on the drive from the airport, instead thinking Luke should’ve been with her. Wandering over to the wall at the front of the deck, she stared out and around. ‘It’s beautiful,’ she gasped. ‘There’s an awesome bridge in the background, and hills, and almost right beneath where I’m standing is the harbour where the cruise ships tie up.’
‘There’ll be nightclubs and the like there, surely? You can be out all night, and lounging by the pool during the day.’ Cherry sounded excited for her.
Down, girl. ‘Yeah, well, I’m sure there’ll be some dancing and drinking going on. Not so sure about having that fling though. I do know there’re lots of places I want to visit during the day.’
‘You Kiwis and your sightseeing. Can’t you visit a town without spending the days walking for miles, taking photos and making yourself too tired to go out at night?’ Cherry laughed. ‘Oh-oh, dragon on the warpath. Got to go. Put your CV in for that job. Bye.’
Click. Gone.
Alesha sank onto a lounger. The heat was softening her muscles, moistening her skin, draining what little energy she had left. The temptation to fall into the water fully clothed was strong. There’s a phone in my pocket. Could remove it, but if she was going to do that she might as well get into her bikini. The tiny red creation made to cover the essentials and cause havoc in a man’s brain. In his shorts. Instead she’d wear it for a swim on her own. She’d also pour a glass of bubbles as soon as they were remotely chilled. Right about now.
Dressed, make that just decent, in her new bikini and with a glass of lukewarm champagne, Alesha tossed her phone on the bed and returned to the poolside to stretch out on the lounger to soak up some sun. Already hot, it was nice to feel the heat pushing her down into the cushions. Talk about the life. If she had to be alone then this was the way to go.
How some fun, maybe get laid. Put Luke behind you. He doesn’t deserve you anyway.
Leap into bed with just any guy she met? As if she were a tramp? Would that make her a more interesting person? When she’d be uptight and stressed about meeting men in bars on her own? They’d have a different agenda from hers. Theirs would be to head straight to bed, while she was far more cautious. If that made her dull, then dull she was.
I can’t deal with this. I’ve been dumped. Like yesterday’s news. A fling doesn’t require getting to know the other person too much.
Forget the fling and just have fun doing the things she enjoyed.
I enjoy sex.
The thought made her start. Sitting up, she stared around the beautiful complex with its stunning pool. Was she broken-hearted over Luke’s defection? Or hurt because once again she’d failed to find love?
So? It wasn’t as if she were incapacitated. Basically she was used to being on her own. Alesha hadn’t moved all the way from the other side of the world because she was a wuss. No, she’d shifted to a humongous city where she knew no one, had found jobs, accommodation, a man who’d enjoyed her company for the past few months—or so she’d thought.
Her hands clenched as sweat trickled between her breasts, down her back. The sun beat down relentlessly, heating her skin while internally her blood was frozen and her stomach a lump of ice. Love was an intangible, and always out of her reach. She’d been searching for love since the day her brother got sick and her parents no longer had time for her. She’d been trying too hard to be loved by someone special. It might be time to accept it wasn’t going to happen and she should just get on with her life. Get busy so she didn’t notice no one was there for her, with her.
Or maybe she should relax, have some uncomplicated fun as Cherry and Shelley suggested and see where that took her.
Alesha gulped a mouthful of champagne, spluttered as it went down the wrong way.
Stop feeling sorry for yourself.
‘Yeah,’ she sighed. She did have a darned good life living in London, sharing a house with other nurses she got on well with and often contracted to work in some of the best hospitals. Much more exciting and interesting than living in Christchurch, New Zealand, where she’d grown up.
Taking a small sip of the champagne this time, she groaned out loud in exasperation. Her clenched hand pounded the mattress at her side. What a fantastic way to start a holiday. She was not going to spend the week lying on the bed feeling sorry for herself. She was not.
Okay. Message received. She’d start enjoying the sun, the blue sky that went for ever, the view of hills and the harbour below. Even the champagne that in all honesty wasn’t flash in its warmish state. There was a whole world out there waiting to be explored. Alesha would not leave here next weekend without knowing the sights and sounds and smells of Dubrovnik. But first she was going to get into that pool and cool off, physically and mentally. Then she’d go for a walk and see what was nearby for eating out. If her appetite returned by the end of the week, that was.
Luke could go to hell in a wheelbarrow. A rusty one with a flat tyre. There were other men out there.
Exhaustion pulled at her.
A sad sigh escaped. She would have a great time despite going solo. She really, really would, as soon as she’d had a snooze. Yeah, sure. Her eyes stung, proving she wasn’t quite ready to let go the hurt. But crying was not happening. Rarely since the day when she was ten, and stood at her brother’s graveside to drop onto the coffin the silver clock shaped like a Labrador and small enough to fit in the palm of Ryan’s hand, had Alesha given into tears. The clock had been bought out of hard-earned pocket money mowing lawns for Dad and the people next door. Ryan had been meant to get better and take it with him wherever he went in the future.
She laid back and closed her eyes, savouring the sun as she’d done so often on family holidays a good many years ago. Sun, sea, surf. It was what Kiwis made the most of every summer around Christmas and New Year. A relaxed, exciting time with family and friends, just mucking about in the water, catching fish...
* * *
A light breeze tightened her skin. Alesha dragged her eyes open and rolled onto her back. ‘Ouch.’ Sitting up, she looked over her shoulder, got an eyeful of red skin. The tube of sunscreen was still inside her case. Probably where her brain was too. Protecting her skin from the sun was always a priority. Not today. The sun was disappearing behind the hills. And she’d wasted the afternoon getting sunburnt.
A gust of wind swished across the pool and deck, and behind her a door slammed. Her fiery skin was intensely cold for a moment then back to flaming. She shivered. Time to put on some clothes.
That door that banged shut must’ve been hers. But it was all right. It wouldn’t be locked. Not when she stood in her bikini with only a towel to wrap around her and the keys still in the pocket of her shorts lying on the floor inside.
The door didn’t budge when she turned the handle, nor when she pressed a shoulder against the wood. Seriously? No way. Someone was playing a joke on her.
She was not locked out of her apartment without clothes, money or her phone. When her stomach was complaining about lack of food. Her day had just gone from average to worse. What else could go wrong? Tipping her head back, Alesha made to shout her frustration, but hauled on the brakes at the last second. What was the point? Screaming wouldn’t miraculously unlock the door, or hand her phone over with Karolina’s number. Had she got around to putting the
