Avery

England had conquered me. My skin had never been so thoroughly caressed; my body had never felt so loved. I was proud of myself for living in the moment all day that day, and enjoying every sun-kissed second of it, but then it was night time and we were back at Chandra Villa and I had to think about returning home in the morning, and all of the emails and calls I’d have to make, and I knew the anxiety would return soon and I would screw it all up, one way or another. It was just a matter of when.

When we got back from Eleuthera, full from our sushi dinner, I showered alone in my suite, and packed things up. Then I went over to Luke’s suite to spend the night with him, as we’d discussed. He was in the shower when I got there, and although I had just had one myself, I started undressing so I could join him.

I noticed that his two cell phones were lying on the bed. He must have just gone into the shower, because one of his phones was still unlocked and his message app was open. I could see that there were new messages from someone named Chiara. Who the fuck is Chiara?! I did a really good job of not touching the phone for about three seconds, but I realized if I waited too long that the phone would probably lock up, so I touched the screen. I could see the beginnings of texts from “Chiara,” from “Bonita,” from “Helene.” They all started with some variation of HOW DARE YOU. Who were these women and why were they so mad at him? He was the greatest guy on earth. How could he make a woman angry?

I didn’t dare click on any of the messages, but just seeing all of those exotic women’s names made me uncomfortable. I heard Luke singing a reprise of the One Direction song in the shower, and slowly backed away from the phone.

Luke

Avery arrived at my suite after I had dried myself from the shower, which was a little disappointing, as I’d hoped she’d join me. She was not talkative. We both did a little work on our laptops, side-by-side in bed. It was nice, but I could tell she was getting anxious about what was going to happen tomorrow, when we’d leave here.

“I was thinking,” I mentioned casually, “about taking some meetings in New York. Since I’m so close now—to New York I mean—and it would be a much easier flight back to London from there.”

She turned to face me. “Really? You mean like now-now?”

“Yeah, I mean like tomorrow-now.”

“You have people to meet with in New York? Besides me?”

“Darling, there is a long list of New Yorkers who are dying to meet with me.”

“I’m not surprised, don’t get me wrong.”

“So…If you aren’t too busy, perhaps we could see each other when I’m there.”

She smiled. “Well I’ll check my schedule, but I think I can rearrange some things and squeeze you in.”

“I’d enjoy that very much.”

“I would as well.”

“And you know, if you don’t already have plans with Mr. Potter…” She picked up a pillow and swatted me with it. “I thought perhaps you and I could spend Tuesday together.”

“Tuesday, huh?” She opened up her calendar and saw that Tuesday would be Valentines Day. She covered her mouth and looked up at me. “You mean Valentine’s Day?”

“If you’re free.”

She climbed on top of me and kissed me. “You can stay at my apartment.”

“You’re sure?”

“I am quite certain. Don’t you dare stay anywhere else.”

“I shan’t.”

We kissed some more, but before we got too hot and heavy, I pulled away and had to say to her: “There’s something I feel I should tell you.” She looked very nervous all of a sudden, as if she were afraid I was about to tell her that I loved her or that I was married, and I honestly didn’t know which declaration would frighten her more. “It’s not that big of a deal, but since you came clean about your plug-in boyfriend, I figure I should tell you that the night you sleepwalked here…”

“Oh God. What? Did I sing?”

“No. But we did a little more than spoon.”

She pulled away from me. “What do you mean?”

“Well, I went to sleep on the sofa, and then I woke up and you were on top of me, like you are now, and you kissed me.”

“I kissed you?”

“And I know it’s dangerous to wake up a sleepwalker, so I let you.”

“You let me kiss you?”

“I kissed you back.”

“Is that all we did?”

“That’s all I did. But you…you touched me. You know. My manhood. Over my clothes. Briefly. And then you fell unconscious. It all happened very quickly. It seemed at the time that it would be best if I didn’t tell you, since, I thought you were in a relationship.”

“I see. Okay. I guess. I mean I don’t know what the proper etiquette would be in that situation.”

“You see what I mean.”

“I see what you mean.”

“Are you angry?”

“I don’t think so. I mean. I’m the one who behaved inappropriately, right?”

“I was hoping you’d see it that way.” I laughed. She sort of laughed. “Well now, all of our cards are on the table. Right?”

She didn’t answer right away. “Yeah. Of course.” She kissed me. She had to kiss me again and again, several times, before she was focused on kissing me, but the rest of the night was sublime.