He was almost glad of his agent’s call as an excuse to get away from helping for a while. Almost.
‘What’s up, Robyn?’ he said, sauntering towards his bungalow and his guitar as he answered.
‘When are you coming back?’ Robyn asked, bluntly. ‘With all the publicity about the book, we need you here, capitalising on that.’
‘I think people are perfectly capable of talking about me without me actually being there to hear it.’ God knew, they managed it often enough normally.
‘Look, Jude, I know you’re not happy about some of the things they say in the book—’
‘I’m not happy that the book exists at all.’
‘But it does. You can’t unprint it now, or stop people from reading it.’
‘I could sue for defamation,’ Jude suggested, although he knew he wouldn’t.
‘Do you really want to have to go to court and prove which of those stories are lies?’ Robyn asked, gently.
Jude sighed. ‘No.’ Because in doing so, he’d only be confirming that all the others were true. And all the worst ones were, unfortunately. ‘I just wish they hadn’t written so much about Gareth.’ And how Jude had let him down.
His mind flashed back to that day in the hospital, almost a year to the day before Gareth died.
He could still hear Gareth’s raspy, exhausted voice saying, ‘I know. I know I have to stop. But I need help.’
And his own reply. ‘I’ll help. I’ll be there every day, reminding you of everything you have to live for. Keeping you out of trouble just like I’ve always done. I promise.’
It wasn’t the idea of the whole world knowing how he’d betrayed his best friend’s trust that upset him. It was seeing that betrayal in black-and-white and knowing that there was nothing he could do about it. No way to change the past, however much he wished he could.
Somehow, the book made it all real, all over again. Just like seeing Rosa again transported him back three years to a time when the only place he could be happy was in her arms.
‘I never met him, but from what you’ve told me about him? Gareth would have loved being the centre of attention in a bestselling book.’ Robyn had only become their agent after The Swifts hit the big time. But Gareth was part of the band’s legacy, its history, and it had been important to Jude that she know all about him.
Apparently she’d got a pretty good handle on him, after all. ‘He’d have been mad the book wasn’t all about him.’
‘Do you wish it was?’
‘If it meant he was still here with us? Definitely. As it is...no.’ Bad enough to have his memory raked over the coals in a few early chapters of this book. But a whole book trashing Gareth’s memory? Jude couldn’t have lived with that.
‘Jude...these books don’t mean anything. Not really. You know that.’
‘I know. I just... Sylvie gave them a lot of those stories, you know?’
‘I suspected.’ Jude was pretty sure Robyn was wincing on the other end of the line. ‘She knows how to play the game, that one.’
‘Yeah.’ Rosa didn’t. Rosa had no idea of the rules of any game but her own. ‘Look, Robyn, I’ve got to go. But if you get lucky, you might get some photos of me online sooner rather than later.’
‘Really?’ Robyn perked up at the idea. ‘Why? Where are you? And who are you with, more to the point? Because if it’s a woman, a nice, juicy, romantic scandal would definitely distract from the book...’
Jude laughed, and thought of Rosa. ‘I’ll see what I can do.’
But not for the publicity. For himself.
* * *
To celebrate actually managing to get ready on time, beating all the odds, Sancia had insisted on a family dinner that night—a proper, five-course banquet with matching wines, by all accounts. Jude wasn’t exactly sure what he’d done to make Sancia think he was family and issue an invite, but he wasn’t about to turn down the spectacular catering at the villa, either. Besides, Rosa would be there, and that was enough for him.
Things had been so busy since their trip to the mainland that the time simply hadn’t been right for him to propose any sort of rekindling of their relationship to her. But now, with everything almost sorted, perhaps tonight could be the night. And just because they hadn’t been physically intimate, that didn’t mean they hadn’t grown closer. Working together, seeing each other every day, talking about their lives and families—sometimes, Jude felt closer to Rosa now than when they’d been in the midst of their passionate affair three years ago.
He’d been at a bit of a loss for a hostess gift for the dinner, since Sancia technically already owned everything on the island, but he had brought his guitar, in case he could offer some background entertainment later. He’d been listening to a lot of classical Spanish guitar music since he arrived, playing around with some ideas on the theme, coming up with new threads and melodies that might one day become actual songs. It was kind of exciting, to be working on new music again—just him, messing around with tunes that appealed to him, rather than arguing with the rest of the band about what direction The Swifts should be moving in, musically, and what fitted best with their brand.
Jude didn’t want to be a brand. He wanted to be a musician. And here, on La Isla Marina, he almost felt as if he could be, again.
So, anyway, he was looking forward to dinner that evening. At least, until he sat down at the table.
Professor Gray sat at the head of the table on one end, with Sancia at the other. Jude found himself sitting opposite Rosa, either side of her father, with Anna on his left, and Leo opposite her. Straight away, he could feel the tension strung out across the table like the fairy lights hanging overhead.
Rosa didn’t look at her dad, he realised. In fact, he wasn’t sure he’d seen her talk to him at all since the day she first arrived on the island. He’d been so focussed on her relationship with her sister, he hadn’t noticed the fissure between her and her father. But from everything she’d said about him, Jude wasn’t really surprised. It was hard to imagine the buttoned-up and structured Professor Gray appreciating the wildness of his younger daughter.
Unfortunately, the situation with Anna didn’t look much brighter, given the way she and Rosa were both avoiding each other’s gaze.
Anna and Leo spoke quietly across the table, intimate and happy, as they worked their way through the first course. Jude tried to strike up a conversation with Rosa, of the sort they’d been having more often of late, but she was distracted, and he couldn’t seem to connect with her. Eventually, he gave up and chatted amiably with Professor Gray about his latest research. As ever, the professor was happy enough to carry on a monologue for most of the meal, so it wasn’t as if Jude needed to contribute a lot.
‘So, Leo,’ Rosa said suddenly, cutting across the other chatter at the table. ‘Why are you helping out so much for Valentina’s wedding?’
The hint was there, Jude realised, behind the question—the idea that Leo must have a prior relationship with the star, or something. What was Rosa trying to do? Drive a wedge between Anna and Leo? He knew she was concerned about Leo’s reputation, but watching them together Jude couldn’t help but think that Rosa had judged this one wrong. He’d never seen a man so obviously in love as Leo di Marquez.
‘Valentina is Leo’s half-sister,’ Anna said, after a quick glance across the table to confirm it was okay to do so.
Rosa’s eyebrows rose up towards her hairline. ‘I didn’t know she had a brother.’
‘Not many people do.’ Leo sounded obviously uncomfortable with the situation. ‘We didn’t grow up together.’
‘Do you think she’ll be pleased with the island?’ Jude asked, trying to get back onto safer topics.
Leo’s expression warmed. ‘I think she’ll love it,’ he said, smiling across at Anna as he spoke.
‘Oh, it’s so lovely to have all my family he
re once more,’ Sancia said, beaming around the table. ‘And to see both my girls so happy with their men.’
Jude’s gaze flew to Rosa, who stared back, wide-eyed and panicked.
‘Oh, we’re not—’ she started.
As Jude said, ‘Actually, we’re just friends.’
Sancia didn’t reply, just smiled knowingly at them both.
Rosa was silent for the rest of the meal. Jude tried to concentrate on his conversation with Professor Gray, but by the time they finished dessert he wasn’t sure he could have said for certain what they’d even been talking about. His attention kept being drawn across the table, to where Rosa sat quiet and subdued, sneaking glances at her sister from time to time.
When Sancia motioned for the coffee and liqueurs to be brought out, Rosa pushed her chair back from the table, mumbling some sort of excuse. Jude watched her go, wondering if he should follow, or if he’d only make things worse. But when he glanced up the table, he saw Sancia staring at him, eyebrows raised, and realised that Rosa’s mother, at least, had a clear idea of what was best for her.
‘Take these,’ she murmured as he passed, and Jude accepted the two wine glasses and the rest of the bottle of red gratefully. He’d take whatever help he could get in trying to understand Rosa.
* * *
He found her out on the back veranda, looking out over the far side of the island towards the sea.
‘Thinking about escaping?’ he asked, handing her a full glass of wine, and placing the bottle on the nearest table.
‘Always,’ Rosa replied, and Jude thought it might have been the most honest thing she’d ever said to him.
‘I’d like it if you’d stay, for a while at least.’ He perched on the edge of the table, looking up at her in the shadows of the night. Overhead, the moon was almost full, and he could make out every contour of her face, every uncertainty in her eyes, even in the darkness.
‘You know they all think we’re sleeping together,’ Rosa said, bluntly. ‘Mama is probably planning some sort of huge double wedding for me and Anna, even though we’re not a couple and Leo is going to walk out and break Anna’s heart any day now.’
‘You don’t know that for sure,’ Jude said. Although, given what he’d heard about Leo’s reputation, he could see Rosa’s point.
‘Ah, but you see, I do.’ Rosa’s smile was sad. ‘Leo and me, we’re cut from the same cloth, I reckon. Not made to stay. We have to keep moving to keep living.’
‘Like sharks,’ Jude said, absently remembering a nature documentary he’d watched on some flight to a gig, somewhere or another.
‘I bite, too,’ Rosa joked.
‘I remember.’ The words were out before he could even think about them, and instantly the image they conjured up heated his blood.
No wonder her family thought they were together. If his gaze was half as heated as the one she had trained on him, then they must look as if they’d been lovers for years.
Rosa licked her lips, and Jude felt the pressure building inside him. He had to say something. Do something.
He had to have her again—even if she left him tomorrow.
Just one more night with her, that was all he needed.
God, he sounded like Gareth, at the end.
‘Just one more hit. I’ll quit tomorrow, Jude, I promise. Just one more. One more for the road...’
Was he every bit an addict as his friend had been? And while his addiction might not be so deadly, could Jude really say it wouldn’t destroy him, all the same?
But then Rosa said, ‘Let’s go for a swim,’ and he stopped thinking altogether.
If he was an addict, maybe he didn’t care any more. He needed one more night with Rosa Gray.
* * *
She didn’t have to ask Jude twice. Whether he’d read her mind, or their mutual lust had just taken over his brain as it seemed to have taken over hers, he abandoned the wine and followed her down to the beach without question.
Rosa didn’t think too much about what she was doing. Overthinking wasn’t her style—she was more of an impulse person. She went with what her instincts told her were right and, if it went wrong, well, at least she’d been true to herself.
Tonight, she felt as if she was being true to an impulse she’d been denying for three long years. And the relief of it was almost overwhelming.
‘There’s a cove, just around here,’ she said, picking her way over the rocks and out of sight of the villa. She really didn’t want any of her family members coming looking for them tonight.
Tonight was about her and Jude. Not them.
She could feel him behind her, feel the heat of him jumping the inch or two of space between them.
Maybe this was inevitable. Maybe, from the moment she’d first seen him sitting there in the courtyard, as if he’d been waiting for her, they’d been leading to this.
Maybe this was the real closure Jude had been looking for.
One more night together. Maybe that was what they both needed to be able to move on.
All Rosa knew was she couldn’t have sat at that dinner table any longer, with everyone playing perfect happy families, when she knew what a lie it was. They were all pretending that they were settled, stable, that this was how things would be for ever. But none of that was true. Her parents hadn’t been together in ten years—and if she knew them at all, she doubted they’d even talked about why Sancia had left, all those years ago. Nothing had been resolved. Anna and Leo weren’t going to live happily ever after, whatever fairy tales Anna was telling herself. Things would get hard and Leo would run, and so would Sancia.
And as for Rosa and Jude...they weren’t even ever a couple. Not really.
And they weren’t about to start now.
But there was something between them, that much was true. And if she had to stay here on the island and witness all this hypocrisy, at least she could get to explore the fun side of it, too.
Jude knew who she was now. He wouldn’t be fooled into thinking she’d stay, this time.
This time, it was all about transient fun. About freedom and enjoyment and letting the wildness inside loose again.
And what was more wild and free than swimming naked in the ocean?
The cove was just as she remembered: tucked away at the back of the island, protected by rocks and cliffs on either side, but with a small crescent-shaped beach in the centre. Rosa hopped down onto the sand, the sea already calling her. Even in the dark, it glistened in the moonlight, open and wide and free.
Without pausing in her stride, Rosa pulled off her top, and heard a sharp intake of breath behind her.
She spun to face Jude, still walking backwards as she fumbled with the clasp of her bra, letting it fall to the sand at her feet.
‘Is this safe?’ Jude asked, his eyes nowhere near her face.
‘Do you care?’ she asked, grinning.
‘No.’
Rosa pushed her skirt and her underwear down her legs at the same time, stepped out of them and ran for the water, knowing that Jude wouldn’t be far behind her.
The sea flowed cool and fresh against her hot skin, the salt stinging and sharp. Rosa welcomed every sensation—the rocks and sand under her feet, the water lapping against her, the breeze that blew loose strands of hair around her face. She stayed, treading water, just far enough out to be out of her depth—just where she liked to be—and watched Jude as he stripped off on the shoreline.
His skin was pale in the moonlight, his hair so dark it was almost lost in the night. But his body...oh, there were those lean, strong muscles she remembered. Those powerful legs, those well-defined arms and abs. That trail of hair that led down his body...
She remembered every inch of him. And she wanted him again.
He didn’t flinch as he stepped into the cool water; she admired that. Throwing him a reckless gri
n, she flipped in the waves, diving underneath and kicking hard until she was further out. Let him chase her, the way he never had when she left.
That thought tugged at something in her mind, but she pushed it away to worry about another day.
Right now, all she wanted to do was enjoy the water on her skin, and Jude—when he caught her.
It didn’t take him long.
She surfaced, a short way from where she’d watched him enter the water, and already she could see his powerful arms scything through the waves, propelling him towards her. He was barely even out of breath when he reached her side, treading water next to her as his arms reached out to slide around her waist.
His hands glided over her skin, under the water, pulling her close against him. Her whole body vibrated with the surety that this was right. This was meant to be. Here, now, like this. Wild and free and passionate—just the way they’d been together three years before.
She knew he was going to kiss her before his lips even lowered to hers, knew the surge of need that would pulse through her at the feel of his mouth, his tongue.
‘Rosa.’ He murmured her name like a wish.
‘Let’s take this to the shallows,’ she whispered, pushing away from him and swimming for the shore.
Soon, Jude Alexander would make love to her again. And then maybe the island would feel like where she belonged.
CHAPTER EIGHT
LATER—MUCH LATER—they lay in each other’s arms on the beach and watched the stars overhead.
‘Planning on running away yet?’ Jude asked, pressing a kiss to Rosa’s bare shoulder. Her olive skin felt smooth and soft under his lips, the clothes they’d abandoned on the beach protecting them both from the sand.
‘Not just yet.’ Rosa stretched out against him, her body pressing closer to his. ‘I might need to do that a few more times first.’
Island Fling to Forever Page 9
