That’s the thing about wishes, though. They don’t always come true.
Chapter
Nine
IRIS
“Dinner was amazing.I am so glad we revamped the menu with the new opening. It was smart hiring the new chef. Andre was amazing, and I hated to lose him when he moved away to be with his family after the disaster, but Omari is proving to be a real asset,” I tell Max as we walk back to our villa from the restaurant.
I won’t lie. I am a bit wine drunk as I hold my arms out, enjoying the breeze from the ocean. Max wanted to take the paved path back to the villa, but I would always choose the beach.
I don’t know what has gotten into him today, but he is agreeing with anything I say.
It makes me wonder what he would say if I told him to ravish me.
I never would, of course. That would be crossing so many lines both professionally and personally that I would never recover, but I like the idea.
“Omari is young, but he is ambitious. Sending him to study under some of the best chefs was an investment. Now not only can he make good food, but he can put his own Jamaican twist on it to give the guests an authentic experience,” Max says.
“Hmm, yes. Always thinking ahead. You are so smart.” I hum.
He chuckles. “You are so drunk. How are you so drunk?”
I sigh. “I guess I was feeling a little lush. It’s a beautiful night, isn’t it?” I ask him.
“It is,” he mutters, but he isn’t looking at anything but me.
For a moment, I imagine what it would be like. Walking back from a dinner with a man who is barely holding himself back from ravishing me. He would run his hands down my body as he pressed kisses to my neck. We would be close to indecent exposure right here on this beach.
My skin heats.
I shouldn’t be thinking those things. Those thoughts get me in trouble. I’m overheated now with a tingling between my thighs.
I want Max. I always have. He has been the star of my fantasies for more than ten years. This is nothing new.
What is new is the look he is giving me right now. I know it’s likely the wine letting me read more into his eyes than there is, but I want so desperately to see it.
I take a deep breath. Before I can do something stupid, I throw my shoes at him and take off toward the water.
“What the fuck, Iris?” he calls after me.
I don’t wait for him. I run all the way into the water until I am waist-high. The waves are calmer tonight, the sky clear.
Lying back in the water, my clothes soaked through, I let myself float as I look up at the stars. I pray for a shooting one so I can make my only wish.
I don’t get a chance to, though.
Minutes after I’ve entered the water, I’m being pulled from it, my body flung over a very wet Max.
“Are you trying to get yourself killed?” he hisses.
Pushing up, I look over at Max and smile. The angry look on his face only amuses me. I have never seen Max look this angry. Not even when a customer would try and swindle the hotel out of free stays over something so minute that no one else would have noticed. Not even when Erica forgot to bring the correct materials to their meeting last week.
This level of angry has nothing on anything I have ever seen before.
Angry Max is pretty hot. I wonder what he would do to punish me…
I giggle. “Nope. Just enjoying nature. You didn’t have to come in after me.”
