Page 40 of Win You Over
Because he may not know it yet, but Holden Booker is mine. I knew it the moment our lips met.
“Jesus, you’re too easy,” Nadine jokes with a laugh before she turns serious. “I really do like him for you. All jokes aside, he seems like a really good guy.”
I turn away from my sister towards the pool, where Holden is leaning over the edge, gazing out at the sea.
“He is.”
My phone buzzes then, and I pick it up, frowning when I see who the message is from. Nadine leans over my shoulder.
Finn: I’m sorry, dude. Can we talk?
“What’s he sorry for?” She asks. “Trouble in bromance paradise?”
“It’s complicated.”
“Him?” I look up to see her tip her chin towards Holden.
“Partly, yes. I guess I realised that Finn and I see things differently.”
“You’re only figuring that out now?” she asks, stretching her legs out on the sun lounger next to me.
“Finn has always been my friend. I don’t remember a time before him. But I saw a side to him lately that I didn’t like.”
“We’ve all been there, Rem. You know how many friends Dad lost when he married Mom. People can be fickle snobs. At the end of the day, if Finn is truly your friend, you’ll work it out and something like who you’re dating won’t come between you.”
My brain snags on the d-word and I turn my body to face my sister.
“How did you know Rupert wanted you and not your name or your money?”
She smiles. “Well, first, Rupert’s family is equally as rich as ours, so I didn’t peg him as a gold digger.” Nadine shrugs. “And second, this is going to sound like such a Dad answer, and if you laugh I will drown you, but I think I just knew. My heart knew. That’s the only way I can explain it. He and his family are so much like us. They couldn’t care less about the size of our house or how many cars sit on the drive. He’srealand just about as perfect as I am.”
I smirk at her, then mull over her words.
“You just knew?” I repeat.
“Yep,” she says, popping the p. “He’s also damn good in bed, so there’s that.”
We both crack up laughing, gaining Holden’s attention. He swims over to the edge of the pool, the muscles in his arms bunching beneath the skin as he pushes himself out.
He walks over to me, and in a move I do not expect, he climbs onto my lap, his wet shorts soaking into mine and his hand resting over my rapidly beating heart. He presses his lips to mine in a chaste kiss that tastes like pineapple and chlorine.
When he pulls back, his eyes are dark, and he licks his lips, leaving them glistening in the sunlight.
Nadine excuses herself, muttering under her breath about not signing up for public displays of affection. We watch her leave,her white sundress swaying around her legs, and once she’s out of sight, Holden slides off of me and onto the lounger Nadine vacated.
“Was that okay?” he asks.
I want to say yes. Yes, please kiss me whenever you want to. Never stop kissing me.
“Your mom doesn’t believe this relationship is real,” he says. “Your dad told me this morning. Figured we should start making it look more authentic.”
My heart sinks.That’swhy he kissed me moments ago. Not because he wanted to, but because he felt he had to.
The gym this morning, that wasauthentic. He has to know that, surely?
We haven’t talked about it. Maybe we need to talk about it. That's what you do when you realise you have genuine feelings for another person. I think. Fuck, I am so far out of my depth here.
“Holden?”
