Part 22:

“When that ship docks,” he went on, his eyes never leaving her. “I’ll show you both of them.” He ended the call. Isabella was on her feet before she’d decided to stand. For 2 hours, you almost made me forget what you are.” Her voice held steady, which cost her more than shaking would have. “Thank you for the reminder.

” She turned and walked inside, and the anger was the only thing holding her up. Tony caught the look on Iris’s face as she went. “We starting, boss?” Oos nodded slow. “We’re starting, Tony.” Tony got to his feet. At the edge of the terrace, he stopped. “This thing you’ve got for her, is it going to change the plan?” Aeros let his head fall back against the chair, his eyes on the dark line where the sea met the sky.

I am never handing Isabella Ki back to Veto Tony. Tony nodded once and left him there. Os lifted his glass again and drank, the water moving black and slow below the terrace. Morning came in off the water, and the first thing Isabella saw when she opened her eyes was the sea filling the window from one side to the other.

She crossed to the glass. Out past the rocks, OS was opening up the throttle on the speedboat, cutting a white line into the blue, and she stood there watching until the boat was a speck and then nothing at all. Aeros Svino. The name had been moving through her mind since the second he caught her at the edge of the cliff, and no amount of good sense had managed to quiet it.

And last night, the dream. His hands moving over her slow, taking their time, and in it she hadn’t pushed them away. Even now awake, she could feel the ghost of it warming her skin. She got dressed and went down to the kitchen, still half in the dream. Tony was by the elevator with one of the men, the two of them talking low. She barely registered them.

What stopped her was the counter. Lined up along it like someone had set them out on purpose, were packages of gluten-free crackers, gluten-free bread, half a shelf’s worth. She went still. He’d noticed. A man like him who missed nothing, had been watching her closely enough to catch the one thing she’d tried hardest to hide.

Part of her warmed at it before she could stop it. The rest of her went cold. Better to be sharp than to feel the other thing, so she turned on Tony. What is all this? Tony glanced over. We went shopping this morning. Boss said he’s going gluten-free from now on, Miss Vela. Her eyes narrowed, and the words came out sweet enough to cut.

How very manly of him. Tony turned away fast, but not before she caught him fighting his mouth. Crackers and cheese went onto a plate, and Tony watched her put it together. Boss had fresh eggs brought in, said he wants you eating those especially. She kept her eyes on the cheese, not on Tony. Maybe he should come feed them to me himself.

Tony looked away like the wall had suddenly become interesting. She carried the plate out to the terrace. The whole bay was laid out under the morning sun, and she stood at the rail eating, thinking that for a man who kept calling her a maid, he was doing an impressive amount of serving. The thought tugged one corner of her mouth up before she could stop it.

She was halfway through her coffee when the speedboat cut back toward the cliff in a hard white line, water breaking open behind it. Aos stood at the wheel, bare chested, the sun on his shoulders, one hand loose on the throttle like the sea had been built for him. Isabella lowered her coffee. Of course. The words went into her coffee.

Low just for her. Aeros Svino half naked again. As if being that easy to look at wasn’t enough, the man had to make a habit of putting the rest of himself on display. The boat slowed at the jetty below the terrace. Aos looked up at her and lifted a hand. Anita, come down. She turned her face toward the horizon and pretended she hadn’t heard him.

Underneath it she was enjoying this more than she had any right to and she knew it. He called up to her loud enough to carry the amusement plain in it. Or I come up. She set her cup on the rail and took her time about it, then went down the stone steps toward the water slow as if any part of this had been her idea.

Os was waiting in the boat, one hand on the wheel. Get on. I’m taking you somewhere incredible. Isabella stopped at the edge of the jetty and folded her arms. I’m a local, remember? There’s nowhere on this water I don’t already know. OS held out his hand to her across the gap. Not this one. She didn’t take it.

His smile deepened, stubborn before breakfast. I should have expected that, and before she could give him an answer, his hands closed at her waist, and he lifted her down into the boat, easy like she weighed nothing. Her feet hit the deck, and for the length of one breath, she was too close to him. close enough to feel the heat coming off his skin.

He nodded her toward the seat beside the wheel. “Sit.” She sat because the boat shifted under her, not because he’d told her to. The engine roared, and the boat lunged forward, and Isabella grabbed the sides. They were flying now, the hull pounding the water, spray bursting up and raining down over, sliding down his chest, his shoulders, all of him.

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