I woke up with my arms wrapped around a warm, breathing teddy bear.

I snuggled closer, enjoying the warmth radiating from it.

It was so hard though, not at all soft or fluffy. It reminded me of sleeping next to Jason...

I ran my hand up and down the hard chest, realizing it was a human male's body, not a teddy bear.

But if it wasn't Jason...

Crap. Was I snuggling Tobias?

I froze, listening to his perfectly timed and quiet breathing. It was nothing like Jason, who always did this cute snoring thing that had never failed to comfort me.

I looked up at the face that was so close to my own, examining his features.

His skin was so smooth, all the usual creases from his constant frowning gone, making him so much hotter. His eyebrows were dark and thick, the same for his eyelashes, which rested on the top of his sharp cheekbones in his sleep. His lips were a perfect berry color, plump and so soft looking but somehow still incredibly manly, maybe because of his ridiculously sharp jaw.

He was so different from Jason in every way. Where Jason had always been extremely good looking in a way where he was just beautiful and angelic and rugged, Tobias was a drop-your-panties, cookie-cutter obvious type of attractive. When Jason got angry, he got violent, but it was always to protect others. He never did anything for his own benefit, but Tobias was cold and ruthless and all for himself. But the biggest difference: Jason was dead and Tobias was alive.

Feeling the sudden urge to cry, I unwrapped my arms from around Tobias and flipped over, but my body missed his heat.

I flipped over again to get closer to him, but changed my mind and turned the other way.

"Stop moving," a voice said and I jumped, turning back to Tobias.

His eyes were still closed and if he hadn't spoken I would have thought he was still asleep.

"Sorry," I muttered.

"So you decided to sleep on the bed after all."

"Yeah, ah, the bathtub wasn't very comfortable." I flipped over again, finding it too hard to stop looking at his face.

"Stop moving or get out, Talia."

"Sorry, sorry." I turned back to him but kept my hands firmly to my side even though part of me wanted to snuggle into him again.

He fell asleep again and I managed to as well; something about this was comforting.

I woke up again after a couple of pings. What was that?

I saw Tobias's phone vibrate on the desk. It rang again.

I sighed and got up to shut it up, but couldn't help glancing at the text messages displayed on the screen.

There were a few from Amelia that were obviously sent when she was drunk; there were some men texting him about some papers or a meeting or various other business-related things; there was one from Penelope asking how the trip was going and another with two heart emojis.

And then there were two from Julia Steinway.

I put the phone down, not wanting to see anymore. My morning bliss was gone.

I got into the shower and enjoyed the hot water until it was finished. Ha. Let's see how he likes freezing cold showers.

I wrapped a towel around myself and ran out quickly to grab something to change into, which I forgot to do before.

Thank God Tobias was still asleep.

I grabbed a pair of denim shorts and a tight white tank top but wore one of my new swimsuits underneath.

I was going swimming today.

I wasn't sure whether I should wake Tobias up and ask him to come with me or whether I should leave him. It's not like I meant anything to him anyway, right?

But still, I decided to invite him. It was his choice in the end, but this would be a nice opportunity to maybe have a real conversation?

I went over to the bed and shook his firm shoulders slightly.

"Tobias? Tobias, wake up."

He groaned. "What is it?"

"Do you want to go to the beach with me?"

He opened his onyx eyes, the color shocking me all over again, and said, "You woke me up for that?"

I sighed. "Why did I even bother? Nevermind, forget it. Bye."

"Did I say no?"

"No, but–"

"So don't jump to conclusions. Give me a few minutes."

He managed to take a shower and get changed in exactly 6 minutes, something that blew my mind. I would still be shampooing.

"Let's go," he said when he came out of the bathroom.

I all but drooled looking at him. He was wearing a thin white t-shirt and a pair of black bathing shorts that showed off his perfectly toned legs. His hair was still wet and disheveled and his eyes seemed darker, albeit brighter, than ever.

If the business ever went bankrupt, he should definitely take up modeling.

We walked to the beach nearby and the whole way girls were shamelessly staring at Tobias.

A few of them were whispering after us, talking about how hot he was, and I wondered if he heard them.

Why couldn't I be that hot? It didn't seem fair.

We picked a spot and laid out towels and chairs. The moment we were done I stripped off my shorts and tank top and ran to the ocean, jumping in immediately.

It had been so long since I had been swimming. Tobias had a pool at his house – our house? – but I had never used it. It had always seemed too daunting to commit to using someone else's pool.

After a good twenty minutes of swimming around, I looked back to Tobias who was sitting on one of the beach chairs, oblivious to all the drooling stares he was getting.

"Tobias!" I called out his name.

He looked up from his phone. "What?"

"Aren't you going to swim?"

He shrugged but got up, taking his shirt off in what may as well be slow motion, at least that's what it felt like. I honestly saw one girl clutching her heart as Tobias disrobed, looking like she was about to faint.

He waded into the ocean, the water splashing all over his taut body.

When he got to where I was he said, "Why do you look so confused?"

I quickly wiped off the expression of awe off my face. "No reason."

He kind of just hung out in the ocean a bit, not really talking, not really swimming. This was kind of awkward...

Something brushed my leg and I automatically assumed it was Tobias messing with me.

"Don't do that."

"Don't do what?"

"Don't touch my legs when we're in the ocean. It scares me."

"I didn't."

"What do you mean you didn't? Something did." I started getting scared.

Then whatever it was brushed my legs again and I knew it couldn't be a foot. It was long and slimy.

I scream and jumped closer to Tobias. "It did it again."

"It's just a sea creature, Talia."

"What if it's a poisonous eel? A small shark? A jellyfish?"

"Then you would probably be in pain right now."

"Well I'm not going to stay and wait for one to eat me. I'm getting out of here."

I started swimming back and Tobias followed me, muttering something about what did I expect to happen in an ocean. When we were safely back on the shore we sat down under our umbrella, Tobias going back on his phone and me closing my eyes to bask in the sun.

Crap! I had forgotten to put sunscreen on. I was going to burn so bad.

I quickly took it out of my beach bag and applied it all over my body, doing the best I could with my back, but knowing there was next to nothing there.

Oh well. I guess I'll just have to turn my back away from the sun–

"Do you need help?"

I looked over at Tobias who was still tapping on his phone.

"Yeah, that would be great."

"What would be great?" he asked.

"You just offered to help me put sunscreen on my back...?"

"No, that was me, sweetheart." I looked to the left where I hadn't seen Kyle standing there staring at me like a creep.

I grabbed a towel and covered myself up from his stare.

"No thanks. I think I'm good."

"Just let him help you, Talia. You're going to burn."

I glared at Tobias. Seriously?

Kyle grabbed the bottle of sunscreen and sat on the edge of my chair, slathering a bunch on my back before I could move away.

"Ugh! Now I just have a big blop of sunscreen."

But then he started rubbing it slowly into my back, like he was giving me a massage.

I smacked his arm away and turned over.

Kyle whistled. "Damn, Anderson. Your wife is really something."

"Ew!" I got up to find something else to do, but Kyle grabbed my arm.

I can't believe I thought he was a nice guy at first. I looked over at Tobias to see if he was seeing this, but he was still on his phone. That man is addicted.

"Let go."

"The yacht is leaving in five minutes."

"Like hell am I going on your yacht."

"No, we're going," Tobias said. So now he speaks up?

"Try and make me."