Silence

I woke up to the bed dipping, stirring me out of sleep.

  “Sorry,” Cole whispered. “It’s almost six, so I thought I should go. I’ll come back in a couple hours and we can go to breakfast.”

  He bent down and kissed me lightly, his lips lingering on mine for a few seconds. Then I watched him creep out of my room with the hope he would stay again tonight. Waking up in the morning with him felt incredible. He seemed to unconsciously know how far to push me to get me to open up further and let him in.

  There was absolutely no way I could get back to sleep now. I got up, had a long shower and dressed in my room since I was alone now. Opening the double doors, I stepped onto the small balcony and sat down on the only seat that’d fit. It was very peaceful so early. Only a few people were milling about the resort. One couple, probably about my parents age, sat at the bar drinking cocktails. It wasn’t even 7am yet.

  My parents’ balcony door slid open. We were separated by the railing so they couldn’t get to my room from here. I bit my lip and looked over as Dad stepped out, dressed in shorts and a short sleeve shirt.

  He looked over and saw me immediately. “Good morning,” he said. “Did you and Cole have a nice time yesterday?”

  I nodded and felt my body hunch in the seat.

  “Remember I want you both back for dinner each night. No exceptions, you’re still a child.”

  No, I’m not.

  I lift the corner of my mouth. Neither of us would skip on dinner anyway, we knew if we did that’d be the end of the freedom.

  “Good. I think your mum’s waking up. We’ll see you for breakfast soon.”

  He went back inside, and I could breathe again.

  Just after eight, almost right on time, there was a knock on my door. Cole smiled as I opened the door. “Hi.” He stepped forward and planted a quick kiss on my lips. “Ready to go down?”

  I nodded and stepped out of my room just as Mum and Dad walked out of theirs. “Morning, honey, Cole,” Mum said and gave me a hug.

  “Hungry?” Dad asked.

  “Starving,” Cole replied and nodded towards the lift at the end of the corridor. “You seen anyone else this morning?”

  Dad shook his head. “Sarah’s just got off the phone to your mum, and they were on their way down for breakfast. We’ll meet them down there. I’ve not heard from Mia, and I’d imagine Jasper’s is…elsewhere.”

  In some poor girl’s room, I imagine.

  I stepped closer to Cole as we walked to the lift and waited for it to arrive.

  “What do you have planned today? Your father and I are going shopping with David and Jenna,” Mum had asked me but waited for the reply from Cole.

  “We’re diving this morning.”

  I raised my eyebrow at him. He wasn’t going to tell them about our spa afternoon. He probably wouldn’t ever tell anyone.

  “Is it safe?” Mum questioned, frowning with worry.

  Dad chuckled. “Of course, it is, Sarah. There’s a qualified instructor, isn’t there?” Cole nodded. “See. They’ll be in safe hands. There’s plenty to do, and with the exception of clubbing, we did agree that Oakley could do what she liked.”

  I often wondered if Dad was cool about things like this because he felt guilty. I had to believe he felt remorse for what he had let Frank do to me. I couldn’t believe that my daddy was a cold, heartless monster.

  “Well, you make sure you look after her,” Mum ordered Cole.

  He nodded. “Always.”

  I liked the sound of that.

  In the end, it was only David, Jenna and Mia who joined us for breakfast. Jasper was nowhere to be seen. Not that it was much of a surprise. He now treated holidays, or any days actually, as a chance to sleep with anything that moved.

  Breakfast was an all you can eat buffet, which Cole took very seriously. I didn’t eat much because I didn’t want it to come back up again while we were diving. I was already feeling queasy with nerves.

  “Have fun and be careful,” Jenna said as Cole and I got up to leave for the beach.

  Fun was unlikely, but my adrenaline was pumping at the mere thought of doing something so out of character.

  Cole grinned. “Oh, we will, right, Oaks.”

  Maybe I wasn’t falling for him after all…

  I walked down to the beach, holding Cole’s hand so tightly I was probably crushing his bones. Under my clothes was my bikini, but for diving we’d be given a wetsuit to wear over the top.

  “Are you ready for this?” Cole said as we arrived back at the sports shack.

  I shook my head but grinned, unable to hide the smidge of excitement I felt.

  The Australian guy, who told us his name was Kyle, showed us how to use the equipment. I made sure I listened hard and repeated everything in my head over and over. We’d have an instructor with us, but I was still scared.

  Stop being ridiculous. You’re not even going that deep.

  Cole was practically bouncing up and down as we walked with our little group of six into the sea. Kyle instructed us in what to do, and then he disappeared beneath the water.

  “Ready?” Cole asked. He stuck his oxygen thing in his mouth.

  What is that called again? Bloody hell! It doesn’t really matter what it’s called as long as it works. Nodding, I took one last deep breath and mirrored his actions.

  We sank to our knees and the second I was underwater I knew this was a good idea. It was incredible. I wanted to smile, but I didn’t want to do anything that could make me swallow water.

  Cole grabbed my hand and looked towards Kyle, who was gesturing for us all to follow him. I didn’t have a death wish, so I followed closely behind and next to Cole. We were at the back of the group, but that was great because it felt like it was just him and me.

  We swam deeper into the sea, and I wondered how much further we would be going. I knew I wouldn’t be able to stand up and have my head above the water by this point, but I wasn’t sure exactly how deep we were. It didn’t matter though, I was bloody loving it.

  Cole took my hand as we watched fish swim around us. I was so wrong about the sea.

  Once our time was up, Kyle gestured for us to swim back to the surface, and then he led us back to the shore. “You so enjoyed that, didn’t you,” Cole teased as we walked back to the shack to return the equipment, knowing full well that once I was under the water I loved every second of it.

  I shrugged nonchalantly but my traitorous lips curled.

  “I knew you would. Let’s head back for a shower, and then I’ll come to your room. Wanna have lunch before the spa crap this afternoon?”

  I nodded and nudged him with my shoulder. Like he wouldn’t enjoy a massage from one of the impossibly beautiful women that worked at the hotel.

  We got back, grabbed a quick lunch out by the pool and then went to the spa. Cole suddenly felt ‘unwell’. “Maybe I should just wait out here for you,” he suggested, wiping his forehead with the back of his hand.

  Really. I shook my head and shoved him towards the reception desk. There wasn’t a single thing he could say that would change my mind about this. He was getting a facial and a massage.

  “Welcome. I’m Isabelle. How can I help?” Said an equally beautiful woman to the ones who were in the spa yesterday. If I could just see someone else who was plain looking, that’d be great.

  “We have some stuff booked. Under the name Benson,” Cole said quietly as if saying it any louder would make it more real.

  “Ah, yes. Okay, if you’d like to follow me, I’ll show you to your massage room.”

  I followed Isabelle with a huge smile. I was feeling giddy with excitement at having a massage with Cole. Isabelle opened a door, and the smell of rose oil hit me. Two white beds were in the middle of the room. There was a chest on the far wall with loads of little draws and a huge bunch of pink orchids in a white vase on top.

  “There are towels on the beds. If you remove all of your clothes and cover yourself, your masseuse will be with
you in five minutes.

  My eyes widened. Remove all of our clothes. Okay, I did not think this through. I’d not been naked in front of Cole before. She left the room, and I started to hyperventilate.

  “You can leave your underwear on, just move your bra straps off your shoulders,” Cole suggested. “I’ll turn around. I won’t look. I promise.”

  Oh, God. Breathe.

  The last time I was naked in front of another person…

  I squeezed my eyes closed. Don’t think about that. Cole isn’t going to hurt you. With a deep breath, I opened my eyes and removed the dress I was wearing. It’s fine; you can do this.

  Cole removed his top and shorts quickly, unashamed, but he left his boxers on.

  “I’m not looking, Oakley. Go ahead,” he said with a chuckle as he laid face down on the massage table. As promised, he didn’t look, and I shoved my bra straps down and got on the bed. As soon as I was lying down, I made sure the towel covered me from my underarms to my knees.

  “You good?” he asked, turning his head and smiling at me. I nodded, fisting my hands through the rapid beating of my heart.

  Everything’s fine.

  A knock at the door made me jump. Cole called out to let the masseuse know we were ready. Thankfully two women entered. There was no way a man, who wasn’t Cole, was going to touch my body.

  Never again.

  “Okay, this was a good idea,” he admitted halfway through. Yeah, I bet he thought that with yesterday’s gorgeous model massaging him. I closed my eyes as Elana worked her skilful hands over my shoulders. I had a lot of tension, but for the first time in years I was fully relaxed.

  When our thirty minutes were up, I pouted and got up to get dressed as Elaina and Cole’s masseuse left the room. Cole turned around again so I could have some privacy.

  Does it really matter if he sees you? I wasn’t scared of Cole or what he would do because I trusted him with my life. Impulsively, I grabbed the top of his arm and spun him around.

  “What…?” he croaked. His eyes widened as they landed on my half-naked body. I was covered by my underwear, but it was still very intimate. He gulped audibly, his Adams apple bobbed. “I can turn… Um, turn around if… Err,” he stuttered, stumbling over his words. It was cute to see him tongue-tied, and it kind of gave me a thrill to know I’d made him like that.

  Shaking my head, I pulled my straps up, all the while being careful not to flash him. We both dressed in complete silence, and neither one of us took our eyes off the other. The only sound that could be heard was our ragged breathing.

  “You’re beautiful,” he whispered once we were dressed. He stepped closer to me, and I blushed, feeling the heat warm my whole body. My eyes prickled, and I willed myself not to cry. I didn’t feel beautiful, but knowing Cole thought I was meant everything to me.

  He smiled and bent his head to kiss me. “Let’s get this face mud crap over with.”

  I broke out in a smile and led him back to reception.

  We were led into another room, this time bigger, and not at all private. Cole glared at me as the three young women looked up at us; their faces were smothered in a dark green paste. I tried not to laugh, but I couldn’t help it. Though having enjoyed the diving so much, I did feel bad for making him go through something he clearly didn’t want to do.

  “I thought this was a couple’s thing? As in two people!”

  Nope, just the massage. This is fun.

  For the whole time we were in that room Cole frowned and moaned. When he looked over at me with a grey face that looked like he’d fallen in a cement mixer, I wished I had brought my camera with me. Not that the image would ever leave me.

  As soon as our facemasks were off, he stood up ready to leave.

  “Lunch and beer,” he announced. Beer to restore his masculinity? Bless. He’d have to hope that Jasper or Mia were around to get him a beer first. He wrapped his arm around my waist and we made our way to the outside hotel bar.