Page 41 of Winter Glam in Amsterdam

"That motherfucker really put a damper on this vacation," Luca grumbles, leaning back to cross his arms over his chest as well. "Maybe this was a dumb idea after all."

"Oh, shut up." Asher rolls his eyes, making all of us look at him with wide eyes. "It’s not like you spiked her drink. Don’t let that motherfucker ruin your bachelor-vacation."

Reed jumps into the conversation. "And honestly, I hate to tell you, bro, but you are way too hung up on thewhat ifs.Could a lot have gone wrong? Hell yes, not trying to argue with you about that. But ultimately, nothing happened apart from a mad headache. She's alright. That’s all that matters."

"I'm just worried,” Luca mutters. “She wasn't doing too great before we came here, and I just feel like this made everything worse, when all I wanted was to take her mind off things."

"You never told me that," Asher hisses, turning his whole torso to glare at Luca. "What's going on with her? Do we need to kick any asses?"

"Ask her yourself," Luca hisses right back and rolls his eyes. "I probably already said too much.”

“You can't just drop a bomb like that and not elaborate," Asher scolds him, and I decide that this is the part where we probably shouldn't be listening in on their conversation anymore.

"I'm going up to my room," I announce, and my brothers nod in acknowledgment, Reed mumbling something about going for a walk.

She wasn't doing great.

I know it's not really one of my concerns, but Luca's sentence continues to gnaw at me throughout the afternoon. Why wasn’t she doing great? She mentioned her life being too chaotic for a relationship, but never really elaborated. Is it that bad?

The hold that Luca's sister has on me is unlike anything that happened to me before. Her image was already ingrained to my brain after the first moment I saw her, exhausted and hiding a yawn behind her hand on that fancy couch in the lobby,surrounded by suitcases. And now, I can't get her out of my head.

I will never be able to forget how out of it she was in my arms, how she didn't want her family to worry, that little glare she shot me when it was announced we'd be calling them anyways.

She's strong. So fucking strong.

Yet it's evident that a part of her, buried deep inside her, doesn't want to be. And now that I've seen that part, it's burned into my brain, every inch of my soul prickling with the need to see it again.

Other women mean nothing in comparison to her. Come to think of it, before Summer, I would've jumped at that girl on our trip to Haarlem. I probably would've found a public restroom to fuck her, or taken her to my hotel room once we returned, and I never would have been in that bar to save her.

But all I could think about in Haarlem washerand how much I wanted to have Summer in my bed again. How badly I wanted to hug her, claim her with a kiss in front of our families, especially once that dickhead started talking to her on the bus.

A happy warmth spreads in my stomach as the realization settles in my mind like snow melting into the ground. It's been forever since I last fell in love.

It's not like I had closed myself off from the possibility. Other women just weren't right for me.

But she is.

So when the time comes to press the button for my floor on the elevator, I don't. Instead, I go straight to hers, my heart fluttering more with each step I walk closer to her room, racing so quickly I’m afraid it will jump out of my chest once I come to a stop in front of her door.

I hear muffled voices from her room, waiting for a moment in an attempt to listen in.

There's no laughter, no girlie giggling or animated voices, just hushed conversation, so I knock.

“Tanner.” Kayla's worried face appears when the door opens and she quickly steps outside, closing the door behind her. "What is it?"

“I was hoping to see Summer," I say with a chuckle. Kayla's eyes dart from the hotel room door to me.

"I don't think that's…"

"That’s not your call, Kayla," I say softly, catching me a heated glare from her.

"What's going on?" Millie's face appears through the open door now as well. "Oh, Tanner!"

Her eyes jump from Kayla to me, likely sensing the tension in the air. The two of them look at each other for a few charged seconds, a whole conversation happening between the two of them without words.

Until Kayla's face suddenly softens and she shakes her head in defeat.

"Come in." Millie grins and opens the door further for Kayla and me to step inside.

---