Found by Drew, page 8
He’s a charmer like Alex. He’ll hurt you, just like Alex did, said my head.
They bickered continuously until the dawn chorus started, which was the point I rose from my bed, leaving the sheets in a heap from all the tossing and turning. I walked onto the balcony and absorbed the early morning sunlight. It cleared my thoughts and allowed me space to think.
There was no harm in a holiday romance, and I’d just enjoy it whilst it lasted, if it lasted. Or I could continue my vow of celibacy and look for a guy when I was ready. But would he be as good as Drew appeared, or would this be a one-time chance? How often could I stumble across guys who fit my wish list as well as Drew did? The questions swirled with no answers. It was only as exhaustion took over and I curled up on the sun lounger that I finally dropped off to sleep.
NINE
Our time out on the banana boat had been a complete and utter disaster. As Annie had predicted last night, my skimpy bikini top—the one she had forced me to wear—had indeed taken itself off for a swim, mid-ride, no less. A true gentleman, Drew had pulled his wet t-shirt off seconds later and handed it to me without a word. It was a godsend, but the combination of losing my bikini top and forgetting my sunscreen had left me redder than a tomato by the time we finally headed off the beach. Not to be outdone, my embarrassment was doubled thanks to my nipples, which, due to the cold water and the chafing of the t-shirt, had made them impossible to miss. The heat of the afternoon was upon us, and I wanted to get back into our room and drink my weight in water.
“Catch you later, guys. I’m going to head up for a cold shower and some aloe,” I called towards the group, already making steady progress towards the nearest steps off the beach. The girls raised their hands in a half-hearted wave and continued across the burning sand. I couldn’t blame them. Without flip flops, you’d be lucky not to have third degree burns if you tried to saunter across this beach.
“Hey, Lia. Wait up!” I recognised the voice, and it was the last person I wanted to speak to right then. Given how embarrassing it had been for me on that boat, I needed a little space. Reluctantly, I slowed my pace and waited under the next shady spot for Drew to catch up with me. “Moving pretty fast there, beaut.” He laughed as he spoke, the chuckle reaching his eyes and lighting them with an electric spark. I shouldn’t have been noticing these tiny details, but for some reason, I noticed everything he did.
I laughed and regretted it as the skin pulled tight on my tomato face. “Trying to get out of the sun. I do this every year. You’d think I’d have learned my lesson by now.” I avoided eye contact to hide the blush that was probably making my cheeks burn even brighter.
Even though he’d behaved like the perfect gentleman earlier, I was still mortified by the fact he’d had to save my dignity like that. Trying to hold on to the banana boat and cover my breasts at the same time had not been successful. With hindsight, I should have just abandoned my plight and sacrificed myself dramatically to the waves. They’d have come back round to pick me up, and at least the water would have hidden my modesty a little better.
“You’re still embarrassed about the bikini thing, aren’t you?”
He was good, already reading my body language like someone who’d known me a lot longer than a few hours.
“Well, baring my tits to all and sundry was definitely not part of my ‘make sure the fit guy gets the hots for you’ plan,” I said, then realised an instant later what my inner sarcastic bitch had just said. “Shit. Erm, can we… Oh, balls on a stick… can we just forget I said that, okay? The heat makes you… funny things? You know?” came my flustered reply as I put my head down and kept up a steady mantra of shits and fucks as I hot-footed it—literally—back to my hotel room.
Sure, I liked him, I’d have been stupid not to, but blurting it out like that? So not the way I’d wanted to play it. I wasn’t even sure if I wanted to play it. I cursed my big mouth and its faulty filter system.
“Lia! Hey, Lia! God damn it, I can’t keep up in these bloody shoes,” called Drew behind me.
He was wearing a fancy pair of sandals with some weird little toe piece that looked like the most uncomfortable thing I’d ever seen in my life. Good. I hoped he didn’t catch up until I was safely inside my room, able to hide from the absolute shambles I’d made of what should have been a fun start to my holiday. I pushed my way through the crowded beach front, avoiding the pushy sales guys offering the typical holiday tat. My shoulder seared as a hand pulled it and spun me round.
“I don’t care who the fuck you are, but you will remove your hand from my shoulder right now, otherwise I will scream bloody murder and pound you to the floor.” I growled through the pain as I turned to face the idiot who was still gripping my shoulder. My jaw jutted out in a stubborn stance as I looked up to face them, and found myself looking up at Drew, who was trying his hardest not to laugh.
Oh, joys. Another batch of my unique brand of madness to help scare him off.
“I like this feisty side I keep seeing, Lia. It does things to a man, if you know what I mean?” teased Drew, sticking his tongue out at me as he watched my face go through a range of emotions. He laughed, released his grip on my shoulder, and moved his hand down to the crook of my arm. Taking it like the gentlemen of old, he flashed his perfect pearly whites and said, “Walk with me, please?”
I huffed and puffed, but there was little I could do to get out of this without being a dick. The others had vanished into a bar and I knew it would be sensible to walk back with someone else, despite my initial intentions to walk back alone.
“Fine.” I pouted. “But I’m warning you, Drew, one word about what happened out there and I am going to kick you so hard in the balls, you’ll wish you didn’t have any.”
“Oh, you mean where I saved your dignity, which was barely compromised in the first place might I add, because the life jacket was covering the majority of your front? All this was because I enhanced your predicament by providing you with my wet t-shirt which proceeded to cling oh so tightly to that delicious body of yours? Not a problem. My lips are sealed,” he joked.
How could he be so sexy yet so infuriating at the same time? Yet, when he put it like that, I realised I had exaggerated things a little. A nipple might have slipped out for a second, if that, but no one except Drew had noticed until we’d slowed down closer to shore. And even then, most of them thought he’d given me his shirt to stop me from burning worse than I already had. I took a deep, steadying breath and swallowed my embarrassment.
“Well, yes, that was the incident to which I was referring, but when you put it like that, perhaps it wasn’t as bad as I had first thought,” I said, mimicking his overly formal tone. I was unsure what to say and praying to the God I didn’t even believe in that he would just breeze right on by the faux pas I’d made just moments ago. A girl could hope, right?
“Ah, so I was right on my first guess. Have you any idea what my backup option was?” I gazed open-mouthed at his audacity. He wouldn’t, surely? But he did. “I’m guessing by your face that you do. I am, of course, referring to that lovely slip of the tongue where you admitted you’ve got the hots for me, if you’ll allow for a little paraphrasing.” Drew’s eyes twinkled with mischief. It was like he had little leprechauns dancing around in their green fields.
“So what? Yes, you’re hot, and yes, there’s an attraction. Any fool can see that, but I most definitely did not mean to blurt it out like that. Can’t you see how embarrassing today has been for me? And now you’re just poking fun at it.”
I’d let my guard down, only for a second, but I’d let it down anyway. Now I was paying for my idiocy. He’d wormed his way into my affections with cheeky smiles, scorching good looks, and good old-fashioned chivalry.
But then he surprised me. He looked at me with such tenderness that I couldn’t pull away.
“Lia, talk to me. Why are you so defensive all the time? I don’t understand how someone as beautiful, clever, and funny as you can be so broken. I hardly know you, but it’s clear to anyone who looks through that show you put on for the world that something or someone has ruined your trust. Can I help you, please?” he said, kindness and concern in his eyes.
His words and astute observations took me off guard and had me wiping stray tears from my cheeks. This kind of behaviour didn’t fit in to my current view of men; they were supposed to be useless arses who have their way, then break your heart as they move on to the next woman. At least, that was what my past experiences had taught me. The memories had scarred me. Yet here was a virtual stranger, offering his shoulder for me to cry on and release my pain. It made me feel pathetic and useless; how pitiful I must be if he could spot how damaged I was after just one drunken evening and a day in my company.
“Drew, don’t go there, please. You’re right. I’m damaged, broken beyond repair.” I laughed, shaking my head and becoming colder as I detached from the hurt that was bubbling up in my chest and threatening to break free. It had all been going so well. I should have known I couldn’t get that lucky; I never did. “But if you can see it after so little time with me, it just proves how broken I really am. Just… just go, Drew. Step away from me and forget you ever met me. I’m ruined for anyone else. I don’t want to bring you down with my company.”
The tears were falling in a steady stream now as I walked alone back to my hotel. I had left Drew standing on the spot, speechless. To his credit, he left me to walk alone, but minutes after I reached my room, slumped behind the closed door, and surrendered my body to the sobs, there was a quiet tap at the door. I tried to stifle the noise I was making and pretend that if I ignored my problem, it would go away.
“Lia, I know you’re in there. Let me in.” Drew spoke through the door at me.
My tears started again as I gave up trying to be strong and unlatched the door. Drew pushed it open with a gentle nudge and waited for me to invite him in. With a nod of my head, he stepped over the threshold, pushed the door closed and surveyed the mess that was our suite. He followed me to the patio off our bedroom, unfazed by the chaos. I’d not unpacked properly. My case lay half empty on the floor, its contents strewn over my double bed. Toiletries littered the sink area in the bathroom Annie and I were sharing. I hadn’t dared to look into Meg and Eva’s side of the suite, but they were well known to live in houses that looked like there had been a tornado in the middle of a clothes store.
He placed his attention on to me, taking in the ratty hair, knotted from the sunshine and sea water, the half dry t-shirt barely covering my arse, and finally, the puffy red eyes that must have been so unattractive. I looked back, not even trying to stop the fresh tears breaking free and coursing like rivers down my face.
Drew covered the distance between us in a few steps, wrapped his arms around me, and held me tight. For what felt like an eternity, I stood cocooned in his arms, releasing the emotional blockage which had plagued me since I’d followed Alex that day, the day my world had shattered for the second time in as many months. The day I broke - for good this time. Not once did Drew ask for answers or recoil from the mess of snot and tears I had become; instead, he held me tighter, stroked my hair, and made soothing noises. And we stayed that way long after my tears dried up, my breathing slowed, and my eyes grew heavy.
“Thank you, Drew. You have no idea…” I whispered.
“I do, Lia. Trust me, I do. I may not have been hurt like this before, but I know what bad breakups can do to people,” he interrupted, his voice filled with a sadness of his own. He stroked his thumbs along my cheekbones, looked me straight in the eye, and placed his forehead against mine. “Goodbye beautiful girl. Get some rest. And call me if you need anything.”
He guided me to bed, pulled the curtains to, and closed the door behind him. I slept that afternoon, and straight through the night, better than I could remember sleeping in a long time. I didn’t even stir when the girls came back from the beach bar, and when I woke, I knew exactly what I needed to do. It wouldn’t be easy, but I’d do it. I just hoped my honesty wouldn’t scare away the best thing that had walked into my life in a long while.
TEN
The sun broke through the large window and moved across the room, chasing out the shadows one by one. I was already awake and waiting for it to reach a reasonable height in the sky before I left for Drew’s room. Annie, on the other hand, was flat out on her bed, wriggling in her sleep and doing her best impression of a dying warthog. It was a good job she was single. Any guy who had to suffer through her snoring after a night out with the girls was likely to run as fast as he could in the opposite direction, calling animal control at the same time.
Drew could have had no idea what he’d done for me, unlocking the pain of my broken heart and letting it wash away through my tears. It wasn’t a miracle – cry on the guy and wash away all that ails you wasn’t even something they tried to pull in a fairy tale. I knew I wasn’t fixed, but it had made a massive difference to me, and I needed to tell him that. Mostly though, I needed to apologise for my embarrassing snot show all over his shoulder.
I dressed fairly modestly considering I was on holiday, in denim shorts and a plain purple tank top over my bikini of choice for the day. I’d covered myself head to toe in sunscreen, scraped my hair into a scruffy bun, and threw an oversized, floppy hat on to help shade my pink face. Impatient, I paced the balcony, my flip flops making the usual, annoying flapping noise as the plastic hit the sole of my foot after each step. I wasn’t bothered about waking Annie. Snoring the way she was, and having experienced her drunken stupors before, I knew I had well over an hour before she might even begin to stir. Plenty of time to speak to Drew, smooth over the weirdness, and get myself by the pool so no-one would ever suspect what had happened. God, when I thought like that, it made it sound like some kind of sleazy one night stand.
When I finally considered it a decent enough time to go calling, I headed out towards the elevators. Drew had mentioned he was up on the fourth floor, but I had no idea which number he was. I was going to loiter with intent until he headed downstairs for the top of the range, all-inclusive breakfast buffet, which in actuality was whichever scraps they had from the previous day and a few jugs of fresh fruit juice.
My foot tapped a steady rhythm as I stood at the door to the stairwell, waiting for him to show. I assumed he would be an early riser, but I had no guarantee he’d show at all, and even if he did, whether he would want to talk to me after the emotional wreckage he had witnessed last night. But I had to give it a chance; at least that’s what I told myself as each person walked past. My attention wandered as I waited, thinking of nothing in particular, but meandering down memory lane. Recollections of previous family holidays in the sun, the last time we’d gone abroad as our little foursome, and the chaos that had ensued. Needless to say, I was soon in a self-absorbed daze, lost in my own little world, and oblivious to the comings and goings of those around me.
“Hey, beaut,” came a voice from behind me. I jumped as high as if someone had shoved a cattle prod up my backside, and spun around so fast I wouldn’t have been surprised if I’d given myself whiplash. “You look better today. Did you sleep well?”
“Yeah, I did, thanks.” His pleasant nature threw me. I hadn’t been expecting him to carry on as if yesterday had never happened. “Um, Drew, could we, erm, well. Could we talk about yesterday, please? I feel like I owe you some kind of explanation for the horrors I put you through,” I joked, but I hoped he was picking up on my need to get this out of my system.
“Sure thing. You want to grab a couple of stale croissants and head to the beach?” he suggested, as unimpressed with the buffet selection as I was by the sounds of things.
“Mmhmm.” I nodded, following in his shadow as we grabbed our breakfast to go and headed towards the sea front. The hotel opened straight on to the road to the beachfront at this exit, but we walked in silence until we reached an upturned boat, its paint cracked from the intensity of the sun. We sat, neither saying a thing. I guessed seeing as I was the one who wanted this conversation, I would need to get the ball rolling.
“So,” I started, taking a deep breath and finding a fixed point in the distance to focus on. I couldn’t look into his eyes whilst I explained this. He waited in silence, pulling his croissant apart and eating it in small chunks. “Yesterday, I was a mess, but I think you deserve to know why I’m so broken. So... untrusting of people… of men, being nice to me. I know we only met the other day, but it’s so weird, and stop me if I get too stalkery here, but, well, it already feels like I know you, and I can trust you. Does that make sense? Or am I just spouting crap again?”
“It makes sense. I feel it too, Lia. I feel drawn to you, for whatever purpose. Something has brought us together this week. I know that sounds like something from an old movie or one of those soppy books my mum reads, but I dunno. I believe everything happens for a reason. Tell me your story, beaut. I’m listening. Share the burden.” Drew took a rough bite of his croissant, pastry dropping all over him. Wiping it off with a sheepish grin, he left his gaze on me, watching me as I nibbled at my own stale pastry.
A deep, steadying breath helped prepare me for what was coming next. Even though we had some sort of connection, I wasn’t ready to tell Drew the whole ugly truth about Alex. My heart and mind were more stable than they’d been in weeks, but my eyes and nose could not handle another emotional outburst like that for a while, especially given my sunburn from the day before. Looking into his eyes, I felt the same sense of familiarity that had made me feel safe yesterday; I could trust him, I knew it in my heart. It felt like he could be helpful in some way, whether as a friend or a lover, in stitching my shattered soul back together.
“My ex was a bit of a twat. Well, a lot of one. If I’m honest, a lot of my exes have been.” I started, ripping the plaster off in one swoop the way my granddad used to after I’d skinned my knees climbing trees.
