photograph / ln4

thirteen

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death by a thousand cuts by taylor swift
1:25 ━━━━⬤─────── 03:54

WAKING UP at 8 a.m. the next day was not as pleasant as Eleanor had expected. Their ferry back was leaving at 11, so they had three hours to pack and have breakfast. Yesterday evening had not ended after their walk along the beach—the couple had come back to their hotel room and shared another bottle of wine before falling into bed, limbs entangled.

Checking her phone briefly, Eleanor noticed a stream of notifications from Instagram. This wasn't unusual: every once in a while a couple of influential authors would recommend her book and it would cause a stream of followers and comments, so she swiped the notifications away without a second glance. There were a couple of messages from Inez and her brother James that she made a mental note to get back to as soon as possible.

After shaking a grumbling Lando awake, Eleanor pulled herself up out of bed and stretched. Her head pounded from the aftermath of the too many glasses of wine, and so all she could focus on was try to find some Advil and drink some water.

Once she had acquired and popped the pills, she brought some to Lando, who was groggily sitting up in bed. "We really had to choose the eleven a.m. ferry, huh?"

Eleanor laughed, running her fingers through Lando's brown locks. The man leaned into her touch, her cool skin soothing against his. "It would've been fine if we hadn't downed a bottle of wine at one a.m."

"Fair point," Lando said with a nod. He pulled himself up and then pressed a kiss to Eleanor's lips. "Shower together?"

"Only if you promise no funny business, mister," Eleanor said with a playfully strict tone, holding her index finger up and pressed it in Lando's chest.

The man barely took note of her narrowed eyes, only focussing on the slight tip upwards of her lips that she always got whenever she was teasing him. "I promise," he muttered, although he was already reaching for her hips and the band of her underwear.

THE COUPLE took a taxi back to Eleanor's apartment once the ferry arrived in Monte Carlo. The journey was smooth sailing—Eleanor solved crossword puzzles while Lando continued reading her book, which was nerve wrecking for the author. He would keep looking up at her through his lashes, before then shaking his head and going back to smiling at the page. It was infuriating, yet adorable at the same time.

"I'll be right back," Lando said as soon as they had settled back into the apartment, with Lizzy and Darcy circling their feet. A neighbour had been so kind as to take care of them for the two days they'd been gone, but the two cats made sure to let them know just how much they had been missed. Eleanor nodded, sending him a smile before finally pulling out her phone.

There was yet another stream of Instagram notifications, but most disconcerting were the multiple missed calls from Inez. Eleanor opened her messages and frowned at the screen in front of her.