He found her in her bedroom. She was wearing sleep shorts and a vest top, her hair tied up into a high ponytail. She was writing, a notepad propped up on her knees, her face screwed up in concentration. Her absorption stopped her from noticing him at first, allowing Sam a minute of observation that somehow soothed his soul. In here, without the presence of his family or Gabi and Sandro, they could be just Sam and Cesca.
Why couldn’t it always be like that?
‘Hey.’ In the end he broke the silence, unable to watch her any longer without seeing those pretty eyes. Cesca looked up, started, then slid the pencil behind her ear.
Christ, could she get any cuter?
‘I didn’t see you there.’
‘Clearly.’ Sam was amused by her deer-in-the-headlights expression. ‘Are you hiding from me?’
‘No.’ Cesca, on the other hand, didn’t seem amused. ‘It’s been a long day and I was ready for bed. I assumed you’d be busy with your family.’
There was a brittleness to her voice he didn’t recognise. For a moment she seemed more like the Cesca who had screamed at him through the gate than the girl who had melted in his arms.
‘I guess we were both a little busy today. I hated watching you serving them – serving us, I guess. It seemed wrong letting you clear the tables without eating with us.’
‘That’s what I’m paid for, Sam,’ she reminded him. There was still no give in her expression.
‘There isn’t enough money in the world to put up with my stepfather.’
Cesca looked at him, her voice quiet when she spoke. ‘He’s poisonous.’
‘Yes, he is.’ Sam took a step closer, until he was standing over her bed. His fingers itched to touch her, to run a finger down her silky thigh. It felt wrong to be in here with her and not be holding her. ‘But I don’t want to talk about him.’
Her mouth twitched. ‘What do you want to talk about?’
Sam sat down on the mattress, and Cesca moved away from him. For some reason that made him want to drag her across the bed. He wasn’t going to let her draw away, not now.
‘Us
.’
For the first time she laughed. ‘What “us”, Sam? There is no us. There was just two lonely people who were looking for a bit of fun on holiday.’
His stomach contracted at her words. ‘That’s not true.’
‘Oh come on,’ she said. ‘We both know I was just a distraction, after you split up with Serena Sloane. Or at least we do now,’ she said, pointedly. ‘It would have been nice if you’d have informed me before I opened my legs for you though.’
‘How did you know about her?’ His voice took on an icy tone.
‘Were you trying to hide it?’ she asked. ‘Or maybe you couldn’t care less that I knew. What am I, the next Mrs Jackhammer? Just another notch on your belt?’ Not even a very pretty notch compared to the beautiful Serena.
‘You were never just a notch on my belt.’ His hands curled into fists.
‘Of course I was. You don’t just jump out of bed with one girl then into one with the next unless you’re trying to get over her. And I understand, I do. You never offered me anything other than friendship, and I certainly never asked you where we stood. So let’s just take it for what it was.’
Sam’s jaw was tight. ‘What was it then?’
‘A friendship that went a bit too far. We’re chalk and cheese. You’re some massive Hollywood star and I’m a writer who can’t even get a job. It would never work, and if I’m being honest I don’t think we should try. Let’s just leave it as it was, a wonderful holiday fling between friends.’
‘You want to just be friends?’ It felt as though every muscle in his body had turned to steel.
‘I want us to stay friends,’ she told him. ‘And I don’t think we’ll do that if we keep doing this . . . thing, or whatever you want to call it.’
‘Making love?’ he suggested.
‘Sex, Sam. We had sex.’