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Miles of water absorb my silence as we cruise into the murky distance.
I must have fallen asleep surrounded by his warmth and comfort because we arrive at a private island just as the sun rises. Maxim cradles me to his chest and I stir awake instantly in shock.
“Oh my God. Is this real?” Any second now I’m going to see a mermaid’s tale splash out of the water or a freaking unicorn run along the endless beach stretching out before us.
Maxim shrugs his eyes drinking in every detail of my face. “The dent in my bank account says this place is very much real. You see that dot?” Maxim places me at his feet, wrapping an arm around my shoulders. I don’t miss the possessive feel of his touch. Like he cannot go without having a part of him on a part of me.
Oddly enough, I don’t mind.
“That tiny dot is your friend’s island.”
“Serenity?”
I turn to see Maxim nod.
“She’s told me about it so many times but I never got to visit despite so many invitations.”
“Her husband Lucas and I formed our alliance shortly after they met and married. Together we patrol these waters, the island in this region, and most of Miami.”
“Against The East Syndicate?”
“Among others. Several pests need to be exterminated.”
My lawyer brain wants to scream at me to throw the book at them after what happened with my crooked father. Do all things the legal route is my knee-jerk reaction, but I’m quickly learning the world isn’t simply black and white. My father twisted the law enough to do dirty deeds. Maybe Maxim is doing the same to do good. We have a lot to talk about.
“I see our mind running. I’m not a monster,malyshka. I don’t hurt people.”
A pandemonium of parrots glides overhead as we disembark from Maxim’s yacht. I look up to see red, blues, and yellow swoosh by.
“I feel like I’ve stepped out of the twenty-first century and taken a trip back to the pirate days of two hundred years ago.”
“Come.”
Maxim tugs me portside and we disembark onto a long pier stretching several yards into a calm bay.
I raise my hands and shake them. “Umm, excuse me, it’s not like I am going anywhere. Mind untying me?”
The pier is made of weathered, uneven planks and creaks as we walk up the fifty feet to the beach. Dense foliage breaks up the endless sands as soft waves crash against the sandy earth.
It’s paradise. Greens, pinks, blues and so much fresh air I can’t stop inhaling for the fun of it. Okay, private island life is way better than a darkened house with no air conditioning. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a more beautiful sunrise.”
My attention roams back to Maxim and he’s looking at me with a peculiar look in his eyes that has my face probably turning the same shade as the pinking sky.
The rumble of a powerful motor catches my attention.
Behind me I see Grayandthe boat retreating. Maxim starts to walk up the pier when I shake his shoulder. “Whoa, there, buddy. Where is he going?” I turn on the ball of my feet and point my tied hands in the direction of my only ride pulling away without me. I might love it here so far but that does not mean I want to be marooned in the middle of I don’t even know where.
Maxim’s heat is against my back, that sneaky arm of his moving around my waist. “To get the yacht out of the coming storm. There is a safer cove on the back side of the island.” Maxim points the tip of a blade I didn’t see on him anywhere to a storm brewing in the distance.
Okay. That made sense. Protect your only way off a deserted island.
Maxim slashes the ropes around my wrists and tucks the blade back into a holster beneath his pant leg.
“Handy,” I quip.
He silently stands and takes my hand in his, turning it over to place featherlight kisses on the spots the ropes rubbed a little too hard.
“I should not have left those on you for so long.Mne zhal.”
