Page 3 of Room Twenty-Three: Tangled & Teased

I pick up my cocktail and gulp, as my mind is suddenly not on Adrian, but on the man I met at a London bar.

“Maybe you need to find someone and get over your stupid crush. He will not divorce his wife,” Lia says, as though she can read my mind. “Look around.”

“I should never have told you,” I whisper-hiss.

“I can always tell when you’re thinking about him. You go all gooey and have a silly look on your face.”

I burst out laughing. “Thanks for the visual, but I wasn’t thinking of him.”

Lia tilts her head to one side. “Are you keeping secrets from me, Miss Parks?”

I laugh. “I was going to tell you about someone, but he never called so...”

Her eyes widened. “Have you?”

“No,” I murmur, knowing what she was about to say. “I had a kiss with a guy. An older guy in London.”

“Tell me more,” Lia pushes.

I shake my head and sigh. “Nothing. He never called me.”

Lia wraps her arms around my shoulders and drags me to her, giving me a hug. “Jove is a silver fox. I should have introduced you.”

“Jove... mmm, older. He sounds perfect. Exactly how old is he?”

Lia shrugs her shoulders. “Late thirties, no older than forty.”

But I remember what it was like when she was in England. “They would never let you out of their sight long enough to meet me.” I chuckle as she rolls her eyes. She knows as well as I do that her trainers, or whatever they were supposed to be, wouldn’t let her leave them.

I stare around the beach, over to the bar, searching the gazebos and the tables. Looking for anyone who could look like the men she had described. But men who are secretive as the job Lia claims they do won’t be found so easily.

“They aren’t here,” Lia says and smiles. “It’s over. Now I have to get on with my life without them. Which is strange after all these years. I keep expecting to be picked up and thrown over one of their wide shoulders.”

I sigh wistfully. “I wouldn’t mind one of them throwing me over their shoulders.”

She chuckles. “You’ll find a nice man. At least now you want one.”

I smile. “It would be nice to have a boyfriend. Someone to have lunch with, a coffee.”

“Sex?”

“As long as I can keep my clothes on,” I say.

“You’re perfect. How many times do I need to tell you?” Lia glances at her watch and sighs. “Nearly eleven o’clock. Tonight has gone far too quickly. My dad will be here in five minutes.”

I nod. “Remember that your dad is picking me up for my flight home tomorrow?” I say.

She nods. “Of course.” She glances at her watch once more. “I really do need to leave. He’s probably in the parking lot. Are you going to be okay?”

“I’m sleeping at Lydia’s and if she’s hooked up with that guy. I’ll jump in a cab with her friend Saffy.”

Lia takes her cell and slouches on a sun lounger. “Find Lydia while I make a call to my dad. I won’t leave until I know you’re safe.”

I shimmy my beach dress to cover the tops of my thighs, hating they have gotten thicker lately.

“Own it,” Lia whispers. “You’re beautiful.”

“And big.”

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