The Love Island Bookshop by Kate Frost (ebook reader with internet browser .TXT) 📕

Zander looked at Freya and held out his hand. His tanned cheeks were flushed and he was smiling so much two dimples had appeared. His eyes sparkled in the candlelight. The jazzy beat quickened filling the bookshop clearing with toe-tapping rhythm and Freya couldn’t help but grin back as the laughter and claps from the guests merged with the music.

‘Shall we officially get this party started?’ He was definitely looking at her and with only the two bartenders and couples surrounding them, she realised as the hosts it was down to them.

She took his hand. He gripped it firmly, leaned in and whispered, ‘Just follow my lead.’

He spun her around and pulled her in tight against his chest. Her heart thudded, or was it his she could feel? The sand was cool as her bare feet whizzed across the clearing. She tried not to think about everyone watching, but she was trying her hardest not to focus too much on being pressed up against Zander either. Her cheeks flushed. Aisha would be so jealous when Freya told her about this.

A young Australian couple joined them; Freya had met them at the bookshop earlier in the week and she smiled as they took to the sand-covered dance floor. She felt less self-conscious as more couples joined, but her senses were alive with the heat, the jazzy beat, the sandy grains beneath her feet, and the smell of the ocean and of Zander, his aftershave mingling with her perfume. The music built to a crescendo and clasping her hand, Zander spun her away and back towards him. The music abruptly ended as she came to a stop against his chest. His smile was even bigger, and Freya, heady with heat and adrenalin smiled back. He led her up on to the deck, let go of her hand and passed her a glass of mint julep.

He knocked his glass against hers. ‘Cheers. Thank you for organising such an incredible evening.’

Freya sipped the drink. Smooth rich caramel mixed with cooling mint was exactly what she needed. She watched the couples laughing as they returned to their seats and their cocktails. She turned back and met Zander’s smiling green eyes.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Even with the ceiling fan on, Freya was beaded with sweat. It was late, she’d been in bed for at least an hour staring at the ceiling, the whirring fan catching a glint of moonlight from a crack in the curtains. Her thoughts returned to the night before and The Great Gatsby evening. The memory filled her with joy. Flickering candlelight had lit up the happy faces of guests as they’d sipped their mint juleps. Laughter and jazz had filled the bookshop clearing, and as she’d twirled around on the sandy forest floor with Zander, it had felt like she was leading a completely different life to the one she’d left behind. Her heart beat faster as a surge of emotion stole through her; the memory of Zander’s hand through the thin material of her top, his laughter close to her ear, his breath tickling her skin. She stared wide-eyed at the ceiling, her eyes blurring as she blinked away the image of his sparkling green eyes. Usually if she concentrated on thinking about something it would help her to drift off, but not tonight. Perhaps it was because she felt like she shouldn’t be thinking about it. About Zander. The more she got to know him, the more he surprised her. Her initial uncertainty about him had been replaced by a feeling she didn’t quite understand.

A door banging further along the corridor interrupted her thoughts. She gave up trying to sleep. She switched on the bedside light and reached for her book. It wasn’t there. She cursed and sat up. She remembered she’d been reading it at the bookshop earlier. She cursed again. There was no point in lying in bed unable to sleep and getting more and more annoyed and frustrated.

She got out of bed and swapped her pyjama shorts for cropped trousers. Lights still blazed throughout the staff village. It was just gone eleven, not that late and staff would still be returning until one or even two in the morning. She set off along the path out of the village.

She shouldn’t have bothered to go to bed early. Somehow going to bed late made her sleep better; she’d never learn. She reached the main path and went in the direction of the bookshop and Sunset Beach. No one was about this late on this side of the island. Solar lanterns edged the path, casting pools of light over the sandy ground and surrounding undergrowth. Apart from that, it was dark, the moon only a sliver, the midnight blue sky sprinkled with stars. The path forked and she took the bookshop way. The dense trees hid the ocean, but she could hear the surf sliding back and forth on the sand. There was a glow up ahead though. She frowned. Maybe she’d left a light on? It had been dusk when she’d left the bookshop earlier in the evening. But it was a reddish glow, not the subtle honey-coloured lights from the lamps... And there was another crackling noise too besides the ocean and the background chatter of insects. She quickened her pace, her heart thumping. Flickering firelight through the trees made it look like the branches were on fire, but as she got closer it was clear that the flames were leaping from the roof of the bookshop. The reeds curled into smouldering charred lumps, drifting up into the night.

‘Freya?’

She spun round. Aaron was on the edge of the clearing, silhouetted against the gleaming ocean.

‘What are you doing here?’ he shouted, panic lacing his voice.

‘Get help!’

‘Freya...’

It was hard to hear him over the crackle of the flames eating away at the roof.

‘Get help, Aaron!’

Freya pushed the door and wedged it open. Smoke rushed downwards from the roof. She pressed her arm