Almost Home

Chapter Nineteen

'You did not!' I screech, my mouth hanging open at the shock of Jamie's latest revelation.

Two hours we'd managed to wile away today, the two of us drinking tea, catching up on lost years and as much as I was desperate to talk about what happened, or should I say what almost happened between us last night, I was having too much fun listening to the latest tale from his travels.

'I did!'

I picture the scene and throw my head back in laughter, the thought of his bare backside sends a thrill through me and I tug gently at the neck of my t-shirt, starting to feel a little hot under the collar.

'What did you do?!'

'The only thing I could think of...I ran.' He shrugs his shoulders in nonchalance, apparently unfazed by the thought of hundreds of strangers staring at his bare butt.

'What, NAKED?!'

'What else could I do?'

Never one to turn down a dare, Jamie had apparently had his clothes stolen when he'd stripped off and jumped into the ocean on a beach in Thailand. Having to hot-tail it home, he'd ran stark-naked through the streets of Pattaya all the way to his hostel, much to the amusements of locals and tourists alike.

'I would have DIED! But then I'd like to think I'd never be drunk enough to take all my clothes off in public.'

'Shame,' Jamie voices suggestively before sipping innocently on his cup of tea and my jaw drops for the second time in just a few minutes. He had a habit of doing that to me recently.

'So I see you've turned into a bit of a wild boy since you left Mr Carraway. Here's me thinking you were the perfect gentleman and it turns out you're having naked beach parties with people you barely know.'

'We weren't having naked beach parties...!' He says exasperatedly. 'God, you make it sound like I was waving my bits around in front of everyone for fun. It was a dare.'

'Who dared you?' I gulp down some tea to disguise the jealousy that had slipped out by mistake. I'd been trying to sound carefree and like I thought the whole situation was hilarious but inside I was squirming. I don't like the thought of other girls daring him to strip off. And I don't like him agreeing to it either.

'Okay, don't take this the wrong way because I know what you're picturing...'

'You don't know what I'm picturing!' I bark defensively and he raises an eyebrow at me.

'Yes I do! If you think I was getting my kit off because some random girl had asked me to then you're wrong. I know I was fairly drunk that night but if memory recalls, it was a two hundred pound bloke called Grithen from the states who dared me to do it and quite frankly I'd only done it because I was a bit scared of him. I was glad to scarper to be honest. Just wished I'd been able to find my boardies first!'

'Grithen?' I ask, failing to hide my relief. 'That's an interesting name.'

'Yeah well he was an interesting guy. He had a green mohawk and tattoos all over his face. Looking at him you'd think he was hard as nails but the guy was travelling because he'd been dumped by the love of his life, so he says. Apparently he was doing some soul searching, whatever that means,' he says with an eye roll.

'So you're telling me that the poor guy had just been dumped and then had to get subjected to you flashing him. It's probably a good thing he's going soul searching, the guys going to be scarred for life!'

'Since when did you get so gobby again, eh?! And I'll have you know, not many people get to see this work of art. He was lucky!' He ignores my scoff of indignation and jabs me in the ribs. 'Fine...anymore! Right, I've had enough chat about my bare arse for today, let's hear about you.'