Page 20 of Too Hard to Resist

‘Crazy, right?’ People were always shocked whenever they heard the story. ‘Now they’re inseparable.’

‘Initially, it must’ve been a big surprise for them to see each other again. But sounds like it all worked out in the end. Clearly they were meant to be.’

‘Definitely. I give it a year before they’re either engaged, married or expecting. Maybe all three!’ I cackled. It was true. Stella and Max were at it like rabbits and I knew they both wanted kids.

‘Looks like the briefing’s about to start,’ Edward said bluntly, gesturing towards Romeo.

‘Oh, right, okay,’ I said, surprised that he’d cut me off. Maybe he was just excited to find out what the activity would be.

‘Buongiorno!’ Romeo said.

‘Buongiorno!’ everyone replied.

‘Welcome once again to the Love Hotel. As you may already know, my name is Romeo and I am your Love Alchemist, which means that I plan to do everything I can to help create that magical chemistry between you and your match.’

‘Yay!’ a woman at the front cheered.

‘Every day during the first week you will do an activity with your match in a group setting. Then during the second week you will choose your own activities to do just as a couple. You’ll create a daily playlist with at least five songs that remind you of the time spent with your match and we’d also like you to take photos together for your “memory book” photo album.’

I remembered this stuff from when Stella stayed here.

At the moment, zero songs were springing to mind for the playlist, well, apart from ‘All by Myself’ by Celine Dion, because Edward had left me to eat breakfast alone. But he must’ve had a good reason. Maybe he had a bad stomach and didn’t want to tell me. I should’ve offered him some of my company’s diarrhoea relief tablets.

I was trying to approach relationships differently, so I couldn’t write him off yet. The day was still young. Hopefully once we started the activity we’d connect more.

‘Sound good?’ Romeo asked and everyone replied with a collective ‘sì!’ ‘Perfetto.The first couples activity will start in half an hour and will be in the pool. If you are not already in your swimwear, please return to your room and change.’

‘I better go.’ Edward jumped up.

‘I’ve already got my bikini on under this.’ I gestured to my kaftan. It’d said to wear swimwear in the welcome pack on the iPads in our room, so I’d come prepared.

‘Back in ten,’ he said, without even bothering to look at me.

Did he even find me attractive? He hadn’t commented on my dress last night, so I genuinely had no idea.

Some of the other guests headed off to change and others started chatting.

Just as I started to think about how to kill time, Romeo strode over.

‘Samantha,come stai?’

Fuck. His accent was so hot.

As his rich woody scent surrounded me, I swallowed hard.

Get it together, girl. He’s nothing special. Just another fuckboy.

‘You asked me how I am, so I saybene, right?’

His eyes widened with surprise.

‘Sì.’

‘What?’ I took off my sunglasses, folded my arms and raised an eyebrow. ‘Surprised that the British girl knows some Italian?’

‘Honestly?’ he asked.

‘Yeah.’

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