Aimee Duffy - The Summer Flings Travel Club - A Fun, Flirty and Hilarious Beach Read

Shit.

Two security guards managed to do what Aiden couldn’t and ripped Gem right off him. Ciara shared a WTF glance with Elle before they were both putting their stilettos to work, scampering after Gem who was being carted off by two huge, scary looking men in uniform.

When she spied an unattended magnum of Moet on a table, she shared a quick glance with Elle, swiped up the bottle and they both burst into giggles.

‘He was so amazing , ’ Gem said, swaying a little until she grabbed onto the bar of the cell.

Police cell. They’d only gone and gotten bloody arrested. Again!

Elle giggled. ‘So worth it then?’

‘Am I the only sane one here?’ Ciara asked.

The champagne buzz had quickly died when they’d tried to stop security from calling the cops – and holding a bottle of the restaurant’s Moet didn’t help convince the man she was an upstanding citizen. They’d been asked for their invitations, to which Elle had told them the actors had invited them but of course that just made matters worse as the guy she’d doused in champagne told security the ‘crazy British girls’ had attacked them.

Now they were all locked up for the night, until they ‘sobered up’ but Ciara was feeling far from giddy. Unlike her friends.

‘I’d kiss him again and again, even if it meant having to pee in front of my friends,’ Gem said, making her way to the stand alone loo in their cell.

‘Eww,’ Elle complained. ‘Can’t you wait till we get home? There are pervy looking cops in here.’

Gem ignored her and went on with her business. They stood in front of her to shield her modesty, though Gem was too far gone in an Aidan Price induced fantasy fuelled by too much bubbly to notice.

‘How are we going to get home, Elle? It’s not like we can grab a cab. We’ve been locked up!’ It felt silly to have to state the obvious, but really. One of them had to at least try and be a bit responsible.

Gem flushed, then had her second good idea for the day – just a pity she’d won the eejit award in between. ‘Call Zack. He’d bail us out.’

Elle said, ‘I don’t know the number by heart and my phone’s at home.’

‘I have his number,’ Ciara admitted and both of them turned to stare at her with wide eyes. She held up her hands. ‘I didn’t ask for it, he just scribbled it down in case we got into trouble.’

‘I’ll bet he did,’ Elle frowned. ‘But this does spell trouble, so bugger it. Let’s ask for our phone call.’

It took a lot of sweet talk to persuade the cops to let them get Zack’s number out of her bag, and then she was dialling with shaking fingers, not sure if she’d rather he was asleep already. This had to be one of those worst firsts she kept hearing about. How many people could say the first time they phoned their crush it was to ask for a bail out instead of a date?

When Zack answered, her hands started shaking.

‘Zack, it’s Ciara.’

‘Are you okay? Is Elle?’ he asked, sounding a little bit sleepy and a lot confused.

‘We’re all fine, sort of. Shit.’ How did she ask someone she barely knew to get them out of prison?

‘Ciara, what’s going on? You’re worrying me.’

Taking a deep breath, she blurted everything out, apologising every chance she got.

He listened all the way through her convoluted confession, never interrupting her and when she finished, there was a pause before he said, ‘Give me an hour.’

The line went dead. Her heart melted. He’d just dropped everything in the middle of the night to rescue them from this Hell hole.

But then she realised something worse. She was starting to feel things for Zack. Real honest to god warmth and then some.

She really was in trouble now.

Zack didn’t speak much in the car, but she supposed anyone would be fecked off at having to bail out three idiots in the early hours of the morning, then help two of the said idiots up to their rooms. Gem had long since passed out and Zack had to carry her up. Elle was dead on her feet but able to walk, so Ciara managed to get her into bed.

When her friend was tucked in, she tried to sneak along the corridor unseen but he was leaning against her room door with his arms folded and what looked like a frown marring his pretty face in the dim light. Shit, why couldn’t Elle be awake for this? She’d never wimp out of an argument with anyone.

‘I’m sorry we woke you,’ she said. It was the best she could think of.

He sighed. ‘When those two were little I took so much shit for them that our granddad threatened to send me to boarding school. I thought that would end when they grew up.’

‘We thought it would be fun to gatecrash a celeb party,’ she defended

‘And you all got carried away?’ he asked, his expression too cynical.

She scowled at him. ‘Something like that.’

Zack lifted an eyebrow. ‘So stealing a bottle from the restaurant, assaulting an actor and pouring a drink over another was all in the name of fun?’

She gritted her teeth and sucked in a breath. It didn’t help with the irritation bubbling beneath their skin. ‘Exactly.’

There was no way she was going to apologise for getting carried away. Nobu, Aiden and the Z listers were not going to press charges so really, there was no harm done.

‘I only came because you were in trouble, Ciara. A night in the cells would be a good reality check for them. Although now I think that might be the case for you too.’

She didn’t know whether to be outraged or insanely pleased that he cared enough to rescue her.

Zack didn’t allow her time to think. He came close, far too close until her chest was flush against his. ‘But I’m glad I didn’t leave you there.’

Her breath caught in her throat and the attraction she’d felt today seemed magnified in the hall. They were alone, or as good as. He smelled spicy, delicious and a lot like he’d been in bed for hours and hours. The buzz that thrummed between them had the same kind of affect as the champagne had on Gem earlier with Aidan Price, and she wanted to wrap her arms around Zack and use him for her own pleasure.

She had to tilt her head to keep eye contact. Even with just the moonlight from the massive windows at either end of the hall, she could see him and he was too gorgeous. And, mad as it might be, she was just pleased that he’d helped them out for her.

‘Are you going to kiss me now?’ she asked.

Maybe it was the intense look in his eyes drawing out delicious anticipation, or maybe the champagne had blasted her patience and inhibitions, but she couldn’t hold the question in. Or regret asking him.

‘Do you never wait for a man to make the first move?’ he asked, stroking her cheek with his finger.

Little jolts zapped from his touch, all the way under her skin and shivered down to her belly. She wanted more. She needed more.

And why couldn’t she have more? She’d spent so long worrying about this trip, what happened after, her future. She’d already missed out on having fun. And she’d miss out on having him if she let it continue.

No more.

‘Life’s too short.’ And she was only here two more nights. Whatever the reason for not asking him sooner had fled her mind, if there ever was one. Right now it was just him and her, about to kiss – she was sure.

‘Some things are worth taking your time over.’

His breath swept her face, warm, tickly and far too teasing. His finger outlined her lips, making her breath hitch a little and her stomach flip.

‘Maybe,’ she whispered in the darkness. ‘But not things with a time limit.’

Instead of waiting, she pushed high on her tiptoes and pressed her lips against his. Zack didn’t pull away or admonish her for the assault. He pulled her flush against him, taking control of the kiss until her blood hummed and her knees got a little bendy.