CHAPTER TEN

Ever seen a baby gazelle minutes after it’s born? It attempts to stand on its never-used legs, and tumbles. It tries to jump, and topples. It falls onto its knees and crawls around on the ground until it can get up. It’s pretty damn cute.

This was not cute.

It started with a knock on the door. Room service was clearly fast around here.

“Just bring it in and put it on the bed, thanks,” I called out and waited to give them enough time to leave before emerging. I climbed out of the pool and shook the excess water off my hair in a way I suspected left me looking a bit She-Ra Wild Jungle Woman. I stepped into the room and froze.

“Dimitri!” It came out as a shriek. Thank God he wasn’t looking at me. Hey, what was he looking at that was making him smile so much? And then he spoke…

“Then the hard, pulsing shaft of his manhood sought out her most intimate part. The glistening pearl of her womanhood, moistened by the fiery furnace of unbridled passion. He impaled her on his—”

I could feel the smoldering heat rush through my body and soon it reached the boiling point.

“Okay. Stop. You can… enough!” I burst out laughing. This fake, strange maniacal laugh. “Besides, it’s… it’s not even my book.” More fake, weird laughter that disturbed even me a little.

“Really?” he asked. Suddenly I saw little pinky-blue dancing dots of light playing on his shirt, his hands, and the book. A strange look scuttled across Dimitri’s face as he noticed them on his hands.

I knew I hated sequins for a reason! My boobs were basically flashing at him. They might as well have been screaming at him, too. Could it get any worse? Oh yes it could. His eyes slowly drifted up from the book he held in his hand toward me, and that was my cue to grab the nearest folded towel.

Damn, a fucking hand towel! I had to choose: Cover the boobs, or cover the bottom half? I opted for the bottom half. I tried to wrap the towel around me but it didn’t fit and fell to the ground. I went after it, bending to pick it up, only to feel the bikini bottom being eaten by one of my bum cheeks. I gave another shriek and shot up, maneuvering my ass away from his field of vision. But the floor was wet and I fell onto my hands and knees.

“Fuck!” I heard myself pant as I crawled across the floor in the most undignified moment of my entire life. The floor was slippery and every now and then my knee would shoot out to the side.

I finally managed to make it to the bed and launch myself onto it like a torpedo. I did it with such force that at some stage my entire body was suspended in midair. I collided with the bed, landed on my face, and bounced a few times until the bed finally came to a stop. I immediately reached for the duvet and rolled. I rolled as fast as I could until only my head popped out. I lay there and looked up at him, vaguely aware that I couldn’t move my arms because they were so tightly wrapped against my body. I tried to act as casual as I possibly could.

“Dimitri.” I smiled up at him through a crack in the wild hair obscuring my face. “What brings you here?”

He looked down at me, and a grin spread across his face. It seemed to keep stretching until I was sure he couldn’t smile any more. I closed my eyes in sheer embarrassment.

“You left these in the car. I tried to call you.” He held out his hand, revealing the two tiny sachets of sunscreen that had been bestowed upon me by Flight and Travel Center *Terms and Conditions apply. I’d gone through all this for two tiny tester sachets of sunscreen?

He was still smiling. The smile radiated in his eyes as he kept his hand outstretched, waiting for me to take the packets. I tried to move my arms. No luck. I tried again. Still nothing. They didn’t budge. I was totally stuck. I tried to move my body and swing my legs off the bed so I could at least extricate myself from the anaconda-like grip of the duvet.

Nothing.

“You need some help?” he asked, reaching toward me.

“No! No! I’m perfectly fine.”

“Jane, unless you have a big knife in one of your hands and can cut yourself free, you’re stuck.”

“Well, it’s a lucky thing I do, then…” I paused. “Okay. I don’t.”

He gave a small and ever-so-sexy chuckle as he bent down and wrapped his arms around me. This was the most embarrassing thing that had ever happened to me in my life—worse than the condoms. He fastened his arms around me and I had visions of him trying to lift me off the bed, then realizing that he was lifting a whale instead of a human and crashing down himself. I closed my eyes and waited for the inevitable big boom! Only it didn’t come. Instead, I felt weightless for a moment or two, and then my feet were on the floor. Not just that, but I was standing right in front of him. Nose-to-nose. Our eyes locked, and a weird moment descended on us like a thick mist. Silence infused with a strange humming awkwardness that clung to me and sent shivers over my skin.

The shivers made a U-turn and ran back up my spine as he pulled my large bushy mane from in front of my face and his fingers grazed my cheek. Next I felt his fingers on my neck as he tugged on the duvet and finally loosened it. He gently turned me, as if we were dancing, and the first layer was released. I did a full 360 until I was facing him again. He gave me a small semi-smile and then turned me again, and again until I felt the duvet completely loosen around me and finally fall to the floor.

I floated in a moment of absolute bliss as I stood face-to-face with the world’s most attractive man. But the bubble was burst in the worst way possible as I watched his eyes drift from mine to my lips, and then down. I saw a look flash across his face, it seemed to be a look of shock. Then his eyes locked onto something else.

I glanced down, and that was the start of my demise. If I thought that this moment couldn’t get any worse—it could. In all the rolling, my bikini top had done the most appalling thing. The fervent roll had caused one of the cups to wedge itself under my armpit, pushing my boobs together into something wildly indecent-looking. And yes, there was also the slightest nipple-peep.

I gasped and clasped my hands over them. And that was it. I ran into the bathroom and slammed the door behind me. I fell against it, out of breath from the mini sprint, while I adjusted the cups and tried to force the rebellious things back to where they belonged. I pushed my ear to the door and heard some shuffling sounds. He was still there.

“Um… you can leave the sunscreen on the bed. Thanks for bringing it. Bye.” The words fired out of my mouth like bullets. I was mortified and never wanted to see Dimitri again in my entire life. Ever. Never. I heard more shuffling, and it sounded like he’d come all the way up to the door. I pressed my ear even harder and could make out the sound of his breathing.

“Was there something else?” I asked cheerfully.

“Yes. As a matter of fact. I was wondering if you’d changed your mind about Greek food?”

“No. Still don’t like it.”

“So you don’t want to come out with me and my tour group later tonight?” he asked.

“No thanks. Thanks for asking, though.”

There was a pause. I could still hear him at the door.

“Anything else?” I asked.

“Yes. You should really wear your hair down more often,” he said.

I heard the hotel door close and he was finally gone. It took me a few moments to pluck up the courage to step out, and when I did, I could see he’d put my duvet and pillows back onto the bed and made it up perfectly. And there in the middle were the two sachets of sunscreen. I reached up and touched my wild mop of unruly curls.

“You should really wear your hair down more often.”