Page 76 of The Wedding Pact

I think I’ve blown it.

Pushed things way too far out of his comfort zone.

There’s a weird atmosphere between us now that wasn’t there before, like one of us has crossed over to the other side of something. Or maybe we’ve both crossed to the opposite side from each other: me into my neediness and him further into his state of protective withdrawal.

My heart is in my boots.

We don’t say much beyond perfunctory statements as we return our paddleboards to the shore, where one of the hotel employees receives them from us.

Trudging back to the villa, I glance at Raffa a couple of times, but either he doesn’t notice, or pretends not to and keeps his gaze fixed firmly ahead of him.

Once back inside the living area, he goes straight to his laptop and grabs it off the table, only pausing to say, ‘I’ll see you later,’ to me before disappearing off in the direction of his bedroom.

I guess that’s the end of our whirlwind non-love affair then.

Hot tears build in my eyes, but I force them back. I’m not going to cry over this.

It’s not like a proper relationship with him had ever been on the table anyway. He’d not made any promises to me, or I to him. We’d both gone into this thing expecting to have some fun together, but come out as just friends at the end of it.

So how did I let myself get into this state? I’d really thought I could breeze through this fake relationship thing with him and come out smiling on the other side.

But it turns out, not so much.

I give myself a shake.

I didn’t come here looking for a serious relationship. I’ve got plenty of things to keep me busy in my life. I don’t need Raffael Lonetti getting in the way of them.

I want him, sure.

But I don’t need him.

With that painful rationalisation echoing through my mind, I go and take a shower and change. Then I take my phone over to the hotel and distract myself by doing some more reels and photos around the place.

Luckily, there are plenty of other people around in the communal areas who are pleased to see me and only too happy to chat about their fun experiences here, and I come away feeling both buzzed and somewhat soothed.

Though the painful sadness pressing in on my heart still hasn’t gone away.

At least my followers are going to love the vibe I’ve managed to capture on this beautiful island, even if it’s taking on a very different meaning for me now.

Just as I’m leaving the main hotel to head back to the villa and, no doubt, some intensive time on my own while Raffa works, I hear my name being called and turn to see Margot hurrying towards me.

‘Hey, Ida, how are you? Have you been having fun?’ she asks when she reaches me, a little breathless from her dash over.

‘I’ve been having a great time,’ I say, smiling widely at her. She really is the most beautiful creature. It’s like goodness radiates out of her.

She smiles back, then leans in conspiratorially and drops her voice a little. ‘Darian’s blown away that Raffa actually came to the wedding. I’m sure you’ve heard all about it, but the two of them have never been that close, so it means a lot to him to have his brother here.’

‘Hmm,’ I say, not quite sure how to reply to that, knowing what I do.

Luckily, I don’t need to because Margot doesn’t appear to need an answer.

She does need to get something off her chest though because she says, ‘Darian’s desperate to make amends now they’re older, but he feels like he’s tried everything and Raffa just isn’t interested. It’s so sad. He’s hero-worshipped Raffa since he was a kid, but I guess Raffa’s always seen him as a threat.’

‘Yeah,’ I say, recognising the frustration in her voice. ‘Men and their pride, huh?’

‘Exactly!’ Margot says, wrinkling her nose. ‘I don’t suppose you could have a quiet word with him, could you? Let him know that Darian would genuinely love to see him more and he promises to stop nagging him so much about it. He knows how busy he is.’

I can’t help but frown at that. ‘Yeah. Honestly, I don’t think he’d listen to me about that.’