Nearly every item of clothing Alex had packed was laid out on her bed, spilling onto the floor wherever she ran out of room. She had paired endless options together while her favorite “getting ready” playlist vibrated through her headphones. Today needed to be perfect: she would be spending the entire morning navigating the Greek ruins with Danial in the hot Sicilian sun, which meant she needed to look both comfortable and sexy. After much trial and error, she settled on a long floral skirt with flat espadrilles and a blouse that buttoned down the front. (She imagined him undoing those buttons, one by one, in some discreet spot they would encounter on their day together.)

Her body was buzzing with the electricity of anticipation, imagining how she would configure her face when they first greeted each other above deck. After leaving his room the night before, she’d gone back upstairs to finish the game, him following behind only a few minutes later. They spent the evening as normally as possible, laughing with the others and being good sports, mostly from opposite sides of the room. There had always been a thread between them, connecting them anytime they were in proximity, and usually they pulled on it with their little arguments and commentary. But after the moment in his room, the thread felt sturdy enough to ignore. They would occasionally lock eyes, but there was no need to test the connection. Instead, the few moments they shared had been ones of quiet, satisfied acknowledgement.

“Room service,” a sing-song falsetto came from outside her door.

“Come in, Paul,” she replied.

He slinked through the door with a nefarious grin on his face, softly clicking it closed behind him before looking her dead in the eyes and raising a single brow. “Hello.”

She smiled at him, working her wild black curls into a single, thick braid. “I’m going to breakfast, so you have exactly forty-five seconds.”

“I bet you worked up an appetite last night.” He surveyed the many outfit options scattered around the room, laughing to himself. “We’re putting a lot of thought into our look today, I see.”

“My appetite is perfectly normal.”

“Mhm. I need every last detail, stat.”

“About what?” She started replacing the clothes onto their hangers, taking care not to meet his eyes.

“About whatever happened in Danny’s room after he went down on you in front of the whole boat.”

“It was a body shot.”

“I know what I saw.”

“And anyway, I was in there for a grand total of three minutes. Nothing happened.”

“Who do you think you’re talking to?” he asked, sitting himself down on the armchair in the corner of the room. “Now, let’s start with the important stuff: it’s big, right? I just know it’s big, with that voice.”