Page 17 of One Bed

‘Lunch is at one, in the kitchen at the villa. If you don’t pitch up, I’ll see you when I see you.’

He wouldn’t be going to lunch, or to the cocktail party. Until his brain was bug-free, he would avoid Bea as much as possible.

* * *

Later that morning, Bea, back from Fira, sans a blow-up mattress, left her car and smiled at Golly’s Folly, built in the mid 1930s by a wealthy Englishman as his summer home. With its incredible views, Bea understood why the original owner chose to build where he did. The house itself was two floors of perfection, immaculately decorated by Jack Farrow, with the art provided by his sister Jacqui.

Golly did, occasionally, rent the place out as a wedding venue, but only when she thought the couple highbrow, interesting, or influential enough for her to bother.

Bea sighed at the warm brown, stone building with its rectangular windows and terracotta roof. It looked rich, but not ostentatious, old but not ancient. Built in an H layout, with an amazing courtyard in the centre of the two wings, it was a perfect event location; in Golly’s case, her birthday and retirement party. From the courtyard, guests could walk through her garden – peppered with ceramic pots overflowing with flowers – and onto a lookout point, with its amazing view of the caldera. The esplanade was the perfect spot to watch the brilliant Santorini sunsets.

Golly’s Greek home was lovely and gracious … and bloody romantic.

Something she didn’t normally think about. And it was all Gib’s fault.

Dammit.

‘Bea!’

Bea spun around and saw Gib jogging towards her. She placed her hands above her eyes to block out the still-hot Greek sun. It was obvious he’d just come back from the beach, as his hair and board shorts were still damp.

She waited for him to reach her, and when he did, he lifted his eyebrows at the erotic stature of a maiden standing between them and the imposing front door, a hand between her legs and a blissful smile on her face. ‘I thought I’d join you for lunch.’

And wasn’t that a surprise?

Crap. She remembered Reena telling Nadia last night that she’d take care of lunch, and that meant a blow-your-head-off chilli dish. Spicy food was all Reena could make.

‘Maybe you should eat in Oia, there are some fantastic restaurants still open.’ Eating in Oia was amuchsafer option.

‘Why are you so desperate to get rid of me?’ he drawled. The breeze picked up the tails of his loose shirt and once again she caught a glimpse of his rock-hard, tanned stomach, and those sexy hip muscles that took hard gym workouts to attain. She could easily imagine her fingers dancing across his stomach, sliding lower.

‘Bea-darling!’

Bea spun around, her heart sinking to see Golly walking from the direction of the swimming pool. She and Reena tended to spend most of the morning by the pool sunbathing, turning their already wrinkly and brown-as-leather skin darker in the process. She’d warned them about skin cancer, but her entreaties to wear a hat and sunblock fell on deaf-by-design ears.

‘I just went for a quick dip,’ Golly told them as she tucked her sarong over her chest. It reached her knobbly knees and was transparent enough to show she was wearing a bikini. Thank God, because Golly was fond of swimming naked.

Golly’s bright eyes fell on Gib. ‘I’m so happy you’re here, Gib. You look so much like your dad.’ Gib smiled at her, the first proper smile she’d see from him, and it almost stopped her heart. Golly let out a fluttery, ‘Oh, my’, and Bea understood her reaction and her dazed expression. It was a helluva smile, designed to stop air traffic and drop panties.

When he smiled like that, he could power the sun, create balls of light made from sunbeams and moondust, move mountains and drain seas. It made Bea want to know how his lips felt on hers, his tongue on her breasts, his fingers between her legs, whether the colour of his eyes changed when he slid into her…

She’d never had such an intense reaction to a man before and she didn’t like it. She wasn’t a fan of her world being rocked, her libido being prodded. She liked her uncomplicated life, and getting tangled up with Gib Caddell was the equivalent of prodding a semi-poisonous snake with her foot. She might not die from the bite, but life would, temporarily at least, change. And it would hurt.

No, she had enough on her plate without adding another element of confusion and complication. She had to make sure that, in the tumult of change, her identity as Parker Kane remained a secret, and find a way to get her writing mojo back. She needed to protect her creativity and her imaginary gang of five. Both were infinitely precious and had been, in many ways, a lifesaver after her relationship, and her world, collapsed.

Her life might, to some, seem boring, but she spent a great part of the day in another world, following Pip and the gang as they found hidden worlds in the gritty area of Edmonton Green. She went on adventures, fought ghosts and dragons, and laughed and cried with the gang. Because she had this rich inner world, she didn’t feel she was missing out on anything. OK, sometimes she thought sex would be nice, but her vibrator took care of those urges when she was desperate. In the real world, she had Golly and Reena, a few casual friends. Did she need anyone else? Up until today, she didn’t think so.

She’d met Gib the day before yesterday and he was already making her question her carefully planned life.Madness!

Golly’s snapping fingers brought her back to the present. In her bright eyes, Bea saw her curiosity and a healthy dose of amusement. She liked men, and she loved flirting with them. Maybe Golly could keep Gib entertained while she ran down to the pool to take a quick dip. She desperately needed a reset, and a swim would do the trick.

‘You seem far away, Bea-darling,’ Golly complained. ‘What on earth are you thinking about?’

Your party, Gib’s abs, the one-bed situation, your retirement, my new proposal, this weekend, the future, an unexpected cocktail party, lights in the courtyard, Gib's abs, Gib’s hands on my non-existent abs …

Should she explain the length of her to-do list? No, she wasn’t going to whine, she’d agreed to help Golly make this weekend amazing and she wasn’t going to bitch. Or if she did, she’d keep it to herself.

‘Just thinking about everything I have to do,’ Bea replied.

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