Love on the Horizon ✎

21

We're visiting Barbados today and I'm so excited. Rhianna's birthplace. Phoebe wants the dirty details of last night and with a flush in my cheeks I share some of them. Mostly just the positions and how many times he made me come. She's happy for me and not the least bit worried like I am about the consequences. She's just genuinely happy that I have found a guy I truly like. Because I do, I really like Damien. He's sweet, attentive, has the sexiest voice and last night he worshipped my body. What girl wouldn't want someone like that?

The nagging voice at the back of my mind starts creeping back, but I tried my best to push it back, not wanting to dwell on the miserable details of why we couldn't be together right now. Why we hadn't been able to spend the whole night together and go to breakfast together. I hate it, I absolutely hate it. Because maybe this is all it will ever be. A brief holiday romance. I mean, we don't know each other, and I think the last thing that I need right now is to jump headfirst into a whirlwind romance with a guy. A guy I just can't seem to stop thinking about.

Phoebe and I join the rest of the ship's passengers heading off the ship, which is docked at the port of Bridgetown. We now have eight hours ahead of us to explore the island and all its tropical finery. Phoebe and I already talked about checking out the Rihanna Drive monument to see where the global megastar grew up, soaking up the sun on one of the many gorgeous beaches around Bridgetown and going for a dip in the ocean of course as per our tradition. We'll stick to the West Coast which has the Caribbean Sea, whereas the East Coast boarders the rougher Atlantic Ocean. We've been told by other passengers who have been here before that we should take a taxi up along the West Coast and just get off where we felt like it. It sounds like a fun idea.

I haven't heard from Damien after leaving the cabin last night, but I didn't expect to. I told him we should lay low today, so I think it's for the best not knowing where each other are whilst we're off the ship. Even though all I can think of right now is to find him and get him naked somewhere.

We follow the herd of people leaving the cruise terminal and heading into Bridgetown. At one point I think I see Damien, his almost bronze hair sparkling in the sunlight, but then I blink, and he's lost in the crowd and my chest clenches.

We hail a taxi and begin our drive up the Western coast. Everything is lush and green around us. Trees cloud our view of the ocean on our left and to the right is a mix of fields and buildings. Our first stop is Paradise Beach just north of Bridgetown. The taxi lets us out just off the Spring Garden Highway and from there we walk down through the green shrubbery to the beach. The temperature is already a comfortable eighty degrees with a gentle mid-morning breeze. The scent of ocean hangs heavily in the air, tangy and inviting. As we round a corner the sea comes into view up ahead. The water is a gorgeous, clear turquoise, and the beach lives up to its name. It almost feels like a deserted island, with not many houses on the shoreline, but mostly palm trees and lush greenery. We set up camp on the very non-crowded beach and lay our towels out on the warm sand to soak up the rays for the next hour or so.

On our third beach stop by Paynes Bay Beach, there are a lot more people, some I even recognize from the ship with the telltale yellow wristbands.

"Hey, isn't that Damien and Javier?" Phoebe suddenly says and my head snaps up and there he is. He's with a group of people, Angelina included, her tanned bikini-clad body looking gorgeous. They are standing in line at the kiosk and with Damien's back to me I know he hasn't seen me. I have my sunglasses on as well as a hat as I go stand in line behind them, keeping a few people between us.

I can hear Angelina speak. "We all know you'll be put on the first plane home if anyone catches you with a passenger. It's just stupid and unnecessary in my opinion to risk that for a meaningless little hook up." From my line of sight, I can't tell if she's looking at Damien or just talking in general to them all, but my heart starts to pound.