“I thought it was you, you look seriously hot,” he says with a wink.

“Hey, Chase, yeah this is probably better than the drowned rat look I was wearing at the track,” I laugh.

He laughs too, dancing behind me without making a move to get any closer. Turning my head back to Sammy she shimmies closer to me, leaning in until her mouth is pressed against my ear. “He’s hot.”

“That’s the guy who asked me out the other day,” I confess.

“Perfect, you know he’s interested, kiss him and see how it feels,” she urges.

Shrugging I try to imagine leaning in and pressing my lips against Chase’s lips, but the moment I start to think about it, Sebastian’s face replaces Chase’s and my body starts to heat.

No. This isn’t about Sebastian, I know my body reacts to him. Kissing another guy is about figuring out how it reacts to someone else, and to do that I need to pretend that Sebastian doesn’t exist.

We all dance for a bit longer, then I feel Chase move closer, tentatively placing his hands on my hips. When I don’t push him away, he moves closer still until my ass is practically sitting in his groin, our bodies moving as one to the beat of the music.

“Let’s go check out the houses,” Sammy shouts. The group of guys that I’m now realizing must be Chase’s buddies all agree and we move as a group, topping up our cups on the way. This is the first time I’ve been in Bufford House, the place I would have been living if Sebastian hadn’t manipulated things to get me where he wanted me.

The row of houses are all connected by a long hallway with doors opening off into each house and the living space beyond. The floor of the hall is covered in sand and my heels instantly sink into it. Stopping, I pull my sandals off and carry them as we walk as a group to the end house and enter into it. The living room has been decorated with plastic palm leaves and we’re offered flower leis as the sound of tropical music greets us. A hula contest is in full swing and we shuffle past it and into the kitchen area, where a row of guys are being soaked in water for a wet-Hawaiian-shirt contest.

“Hell yes,” Sammy hoots, and three of the attractive athletic guys grin at her.

We spend a little time in the house, joining the other girls to judge the wet shirt contest, by stepping up to feel the pecs and abs of each guy in turn until a winner is crowned.

The next house is underwater themed, with snorkels being used as funnels to down tropical punch. In the third house, Chase and the other guys all dart forward to take part in a limbo competition, and I’m laughing my ass off when Bruce, one of Chase’s friends, shuffles along the floor like a crab to get under the limbo stick.