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‘I never have regrets,’ he said with classic Alex arrogance. ‘You look stunning.’
She dipped her head forward. ‘Thank you.’
‘I like this better than what you wore to your last wedding.’
‘You weren’t there.’
‘No, but your parents had a huge photo by the door.’
‘It’s gone now.’
‘I know.’
‘No doubt you’ll be up there before tomorrow morning.’
He laughed with genuine affection and a pang of something like jealousy hit her right in the heart. His affection for her parents was genuine, there was no doubting that. ‘I’m flattered.’
‘They really love you.’
Something flickered in his eyes, a look she didn’t understand, and then he turned his face away, eyes chasing the cliffs that formed a wall to the shore. They were white in colour, crisp against the perfect turquoise of the sea.
‘On days like this, they miss him so much,’ Tessa continued, her smile slipping. ‘Stavros should be here.’
‘Yes.’
And then it was Tessa who was closing the distance, coming to stand right beside him, their hands held at her side.
‘I wonder what he’d make of this,’ she asked with a small shake of her head.
‘He’d want to kill me,’ Alex responded with not a hint of doubt.
‘Why? For swooping in and being my saviour?’
He angled his face to hers, his eyes sparking with unmistakable intent now. ‘For the direction of my thoughts all week.’
Her lips formed a perfect ‘o’ and she didn’t dare ask—she didn’t need to ask—for clarification on the direction of his thoughts, because her own thoughts had gone there plenty too. She’d done her level best to keep busy, but in the back of her mind the fact they were to be married, and that a whole weekend stretched before them now, was like a form of hypnosis. If she didn’t use all her concentration, she felt herself falling under the spell of those thoughts, wanting, more than anything, to remember every detail of that night.
‘Are you hungry?’
The question was the last thing she’d expected. She shook her head without breaking eye contact; she couldn’t.
‘Do you want to go for a swim?’
Swimming? As warm as the weather was, it was the last thing on Tessa’s mind. ‘Do you want to go swimming?’
His eyes bored into hers and she held her breath, waiting for him to deny it, but then, earning a whip of frustration from Tessa, he nodded slowly. ‘Why not? We’ve got all night.’
And just when she thought the moment was over, he leaned down and kissed her with the same kind of hunger he’d shown during their wedding ceremony, as though this was the end of their time together and not the beginning, as though he could commit the taste of her to memory. It was all a lie. She knew how important it was to remember that. Alex was a very practised lover—he’d had more experience than she cared to contemplate. He was capable of turning his passion on and off at the drop of a hat, but Tessa wasn’t. She was nothing like him.
‘Did you bring bathers?’ He asked the question right into her mouth, so the words washed over her and she shivered.
She shook her head without breaking contact with his lips. ‘It’s our wedding, not a beach holiday. I...wasn’t expecting us to stay onboard after... I mean, after the ceremony.’
‘Then we’ll have to swim inside.’ He lifted her easily, cradling her against his chest and kissing her as he carried her along the side deck of the yacht and through a timber door.
She didn’t notice anything as he walked, navigating the corridor with ease, passing rooms that could have been bedrooms or not, until he reached a large space that had a spa bath at the front of it. ‘Oh.’ She tried to subdue her butterflies into order as he carried her towards it. She tried to keep hold of her sensible thoughts, and, most importantly, the knowledge that even when things looked and felt perfect, they could actually be the exact opposite.
On the edge of the spa bath, he placed her down, his eyes meeting hers with a mocking challenge as he began to unbutton her dress, reaching behind her so their bodies touched and his lips were just an inch from his.
