I smiled. “What if I like being a perfect stranger?”
“Your choice.”
“I’m Sophie Baldwin,” I said finally, chin lifted. “And you are?”
“Kian Cortes.” The name meant nothing to me, although the way he said it, it almost felt like it should. He glanced over his shoulder and spoke to his bodyguard. “Tell the staff that Sophie Baldwin is a guest of mine. She has access to the beach at any time.”
“Thanks,” I murmured, blushing much to my horror.
He gave me a curt nod, then turned and walked toward the woman who stood at the edge of the beach, leaving me blinking after him, my heart beating far too fast.
Chapter 7
Kian
Sophie Baldwin is on my beach.
I couldn’t have planned it better if I’d arranged it myself.
My stride stayed measured as I walked away, marveling at how that went. It wasn’t a small feat to ensure every hotel in the beach town of Vlorë turned her away until she stayed at the one closest to me, the one which I now owned.
Of course, I couldn’t have predicted she’d find her way here.
I nearly turned around to check that she’d settled on her chair again, but discipline won out. Didn’t mean I couldn’t revel in the certainty that her eyes were still trained on me.
Because that was my problem: for the first time in a long while—maybe ever—Iwantedto be distracted.
“Took you long enough,” Valentina pouted as I closed the distance. After months of abstinence, I tried to find a release before I became grumpy. Unfortunately, Valentina was more of a headache than anything else, and truth be told, I was already grumpy.
“We’re leaving,” I announced, never pausing my stride.
“Why isshestaying and not us?” she whined, anger simmering beneath her voice.
“Because she’s a guest,” I deadpanned.
She took the spot at my side, jabbering on about a fashion show in Milan. I nodded at the right moments, though I barely heard a word.
Because all I could think about was Dr. Sophie Baldwin sitting under that umbrella in her emerald bikini, looking like a siren who had crawled out of the sea and ontomybeach. That practically made her mine, right? I gave my head a subtle shake at the ridiculous idea.
I needed to pull my head out of my ass. I was too old for her,andshe was a client’s cousin.
By the time we reached my courtyard, Valentina’s words had petered out.
“It’s best you go home, Valentina,” I told her. “I have work to do. My driver can take you wherever you’d like.”
“But I thought… we could?—”
“No.”
There was no sense in pretending she could serve as a distraction.
Sophie had captivated me, and I was a fool if I thought I could escape it.
“Kian, come on.”
“Get in the car, Valentina.”
She muttered something under her breath in clipped Albanian, then ordered the driver to take her to her ex-boyfriend’s house before she slid into the back of the car.
