“This is incredible,” Natalie told Danni. We were sitting around the barbeque out by the pool that evening. She was holding onto her friend’s hand, giving it a gentle squeeze of reassurance.

“You’re going to be famous as fuck,” Paul mumbled as he chewed on his hotdog without a care in the world.

“I’m so scared, guys,” Danni told us. “I don’t do fear usually, but I feel it now.”

Roberta had hung around for a few hours that afternoon, meeting the whole gang and giving out instructions for us to have an early night and not keep Danni awake too late. Apparently, there was only so much makeup could do to cover up the bags under your eyes. For the most part, she’d been friendly enough. Roberta had an energy around her that commanded attention and made people listen. She could floor you with just one judgemental gaze, then light up the whole room with one cry of laughter. She’d seemed drawn to Alex, as most people did. Paul quite obviously confused her, but I didn’t have a clue how to dissect the looks she kept giving me. It was a constant assessment from head to toe, and whenever our eyes met, she’d stare deep into them for as long as she could get away with it before she offered me a smile and moved on to whoever else was standing nearby.

Everyone was excited for Danni, and she was getting asked questions from every angle, so I stayed on the outskirts, not really feeling in the mood to even finish a beer properly. I’d been holding the same bottle for the last two hours when she eventually came over to stand by my side.

“So,” she whispered, turning to face the others as she leaned in and pressed her bare arms to mine.

“So?”

“What do you think about everything?” she asked me, like my opinion mattered.

I pretended to take a drink, lifting the beer to my mouth and barely swallowing a sip before I lowered it again. “I think that if anyone deserves to be a success, it’s you.”

“Yeah?” she asked, and it was obvious she was smiling as we both stared at our friends instead of looking at each other. I could hear the happiness in her voice.

“Yeah.”

“What if I mess it up?”

“You won’t.

“How do you know?”

“Because you’re Danni Marston, and she doesn’t mess things up.”

“I like you.”

“I like you, too.”

She didn’t respond straight away, but I could feel her excitement grow as she started to gently sway her body, causing her white cotton dress to swish from side to side. “Thanks, Marcus. I’m glad you’re here.”

Then she wandered off, but not before she gave my hand a gentle squeeze as she disappeared into the noise of Paul and Alex challenging each other to an arm wrestle.

I didn’t know what my deal was for sure, but as I tried to take another sip of my beer and failed, I knew I was done for the night. Nobody questioned me too much as I made my excuses to leave, although I knew Natalie wanted to. Her eyes seemed to have a way of penetrating mine, seeing through the bullshit bravado I preferred to let the rest of the world see. A perk, or disadvantage, depending which way you viewed it, of having spent years of your life with someone: they were always going to know you that little bit better than everyone else.

After a quick shower, I climbed into my sofa bed wearing just my boxer shorts. It wasn’t the height of the season in Greece, but it wasn’t exactly cold. So it made no sense to me why I couldn’t get warm in bed, no matter how much I tossed and turned or scrunched myself up into a ball. I must have drifted off to sleep at some point, despite my shaking bones, because when my eyes pinged open in the early hours of the morning, it was the darkest part of the night, and I could barely see my own hand in front of me.

Nausea rolled around in my stomach, but I tried to fight it off. After a few heavy intakes of breath, goosebumps invaded my skin, and before I could control it in any way, I was springing to my feet and charging to the en-suite bathroom. I smacked the light with my hand and squinted against the harsh, unnatural brightness in front of me as I ran towards the toilet. The bile was rising in my throat just as I managed to grip hold of the seat, bend over and empty the entire contents of my stomach into the bowl.

It wasn’t glamorous. It wasn’t pretty. It was the most disgusting thing in the world for a woman to see, which was why I groaned heavily when Danni’s hand pressed gently against my back, her knees cracking when she knelt down beside me.

I couldn’t even acknowledge her. My entire body was being drowned in a cold sweat as I fell against the toilet and let my head take centre stage there. The vomiting seemed to last a lifetime before a small, temporary wave of relief washed over me.

Then it started all over again. The retching was brutal. My stomach ached. So did my back.

She didn’t say anything the whole time I was being sick, but her hands rubbed my shoulders, over and over, like my mother used to do when I was ill, and her fingers would trail through my hair as she tried to calm me down and stop the shaking of my body. I was clammy and cold, and her warm touch was more reassuring than she truly knew.

After a few minutes of calm, I dared myself to open my eyes and take a peek at her while I rested my head on the arm that was hanging over the toilet.

“Are you a masochist? Get out of here,” I whimpered.

“I’m not going anywhere.”

“You don't need to see this.”

“Too late.” She smiled weakly.

“I bet I look hot right now, don’t I?”

“You smell great, too.”

“It’s the vomit,” I croaked. “Makes the chicks go crazy.”

Danni huffed out a small laugh before she turned around to grab a flannel from the sink. Her hands got to work, dampening it with some water before she wrung it out. When she came back to me, she forced me to sit up as much as I could before she started to wipe my face with a display of tenderness that, just six months ago, I would never have thought she was capable of. Her actions were a world away from the girl who’d stormed into the Vincents’ house that night. She’d gone from being a raging bull to being a delicate lioness.

Her eyes followed her hands, working their way around my face, then falling to my neck and my shoulders as she wiped me down. I couldn’t take my eyes off her. I couldn’t turn away from that look she was wearing.

“You need some water,” she whispered.

“Go to bed, Danni,” I breathed back at her. “You have a big day tomorrow. You need your sleep.”

“You can’t tell me what to do. You’re not the boss of me.”

“Is anybody?”

“No,” she mouthed before she unleashed her grin. “Although some have more influence over me than others.”

A cold shiver ran through me again, making my whole body shake at once. “Fuck.”

“Do you still feel sick?”

“A little.”

“I bet it was Paul’s chicken. I told him it was pink.”

“It’s too soon for it to be food poisoning,” I told her. “It might have been too much sun. I’m not used to sunbathing all day.”

“Maybe. Can you get up, or do you want to stay here?”

“I want to brush my teeth.” I looked up into her eyes. With every second I spent with Danni, I was discovering new sides of her that existed. There was a depth to this woman that none of us had ever appreciated before. A nurturing side. A caring soul. A mother hen to everyone.

It made her impossibly beautiful.

“Marcus?”

“Yeah.”

“You really stink.” She grinned.

“Well, you're really fucking beautiful.”

Danni blinked, the shock flashing over her face before she frowned ever so slightly. Her eyes searched mine, falling to my lips briefly before she looked back up at me.

“You’re sicker than I thought,” she eventually said, reaching up to press her palm to my forehead.

I grabbed hold of her wrist gently, holding it and her in place while I waited to find the right thing to say.

“Why do you always take care of me?” I asked her quietly.

“Because you need me.”

“I'm starting to think I do,” I whispered.

The silence that followed was tense, but it quickly passed as Danni let a smile tug on the corner of her mouth, while I felt another wave of sickness rise in me.

I was soon leaning over the toilet again and retching hard. The sounds that echoed all around us should have had me dying of embarrassment, knowing a girl like her was seeing an idiot like me at his weakest.

But they didn't.

She had a way of making me feel safe, the way no other woman ever had. And wasn't that a weird feeling for Mr-Fix-The-Whole-World-And-Everyone-In-It?

When I woke up the next morning, it was warm. I was hot. The room was stuffy, and my skin was covered in a small sheen of exhausted sweat. My mouth tasted like the bottom of a fucking bin bag, and I’d been reborn with eyelids that definitely weighed a kilo each.

I had no idea what time it was, or even what day, but when I rolled over to see Danni, she wasn't there. Her bed was made like it hadn't even been slept in, and on the top of the duvet, facing me, was a handwritten note with my name on it.

It took every ounce of energy I had to push my weak body up from my bed, but I managed it as carefully as I could, my curiosity getting the better of me. My bones creaked and ached when I moved, but I found myself reaching for that note anyway. Something about the unexpected precision of her handwritten script had me smiling instantly.

Marcus,

I tried to call an exorcist during the night because, quite frankly, the projectile vomiting was starting to freak me out. No one was available, though, so instead, I left you in bed to get some rest. You’ll find some pills on my nightstand. The rest of the rabble have gone to the beach for the day while I do the fashion vanity thing with the bigwigs. Roberta knows you’re here, so don’t worry. Just… try to stay in the shadows until you’re absolutely certain you’re not going to throw up on Finch. If my career goes up in vomit-soaked flames before it’s even started, I’m blaming you, Marcus. ;)

Danni x

I glanced up at the nightstand to see a little care package waiting for me, which, as she’d promised, included water, pills and some dry biscuits. After dropping the note back down on top of her duvet, I went about my business, taking the pills, eating a few crumbs of the goodies before I dragged my weary body across the room to take a shower. When I walked into our shared en-suite, I found a little lipstick scribbled surprise on the mirror.

Brush those teeth.

Your breath smells like a badger’s butt.

But you’re still gorgeous.

Xoxo

Only she could make such a horrid truth laughable.

The villa was surprisingly quiet from the bedroom I shared with Danni, so when I eventually left the bathroom, put on a pair of loose, navy cargo shorts and a white T-shirt, I found myself tiptoeing around the door, out into the hallway. My hair was still wet, and with every step I took, little beads of water fell from the stray curls into my eyes. I didn’t want to disturb whatever was going on here today, but I also knew I couldn’t stay holed up in that bedroom all day.

I heard the sounds, clicks and beeps of a camera going off before I heard the voices.

“That’s it. Now tip your chin down just a fraction. Perfect.”

My breath got caught in the back of my throat when I peered around the corner and saw her for the first time that morning. If I’d thought Danni was beautiful before, it paled into insignificance the moment I saw her standing in front of that white backdrop with the lights shining down on her, making her smooth, tanned skin glow.

Her eyes had been covered in smoky makeup, making the colour of them pop even from a distance. Her lips were glossy and plump, and her cheeks were perfectly defined. She looked like a damn porcelain ornament.

She was sitting on a stool with her shoulders slumped forward wearing nothing but a burnt orange bikini and some loose, heavy, bronze jewellery around her neck. One leg rested on the bar, while the other hung lazily, allowing her toes to carefully skim the floor. Her hands hung in between her thighs as she gave the camera her best smoulder, and in that exact moment, I was lost.

In her.

Only her.

I couldn’t see anything or anyone else. Just Danni. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up to pay attention. My whole body broke out in goosebumps, and I was pretty sure I’d forgotten how to breathe. If I had believed in Cupid, I would have blamed him and his arrow for the sudden stabbing sensation in my chest.

I must have moved or made some kind of noise I hadn’t even realised I was making because before I could even blink, Roberta interrupted my view of Danni right before she pushed me back around the corner, out of sight so no one could see me.

“You’re meant to be sick in bed,” she whispered.

I swallowed as I tried to pull myself together, but all I could see when I closed my eyes was the silhouette of the most beautiful fucking girl I’d ever seen in my entire life.

“I, umm,” I croaked as I studied the backs of my eyelids before I forced myself to open them up and look at Roberta again.

She made no secret of the fact that she was trying to read me. Her annoyed scowl was kind of scary as she waited for me to say something that made sense. In the end, all I could do was push my hands into the pockets of my shorts and offer her an apologetic shrug. It turned out my voice and my usual quick wit had deserted me.

Danni had stunned me.

“What’s that look?” she snapped.

I glanced down at my body, rocking back on the heels of my feet. “Abercrombie & Fitch mixed with a hint of Marks & Spencer?” I looked back up and flashed her a cheeky smirk. “My mother swears by M&S undies.”

“That’s not what I meant and you know it.”

“Around you, Roberta, I don’t know anything apart from the fact that you make the back of my neck start to sweat a little.”

“You can’t be out there,” she hissed, even though her face softened a touch. “This is one of the biggest moments of her life.”

“I’m not here to ruin anything,” I whispered back.

“You sure about that?”

It was my turn to frown. “What the hell does that mean?”

“It means—”

She didn’t get a chance to finish what she was about to say. Her head snapped to the side the moment a male voice with an almost comical Italian accent filtered through from the living room area.

“Miss Faith?” he shouted.

“Bollocks,” she mouthed.

Roberta’s eyes searched mine with an intensity that should have had me cowering, but I held my own. I didn’t know what her problem was, but I sure as shit hadn’t earned, nor did I deserve, her attitude.

“Won’t be a moment,” she eventually called back.

The standoff didn’t last much longer before she flicked her frizzy hair over her shoulder, slapped on a smile and waltzed back out to whichever fashion friend was calling her.

“Everything okay, Vincenzo?” she asked in a sickly sweet voice, while I stayed exactly where I was with my back pressed against a wall.

“I need you to help switch the set around,” Vincenzo told her. “Nathan would like us to take the shoot outside. There are some exquisite cliff roses in the rockery out by the pool area. Collect some for me. I have an idea.”

“Excellent. I will do that right away.”

“Where did you go?” I heard Danni ask, her voice getting closer.

“Nowhere important,” Roberta answered. “You go back outside.”

“Did you check in on Marcus? Is he still sleeping?”

Of all the times for her to mention me, or even be concerned, now was not a good moment. Not in front of Vincenzo or whoever he was. She should have been in there concentrating on her own future and her own success. That didn’t stop a small smile from crossing my lips the second I heard my name fall from hers, though.

“Who is Marcus?” Vincenzo asked abruptly.

I heard Roberta start to ramble, making her excuses and telling Vincenzo that I was nobody to worry about, but it didn’t stop Danni from speaking over her.

“He’s a friend of mine who needed a place to rest.”

“What kind of friend?”

“He’s nothing to worry about, Vincenzo.” Her voice was bright, assured and full of confidence. “Nathan, shall we take this outside?”

“Absolutely,” came another small male voice. He sounded almost shy around Danni.

The sound of furniture being moved and scraped along the floor had me breathing out a sigh of relief. I should have snuck off and gone back to our room. I was aware of that, but as my head fell back against the wall, making an unexpected thud, I froze in place and hoped like hell nobody heard me.

No such luck.

With just one tiny bang of my head, I’d begun a sequence of events that could change the day for Daniella more than any of us could ever have imagined, and the second I heard the soles of sharp shoes slapping against the marble tiles of the villa, drawing closer to me, I held my breath and waited.

A white-haired man in a crisp white, short-sleeved shirt and fine Italian blue suit trousers turned the corner, and that was when I knew my game was up.

His grey eyes searched me from head to toe and back again with an intense scrutiny that made Roberta’s death glares seem as cute as a newborn puppy.

I had two choices. I could stand there looking weak and let him continue his, no doubt brutal, assessment of me. Or I could be myself.

As soon as I heard Danni’s giggles of excitement from somewhere outside, near the pool, I realised who I was and what kind of people I was surrounded by, so I pushed my shoulders off the wall, rocked forward and pulled my hands out of my pockets to push back the wet, black curls of my hair. Then I unleashed my megawatt smile on the strange man who was staring at me.

“Hey,” I said, full of energy.

The man tilted his head to one side and narrowed his eyes even more. He made you feel like he could cut you wide open and read everything you had inside of you with just one look.

“Marcus, I assume,” he eventually pushed out in a rough, gravelly voice.

“The one and only.” I nodded.

“Interesting,” he muttered.

Was it? Felt like fucking torture to me, but I held out my arm and offered him my hand anyway. My mother hadn’t raised me to have bad manners. “Nice to meet you.” I smiled flatly.

He looked down at my hand in distaste at first, but as soon as I saw him raise his own, I knew I had him. We shook hands, although it was more like my hand crushing his fingertips than an actual handshake.

“You’re Daniella’s friend,” he said in a barely there voice.

“Yeah. Yes. I am.”

His grey eyes rose to meet mine, and just like the Grinch who stole goddamn Christmas, he unleashed a slow, devilish smile at me. “Your eyes...” He trailed off. I’d never felt more exposed in my whole twenty-six years alive. “Incredible.”

“I grew them myself.” I grinned… like an absolute fucking idiot. Shut up, Marcus.

“So green and pure.”

I scowled, not sure what to say. “Thanks?”

“I’m Vincenzo. Please… come outside. Join us.”

“Oh, no. I don’t think that’s a good idea. I’m just going t—”

His fingers squeezed mine suddenly. “I insist.” He grinned, and I found myself nodding like a muted puppy as I looked back at him and realised he wasn’t joking. “Daniella is my day. You have just become my night.”

I had no idea what that meant, but the second he put his hand on my shoulder and started to guide me through the villa, I decided to just do as I was told. We were soon standing outside with Danni, Roberta, and two other men, and that’s when I knew I should have stayed in bed that morning eating dry biscuits.

When Danni’s eyes rose to meet mine, a look of relief washed over her face. That ridiculous smile of hers broke free, lighting up her eyes as she sucked in a breath and took me in.

But then her attention drifted to Vincenzo, and just as soon as her sunshine features had arrived, the black cloud of doubt and wonder flickered above her, making her look unsure in an instant.

“Tell me,” Vincenzo whispered beside me, barely moving his mouth as he leaned in and breathed into my ear. “Have you ever modelled before?”

“Me?”

“You.”

“Erm, no, sir. I’m more of a model appreciator.”

“I’d like you to take off your T-shirt and go stand next to Daniella. Thank you.”

“What?” I gasped.

“You are my night, Marcus.” He pronounced my name like it was Mark-oos.

And just like that, I was pushed forward, thrust into a position I never, in my wildest dreams, imagined I would be in. Before I could even offer him my hell to the no response, or figure out a way to get out of this, I was being stripped down by some young guy in neon yellow swim shorts, and my hair was being pulled in every direction you could imagine.

The whole time I was being preened, I stared at Danni in shock, offering her every apology I could with my eyes. I had a feeling I’d just, without any intentions whatsoever, ruined her whole damn fucking day for her.

Maybe her whole future, too.