Page 25 of One Week in Paradise

He runs his hands up and down my bare back and whispers in my ear. ‘Let me fuck you, Bailey.’

I nod into his chest and swallow my squeak of surprise when he suddenly flips us over, so I’m lying on my back, looking up at him. I barely have the chance to shoot him a quizzical look before he kisses me, hard and deep, and slides back inside me. Just as hard. Just as deep.

I cross my legs at the ankles against his back, pulling him as close as we can possibly get.

‘ Shit ,’ he half collapses against me, one hand holding him up to stop his weight from squashing mine entirely. ‘Bailey, this is – You feel – I can’t—’ He leans down and drags his teeth along the length of my throat, biting down once he reaches my collarbone. ‘Can I – inside?’

‘Yes,’ I pant. ‘I’m on the pill. You can come inside. Please. Please, baby.’

He groans into my neck and lets himself come undone. With one final moan of my name, he shudders and bucks into me one last time before he stills and collapses on top of me.

The only sound in our room is our panted breaths, mixing together to make one. He rolls off me, chest heaving as he rides out the final wave of his orgasm.

‘That was—’

‘Yeah,’ I say.

‘Are you okay?’ he asks, and I’m sure I hear a hint of nervousness in his tone.

I roll over onto my side and curl up against his chest. He immediately wraps his arm around me and pulls me close so my head is resting just above his heartbeat. The rhythmic thudding is comforting.

‘I’m more than okay,’ I tell him.

He tips my chin up with a finger and presses a soft kiss against my lips. ‘I love you, Bailey. And I’m not saying that to pressure you into saying it back. I’m saying it because it’s true, and I’ve wanted to say it for so long, and now that I can, I don’t think I’m ever going to stop.’

I smile against his lips. ‘You’ll wait for me to get there?’

Because I know I’m going to. It’s only a matter of time.

‘I’ll wait for as long as you need.’

For some reason, I don’t think he’ll be waiting for long.

After we clean up, shower, and crawl back into bed together, something suddenly hits me.

‘Oh God,’ I say. ‘Dane is going to lose his mind.’

Cash snorts. ‘He probably won’t be as surprised as you might think.’

I frown up at him. ‘Have you – You haven’t told him yet, have you?

’ I’m suddenly paralysed with fear that Cash has been secretly informing Dane about everything that’s gone on between us during the trip.

Dane and I are relatively close for siblings, but we’re not that close.

The last thing I want my brother to know is the intricacies of my sex life with his best friend.

‘I haven’t told him anything,’ he says, running a reassuring hand down my arm. ‘But…’ He trails off, and when I look up at him, the tips of his ears are pink.

‘What?’ I ask.

‘He knows that I have feelings for you,’ Cash says quickly, the pink on his ears rapidly spreading to his cheeks. ‘He’s known for a while now.’

I remember the way Dane roared with laughter when I told him how I thought Cash didn’t like me. This whole trip, in fact, had been Dane’s idea.

Realisation slowly dawns on me.

‘Did – Did Dane set us up?’

Cash runs a nervous hand through his hair. ‘Kind of. He, uh, he said he was tired of watching me pine over you. I don’t think he thought that this would happen, though. Maybe that we’d just get to know each other a little more.’

‘Has Dane always known?’ I ask. ‘Like, since we were teenagers?’

Cash nods. ‘It’s actually his fault I never asked you out.’

‘How do you mean?’

‘I told him that I liked you when we were about fifteen, I think, and he wasn’t happy.’ He pulls a face as he pulls the memory to the forefront of his mind. ‘Said you were off limits and I’d be a bad friend if I pursued anything with you.’

‘I don’t know why, but I feel offended,’ I laugh. Dane has never really slipped into the ‘overprotective big brother’ role for me, so it’s weird to hear this. It’s not something I’d expect from him.

Cash shrugs. ‘He was really serious about it as well, so I never said anything. I thought that maybe the feelings would go away, but they didn’t.

Every time I saw you or even heard anything about you, it was like I was being handed another fifty reasons to love you.

I tried moving on. Dated other people.’ He grimaces again, like he’s remembering something particularly painful.

‘But you’ve always been there in the back of my mind. Quietly driving me crazy.’

‘So what changed?’ I asked. ‘Why did Dane suddenly change his mind and give you his blessing?’

‘We were just talking one night, reminiscing about the past, and he remembered that I “used” to have a crush on you.’ A soft smile tugs at the corners of his lips.

I wish I could see the memory that’s currently playing out in his mind.

‘And I guess he could tell from my reaction that I still had feelings. Can you believe he actually asked me why I’ve never tried anything with you? ’

‘He’s the one who told you not to!’

‘Exactly,’ Cash laughs, shaking his head slightly. ‘But he says he doesn’t remember ever saying that. Said it was just him being a stupid teenager and that, if I ever got the chance, I should take it.’

I lay back down, resting my head against his chest. ‘I’m glad you did.’

‘Me too.’