Just picturing how sour she would look fills me with glee. My mouth curls up at the corners. “She would die. After all, it would be because of her meddling. Sort of, anyway. And she secretly like… can’t stand him. It would be so funny.”
“You are terrible!” Kalindi says, wrinkling her nose. She laughs though.
On the beach, Erik strips off his shirt. I nudge Kal, nodding. “Just look. That man is literally a hundred and forty percent muscles. Abs… delta… triceps…” I squint. “Okay, I’m not sure why I started naming actual muscle groups, because I don’t have any idea of what the rest of them are.”
Kalindi lights up. “Ooh! Call on me. You just tell me what area of the body you’re trying to compliment, and I’ll try to fill in the blanks. We just learned all the muscles in human biology.”
My lips lift. “Umm, pass. That’s work. We’re here to play.”
She shakes her head and drinks the rest of her wine in a couple of swallows. “I’m going to bring the bottle out here.”
She gets out of the hot tub, dripping wet, and runs inside. I’m left to sip my wine and watch as Erik disappears into the water down on the beach.
5
Annika
Dusk has just fallen over the beach, coating everything in sight in a dusting of shadow. The ocean looks dark and intense as the last rays of light disappear over the horizon. Our enormous beach house is the only structure around for miles and its back patio spills right out onto the dunes of sand that lead down to the water.
Other than the twinkle of fairy lights on the patio, it’s quickly growing dark. I open my arms to the unbelievable spread of the night sky. The stars wink down at me.
Maybe tonight is the night.
My best friend Kalindi looks over at me from her beach blanket, looking beautiful as ever. She has light brown skin and dark eyes, with hair as thick and lustrous as a raven’s wing. She leans back, adjusting her pink bikini.
“What would you think about me snogging your brother?” she asks. Her accent is a mix of British and Indian influences, and her voice is melodic. But her words make me pull a face.
“Which one?” I ask. “Don’t say Stellan. All my life, my friends have been asking me whether he is single.”
She shakes her head with a soft smile. “No, Annika. I’m talking about Finn.”
My eyebrows rise. “Finn?” I glance back toward the house, at the picnic tables where the older guys and their friends are sitting, Finn included. “Are you sure you mean him and not Anders?”
Kalindi cocks her head. “What’s wrong with Finn?”
I scrunch my face up. “Nothing. He’s just… odd. Remote. You are a beautiful ray of sunlight and I wouldn’t want him to dim your vibrancy, that’s all.”
She rolls her eyes. “I just mean a casual make out, nothing serious.” She turns and looks at the group again, wrinkling her nose as they get up and head for the house. “I think I’m going to go inside and take a shower. This bathing suit is cute but itchy.”
“Okay.” I sit back, noticing that a lone figure walks by us out toward where the water laps at the beach. With his ruggedly good looks and his pushed-back hair, I can spot Erik easily though it’s dark. “I’m going to stay for a while.”
Kalindi shakes her head. “You shouldn’t like him, Nika. He’s almost ten years older than us.”
Pouting, I look down at my sun-kissed skin in my tiny black bikini. “Erik is only seven years older than me, first of all. And second of all…” I look up at her. “It’s just snogging, as you say.”
She shakes her head. “You are crazy. He doesn’t even know you’re alive.”
That stings. I make a face. “I know.”
She smiles. “Okay. As long as you realize. I’ll be inside, cleaning all this sandy goodness off of my limbs.”
I nod, not watching her leave. My eyes find Erik again, silhouetted against the darkened beach. He wears jeans and a plain white button-up, his sleeves rolled up in a way that shows his bulging biceps. He bends over and rolls his jeans up to mid-calf. He keeps walking down a little further, submerging his bare feet in the foam left by the lapping sea. Without realizing it, I stand up, brushing myself off. It’s only when I’ve pulled my shorts and black t-shirt on that I realize that I’m going to go talk to him.
I shiver. I have a half-hearted plan. A plan that involves me, Erik, and a hell of a lot of writhing and heavy breathing. If I can just talk to Erik about taking my virginity, I feel like a weight will be lifted from my shoulders.
The subject of my innocence, of being the perfect and pure princess that Denmark expects… it has caused almost as many panic attacks as seeing my face in the tabloids ever has. I can’t hope to live up to the sterling standard that has been set out for me.
So I will shed my virtue. Make it less of an issue. I just need someone to take my virginity.
Someone who I find attractive. But more important, I need someone kind. Erik may be stuffy… but the last thing that I think when I look at him is that he is cruel.
It just doesn’t exist in him. I can tell.
Shoving my fingers through my hair, I take a deep breath. As I pad barefoot through the sand, I give myself a mini-pep talk.
Just be casual.
Don’t be an awkward weirdo.
Play it cool!
A few feet away, Erik turns and notices me. His expression hardens for a split second and then he turns away.
“What do you want, Annika?”
I freeze. This is not the reception I anticipated. Far from it, actually.
Walking forward to pull even with him, I take a deep breath. But when I speak, my tone is pouty.
“I didn’t realize that you had the whole entire beach booked up,” I say, gesturing to the vast darkness surrounding us.
He looks at me sharply but doesn’t respond right away. I take a moment to drink him in. He’s extremely tall, taller even than my older brother Stellan’s massive height. His body is perfect and muscular without being too bulky. He has a face that is made for movies, with high cheekbones and long eyelashes, and these deep green-brown eyes that make me melt.
Erik grunts. Half a minute goes by, with me looking at his gorgeous face and him gazing out at the horizon. He finally says, “Stellan is a fucking asshole.”
I squint, crinkling my whole face. “It must be so hard to be best friends with the king of Denmark. Especially when it means you basically get a free ride wherever you go.”
As soon as I say it, I wish I could take it back. There is something about Erik that makes me mean and petty when I really want to be sweet.
He lets out a bark of laughter. “You are a brat, Annika. A spoiled little brat. You know that?”
My face heats. Of course, I know that.
“No,” I say, sticking my tongue out at him.
He scans me head to toe and then shakes his head. “Yes. You are.”
He turns around, walking back toward the house. My heart wrenches; this was my chance to sweet talk Erik a little. Maybe tell him that I think he’s dreamy. Ask him to take my virginity. If all else fails, I can probably seduce him.
Now that chance is ruined.