Making Love (Destiny Book 1)

by Catherine Winchester

  I relaxed, but only a little.

  I tried to put that photograph and my worries about it to the back my mind, but that niggling sense of unease remained, just like when I’d taken an ill-advised picture of my breasts and sent it to my boyfriend, Pete, without cropping my head out of the frame. It worried me for weeks that it would end up online but it didn’t. When we broke up, I worried about revenge porn, but that didn’t happen either.

  I still felt a degree of disquiet over that nude picture, and I was angry at myself for giving into Pete’s pleading. But he had proved not to be a slime ball, and I was hopeful that would continue, or that the picture had been erased when he upgraded his phone or something.

  Over the next few days Will and I ventured out in the mornings, snorkelling, taking boat rides, playing tennis or just walking the resort, then in the afternoons, we returned to the cabin and relaxed until dinner. The only problem being that our rest was not so restful.

  Let me give you some advice, ladies. Find a man who does yoga. You probably wouldn’t believe the positions that man contorted us into but let’s just say, I wasn’t lacking in the satisfaction department.

  We saw Karen and Phil around, had drinks with them a few more times and they were on the boat tour with us; they were a really nice couple.

  I had never felt as relaxed as I did on the island but I didn’t know if that was because of the sun, the location or Will. Probably some combination of all three, but they combined to make this my best holiday ever and I didn’t want it to end.

  On our eighth day Will received some calls from home and he didn’t look happy, but I took myself off to the deck to read for a while and left him to argue with whoever was on the phone. Well, I say argue, the reality is more like a polite conversation with lots of jaw clenching. Will doesn’t seem to have a temper at all, which is really refreshing since I grew up with a mum who could go from happy to furious in a heartbeat.

  “You all right?” I asked when he emerged onto the terrace to join me.

  “Fine, just a scheduling issue,” he smiled as he bent down to kiss me.

  I thought nothing of it until we were getting ready for dinner. I was sitting in front of the dressing table, applying a little make-up, when I received a text from Hannah.

  ‘Looks like the gig is up. So sorry hun. xxx.’

  “What’s wrong?” Will asked when he saw me.

  “Hannah says the gig is up. What gig?”

  “Ah.”

  His tone told me he knew exactly what was going on and I stared at him until he spoke.

  “Lee called me earlier, apparently that picture we took with Phil and Karen has gone viral, 5,000 retweets.”

  “But they swore they wouldn’t share it!”

  “Well someone did,” he said softly.

  I took a deep breath and tried to calm down. “Okay… well, it’s only one picture, it’s not the first one of us to appear online. Although after coming here together, more people will probably believe we’re dating. But it’s not as if we were sucking faces or anything.”

  “No,” he cleared his throat. “But the thing is, this time they know who you are; your name, profession and the fact that we’re dating.”

  I could feel the blood drain from my face as he spoke.

  “What!?”

  “I’m sorry, darling.”

  So this was it. The first invasion of my privacy. The first time my trust was misplaced. The first time I would really come under the scrutiny of his fans’ microscope. Whereas I had just been a nameless face before, now I was a whole person, with a name, career and a history.

  I couldn’t help feeling inadequate as I wondered what people would make of me.

  “Hey,” Will came closer, pulled me to my feet and put his arms around me. “It’ll be okay.” I snuggled into his chest.

  “I know.” I didn’t know, but I wanted to believe.

  “I’m sorry.”

  “It’s not your fault.” I assured him. I didn’t want him thinking that I blamed him.

  I blamed Phil and Karen. We’d seen them around the resort since we’d lunched with them, and always said hello, or stopped for a quick chat. They had even been on a cruise with us yesterday.

  “You might have to restrain me if we see Phil and Karen again though. ‘Will Braxton’s Girlfriend Arrested For Assault’, is not really the first headline I want to make.”

  He chuckled and leaned away slightly, tilting my head up with a finger under my chin.

  “You must be doing okay if you can joke.”

  I wasn’t sure how I felt really. Sucker punched might be the best way to describe it.

  “Do you want to see some of the articles?” he asked.

  I shook my head. “I want to pretend it didn’t happen, at least until we have to go home.”

  “Are you sure you still want to go out?”

  One of my hands curled into a fist at the thought of seeing Karen and Phil. I wasn’t a violent person, I had never hit anyone in my life (well, outside of that self-defence course I took in college) but in that instant, I really wanted to hurt those two.

  I wouldn’t but, man, it was tempting!

  “Yeah. I’ve done nothing wrong, I shouldn’t be the one who has to hide.”

  “If you’re sure.”

  I was, and I sat back down to continue applying make-up. I wore a lot more than I usually would have, as if I were applying a mask, but I kept it light in colour so it looked natural. Then I clipped my hair up in a claw grip and chose a lovely jersey sheath dress. No jewellery, that would be too much.

  “You look gorgeous,” Will said when he saw me. He was dressed casually but I didn’t think I looked too overdone in comparison.

  We headed to the Italian restaurant where, with the help of alcohol, I was almost able to forget about Hannah’s news, and we made plans for the next day, chatting about everything and nothing. We were on our after dinner coffee when my phone rang.

  “Shit, it’s my Mum,” I told Will.

  “Do you have to take it?”

  “I haven’t told her about you so she’s already going to be pissed.” He nodded his understanding and I pressed answer, gesturing to Will that I was going to find somewhere more private to chat.

  “Hi Mum,”

  “Eleanor! Why didn’t you tell me you were dating Will Braxton! You told me he was some kind of usher! I had to find out from Linda, who found out from the Sun newspaper, for Christ’s sake! My friend knows more about my own daughter than I do!”

  “I haven’t been telling anyone, Mum, we were hoping to keep it under wraps.”

  “I’m not anyone, I’m your mother and you told your sister! I suppose I’m just not worth the phone call!”

  “It’s not that, Mum-” it’s that you can't keep a secret. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you but this whole thing is a minefield and I wasn’t even sure how to-.”

  “Sorry? Sorry doesn’t stop me from looking like a bad parent, does it?”

  ‘Maybe because you are,’ I wanted to snap back, but I resisted.

  “You always were an ungrateful, selfish little wretch! You never appreciated anything I did for you, nothing I did was good enough. Well I hope you and this actor will be very happy together, and now he can put up with your shit and see how he likes it!”

  She hung up.

  See, that’s the thing with my mother, she can't just attack what you did, she has to attack you as a person, but she can never see that. I thought I was inured to her tactics but as I felt the familiar sting of tears, I realised I wasn’t. No matter how ‘over it’ you are, personal insults like that, from someone who is supposed to love you unconditionally, always hurts.

  I leaned on the railing of the walkway, bowing my head until my emotions were under control once again.

  “Hey, are you okay?”

  The voice froze my tears, replacing them with white hot anger and I turned slowly to face Karen and her husband.

  Chapter Nine

  K
aren flinched slightly when she saw me and I didn’t know if it was because my mascara had run, or because I looked as if I wanted to kill her.

  “Whatever they paid you for that picture and the personal details about our life, I hope it was worth selling out two people who liked and trusted you. I bet you feel really clever now, don’t you? I can’t believe I was actually thinking of staying in touch with you after this holiday ended. How stupid am I?”

  Phil opened his mouth to reply but I cut him off.

  “You two make me sick. Don’t ever try and talk to us again or I won’t hesitate to tell the management that you broke their privacy rules, and they will kick you out.”

  They were both staring at me, slack jawed, and I felt a fission of pleasure realising that they obviously hadn’t read the terms and conditions when they booked. Privacy was paramount here, that was one reason Will chose this resort, and I wasn’t kidding about them being kicked out (and without a refund).

  I couldn’t go back into the restaurant, I was too close to breaking down, so with my head held high, I sailed past them, back towards our bungalow, texting Will as I went. My vision was blurry though so I wasn’t totally sure that my message was legible.

  As soon as the door closed behind me, I burst into tears, and not the pretty, Hollywood type crying you see in movies, it was more the big, heaving sobs that make it hard to catch your breath. I managed to get to the sofa, where I curled up.

  It wasn’t long until Will found me, and he scooped me into his arms and rocked me gently until my crying subsided a little.

  “Are you all right?” he asked, when I finally raised my head.

  I nodded.

  “What happened?”

  “Just my mum being my mum, playing the victim and taking everything as a personal slight against her. I would have been okay but then Karen found me just after she thoroughly assassinated my character, and suddenly I was literally ready to slap her, and him! And then… then…”

  I began crying again but I did my best to regain control and after a few deep breaths, the danger had passed, at least for a while.

  “I think it was just the emotions, going from hurt to angry like that and underlying it all, I just feel incredibly sad.”

  “Sad about what?” He asked, reaching for a tissue to wipe my face for me. It was a very motherly gesture, really, and it made me feel loved and cared for.

  “All of it. Sad that people I liked would do this to us, especially after they gave their word. Sad that my mother isn’t fit to call herself that. Sad that things are going to change between us. I just wish…”

  I sighed, not knowing what it was that I wanted.

  “I need to wash my face, so I think I’ll have a shower,” I said, trying to climb out of his embrace, but he tightened his grip.

  “I have a better idea,” he murmured in his deep voice.

  I really hoped he wasn’t about to say sex. Don’t get me wrong, I love sex, especially with him, but not right now. I wouldn’t hurt him and say no, of course, but I really didn’t want that yet. Maybe in a few hours.

  “Oh?” I tried to sound interested.

  “Skinny dipping!”

  That I had not been expecting, and I gasped. “We can't!”

  “Of course we can. We’re the last cabin in the row, relatively sheltered, and you said yourself that you need to wash. The water’s nice and warm, so why not?”

  “Because we’re not teenagers.”

  “You’re not going to wimp out on me, are you, Greystone?”

  The idea was appealing.

  “Fine, Braxton, I’ll race you!”

  I only had a dress, bra and panties to remove, while Will had to undo more buttons on his shirt so I beat him into the water, just.

  We were both screaming and laughing like children but I didn’t see any lights flicker on or anything.

  “You win,” he called.

  “What do I win?” I asked, swimming up to him and putting my arms around his neck.

  “My eternal devotion,” he crooned.

  “Is that all?” I might have added a little ‘pfft’ sound at the end, which caused Will to extract his revenge for my insult by ducking me, which led to a splashing war, only ended by an amicable truce thanks to the Treaty of Kissing. Peace sadly broke down when the War of Tickling erupted and I’m sorry to say, I surrendered first.

  What? I’m very ticklish in places. Don’t judge me!

  We must have been out there for a good couple of hours, playing and laughing, then we made love out there, under the beautiful night sky. It was pretty magical, one of those times when you don’t expect to, but you end up having an experience you’ll remember for ever.

  By the time we headed back inside, I was getting cold, but I was also exhausted. Once in bed I snuggled into Will’s side and slept like a baby.

  ***

  I woke up late the next morning but feeling much better. Sometimes my emotions get the better of me, especially when I experience such strong and fluctuating emotions as yesterday. The advice of every IT department everywhere, ‘have you tried turning it off and turning it on again’ also known as going to sleep in human terms, usually worked for me.

  When I wandered through to the living room, Will was reading but he looked up when I came in.

  “Are you okay?” he asked, looking concerned.

  “Yeah, I’m sorry about my meltdown yesterday.”

  “It’s fine, darling, it’s you I’m worried about.”

  I took the book from his hands and sat on his lap. “I’m fine,” I assured him. “Honestly. I’m sorry if I worried you.”

  He held me tightly for a few moments.

  “And this morning?” he asked.

  “This morning I am just going to make like a duck and let everything roll off my back,” I teased, then I cupped his face in my hands. “Seriously, I’m okay now. It was a lesson that had to be learned and it’s probably better now than later.”

  “Do you want to stay around the cabin for a few days?”

  “If you don’t mind. Or go walking, we don’t run into many people then.”

  “I thought so,” he smiled smugly. “Which is why I called the spa this morning and they’re coming here to give us both full body massages and reflexology.”

  I sighed just at the thought.

  “Then we can spend the day sunbathing and swimming, or reading-”

  I placed a finger over his lips to silence him. “You know, if we’re going to have a massage, we really should have a workout beforehand.”

  He gave me that wicked smirk of his.

  “And did you have any thoughts on exactly what kind of workout you’d like?”

  “One or two.” I shrugged. “How long do we have?”

  “Oh, about two hours.”

  “Perfect.”

  “I’ll put out the ‘do not disturb’ sign.”

  ***

  After texting my sister Will’s phone number in case of emergency, I kept my phone turned off after that.

  We ordered room service for the next two nights and hardly ventured out, but then we decided that as nice as our chalet was, we really were wasting the holiday by staying in so much. We hired a car and ventured out into the rest of the island. Tourism was the island’s main source of income so there was little natural culture but we browsed the largest town and there was plenty of amazing scenery.

  We resumed the same sort of activities we had been doing before around the resort and luckily, Karen and Phil seemed to be avoiding us.

  Now that I’d calmed down, I realised that they probably hadn’t had malicious intentions and most likely, they hadn’t sold their story. As is the way with secrets, they probably just had to tell someone and in the ensuing conversation, told everything they knew about us. The new secret keeper just had to tell someone too and pretty soon, especially in this digital age, it’s public knowledge.

  The fact they were avoiding us showed that they felt some sense of shame for what they h
ad done, but that didn’t make me inclined to forgive them.

  All too soon, our holiday was over and it was time to return to the real world.

  Chapter Ten

  I called my sister as soon as I got home, just to check that she and our mother were okay. Mum had calmed down, apparently, and was now looking forward to meeting Will.

  Wonderful..

  My phone had lit up with text messages the moment I turned it on but only a few were from numbers I recognised. I called my friends Laurie and Marie back and both women seemed to understand why I hadn’t told them the truth about Will, and were either thrilled that I had ‘landed such a hunk’, or that I had found ‘someone so nice’.

  See? Now why couldn’t my mother react like that?

  I was pretty jet lagged so as soon as I was mostly unpacked, I called Will, just to say goodnight, then crashed for 12 hours.

  The next morning was something of a revelation.

  First I checked the other text messages and my voicemail. They were almost all from the press, asking for confirmation of our relationship.

  My email was similar but contained more detailed requests, some even included questions they wanted me to answer. Yeah, because I have nothing better to do with my time that tell perfect strangers about my personal life, to help them get hits on their gossip website. Some emails were clearly from fans, who must have got my email from my website.

  Once such junk was deleted, I was left with only 20 or so work messages. Most of my existing clients knew I’d be away, so had just sent updates or notes that hadn’t required an immediate response but out of the rest, from new clients, many were… suspicious, worded slightly differently to the way most genuine requests were.

  I wrote back to most of them anyway, keeping everything 100% professional, just in case they were sincere.

  Next I checked social media and found that my Twitter and my Facebook pages had a load of new followers. One new follower on Twitter was Will though, which made me smile. He told me he couldn’t follow me before because anyone he followed came under scrutiny.

  Suddenly I realised that there would be some plusses to being public, namely, not having to hide.