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Addie froze, spinning around to face Guy head-on. “That sounds an awful lot like a criticism.”
“Not at all,” Guy contradicted. “Not of him, anyway. Santiago uses his skills in business alone. With people, he is as genuine a man as you’ll ever meet.”
Addie tilted her head, but in the back of her mind, she was amazed at how easily she’d come to accept his insults. How only hours after seeing Guy again, she didn’t even flinch at his subtle cruelty towards her.
“He adores you,” she said honestly, reaching up into her hair and pulling loose a pin, then another, and another, until her raven dark mane hung down her back, silky and soft and in large waves that distracted Guy with memories of how he’d used to love running his fingers through her hair, using it to leverage her head backwards and make her mouth accessible.
“That is mutual,” he s
aid.
“I can tell.” She bit down on her lip, and words flew through her mind. Ways to make him understand. Explanations she could give. But the truth sat deep inside her like a stone that wouldn’t budge.
His condemnation was killing her; telling him the truth was the only thing she feared more.
“You can find your way to your room?” He prompted, his expression cold, his manner detached.
Addie took a moment to find her feet and then she nodded. “Of course.”
“Good.” He turned on his heel and disappeared into the depths of the ship, leaving Addie staring after him with a frown on her face and a deep, spiraling sense of loss, deep inside her gut.
*
Addie was exhausted the next morning. She’d barely slept. She told herself that it was worry over her mother. She’d texted her cousin Cherie and Cherie had assured Addie that everything was fine, but still Addie worried. Old habits died very hard, she supposed.
She’d tossed and turned and done her best not to think about the fact that Guy was only a wall away, in a huge bed in the room next door.
Was he sleeping naked, as he had done in England? Desire sparked in her gut at the very idea, and pushed any idea she had of getting a proper rest far from her mind. Finally, sometime before dawn, Addie crept out of bed, abandoning any hope of actual sleep, and lifted the blind. The window was large and beyond it, she could see the morning breaking over the sea. A glorious golden colour was creeping across the ocean, spreading gold dust and warmth, and filling Addie with a hope that was at odds with the way she’d spent the night before.
In London, Addie ran. She ran every day, without fail, and more often when she was restless, as she was now.
But here, on this Spanish island paradise? Surrounded by perfect, still waters?
She didn’t even hesitate before reaching into the wardrobe and rifling through it until she located a bathing suit. Cherie had packed for her, and apparently she considered barely-there bikinis ideal for this kind of trip, whereas Addie’s tastes usually ran to the more conservative. Still, it was early, and though Guy didn’t ever sleep late, he was unlikely to be awake for at least an hour or two.
She changed into the bikini quickly, grabbed a towel from her bathroom and then silently opened the door, peering from behind it before stepping out, scanning left then right and finally tiptoeing to the door that led to the bridge. She held her breath the whole way, until she’d reached the pier. She thought about walking to the sand and making her way in from the shore, but what was the point? Beneath her, a turquoise ocean was waking up, stirring gently to life, and she didn’t want to delay being a part of it for a moment longer.
She dropped her towel onto the timber platform and then sat on the edge, dangling her feet over, enjoying the gentle feeling of cool that washed over her. Despite the fact the sun was not yet up, the night had been warm and sultry and a hint of that heat remained.
The water was instantly refreshing.
She braced her palms on either side of her and then slid in, gasping as the cool water rose up her body, all the way to her breasts. She swum then, a wide breaststroke, kicking through the water, running parallel to the beach as she knew the boardwalk did. It had been a long time since she’d swum for exercise – since school? She couldn’t recall.
But just like riding a bike, the strokes came back to her easily, and the rhythm was somehow meditative. She pushed through the water, until she was several hundred metres from the boat, and then she stopped, treading water and looking first to the island then to the yacht. All was still.
Not a hint of activity to suggest anyone was on board, but that didn’t change a thing. Addie knew Guy was there.
She ran her fingertips over the water, sighing heavily. Guy didn’t want to discuss the past, and though it pained her, she knew she had to respect that. And yet, the past was all around them. In every gesture, every touch, every word and every smile. The past was all around them and suddenly, it reached for Addie from the depths of the ocean, catching her and dragging her under.
*
SIX MONTHS EARLIER
He looked at her as though she was the only woman on earth. “You are beautiful tonight, Ava.” The words were throaty, heavy with the drugging sense of desire that always dogged them. She had become used to hearing that name on his lips. She’d even come to like it, though she had longed to hear him call her Adeline, or Addie, for weeks now. To look at her and see the truth of who she was.
“As are you.” Her smile deepened when he reached across and took her hand, lifting it to his lips. Their plates were empty between them, signs of a meal both had enjoyed.
Her body ached from the double shift she’d pulled, but it was a small price to pay to be able to go out with Guy at a normal time. To date him like a normal woman might, instead of working until the stroke of midnight and sneaking to his home, exhausted yet aching for the pleasure of his touch.
