Chapter 53: Chapter 53

Chapter 53:

Kendra’s P.O.V:

I nudged Grace with my elbow and pointed towards our table at Ty and Damien, who seemed to be in a heated conversation of some sorts. “I get that you and I are the newlyweds who were in desperate need of a honeymoon, but any idea why Daniel invited them along?” I whispered in her ears.

Grace frowned at me. “Why are you whispering? They're too far out of earshot. And Daniel invited them along because Ty is our friend and Damien’s his brother.”

I shook my head at Grace. “Honey, its adorable how you can be completely oblivious to your surroundings.”

“I agree,” Daniel said as he joined us at the buffet table, standing next to me while Victor came to stand beside Grace with a large plate in hand.

“You guys are so frustrating!” Grace huffed. “Daniel, tell Ken why you really brought Ty and Damien here, or she'd probably dream about them hooking up.”

I turned to Daniel with my eyebrows raised; waiting for an answer, but all I got in return was a huge ass grin that spoke louder than a thousand words.

“You didn't...” Grace whined but Daniel only grinned wider.

“Oh yes, he did! He totally did!” I held up my fist, balancing my plate with the other hand as Daniel bumped his fist with mine. “Nice work, bro!”

“But why?” Grace whined. “Ty just had a really bad break up with Connor. Was it really necessary to try and play matchmaker with her right now?”

“They’ve both been through bad break-ups,” Daniel waved his free hand in front of his face as if shooing away a fly. “I think they'll be good for each other.”

“And if they aren’t?” Grace scowled at both of us.

“Honey,” I nudged her in their direction. “Just look at those two. They’re already bickering like a married couple! If you ask me, they’ll be all over each other in no time at all.” If they aren’t already, I added as an afterthought.

“But will it really be okay for them?” Grace asked; her voice going softer so only I could hear her.

I nudged Grace in the opposite direction, away from the boys, so we could talk in private while pretending to pile up bacon onto our plates...okay, so I wasn’t just pretending to pile up bacon in my plate, I actually was piling up bacon, because, of course, it’s bacon!

“Oh, stop it, Ken!” Grace scolded. “That was your eighth strip!”

“So? Daniel’s paying for the food; I might as well make the most of it.” I told her. “And what did you mean by if it’s okay for them?”

“I’m worried about Ty, Ken.” Grace shook her head. “She thinks I didn’t notice how her mood was so down all throughout my wedding, but I’d seen it. She was supposed to be the first amongst us to get hitched, get her happily ever after. And she did everything she could to hold onto that relationship even though it had gone toxic. I just don’t want her to get hurt a second time. I don’t think she’ll be able to handle it.”

“Oh, come on. How bad can it get?” I pointed towards the couple in question who were too busy getting engulfed in each other to even think about breakfast. “Do you see how Damien keeps staring at her even when Ty breaks eye contact? You see how Ty’s leaning forward towards him, almost involuntarily, to get even closer to him? If my intuition is right, and it usually is, they’ve already hooked up. You think that’s a bad thing?”

“I wish I could explain this to you better, Ken, it’s more of a gut feeling than what I ‘think’. I don’t think Damien’s that into her yet and Ty can get easily attached to anyone...sometimes a bit too easily.” Grace shook her head and added two pancakes to her plate and poured blueberry sauce all over them. “Let’s just not talk about this now, shall we? I want to enjoy our time here, make happy memories.”

“And maybe a couple of babies.” I nudged her again with a grin on my face. Daniel and Grace will make some super cute babies.

“Oh? I thought you’d beat me to it this time as well.” Grace shot back with a grin of her own.

I frowned. “Daniel’s a bad influence on you.”

“You’re just jealous that you aren’t the only one.” With that Grace turned around with a dramatic flip of her hair and went back over to our table where Damien and Ty instantly sprung apart in high alert.

Yeah, those two are definitely getting down and dirty.

Tatiana’s P.O.V:

After our friends joined us back on the table, me and Damien went to get our plates and grab some breakfast at the buffet table. We sat down and enjoyed a nice big breakfast and chatting about how far we’d come in our lives. I had almost forgotten about what Damien had told me earlier until he whispered in my ear. “Let’s get out of here.”

“Now?” I whispered sharply as I looked at my friends still sitting around the table.

“You don’t want to?” Damien asked huskily and that’s when I felt his hand on my thighs, under the table.

I felt the warmth of his hand as he spread his fingers across my thigh. He inched his finger a little bit higher, taking my skirt with them. My breath hitched when he used his hand to part my thighs and rubbed the sensitive skin of my inner thigh with his fingers in a soft, circular motions.

I felt a shiver go down my spine and I instinctively clenched my thighs back together with Damien’s hand still stuck in the middle. Damien remained unfazed as he spoke with his brother but as he tried to wiggle his hand free, his finger lightly brushed me over my panties and instantly, I felt a flush of heat at my core. Damn it! Why was I so sensitive to him?

Not giving Damien another chance to repeat the move, I removed his hand from my thighs and turned towards my best friends. “Guys, do you wanna go to the pool back at the main hotel? It’s really big and has a natural waterfall in it. I heard they even have water sports.”

“Really? What kind?” Victor was instantly interested.

“Water polo and water volleyball. That’s what I heard some of the guests say when I was strolling down the beach last night.”I answered him, watching Damien frown from the corner of my eyes.

“Awesome!” Victor’s eyes lit up like a kids during Christmas. “Come on, guys! Let’s go! It’ll be so much fun.”

“But we aren’t dressed yet...” Ken looked around the table to make sure. “How about we all head to our rooms, get changed into some killer bikinis and meet up at the hotel lobby in about an hour?”

Grace and I both raised our eyebrows at the ‘about an hour’ comment but no one said anything. It was clear what that hour was going to be for and I wasn’t complaining.

We all agreed to Ken’s suggestion and got up and headed to our overwater bungalows and as I’d expected, Damien entered through the connecting door about ten minutes after we’d closed our respective doors. But instead of lust, I saw anger on his face.

“Why on Earth do you have to wear such a short skirt?” He snapped as he took in my getup.

“Excuse me?” I closed the door to my closet and turned to face him.

But Damien didn’t even hear me. “And what’s with that top? It’s practically non-existent! Why did you have to act provocative in front of a hundred other men on that beach? Why do you have to appear like you’re offering yourself up in front of other men?”

His accusations were like cold water being thrown on my face. Any desire that I’d felt only a second ago had just flown out the window.

“Are you kidding me?” I snapped. “I sleep with you a couple times and you act like you own me! Who the fuck are you to tell me how I should or shouldn’t dress? There is nothing indecent about the way I’m dressed and you’re the last person that should be talking about me being provocative in front of others!”

Somehow, Damien seemed to finally snap out of his rage and realize the stupidity of his own words. He didn’t have to say anything, that pathetic look on his face was proof enough. Well, too damn bad, because now I was fuming.

“I’m so-“

“I don’t want to hear it.” I held up my hand to cut him off. “Please leave so I can get dressed to meet my friends. Actually, I’m thinking about completely dumping my provocative dresses and simply going out naked.”

I went to walk past Damien but he caught my hand crushed me to his body. And before I could protest, his lips came crashing down on mine.

It made me feel lightheaded, like most of his kisses did and it took me all of my willpower and my strength to push him off me, to cross the room and put as much distance between us as it was physically possible for me without crumbling to the floor.

“What’s wrong?” Damien asked, sounding breathless. “If this is about earlier, I’m sorry. I just couldn’t think about how other men out there would look at you and want you the same way I did.”

How does he do it? Become a complete jerk one moment and then says something sweet the next that just melts my heart. But I knew this wasn't a direction my heart wanted to take. I could remember what we had discussed upon very clearly and I didn’t want to get involved with him any more than I already have.

“Damien, I love spending my nights with you,” I told him. “We’re good together and it’s all pretty wonderful...but I need some space. Our relationship is based on nothing but sex and I’m fine with that but I do need some time just for myself.”

Damien stayed quiet as he took in my words. His emotional battle was clear in his eyes and I just hoped that he didn’t find out just how difficult this was for me to ask for space. Call it self preservation, but I was saving my heart from the irrevocable damage that was about to come. For the past ten days, we had been together every single night and the more time I spend with him, the worse it got for me to pull away. I didn’t think I could come out of this relation unscratched when it ended and sooner or later, Damien was going to leave. He had a life in Montana, a past and most possibly a future that didn’t...wouldn’t involve me. If I didn’t pull back now, I’d fall, and I’d fall hard.

And I just might have already fallen.

“Alright,” Damien said finally. “I understand.” With that he walked back into his room, slamming the door shut in my face.