Unexpectedly, Annie could feel her eyes begin to sting and she became overcome with emotion as she ran her finger over the beautifully crafted piece.

“I picked them up in Sorrento earlier.” Colette raised her hand to show an identical bracelet adorning her own wrist. “I got one for Kim, too. Something we can all remember this trip by.”

“I love it, thank you. But you really shouldn’t have... There was no need.”

“It’s perfect, and so thoughtful,” Kim said, stepping into the room, a similar bracelet also on her wrist.

“Almost feels like we’re one step away from starting a girl band,” Annie joked archly. “The Runaways.”

The following morning, Annie paid the taxi fare, trying to ignore the driver’s knowing look as he dropped her off outside the villa entrance.

Evidently the walk of shame was a thing in Italy, too.

Though this was different, she reminded herself as she let herself into the courtyard. Harry wasn’t just some random one-nighter, he was much more than that.

Maybe she would get lucky and everyone would still be asleep when she got inside. Strangers or not, she didn’t want to advertise to the other guests that she’d spent the night elsewhere.

Typical Irish Catholic guilt. She’d got away with it so far but...

She slipped her shoes off to minimize the noise on the stone floor as she snuck in the back door, closing it behind her as quietly as she could before tiptoeing past the kitchen.

“Good morning,” Kim’s voice sang out knowingly, and Annie winced.

Caught red-handed.

“Hey,” she answered airily, popping her head around the kitchen doorframe to face her friend.

“She’s home?” Colette called out from behind her. “Thank goodness.”

Annie was trying her utmost to be nonchalant. “So what’s for breakfast?” she asked, breezing into the kitchen. She moved to the fridge and took out a jug of iced water, waiting for the questioning to start.

Now that it was inevitable, she’d prefer to get it over with sooner rather than later. She wanted a shower. She hadn’t intended to stay overnight and when she woke up forty-five minutes earlier in Harry’s hotel room, she’d been in too much of a hurry to get back before the others noticed she hadn’t come home to waste time on a shower.

“Things went well with Prince Charming last night, I take it?” Kim slid into a seat at the heavy wooden table and looked at Annie with a smirk.

“You could say that,” she replied, sitting down beside her and taking a long gulp of water. She was parched.

Kim chuckled. “I’d more than say that. This is the third night this week you’ve stayed out.”