Convalescence

XXXVIII.

The bulk of their vacation was spent much like the first day, and it couldn't have been more perfect.

Lili and Niall developed a pretty solid daily routine that consisted of waking up no earlier than 10:00am, ordering room service, getting dressed, then going to the beach until sunset.

At first, it was pretty hard to accept that they had literally nothing to do except eat, sleep, swim, and repeat. Neither one of them knew what it felt like to have no obligations to worry about.

Most of their adult lives had been spent working full-time. Although their jobs and work life had been significantly different, the amount of time in which Lili and Niall chose to relax was relatively the same – meaning almost non-existent.

It just wasn't in their blood. They needed to provide for themselves and both loved to work, so doing nothing was hardly ever an option for them, whether they wanted it to be or not.

The third morning in South Carolina, Lili woke up in a panic thinking she'd missed her alarm and that she was late for work. It was only after she'd brushed her teeth and went digging around for her tennis skirt that she realized she wasn't even in the same state as the club.

She immediately got back into bed, and before passing out again, she and Niall spent a good five minutes laughing about how ridiculous that was.

Niall's phone hardly rang or buzzed after the first day, which was difficult for him to believe; he had been expecting to get bombarded by calls and texts after his win.

On the night of his win, though, that was absolutely the case. As soon as he would hang up a call, his phone would ring again, and he got about a thousand messages in the span of six hours. Everyone who loved him wanted to send him their congratulations while the excitement was still fresh.

After the first twenty-four hours, Niall had talked to all of the necessary people, and Lili guessed that everyone else had taken the hint that he wanted to enjoy the win himself for a bit.

It was quite funny for her to watch him glance anxiously at the screen every few minutes, as if waiting for it to come alive. His phone had never been this quiet in his life, and she could sense genuine concern about it.

And Niall was obviously torn – he wanted to make sure he was getting back to everyone and thanking them for their kind words, so he was worried about missing a call or text. But at the same time, giving Lili his attention while on vacation was extremely important. To him, spending more time on his phone than with her was the most disrespectful thing he could do.

She didn't mind one bit, and that was the hardest thing to get him to understand. It wasn't like he was spending all his time on social media, watching stupid videos or scrolling mindlessly through his feed. He was just humble and cared a lot about his friends and family.

But his nerves eventually did settle down, and he was able to completely enjoy himself without checking his phone every five seconds.

Every time they were hidden away in their private cabana, which he had rented for the entire duration of their vacation, Niall kept trying to make a move.

He would drag his fingers slowly up Lili's exposed thighs when they were lying together, letting them dance across her sunkissed skin in unique and gentle patterns. It would get her breath working a little faster, but nothing more than that.

Disappointed by the lack of reaction, he would switch tactics by seductively untying her bathing suit to reveal her breasts while kissing a line from her shoulder to her neck, grazing the skin with his teeth until she shivered.

Though he stopped immediately if Lili said no, it was still fun to watch him try so hard. He never gave up, in the most respectful of ways.

He would go the extra mile to say or do something that would turn Lili on, which worked 100% of the time, even if she never let him know. It was entertaining watching him squirm.