Her shirt, utterly drenched, is almost black now and hugs every swooping curve from her chest to her waist.
It’s like the very water I plucked her from has risen to try and take her form, attempting to mimic her beauty and my heart thumps so loudly I’m sure she can hear it.
“What?” Aerin asks suddenly. “I look awful, don’t I?” She attempts to smooth her wet hair away from her face and plucks at her clothing. “This is so embarrassing.”
“No,” I say softly, then I clear my throat. “You look like someone who fell in the stream. It’s normal.” I force a friendly smile to distract myself. All I ache to do is grab her flushed face and kiss the water droplets from her lips, take hold of her soaked hair and coax her head back to warm her dewy, soft neck with kisses. “We really should head back, though, before we catch a chill.”
Aerin groans in agreement and retrieves her sketchpad. “I scared the fish away, didn’t I?”
“Worth it for that,” I reply, nodding at the sea glass in her hand. “Something that beautiful away up the mountain? A rare gem…What I’ve already caught will do.”
And it’s not the only thing.
A pleasant smile creeps across Aerin’s face, and it remains as we hike back to the cabin. By the time we arrive, the world is growing dark and we’re covered in pine needles and leaves that caught on our damp clothes.
“Goodness,” Aerin groans as she climbs the steps of the back porch to reach the door. “Are you going to do an inside sweep again or can I go inside?”
I bite back an amused smile. “You can head inside.”
“Thanks. I’m tired of my clothes sticking to me.” As she opens the door, she pauses and peers across to the wooden deck connected to the back porch where the hot tub sits in suggestive silence. “We both need to warm up.”
“I need to gut these fish,” I say, pausing on the step as Aerin lingers. I follow her eyeline to the hot tub then look back at her to find her staring at me.
“Come in the hot tub with me,” she says, her voice soft. “You’re tired too. I see it. We just hiked after being in a cold stream. You need to rest and warm up.”
She’s dangling a steak in front of a starved lion, and it takes every ounce of my self-control to shake my head.
“Not if you want to eat tonight,” I reply carefully. “Go. Enjoy yourself. I’ll prepare some dinner.”
21
AERIN
Enjoy myself.
Falco’s words run around my mind on repeat. I want to enjoy myself, I deserve to after everything I’ve been through, but I want him to enjoy it with me.
Watching him fish was the most peaceful I’ve ever seen him.
The worry lines around his eyes faded, the tight line down his jaw softened, and even his shoulders seemed to relax. I even caught a glimpse of his smile when he hauled me out of that stream.
He’s a real person.
A strange realization to come to, but, at some point between the hiking and the river, Falco stopped being my stoic bodyguard and morphed into a real person before my eyes.
I can’t pinpoint exactly what it was, or if it was something in me that changed, but I no longer want to press his buttons just to get a rise out of him.
I just want…him.
Admitting that is a death sentence. If Dad ever found out, he’d have Falco killed instantly, regardless of everything he’s done to keep me alive.
But out here, Dad doesn’t exist. The mafia is a distant thought.
Even my impending marriage is nothing but a passing cloud because it’s just me and Falco.
After showering quickly to warm myself from the chill of the river and wash away the dirt clinging to me, I stand at the foot of my bed and gaze at the clothes I tipped out of my rucksack.
I didn’t exactly plan on what to bring, which is why I hiked in jeans, but I had enough sense to grab a couple of swimsuits for the hot tub.
