Page 95 of I Knew You Were Trouble

Instead, I roll onto my back and stare at the ornate ceiling – likely centuries old – and cast my mind back to last night.

I’ve never been kissed like I was by the river, so it shouldn’t surprise me that Willem is without question the best lover I’ve ever had.

We arrived at the hotel practically at a trot and Willem went straight to reception to get our cases and the room key. We rode the lift in silence, the air between us fizzing with desire. And inside the room, the second Willem latched the door, we came together, tearing impatiently at clothes, kissing passionately, clinging to each other…

And like I’d imagined many times before, our first time was up against the wall, my legs wrapped around Willem’s waist, and him holding me up – fast and hard and passionate. I felt like I’d been winded when he carefully lowered me onto the floor afterwards.

The next time, we moved to the bed and took our time.

It was only when I was lying in Willem’s arms and his stomach growled loudly that we realised how late it was and that we still hadn’t eaten. Fortunately, the Italians eat late, so we ordered room service and devoured enormous plates of pasta while enjoying a delicious bottle of Valpolicella.

It was the perfect night.

But back in the present, reality looms and I ask myself that intrusive, troubling question: now what?

Because until recently, I prided myself on being level-headed, on my ability to apply logic to any situation and come up with a feasible solution designed to meet as many objectives as possible.

Now I’m a woman who has hard, against-the-wall sex and has fallen – also hard – for someone she probably shouldn’t have.

I glance over at Willem, mesmerised by the rise and fall of his torso.

We only met a few weeks ago – and under the most extraordinary circumstances – but in many ways, it feels like I’ve known him much longer than that. I’m certainly closer to Willem than I ever was to Jon.

But is this really the right time to embark on something new? Both a matchmaker and Margot, who understands me better than anyone, have warned me to guard my heart – warnings that I’ve boldly ignored.Highlyuncharacteristic of Kate the Rule Follower.

And is that what this is, the start of a new relationship? Maybe for Willem, this was strictly a one-night thing and when this absurd situation is resolved, I’ll never see him again.

Gah! There I go catastrophising again. Nothing about Willem indicates that he’s a fuckboy who likes to bed women, then mess them about.

Like Jon.

Suddenly, my phone starts chiming with notifications – it must be 7a.m., which is when my quiet hours end. I snatch it off the bedside cabinet, trying desperately to silence it before it wakes Willem.

I succeed, but my heart’s racing almost as much as it was last night. Now wide awake with no hope of falling back asleep, I check my emails – mostly spam plus a lovely, newsy email from Mum in which she gossips about people I’ve never met – and then navigate to my messages.

There’s a whole string from Margot spaced out over the evening, the last one arriving right before midnight Italian time:

Let me know how it goes with the Arseface’s girlfriend.

Stupid autocorrect. Had to type Arseface four times. *eye roll emoji*

How’s the hotel? Did you get adjoining rooms? *winking face emoji*

Did you find her? What’s she like?

Hello? Update please! And how’s Thor?

I consider how to reply for some time. If she’s awake – not likely, but possible if she was out all night – and my reply is too juicy, she’ll phone me immediately. Finally, I settle on this:

Sorry! Went well with Lucia. She was shocked at first (natch) but she’s agreed to the plan. She’s waiting until Jon’s plane lands in Verona then making an excuse not to see him. She reminds me of you a bit (feisty). You’d like her. Saw a bit of Verona afterwards, then back to the hotel.

She’ll hate that I haven’t mentioned Willem, but that’s not a conversation I want to have with him lying next to me.

I’ve also heard from Poppy, which means that even on a Friday night, she was looking out for me – that is,working:

I hope you’re able to find Lucia in time and that she’s receptive to what you have to say. Keep me posted on how it all goes and I’m here if you need to talk – about anything.

There are those words again – ‘about anything’ – which clearly mean ‘Willem’. I type out a reply, filling her in on the conversation with Lucia and how we’ve scuppered Jon’s plans. I blatantly omit mention of Willem, which I’m sure Poppy will read into, but that’s also a conversation for another time.

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