“Hey,” her voice drifted across the room as smoothly as the soft breeze floating across my face.

I smiled to myself and stayed where I was, leaning over the railing of the veranda as I looked out onto the lands of Greece and enjoyed the warmth. My shoulders rose as I let out another slow sigh. It was all I had as I tried to put my thoughts in order.

Eventually, she moved closer. The gentle sound of her feet rising and falling against the cool marble floor told me so. When she was behind me, close enough to feel, far enough away for me not to touch, a shiver of something ran down my spine.

“I’m…” Danni began, pausing for a small second before she closed the gap between us and pressed a hand on my shoulder. “Shit, I’m sorry you had to do that out there.”

“It was no bother,” I answered, my eyes narrowing as I kept them trained on the ocean.

Her fingers rippled like a wave across my skin. “Not bad for an old man.”

“Thanks.” I huffed out a small laugh.

“You were a natural.”

“Oh, I don’t know about that.”

“I mean it. Vincenzo is a hard guy to please, and you had him in the palm of your hand.”

“And I had you in the palms of mine,” I said, turning to look at her slowly. Her cheeks were flushed, and she looked incredible. In fact, incredible wasn’t enough to describe how she looked. She was ridiculous. She could bring men to their knees with just one look, and everything about her was more than perfect, especially her little imperfections. Those were my favourite things of all.

I’d always had trouble believing that Helena of Troy could have held so much power in her beauty that she had the strength to make men go to war and a thousand ships set sail. Danni made me believe that such power existed. I couldn’t imagine any worthy man not fighting for her.

“Did it feel weird?” she asked me slowly, carefully.

“No,” I whispered.

“Did you like holding me?”

“More than you know.”

She inhaled slowly, letting a small smile tug on one corner of her mouth. “I liked you holding me, too.”

I studied every inch of her face for a lie and saw nothing there but truth.

Danni has fallen for someone.

My envy was soon replaced by wishful thinking.

When my eyes landed on her lips, all I wanted to do was push mine against them and see what she tasted like. I had a need to feel the way she would react if I kissed her. I had an ache to feel the tenderness of her lips against mine. I had a feeling anything I could imagine would only seem weak in comparison to the reality of what Danni could offer a man—the right man.

I turned to face her fully, resting my hip on the railing for support as I held my bottle of water in one hand and reached up to pinch her chin between my finger and thumb with the other.

“You looked so good out there,” I told her.

“So did you.”

Her eyes searched mine frantically, her breathing getting shorter and sharper with every second that passed us by.

“Marcus,” she breathed out.

“Yeah,” I said, hopeful.

“I… I need to go back out to them.”

“Yeah,” I said, regretful.

I dropped my hand from her chin and took a step back, letting my gaze fall to the floor before I reached up to scratch the back of my neck.

An awkward silence lingered before I heard her small huff of laughter fall free, and when Danni stepped forward and reached up to kiss me on the cheek, it took every ounce of strength I had not to pick her up in my arms, spin her around, and throw her down on the bed.

“You should get some rest,” she told me through a smile when she landed back down on the heels of her feet. “You had a rough night.”

“Rest,” I croaked, still feeling the warmth of her kiss on my cheek. “You got it, chief.”

“I’ll see you later.” With that, she spun on her feet and took off back to the group of people who were here to dictate the rest of her immediate future, leaving me, a man who felt he could give her the world if she’d let him, alone to stare at his feet once again.

For a man of many words, I sure did come up short when it came to Daniella.

She turned everything I was around and made me feel weak where I’d once felt self-assured and strong.

She made me feel strong when I was weak, lying on the floor of the bathroom, unable to control my body.

She made me feel confused, constantly confused, about what I should do and what role she would play in my life

After a few moments of useless soul searching, I walked over to my side of our room, picked up my phone and shot Cameron a text.

It didn’t take him long to respond.

I dropped down onto my sofa bed and held the phone between my legs as I typed.

His second reply came quicker than I expected it to.

I knew it.

A roar of laughter came bursting through the villa, one that I instantly knew belonged to Vincenzo. I looked up at the bedroom door, distracted, before the ping of my phone pulled my attention back down to the screen.

I knew how that went.

Harsh, but true.

I stared at my phone, half worried, half relieved. If there was ever a man who was going to be good for my sister, it was Cameron. If he went all in, that was.

I thought I already knew the answer. I just needed to hear that I wasn’t the only pussy to come out of West Yorkshire.

I looked at my phone screen and ran my thumb over his words lazily.

She was someone he didn’t want to get it wrong with. I knew how that felt more than anyone. I’d been there before with Natalie. Now what I had to decide was whether or not I could go through it all again with another one of my sister’s friends. The risks weren’t as great with Danni for Danni. She wasn’t around Calverley that much. She was off living a life. I wasn’t exactly part of her future plans, and I knew better than to try to make her a part of mine. She had a bright career ahead of her. Anything that did happen would surely be a one-time thing.

It had to be.

It was all it ever could be.

I just didn’t know if it was worth the risk of losing a good friend for the sake of a good time. I didn’t know if I could handle the monumental risk it was for me. Where would any guy go after experiencing a love affair with a girl like Danni?

Once the likes of Vincenzo, Finch, the assistant in the weird neon shorts, and Roberta had left the villa for the day, I heard Danni let out a nervous, excited giggle from down the hallway before she came running back into the bedroom, where I was lying on my sofa bed staring up at the ceiling with my hands behind my head.

“Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God,” she squealed as she came barrelling in.

My smile grew bigger as I watched her charging forward, her long blonde hair fanning out behind her before she threw herself onto the bed and rolled around on top of the sheets. Her grin was infectious, but when she stilled and stared up at the ceiling herself, my eyes fell to the hypnotic rise and fall of her chest.

“I can’t believe it,” she said through a heavy sigh. “I cannot believe that has just happened.”

My brows rose high as I stared at her. “It went well?”

“Better than ever, thanks to you.”

“Yeah, you just remember that. Any future success you have is because of me. It has nothing to do with you being pretty much the most perfect woman that exists on the planet or anything.”

She blinked before she turned her head my way and stared back at me. “Don’t say things like that to me right now, Marcus. I’m not in control of my emotions and I’m open to lame seduction.”

“Lame is my game.” I grinned.

“I could pounce on you,” she warned me.

“You should.”

Her eyes narrowed before she eventually rolled onto her side, propping her head up with her hand. I didn’t miss the way she gave me a slow, almost seductive, head to toe inspection. If I’d had time to prep, I’d have tensed my stomach and at least made an attempt to seem irresistible, but around Danni natural always felt best.

“It’s times like this when I wish I had someone special to share these moments with.”

“What kind of special?” I asked, turning over on my side to copy her pose and face her.

“The kind of special Suzie and Paul have. The kind of special Nat and Alex have.”

“I didn’t know that was something you were looking for.”

“It isn’t. I guess not, anyway.” A sad smile pulled at the corner of her mouth before it faded away. “I know what I want from life. It can sometimes get a bit lonely, that’s all.”

“I get it.” I nodded. “I really get it.”

“I know you do,” she answered quietly. “You hate being alone, don’t you?”

“Honestly? I don’t hate it. It just doesn’t feel like the natural way to be to me.” I let out a small sigh, one designed to do nothing more than give me a moment’s pause to think about how seriously I wanted to answer her. But there was a way Danni looked at you that made you want to open up, even if she hated your answer. She was like a human lie detector test, and your biggest fear was getting caught out feeding her bullshit. She demanded more than that. She wanted more. Not just from me, but from everyone.

“The natural way?” she asked, raising a brow.

“Everyone makes out like we should all be comfortable being on our own, you know? But I don't get that. I don’t get what the big deal is about being on your own and independent. It feels cold to me. Really cold. I prefer the high of openly loving someone. Why do people have to make us feel like we have to embrace a certain loneliness in order to be strong? I like being in love. It’s who I am. I want to share my days with someone else. I want to pour the best of me into the worst of them and for them to do the same back. We can’t grow by being alone. We can’t live as fully. I don’t think so, anyway. And if there’s one thing I want to do, it’s live. I want to grow and, forgive me for sounding like an old romantic, but I kinda want to hold someone’s hand the whole way through, right until the very end.”

I expected her to laugh, roll her eyes or do something to break the seriousness of the moment, but instead, she just smiled brighter, her shoulders relaxing as she released a wistful sigh.

“You’re not like most men, are you? You’re so much more.”

“I think that’s the biggest compliment anyone has ever given me.”

“You don’t know how to take compliments, Marcus. Don’t make out like you do.”

“Yeah, I do,” I said through a small smile. “I just make a point of not taking them seriously. Egos are created that way.”

“So are insecurities. The more compliments you get, the more you expect. When those start drying out, the doubts creep in.”

“You speaking from experience?”

“In this industry, absolutely.” She chuckled softly.

Pulling my chin back, I shook my head and exhaled through my nostrils. “You’re on the verge of something big happening in your life right now, Danni. I can feel it. You’ve just had two of the most influential, if not slightly weird, men in the whole game come to your villa to meet you. Don’t ever doubt your beauty. Don’t ever doubt that sparkle—that trail of glitter you leave behind in every life you pass through. Don’t ever doubt that you’re one of the most amazing women to walk this planet. Don’t ever stop believing that the whole world is out there waiting to adore you.”

“And if I do…?” she whispered.

“Then call me, and I’ll be sure to remind you that you’re perfect.”

Danni bit down on her bottom lip, and then dipped her chin to her chest for just a second before she looked back up at me and flashed me the brightest, yet most unsure grin.

“I’m glad you’re here.”

“Me, too.” I smiled, feeling a weird ache in my chest.

“You’re the closest thing I’ve got to having someone of my own to celebrate these moments with.”

“Celebrate them with me. I’m all yours.”

“I wish I could.”

I couldn’t help the small frown that formed, but before I could overanalyse it too much, I was dragging myself off the sofa bed and making my way across to where she lay. I wanted to roll on the mattress next to her and wrap her in my arms, but I also knew that this wasn’t my show. I wasn’t the director of this play. If anything was going to happen, it had to be because she wanted it to. Bending down in front of her, I let my knees fall to the floor, rested my arms on the bed and let my chin drop down onto the mattress so our faces were only inches apart. She smelled of everything a teenage boy dreamed of when she was this close. She was all woman and ocean scents mixed with the salty air caressing her skin.

“Tell me,” I whispered. “If you had a boyfriend or someone to share these moments with, what would you do with him?”

Danni’s eyes were wide and bright as they searched mine, and her lips parted just enough to let her breaths wash over me.

“I…”

“Would you want him to run a finger over your lips?”

“Yes.”

“Would you want him to wrap you up in his arms?”

“Yes,” she breathed back.

“Roll you around, squeeze you, and tell you how proud he is of you?”

“Yes.”

“Kiss your neck?”

“Y-yes,” she mouthed breathlessly.

“Touch every part of your body and tell you that he’s willing to share you with the world because he knows your heart belongs to him?”

“Yes.”

“Would you want him to kiss you?”

She closed her eyes as her lips parted wider. “Yes.”

“Where?”

“Everywhere,” Danni whispered.

I stared at her lips as my body fell forward until there was barely a breath of air between us. I was whispering into her mouth so she could taste my words and savour the flavour of lust they created.

“Would you want him to make love to you?”

“Desperately, yes.”

“Slow and tender at first.”

“Then fast and hard when he couldn’t control himself.”

“All while he told you how proud he was of you.”

“Yes.” Her face scrunched tight ever so slightly as if the thought of what she wanted caused her physical pain. I got it. I understood. I felt the same ache, too.

Moving my mouth to her jaw, I let it linger there as I breathed over it, watching as the goosebumps rose on her shoulders before I let my lips fall to her neck and hover above them. God, I wanted to kiss her. I wanted to remove any distance between us, show her how a man was capable of loving. I wanted to show her how it was possible for me to both destroy and fix her in one go. She never had to feel lonely again.

But the echoes of Roberta’s voice came to life like a nagging reminder that this could only be temporary, and that Daniella, no matter how much I found myself wanting her, wasn’t available to love.

With her skin so close and the smell of everything she possessed beneath me, I knew I didn’t have to taste her to understand that once I’d had one touch of her against my lips, it would be an addiction I’d never be able to get over.

“I want…” she began.

“Tell me.”

“I want it now.”

Four words and I was done for. Her breathless voice in my ear urged me to go on and fuck the consequences—to live for this moment and be something good in her life. To throw myself under the bus to give her what she dreamed of.

But the sound of the front door bursting open and the others arriving home soon destroyed everything, and the minute both our eyes snapped open, and our heads rose from the position we’d caught ourselves in, all either one of could do was stare into the other’s eyes and wonder…

Did our friends just save us from making the biggest mistake of our lives?

Or did they just ruin the most perfect and pure moment either one of us was ever likely to experience?