The need to kiss him suddenly overwhelmed me, and I had to press myself back against the headboard of the bed.

"You're full of surprises, you know that?" I whispered.

Alec smiled. "Yes."

I looked away from him and rolled to my side so I could stand up from the bed. I don't know why, but I grabbed the small towel Alec threw at me and held it up in front of myself. It covered my breasts and privates, but the rest of my skin was still on show.

Alec tilted his head and folded his arms across his chest.

"Are you serious?"

I shrugged.

"I was inside you less than an hour ago, how can you be shy?"

I shrugged again.

Alec chuckled and lifted his hands and covered his eyes.

"Escape to the shower, I won't look."

Doubtful.

I walked forward and turned to my side as I slide by him, when I turned to enter the bathroom I yelped when a stinging slap was delivered to my behind. I swung in Alec's direction and glared.

He only grinned. "I said I wouldn't look, I never said I wouldn't spank."

I shook my head and hid a smile as I turned and entered the bathroom.

"I saw that smile which means you can't be mad at me."

I rolled my eyes.

That was male logic for you.

I reached into the shower and turned it on. It was already warmed up from Alec's shower so I stepped under the spray and stayed put until every inch of me was soaked with water.

I washed my hair twice, before I conditioned it. I washed my face and body with Alec's shower gel because it smelled awesome, then I proceeded to stand under the shower spray just because it felt nice. After a few minutes of standing under the spray I turned the shower off, squeezed the excess water from my hair with my hands then stepped out onto the bathroom tiles.

I picked up the only remaining towel from the towel rack and wrapped it around myself. I snuggled into it for a moment then used the towel to dry myself off. I towel dried my hair a little then wrapped the towel back around my body as I re-entered the bedroom.

I stopped and stared at Alec who was dressed in a blue tank top and navy knee length shorts. He had just finished blow drying his hair with his hair dryer.

Yeah, he had his own hair dryer.

"Why are you dressed?" I asked as I walked to the wardrobe and scanned for a t-shirt and shorts that I could wear to bed.

"Because we're going to the welcome party."

Excuse me?

I turned to face Alec who was now tying his hair back with a bobbin.

"We went to the welcome party."

"No, we went to the welcome dinner."

I frowned. "I thought you didn't want to be near Marco or me uncle."

Alec swallowed. "I don't."

"So then we can stay here-"

"No," Alec snapped.

I jumped with fright.

Alec sighed and walked over to me placing his hands on my shoulders. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to snap... I don't want to go to the party, but I do want you to be included in everything."

I smiled. "Alec, I hardly get on with me family, it's really okay."

"No, we will have fun. I promise."

Why was he pushing this so much?

"Are you sure?" I asked.

Alec relaxed his shoulders and said, "Yes, of course."

Something wasn't right about this.

"Okay then, let me get dressed," I murmured.

I turned and began looking through the wardrobe. I grabbed a teal dress that I tried on earlier and liked. I got a bra and some knickers then headed into the bathroom. I sighed when I realised that I had to dry my hair, I really didn't want to go through all that again after it took me forever to get ready for the dinner.

I groaned in annoyance.

"What's wrong?"

I looked to my left when the bathroom door opened.

"I don't wanna dry me hair... I'm tired."

Alec laughed. "So braid it."

I rolled my eyes. "I can't do a French plait on meself, only on other people."

Alec shrugged his shoulders. "So I'll braid it for you."

I looked at him with raised eyebrows. "You know how?"

Alec grinned. "When you're around Bronagh and Branna long enough they make you learn these things... Besides, I like playing with other people's hair."

"Yeah, but only when you're tired."

Alec waggled his eyebrows. "I am tired."

I turned away and smiled.

"I know you're smiling when you turn away like that, stop trying to hide it," Alec laughed.

I continued to smile as I brushed my hair out, applied my strawberry body lotion and got dressed. I towel dried my hair until it was only damp then I sprayed some summer fruit mix onto my hair to give it a nice smell.

I headed back into the room with a skinny white bobbin in my hand and sat on the floor in front of Alec who was sat on the side of the bed.

"Do you have a comb?" he asked.

I shook my head.

"It's cool, I'll use mine."

He leaned over and grabbed his hair comb then carefully brushed my hair out with it.

"One braid or two?"

"One, please."

He then went to work on putting a French plait in my hair, and for the most part it went pretty smoothly until he got to the hair at the back of my neck.

"Ow, Alec!"

"I'm sorry, but it has to be tight."

He tugged my hair and again I yelped, "Ow!"

He sighed. "Nearly done you big baby."

I folded my arms across my chest.

I'll big baby you, you big bastard.

"Voila. All done."

I reached up and placed my hand on my head, the hair was in a very tight French plait, not a single hair hung loose. I got up and went into the bathroom to check it out.

"Wow, nice job."

"You're welcome," Alec called from the bedroom.

I smiled and got to work on my make-up. I didn't want to wear foundation because I wanted to let my skin breath since I got slightly sun burned from the past few days of exposure to the sun.

I simply put on some mascara, filled in my eyebrows with brow power, and applied some lip gloss. I debated on whether to add more to my face when I leaned into the mirror.

I had a patch of light freckles sprinkled over my nose, and under my eyes.

Should I cover them?

"Damn it," I muttered and went back into the bedroom.

Alec was playing on his phone whilst he was lying down on the bed.

"Do I need to put on foundation or powder?" I asked him.

He looked up at me and shook his head. "No, you look beautiful."

My stomach burst into butterflies at his unexpected compliment.

"Oh, thank you."

Alec smiled. "Why do you ask anyway?"

I leaned down and pointed to my nose. "I have freckles on m nose and under m eyes from the bloody sun."

Alec put his phone down and took my face in his hands then kissed my nose and my now closed eyes.

"I like them, don't cover them up."

"Okay," I murmured as my face flushed.

"Are you ready to go?"

I sighed, pulled back then went and slipped on a black pair of heels.

"Yep, I'm go to go."

Alec stood up and looked down at me, making a point of showing me he was still taller than me.

"Can you walk in those things?" he asked.

I looked down at my feet then back up to Alec's face.

"We shall see."

"I cannot walk in these fuckin' things!" I snapped as I grabbed onto Alec's arm to steady myself for the third time since we left the hotel room.

Alec laughed as he slowed his pace to match my own.

"Do you want go back up and put your flat shoes on?" he asked.