‘Sounds like fun.’
He pressed a hot kiss to her mouth. ‘I’ll make sure of it.’
* * *
Luke woke from a relaxing post-sex snooze to find Abby had disappeared from the bed beside him. He could see the indentation of her head on the pillow and the tangle of the bedclothes from when they had made passionate love. He glanced at his phone on the bedside table for the time and was a little shocked to see a couple of hours had passed. He could hear sounds of activity in the kitchen downstairs and smiled to himself at the thought of Abby bustling about in there as if it was her idea of a good time. His approach to food was purely functional. He ate when he was hungry and he stopped when he was full. But he suspected that came from long years of living alone.
Luke’s mind drifted back to his conversation with Abby by the pool. He wasn’t sure what her motive was in talking about them running into each other in the future. Had she wanted him to consider the fact that she was bound to meet someone else and make him jealous at the thought of her bringing a new man home to meet his family? Why would he be jealous? She had a perfect right to get on with her life once their fling was over.
That was the deal—one week and one week only.
But the thought of running into her with a new partner made something in his stomach twist. Would he have to go to her wedding? Would he have to stand and watch some other guy promise to love her and stay true to her for the rest of their lives?
Not going to happen.
Luke came downstairs to find Abby laying a table on the terrace overlooking the ocean. She was dressed in one of the casual outfits he’d bought her on their shopping spree and her hair was on top of her head in a loosely arranged knot that gave her a bohemian hippy look. She glanced up from folding a napkin and smiled. ‘Nice sleep? I checked on you an hour ago and you were out for the count.’
‘You should have woken me.’
She made a mock pout. ‘Uh-oh, you’re frowning. Maybe you should have stayed in bed a bit longer.’
It’s no fun if you’re not there with me.
Luke would never say it out loud because he didn’t even like thinking it. It would be admitting he needed her. He didn’t need anyone. He made sure of it. ‘What can I do to help with dinner?’
‘You can open the wine, or should we have champagne?’
‘What would you like?’
‘Champagne,’ she said, eyes shining. ‘This is my first ever private island holiday, well, yours actually since I’m gatecrashing.’
‘I was happy to bring you,’ Luke said. ‘It’s good to see you enjoying yourself.’
She gave her lower lip a nibble and started fussing with the flowers she had arranged in the middle of the table. ‘Actually…there’s something I need to ask you…’
‘Yes?’
She turned from the table with a sheepish look. ‘I got a text from Felicity. She wants me to post some pictures of us on our holiday on my Twitter and Instagram feed.’
Luke didn’t even have to think about his answer. ‘No.’
Her face crumpled with disappointment. ‘But surely a couple of photos won’t hurt? It will make—’
‘You can post photos of yourself if you must but please leave me out of it. No way am I going to have my photo plastered all over social media.’
‘You didn’t seem to mind the night of the ball.’
‘That was different,’ Luke said.
‘How is it different?’ she asked. ‘You were pretending to be my fiancé then and you’re pretending now. What’s a few more photos going to do?’
‘None of this is real, Abby,’ Luke said. ‘You. Me. Us.’
Her brown eyes flinched as if he’d struck her. ‘But our fling is real…isn’t it?’
‘Yes. For one week and one week only.’
‘Fine. I’m okay with that,’ Abby said, folding her arms across her body. ‘I just don’t see the problem with taking a few photos and sharing them online.’
‘Look, you might be happy about sharing your life with the rest of the planet but I’m not,’ Luke said. ‘Once that stuff is out there you can’t take it back. It’s out there for ever.’
She chewed her lower lip as if she was thinking about something. ‘I guess it might be a bit awkward for Kimberley’s family…’
Luke set his mouth in a flat line. ‘It’s not about her family. They know this is a fake engagement.’
Her eyes rounded in alarm. ‘You told them about us?’
‘I couldn’t let them find out in the press,’ Luke said. ‘I thought it was better to give them the heads-up that it was a charade to spare their feelings.’