Nothing Left to Lose (Guarded Hearts 1)

I grinned and squeezed Ashton’s hand excitedly as we both followed behind him. When I realised he was walking towards the little wooden dock and the water villas beyond, I let out a little squeal of excitement.

“The main reception is located where we were just speaking. There are three restaurants inside, snack bars, two swimming pools, a spa, a couple of stores, and three bars. Up the beach, we run various water sports, including kayaking, snorkelling and windsurfing. On the edge of the beach here, each night from eight until midnight, we have an outdoor grill. They’ll cook anything you want – steaks, fish and lobster. If they have it, they’ll cook it,” Kyle boasted. He stepped up onto the wooden walkway and waved out to the eight or so villas on stilts that sat directly over the sea. “These are our overwater villas. The one at the very end is yours.” Kyle pulled two key cards from his pocket. “The one next door to you is empty for the next two weeks so you’ll have privacy up there. The ocean on this side is restricted access for the villas only so you shouldn’t have people swimming there. No boats or water sports allowed in this area so you can use it freely.”

I swallowed noisily. Clearly my father had thought of everything because no one was even allowed to swim near our apartment.

As he stopped at the little wooden door and scanned the key on the black electronic box on the side, the door clicked and he pushed it open, waving me inside. As I stepped over the threshold, I had to gasp at the sheer luxury of the place. It was stunning.

In the centre of the large room was a ginormous cream sofa with a canopy hanging from the ceiling that was draped around it. Next to it was a little table with a large bouquet of flowers set in the middle and two cosy-looking arm chairs. The walls on three sides were wooden, but on the wall opposite the front door it was floor to ceiling glass that looked out over beautiful, calm, uninterrupted ocean.

Ashton walked in behind me, and I heard his gasp of shock too. Kyle waved at a little white box mounted on the wall. “The air conditioning operations are here.” He walked in a little further and motioned to a door on the right. “This is your bathroom, complete with whirlpool bath. The glass in there is privacy glass, which means that you can see out, but no one can see in. It’s totally private.”

“It’s incredible,” I mumbled, shaking my head in awe.

Kyle nodded in agreement and pushed open another door, waving me in. “This is the largest of the bedrooms.”

The bedroom was just as glorious as I thought it would be. The covers on the four poster, king sized bed were pure white. Two red towels had been folded and arranged into the shape of a heart, and little red rose petals were scattered over the white sheets. The bed faced another wall of glass so that the first thing you would wake to in the morning was ocean, as far as the eye could see.

“Over there is my favourite part of this whole villa,” Kyle said, pointing to two armchairs. I frowned but walked over, shocked to see that a large part of the floor had been removed and replaced by glass. The water below was so perfectly clear that you could see every stone that graced the bottom and every fish that swam. So far, it was easily my favourite part of the villa too.

“Let me show you the terrace, and then I’ll leave you two to get settled.”

As we walked back through the lounge, I noticed that our bags had been placed just inside the door already. As Kyle slid open the heavy-looking glass doors, the warmth from outside hit me full in the face. I sighed contentedly, squinting outside and unable to keep the smile off my face.

Ashton busied himself quizzing Kyle about when the maids would come, and how to call for room service; so I walked around the deck, touching the little table and chairs, and the sun loungers. As I leant against the bannister and took in the magnificent view, I spotted a little set of steps to my right. We had our own access to the sea right from our terrace. With that and the room service, I didn’t even need to leave our villa for the next two weeks.

“Well, I’ll leave you to get settled. Good bye, Mrs Taylor. I hope you enjoy your stay here with us,” Kyle called, waving as he stepped back into the villa.

I grinned. “Thanks. I’m sure we will.”

Ashton followed him back inside, and I eyed the sun lounger, unable to decide if I wanted to bask in the sun, or swim first. Just as I was making up my mind, Ashton walked back out with a dazzling grin on his face. “It’s really hot out here. You should come inside and put on some sun cream.”

I nodded in agreement. “I know.” My eyes again flicked to the sea, and I finally made up my mind what I wanted to do first. Swimming.

Unfortunately, there was the menial task of unpacking to get to first. It seemed to take forever to find places for everything that we’d brought. As I unpacked my sixth bikini, I realised that, in my excitement, I may have gone a little overboard with the packing.

As I watched Ashton silently unpacking his clothes and setting them in the drawers next to my own things, I realised something. This place was so remote, beautiful and romantic, that with the idyllic surroundings, and minimal clothes covering his incredible body every day, I knew I wouldn’t be able to fight my attraction to him for the duration of this vacation. Just like in LA, the passion and desire were already building inside me. There was no point in trying to fight the inevitable. Now that we were away from school and on our own, there was nothing to stop us from giving in and having a little fun for two weeks. As I came to this realisation, my stomach clenched with anticipation and a little smile slipped onto my lips. It had been so long since his hands had been on my body that I was almost buzzing with excitement.