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Chapter Fourteen
-Dante-
IFOUND HER ON DECK, in her usual spot overlooking the water. I watched her from the shadows after having not spoken to her all day.
Our night together still haunted me. I couldn’t escape how completely and utterly perfect she had been. I knew now why it was called making love. Every move was deliberate, not born of need or some primal urge. She was like no one I’d ever experienced before - not just physically or sexually. We connected that night in a way we hadn’t before. I knew what she meant when she said she hadn’t known the difference between making love and fucking.
I was a fool who didn’t know the difference either. Until she showed me. It unmanned me to know that would be the last time we were together. We’d be back on US soil in two days. Two days during which I’d interact with her as little as possible. I moved my things out of the master cabin and moved into the black room.
That was a fucking disaster. For a man who needed little sleep, a completely sleepless night is a recipe for disaster. Everything in the black room reminded me of her and the first night I’d tried to “romance” her. Everything reminded me of the way she’d gripped the black satin sheets as I rutted into her. The way the light shown in through the window brought back the memory of her body bathed in moonbeams like she was now, leaning into the darkness while the light fed off her.
I couldn’t do it. I wanted to keep her, make her mine forever, but I knew I didn’t have that right. There would be no more blindfolds, no more carrying her to the bedroom, no more feeling her pulse as she orgasmed around my dick, coming hard for me when I pushed her past her limits.
She was perfect for me, and she was never going to know it. I knew when we made our contract that I was going to break her heart. But I had no idea she’d break mine. Fuck. I didn’t even know I had one until she shattered it with her shy eyes and beguiling smile.
It was painfully clear how wrong I was. Every breath I took as I watched her solitary stance hurt like hell as I tried to get more oxygen into my system.
I needed air. I neededher.
But I wasn’t going to have her. When we arrived in Florida, I was going to put her on a plane to New York where she’d be met by one of my brother’s goons who would drive her home to Connecticut.
I hadn’t forgotten about the men who’d tried to kill us, but since this plan was known to only me, she’d be safe. I made her reservations before we left the island. She’d be back in New York before anyone knew where she was. By the time anyone got wind of it, she’d be back home in Connecticut under Gabriel’s protection.
I called him before I left the island. He was pissed off about something, but I brushed it aside and told him what I needed for Noemi. I heard Lilly squawking in the background, but I ignored her as well. Whatever shit drama was going on at home, I didn’t have time for it.
I had questions and I had a list. People owed me answers and quite possibly, their lives.
***
MY BAD HUMOR RETURNED, either in anticipation of the work I had to do or from anxiety over Noemi’s distance. She shut me out. I did what I had to do and stayed away from her for two days, strengthening my decision to walk away from her. It was what needed to happen. Other than dinner the last two nights, during which I barely spoke, I spent no time with her.
I went to her room to help her carry her luggage so we could disembark, but as soon as I knocked, she opened the cabin door, grabbed her suitcases and sailed past me as if I were a ghost unseen. I bit my tongue, knowing I deserved her disregard.
When I started to pull the cabin door shut, I noticed the master closet doors were still open. All the clothing I’d bought her, including the gowns from Barbados, were still there, left behind as a sign of their owner’s independence.
With determined strides, I caught up to her, barely holding my tongue until I unleashed my anger on her when we reached the main salon.
“What the hell are you trying to pull?”
“Me? I’m not pulling anything,” she answered.
“So, you pick now to start lying to me? Why the fuck are the clothes I bought you still hanging in the fucking closet?”
“Because I don’t want them. There. How’s that honesty for you?”
She spun around to face me, jabbing her finger in my chest.
“You just spent the last two days ignoring me. How did you think this morning was going to go? Thank you for treating me like dirt the last few days, now please, may I keep the expensive wardrobe? I don’t want to see those dresses ever again.”
“I told you how this would end.” I felt like a fool even as I said the words that didn’t mean shit considering how selfish I’d been the last few days.
“You told me that when we got back home, we were done. Well, we aren’t home yet, and we certainly weren’t home two days ago when you started giving me the cold shoulder. We had two more days.” Her voice softened as she lost her bravado. “And you wasted them.”
Holy shit. She didn’t understand. How could she? I hadn’t given any thought to how it would make her feel. I had to steel myself against it. Despite her fury, it was the right thing to do. I wouldn’t back down.
“You wouldn’t understand, so I won’t bother to explain. What do you want me to do with your things?”
“Try me. And they’re not mine. They’re yours. Save them for the next woman you cart off to paradise. Or burn them. I don’t care.”
