffet and grill and we all gather around to eat.

Still no Archer, I’m not sure if I’m happy about it or not. Something happened on that dancefloor last night. Or something was going to happen until Jordan broke the spell.

He saved us from making a dumb mistake. It was the atmosphere, the music, the romance. Kissing Archer is not a good idea.

Jenna and Adam surface in time for the candlelight dinner on the beach. Archer appears too. His hair is messy, and he’s wearing an unbuttoned white shirt and light grey shorts. His skin is more tanned, like he’s been lazing in the sun all day and his sunglasses are pushed up on his head. He is sitting next to Stone, chatting and laughing.

Damn, he is hot.

Stop staring, I warn myself.

I excuse myself from my conversation with Claire and Lou, and head inside to use the bathroom. After washing up and splashing my face with cold water, I head back out to the bar. Everyone is still on the beach.

I go to the bar and ask for a lemon drop, then sit on a stool and take out my phone.

Dad’s left me messages telling me to call them. There are messages from Roman too. I don’t know who this guy thinks he is. He’s getting more demanding not just to call my parents, but him too.

Part of me feels guilty. Dad is going to lose everything. But it isn’t my fault, my life shouldn’t be ruined because he made a bad investment. Watching how everyone here has found their person and fallen in love, reaffirms I want that too, whether I’ve admitted it to myself in the past or not.

I don’t want to marry for convenience, or to help my parents and some random asshole I don’t even like, especially when they have done nothing to help me. Still, it weighs on me.

My phone buzzes in my hand. I frown when I see it’s my boss.

“Steve, hi,” I answer.

“Brooke, sorry to call you when you’re on vacation. I’ll make this quick.”

“What’s wrong?”

---