Total pages in book: 135
Estimated words: 128211 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 641(@200wpm)___ 513(@250wpm)___ 427(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 128211 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 641(@200wpm)___ 513(@250wpm)___ 427(@300wpm)
And if she thought Finn was fine with it, she didn’t know him at all.
“It was just a kiss, a stupid dare, everyone was drunk.” Gisella huffed and leaned back in her chair. “Besides… it’s not fair of him to hold it over me when he’s been such a prude all season.”
“Prude?” Leah asked.
Gisella chewed her lip, looking around like she was afraid someone might overhear us. But it was just the four of us stretched out on the lounge chairs. Eli, Cameron, Palmer, and Finn were playing a game of beach volleyball down near the water.
“We haven’t slept together once since we came aboard,” she whispered.
The bottom fell out of my chest.
He… hasn’t slept with her?
I froze, careful not to let my expression shift. But inside, something detonated.
It lit up inside me like a flare, so bright and blinding that it took everything in me not to squint against the glow. I didn’t want to feel it — I shouldn’t feel it. But God, I did.
I was giddy.
Because I remembered how he used to be with me. How he could barely keep his hands to himself. How just a glance could unravel both of us.
The idea that he hadn’t touched her that way, not even once in all these weeks…
It rattled me.
I should have been ashamed at that internal reaction.
But some bitter part of me — sharp and shameless — was thrilled.
Bernard slid his sunglasses down so we could all see his wide eyes. “You’re kidding. Gi… it’s been like six weeks!”
“You think I don’t know that?!” Gisella peeked over at where the guys were playing before turning back to us. “Me está volviendo loca, okay? I mean, I can get him in my bunk for a cuddle but that’s it. He won’t make a move, and he won’t respond when I do. He just keeps saying it’s unprofessional and rude. I even tried to get him to take me to one of the guest cabins, but he refused.”
“Ouch,” Leah said. “That’s brutal. Even Cameron and I have shacked up.”
“Wait, what?!” Bernard and I said at the same time, and then we were laughing and smacking her ass and demanding details.
When the chaos quieted, Gisella cracked her neck and sank back in her chair with a sigh. “I mean, look, we’ve never rushed anything. Took him forever to want to do anything physical with me. He was kind of broken when we got together…” She frowned. “But I don’t know. I feel like I’m missing something, like I’ve got the whole puzzle put together but there are two pieces I can’t find to finish it.”
Her gaze swung my way then as she reached up to grab more tanning oil, the movement slow, deliberate. She uncapped the bottle and poured some into her palm without looking away from me.
“What do you think, Ember?”
I stiffened, ice sliding through me at the unexpected spotlight — at the sudden shift in the air. Her tone was light, borderline casual. But something in it didn’t sit right. It was just a little too breezy. A little too… staged.
And then there was the eyebrow — the slightest lift, just enough to feel like a dare.
Everyone’s eyes were on me now. And I had no idea what to say. Because while the reason could have been anything, I couldn’t help but wonder if Finn was abstaining because of me.
Was it because he didn’t want to hurt me, didn’t want me to overhear it or walk in on anything?
Was it guilt? Courtesy? Some deeply buried instinct not to hurt me?
Or was it something else… something that pulsed between us every time our eyes locked. Something unfinished. Something neither of us could name out loud, but both still felt in our bones.
That it wasn’t over between us.
I lurched up in my chair as the thought passed over me. I couldn’t believe I’d let myself think it at all.
Don’t be stupid, Ember. He’s just trying to be professional.
It’s not about you.
You are the past.
“Oh, I mean, I don’t know,” I said, trying to smile. “I’m sure it’s just what he’s been saying, that he doesn’t want to be rude. Besides, all these cameras around,” I said, waving to the camera people who were almost too easy to forget about now that we were this far into the season. “He probably feels weird about that. But you know him better than I do.”
I didn’t mean for those words to sound so spicy when I said them, but Bernard bit back a smile as he took a drink, and Gisella pursed her lips.
“Yes. You’re right. I do. And I’m sure it’s fine. There will be plenty of time for him to rail my brains out once the show is done.”
Acid burned my throat as I reached for my cocktail, trying again to smile.