Page 129 of Modern Romance March 2025 (5-8)

They didn’t care about anything. They were trashing the place. Stella’s roommate was going to kill her when she arrived in the morning. That’s why she was trying to tidy behind these louts. They were impossible to keep up with, though. They were tracking water everywhere, spilling drinks and dropping food. She had a feeling one couple had gone into an empty bedroom. That bed would need stripping and remaking before she left.

She hurried outside to where the rectangular tub was set into the terrace, putting everyone’s chins and shoulders at the level of her ankles. All the women had lost their tops.

Carmel was standing in the waist-deep water so she could display her breasts for inspection. Stella averted her gaze only to crash it into a pair who appeared to be having sex in the corner of the tub.

“Nine-point-nine,” a man judged Carmel’s chest. “Want a ten? Put them here.” He lifted his splayed fingers with invitation.

Carmel laughed and pointed at Stella. “What about her?”

“Her?” The man turned his head to give Stella a bleary-eyed once-over. “She’s a two. Too tall. Too serious. Too many clothes.”

Gales of laughter followed.

Not for the first time, Stella questioned her wisdom in running away last year. Not that she’d been underage. She’d turned eighteen a week later. Technically that made her an adult here in Switzerland, but in her father’s eyes, eighteen had meant she was old enough to marry a man twice her age and start making babies.

Stella had already seen how much responsibility children were, and how they hemmed a woman’s choices. After their mother died, Stella had been the primary caregiver to her younger brother and sister until their father remarried. Even after Grettina joined them, Stella hadn’t had a life outside of school and helping at home, especially after Grettina had the twins.

Escaping in the dead of night hadn’t been her plan, but her father had forced her hand and she didn’t regret it. She was doing what she could to continue helping Grettina and her siblings, sending money home when she could, though. She needed this job.

So she kept an unbothered look on her face and served the drinks. In the last year of carving her own path, she’d had a lot of dodgy experiences. This might be the foulest behavior she’d had to tolerate, but it was only one night. A few hours more at most. She could stand it.

Or so she believed. Until it got worse.

“I bet she’s an eight under those clothes.” The man traced a curvy shape through the air while eyeing her chest in a way that made her deeply uncomfortable. “C’mon, love. Strip down and join us. Show us what you’ve got.”

Stella looked to Louis, who ought to be putting a stop to this harassment. He was settling back into the tub and Carmel was straddling his lap. They were kissing passionately.

“Someone has to get the drinks.” Stella forced a smile.

“Pour mine then.” The perv stood to hold out his filmy pint glass.

She had really hoped to see a tip by now—which she might if that man stood any taller in the water. This was dreadful, but she definitely wouldn’t be paid if she walked out.

She took the cap off a bottle of beer and leaned out to pour it into the man’s glass.

He dropped his glass into the water and, as she was reacting with astonishment to that, grabbed her wrist and yanked her into the tub.

Between the fall and the plunge beneath the hot, bubbling surface, and a very real fear that came from not knowing how to swim, Stella floundered in panic.

Within seconds, she was pulled up into the man’s arms amid gleeful shouts of laughter. He grabbed her backside to grind himself against her pelvis while he tried to get his mouth over hers.

“Stop it!” She was still sputtering for breath and blinking water out of her eyes. She thrust her hand over his mouth, turning her face away while trying to fight out of his hold.

It was all a big joke to everyone. They were cheering him on—

The music shut off abruptly and a man’s furious voice demanded, “What thehellis going on?”

Everyone fell silent in shock. For a moment, the only sound was the gurgle of the tub jets and snap of the bubbles while they all stared at him.

Stella’s first thought was that he was younger than she expected from someone with such a deep voice and forceful personality. He was only mid-twenties. He wore a cream-colored ski jacket with black piping and black ski pants. His hair was short on the sides, curly on top, but the curls were crushed from whatever hat he’d been wearing. His black brows sat in severe lines on his swarthy face. His long cheeks were hollowed, his mouth hard.

“It’s just Atlas,” Carmel said with disgust. “My brother. I thought you were out for the night?”

“It’s midnight. Are you all right?” His gaze met Stella’s, then swerved to the man who still had his arms locked around her. “Let her go.”

Stella was finally able to find the bottom of the tub with more than her toes and wade toward the steps. Her clammy clothes adhered to her skin and the icy air struck through them, making her shudder. She hunched her arms into her chest, teeth starting to chatter as the cold penetrated.

Behind her, Carmel mocked, “It’smidnight? Who are you? Cinderella?”

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