“Okay, thank you,” I hear Christopher say. He dances into the bathroom and puts his hands on his naked hips. “Guess who got us a late checkout?”
“You did.”
“I’m the man.” He points to his chest. “Move over.”
I scooch over in the deep bubbles, and as he sits down, the hot bath sloshes over the sides, flooding the floor. He slides into the water up to his neck as we lie top and tail.
It’s ten in the morning, and we’re taking advantage of every last minute in heaven.
A bath is a luxury we haven’t got access to in the hostel.
“I don’t want to leave this place,” I groan.
He closes his eyes in peaceful bliss. “You think I do?”
“What days is your course on?”
“Friday and Saturday.”
“Okay.” I think for a moment. “I guess we’ll head on to Germany on Sunday to meet the others?”
He nods.
“I think I’m going to quit my weekend job at the restaurant.”
“Why?”
“It’s holding us back.”
“No, it’s not.”
“We’ve been traveling for over three months and somehow are still stuck in Barcelona, where we started.”
He tries to justify it. “Not all the time. We come and go as we please. We’re only back weekends.”
“It costs money to come back here every weekend.”
“Not that much.”
I know there’s no easy way around this topic. “Eddie will be okay, Christopher.”
His eyes meet mine.
“He has his grandmother and his job, and this is his life. He’s happy here, and just because this isn’t your normal, you can’t forget that this is his.”
“I know.”
“You being his private bouncer at the hostel isn’t achieving your goals. You took twelve months out of your life because you wanted to travel the world and see everything. Returning to Barcelona every weekend is not achieving that for either of us.”
He exhales heavily and begins to soap up my feet as they rest on his chest.
“Just think about it, that’s all I’m saying.”
“Well, what will you do if I decide I want to keep coming back here?”
“I don’t know.” I shrug. “I won’t be coming back with you every weekend, only sometimes, I guess.”
His eyes hold mine. “So we would spend weekends apart?”
“Babe.” I sigh sadly. “I don’t want to have regrets when I get home. In a year’s time this will all be over, and I’ll kick myself I didn’t see more when I had the chance.”
He nods.
“And the thing is, you also need to think of yourself. If you are this attached to Eddie in three months, where will that leave you in another nine months? I’m not saying cut all contact; I just mean that you can be a friend to him from wherever you are in the world. Call him; send him letters; visit him once or twice a year. Friendship is more than protecting someone at the bar. And besides, we both know Eddie is way tougher than you.”
He smiles sadly as he listens. “True.”
“What is the fascination that you have with him, anyway?” I ask. “Apart from the obvious of him being amazing, of course.”
“I admire him.”
I smile.
“He’s one of the most interesting people I’ve ever met.” He smiles wistfully. “I just like being around him. He’s intelligent and strong.” He shrugs. “I can’t explain it, really.”
“Okay,” I concede.
He falls silent for a while. “But . . . you’re right.”
“Meaning?”
“I’ll do this course, and then we’ll leave Barcelona for good on Sunday.”
I smile sadly, already dreading saying goodbye to Eddie. “Is it wrong of me to say this?” I ask him.
“No, you’re right. I need to get on with it.”
His phone beeps with a text in the other room, and he frowns. “Jameson.”
“What?”
“That’s a text from Jameson. My oldest brother.”
“How do you know?”
“I have a different ringtone for all my brothers.” He gets out of the bath and goes to retrieve his phone and walks back into the bathroom reading the text, and then he smiles broadly. “Fuck yeah.”
“What?”
He passes the phone to me, and I read the message.
I booked you another four nights at the hotel.
Happy Birthday.
Jay, x
My mouth falls open. “It’s your birthday?”
He chuckles. “I guess it is.”
Four days, four heavenly nights.
This has been the best week of my life.
Sun, laughter, luxury hotel, and Christopher Miles. As if the universe knew we needed this time alone, it delivered.
With every day, every hour . . . every minute, I’ve slipped more and more under his spell. With every breath, fallen just that little bit harder.
With no distractions and being left utterly alone, we’ve bonded in a way I didn’t even know was possible. Sexually, mentally . . . intimately.
So, so close.
It’s our last night in our ritzy hotel room. Christopher starts his bar course tomorrow, and in three days, we leave Spain forever for Germany. I’m excited for what’s to come for us, because so far, our story is incredible.
The television is on softly in the background, and we are lying in bed. My bedside lamp is on, and the rest of the room is in filtered darkness. I have my book in my hand, and Christopher is lying the other way, his head near my feet, perched up on his elbow, staring at me. His finger is trailing up and down my leg as he lies seemingly deep in thought.
“A penny for your thoughts?” I ask.
He smiles softly, his eyes fixed on his fingers as they roam over my skin. “I’m just wondering how it is that the more I have you . . . the more I want you.”
We stare at each other in the darkness.
“Is it always like this?” He frowns. “Is this”-he gestures to the air between us-“normal?”
“No,” I reply without hesitation. “This is not normal. This is . . . special.”
He falls silent again, and I can see his brain ticking a million miles per minute. He has questions. This relationship stuff is all so new for him. “And?” I prompt him. “Ask me anything.”
“Your boyfriend . . .”
“You’re my boyfriend,” I correct him.
“Ex-boyfriend . . .”
“It wasn’t like this,” I reply, reading his mind.
His brow furrows. “How was it different?”
“Well . . .” I pause as I try to navigate just how honest I’m going to be with him. “Looking back, and now that I’ve met you, I don’t think I even really loved him . . . or him me, for that matter.”
“Why?”
“We were kids when we met. We were each other’s first.”
He listens intently.
I smile as I remember. “There was a lot of fumbling around in the dark, and sweetness. We cared for each other for sure, but it wasn’t that raging love that would conquer the world in a war.”
“What is this?” he whispers.
Love.
“You know what it is.”
You love me.
His eyes search mine.
“We could win the war and blow up the world.”
He smiles softly and leans down and kisses my foot before licking it.
Sex between us has hit a new high.
It’s changed.