Though I try to keep my attention on the room, it flits back to him before long. “It’s beautiful. The room,” I clarify, practically panting.
The space is beautiful—simple and luxurious. A large window on the far wall looks out over the sea, bathing the space in natural light.
“I worked with a good design team out of Monaco,” he says, eschewing the credit.
“Well,theychose well.” I smile.
He doesn’t respond, and in the growing silence, I’m forced to look at him. His dark eyes are taking me in with a heady interest. I wish he would say more, give me some hint about whether he’s happy to have found me here. It’s hard to tell with him hiding so much of himself behind his aloofness.
I clear my throat. “Did you speak to the captain?”
“Yes. Just before I came down.”
Ha. See, Simone?
He takes a step forward, motioning to the hallway. “I was going to head back to the aft deck unless you wanted to see that pool I mentioned earlier,” he offers.
My eyes alight with the possibility. I might not be burning up now that I’m in the air-conditioning, but I know the moment I step outside, the hot sun will feel just as suffocating as before.
“If you don’t mind…”
Out in the hallway, Cristiano leads me to the stairs. “It’s on the upper deck.”
“Surprised we aren’t taking the elevator…”
Cristiano comes up the stairs after me, a few paces back, his eyeline basically level with my backside, and I suddenly know exactly why we’re taking the stairs. Cristiano’s private smile only confirms my theory.
I’d be lying if I said he didn’t intimidate me. From his looks to his age to his experience, I’m wholly outmatched. I shouldn’t be dangling myself in front of him like bait on a hook, except… Iwantto be caught. I’ve now fully decided I want to cross a few things off my bucket list with Cristiano.
So I put a little sway in my hips, pushing down my insecurities and self-doubts. Before arriving on Ibiza, I’d never had the freedom to play the role of feminine seductress. Since Winnie, I haven’t gone on any dates at all. Before that, the guys I dated in college and grad school were either in my classes or family friends—there have always been confines and stifling expectations brought on by my last name. But with Cristiano, it’s different. Whatever happens here stays between us.
I reach down and adjust the straps of my bikini bottom so they sit a little higher up on my hips, imagining Cristiano watching me do it. There’s no downside to being bold. If this morning doesn’t work out in my favor, I’ll go back downstairs and enjoy the rest of my yacht day. Annika and Simone will high-five me for trying, and I won’t have to worry about disappointing Winnie because I will have given it my best effort.
On the third floor, Cristiano steps up behind me, ushering me outside to a balcony only slightly smaller than the deck one floor below. Again, I can’t help but smile.
“You poor thing. This pool’s tiny. How do you manage?”
I’m joking, of course. The rectangular pool takes up a third of the area and could easily fit a dozen people. There’s a stair entry on our side and an infinity edge across from it. The glass wall gives the illusion that the pool cascades out into the sea.Very swanky.
I look up at Cristiano, and his gaze drops from my eyes to my lips.
Okay, Isabel, be bold.
I step away from him so I can dip my toes into the water, which is blissfully cold without being frigid. I step in, slowly descending the few steps before I give Cristiano a demure smile over my shoulder. “Swim with me?”
His expression is so intense, so intimidating, a shiver racks my spine as he steps in after me. He takes up way too much space. Now I know the pool could fit a dozen people oroneCristiano.
“Be careful with your arm,” he warns. “There’s a ledge over there. Go sit.”
I do, but not until I’ve dipped back and gotten my hair wet. The pool feels wonderful after sunbathing all morning.
Cristiano doesn’t follow me. Instead, he plunges down beneath the water, sliding under the surface and reemerging near the infinity edge dripping wet, his inky-black hair slicked back. He props his hands on the glass, looking out at the sea, avoiding me. The wind carries trickles of conversation and music from the deck below us, but we feel far enough away. Cristiano adjusts his grip on the wall and water drips from his hair, sluicing down the contours of his muscular back.
I look at my arm propped on the side of the pool, my tattoo safely covered. “I had an illuminating conversation with Daniella just now.”
Cristiano doesn’t turn around. “Hmm?”
I swallow past my nerves. “She told me you don’t sleep around with Aura employees. She tried to warn me away from youas a favor.”
