5. Chapter Five

Chapter Five

Layla

His body almost collides with mine until I'm pushed completely against the stone railing. He cages me in with one hand on each side of me.

It's not just his presence that makes my entire body ignite, it's the compelling look in his eyes.

"I don't think you do," his deep voice answers indulgently. "I think you have plenty of reasons to pretend not to like me."

I gasp. His words cut right through my heart with their accuracy. I avert my gaze away as if they are the key to my soul, and without them, he can't stab me with any more words that cut.

But it only lasts a second because his scent is so intoxicating, and his body is so damn perfect. His muscles are big and defined from all the hours of manual labor his job entails.

Then I remember what it felt like that night so many years ago. After he kissed me, and we poured our hearts out to each other only days before. I walked into the party and his eyes met mine. I thought he was going to call me over. Instead, he wrapped an arm around another woman's waist and turned away .

I shove his chest, so he falls backwards, just barely catching himself on a chair behind him.

"No, you're wrong. I have reasons to not only not like you, but to hate you."

Without giving him time to respond, I stomp back inside. A knock at the door comes at the perfect time. We need a reset on this moment so I don't slap him, or worse, give into my stupid body's desires.

"I'll get it," he grumbles as he walks to the door.

The plates and a bottle of red wine, perfectly chilled at fifty-eight degrees, are placed on our table outside. I take a seat on the side of the table that faces the water so I can look out at the view. Hopefully, the view will keep me from peeking down at Josh and his stupid sculpted body. Oh, who am I kidding? His body beats the view by a mile. There's no hope for me keeping my eyes off of him.

"Can you please put some clothes on while we eat?" I bark at him just as he's about to take a seat.

He lifts an eyebrow. "You're still half naked. Why do I have to put more clothes on?"

"I told you; I don't have anything else comfy to wear."

What is so hard for him to understand? He's really pissing me off with this. Besides, him in just his tight-ass underwear is not the same as my pajamas.

He groans then pushes his chair back out. He comes back in grey sweatpants and a black t-shirt. I'm not sure that's much better. He somehow still looks just as good. Can I ask him to put something less sexy on? No, I think he'd kill me .

"Here." He extends his hand out. "Put these on."

He's holding another pair of similar pants and a shirt. As much as I want to defy anything he says, it would be nice to feel a bit more covered up around him. I grab the clothes and make a big production about giving in, like I'm only doing this for him.

In the bathroom, I strip off my silk pajamas and step into his clothes. I'm swimming in them, and they smell like him. It feels insanely intimate to be wrapped up in his clothing. I don't see any of this going well.

I walk back outside and take a seat at the table. The food smells heavenly, and I'm starving. I pull the silver dome off my plate. The scallops are sitting over a bed of noodles in a white wine sauce.

"Wow," I sigh with contentment. "This looks incredible. I can't wait to dive in."

I look up at Josh. He's looking at me with a strange, dark look in his eyes. He scans my body, but I can't quite figure out what is making him look at me like that. Then I remember I'm in his clothes.

Does he…like seeing me in his clothes? Of course, he does. He's a guy. I'm sure he likes seeing any chick in his stuff. It's some weird possession thing. It has nothing to do with me.

As if he was in a trance, he shakes his head and clears his throat.

"Yeah, lucky for us, the restaurant here comes highly recommended. I looked it up while you were in the shower."

He picks up his glass of wine and raises it. "To a truce, so we can enjoy the food and view in peace."

My mouth curves into an unconscious smile. He always has known how to make me hate him one minute and laugh the next. "To one of many truces throughout our trip."

I raise my glass as his head falls back with laughter. We clink them together. I sip the wine, enjoying the delicious flavors swarming around my palate.

We both moan in response. It's a local wine. The grapes were grown right here in the mountains.

"It's so fresh. I swear I can taste the breeze of the mountain air in this wine," I tell him.

He smiles at me. "I was gonna say it's really good. I wish I'd known I was gonna be here so I could've studied up on sophisticated phrases to say when drinking wine."

I giggle, picturing him saying something completely out of character. "Well, it is really good. No need to fancy up your words on my account."

"Let's dig in. I need to eat and then sleep."

The food is just as good as the wine. We manage to eat in peace without any further bickering. When it comes time to sleep, we are in bed by eight. I put up a wall of pillows in between us, but I think we're both too tired to even be aware of the other's presence. I think I passed out seconds after hitting the pillow.