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“Only when thinking about business.”
“Which is almost all the time.” Although even I could admit he’d done a much better job at trying to compartmentalize, enjoying what little time we’d had together more than I’d thought possible.
“I’m sorry, my angel. I want my family protected.” The look on his face darkened.
“I’m a part of your family?” I stopped walking, turning slightly.
With his eyes filled with lust, he pinched my chin. “Of course you are. You mean more to me than you know.”
He’d been so different while in the tropics, also contemplative about more than just business. Maybe about us. A part of me had begun to worry that what we shared had just been a nice affair. I wasn’t insecure, but more of a realist.
“I’m glad and I know. You worry, fearful about the past. I understand.” I leaned my head against his arm to keep us walking, which I enjoyed more than I could express. “But you can’t be everywhere all the time and I’m perfectly safe.”
“And perfectly mischievous.”
Just to torment him, I pulled away and raced into the surf, kicking water toward him. “Who, me?”
“Yes, you.”
Being mischievous around him was freeing so I took off running, knowing perfectly good and well he’d eventually chase after me. He was highly competitive after all.
It took him a little while. Every time I tossed my head over my shoulder, he was standing in the same position.
Until he wasn’t.
He started chasing me in earnest, acting as if he was running a sprint. I laughed and pumped my legs, zigging and zagging even as I tried to outrun him. If I made it to the group of trees, I might have a chance of doubling back and making it to the house before he did.
When he managed to grab me around the waist, lifting me high into the air, my squeal turned into a throaty laugh. When he wanted to be playful, he certainly could be.
He finally put me down, spinning me around to face him. That’s when I noticed he had his hard gaze locked on the same trees I’d been sprinting toward. What did he think he’d seen?
Other than driving almost thirty minutes away to get him another phone since I’d dumped his into the pool after Sergei had called, we hadn’t seen a soul. Were there wild animals?
He was even starting to walk toward the clump of trees. His jaw was completely clenched and I’d seen him reaching for his nonexistent weapon. He’d brought more than one with him on the trip, but other than the trip into town, he’d refrained from having one on the beach.
A cold chill drifted down my spine.
“What’s wrong?”
“Maybe nothing,” he said, but I could easily tell otherwise. “Stay here. I’ll be right back.”
He walked away from me, his entire body tensing as he did. I waited for a few seconds while scanning both the beach and the forest. There was nothing there.
I caught up to him a few seconds later, trying to keep my voice even.
“There’s nothing there, Maxsim. Take a look. It was just shadows playing tricks.”
Even his hands were fisted as he did a full scan. “I saw something. A man.”
After taking a deep breath, I slipped my arm around his. “Listen to me. There isn’t some monster lurking in every shadow and around every corner. You can’t continue living your life that way. You need to learn to relax. Isn’t that why you brought us here?”
He wasn’t giving up the ghost so easily, his face pinched with anxiety and his usual emotion.
Anger.
I’d hoped after dealing with the fire in the warehouse that he’d finally gotten to a calmer place in his life, but I could see now even time spent alone in Fiji with no worries wasn’t enough of a deterrent to his demons.
An ache formed in my stomach. I knew for all my concern about him and this life, the danger and uncertainty about the future that I loved him with all my heart. Yet I wasn’t convinced this was right for me. I just didn’t think I could handle the anxiety for the rest of my life.
