Chapter Seventeen
“Good morning, sleeping beauty,” said Henry.
The moment that I opened my eyes, the bright light of the day poured into the room.
Henry was sitting next to me on the bed, smiling down at me as one hand gently caressed my cheek while the other held tight to his coffee mug that I quickly realized was mine as he tried to hand it to me before I was ready.
“What’s the time?” I said, my voice groggy as I stretched my arms out in front of me.
I sat up and took the hot mug from Henry.
I really should have been drinking water rather than drowning my body in caffeine as soon as I opened my eyes.
But caring for my nervous system right now, probably wasn’t the most important thing to worry about.
Not when I had Henry half naked handing me the cup of goodness.
Besides, if I did become over stimulated, I’m sure he would find a way to calm me down.
“We’re on an island, Miss Molly. Time is the last thing that you should be worrying about right now.”
“Right…” I sighed. “So maybe it’s time that you come back to bed then,” I said taking his hand and pulling him back towards me as his favorite smirk took over his face.
I needed to see his dimples this morning, I needed his eyes locked on mine.
I needed a moment trapped inside our vortex.
One single look that soothed me from the craziness of last night.
The craziness that I was still undecided as to whether I should tell him or not.
And if I did, which part of it would I tell him?
Would I tell him that his chef was my first boyfriend?
And if I did that, would I ask him about the stories that he had told about him?
A part of me wanted to search for Dylan right now, find him and corner him alone.
I wanted to know if he was just making some stupid joke last night or if he was just delirious from the late night and no doubt overworking hours.
What were all those pastries for anyway?
Maybe if I could find him this morning and have a quick chat, he would have changed his tune.
Either way, if I did say anything, I think I needed to have a chat to Dylan first.
Henry pulled his hand away from my tight grip.
“You know that does sound really amazing,” he whispered in my ear as he wrapped his arm around my back, holding me in tight to the side of his body.
“And I am so sorry that I have to ruin this moment, but I do have to get some work done. Something pressing has come up, but I shouldn’t be longer than half an hour.
I was thinking you might like to have a slow morning, enjoy the bed, the sunshine, pick something nice to wear, and I could meet you downstairs for breakfast? ”
“That sounds wonderful,” I sighed.
“You know it’s a really beautiful day. I know that you want to go for a hike, but after all that rain last night, I think we might have to leave that till Sunday.
” My heart did sink a little. Not that it should have.
I was just dying to get lost inside nature.
It had been so long and now seeing all of the greenery surrounding me, looking out at it, I craved it even more.
“But today, I was thinking that we could spend a day out in the sun on the boat, there’s some great little reefs around here to go snorkeling if you’re interested? ”
“If I’m interested?” I said, mocking his words.
“Of course I’m interested.” If I couldn’t go deep into the middle of the green island, then getting out on the water was my next best option.
And with Henry needing to take a little break for work, this morning really couldn’t have gotten any better.
All I needed to do was to find wherever the hell Dylan was and try and have some sort of logical chat with him this morning and find out really what was going on with him last night.
If he wanted to get out of here so badly, maybe he was just overworked?
Maybe he really needed some time off which was more than understandable, and I didn’t really see what the harm was in being honest with Henry about that.
Heck, if he was somehow scared of Henry being his employee, then I could chat to Henry for him.
It could really be more of a win situation me being here, well, a win apart from the fact that he was never going to get me back.
Not here, not now, and even if the circumstances were different and I had never met Henry.
I don’t think that we would have ever ended up back together.
At the end of the day, Dylan and I were too different.
And now I knew what it was like to be with someone who really understood every side of me.
I couldn’t see a world where Henry’s and my paths didn’t cross at one way or another, his voice ran through my mind again, replaying the words that I knew to be true. We were meant to meet.
Henry looked down at his watch before placing a soft kiss on my forehead. “I’ll meet you downstairs at nine,” he said standing up from the bed and disappearing through the elevator doors.
After taking another sip of my coffee, I reached down to my phone on the side of the bed, checking the time.
It was 8.24 A.M. Wow, that really didn’t give me much time to get ready and try and talk clearly with Dylan.
I saw the unopened message that sat on my phone from my sister.
I couldn’t deal with her again right now, I didn’t have the time.
I wanted to be offline this weekend anyway.
I had told my other friends that I would be, mostly because I wanted to be as present as possible with Henry, but I also had no idea what this island was going to be like, and the cell service, for that matter.
I had thirty-six minutes, I could do this.
I jumped out of bed, downing the rest of my coffee as I tiptoed naked over to the bathroom.
I threw my body into the shower, smiling at the two empty cocktail glasses that still sat at the end of the bath.
Memories from last night ran through my head, and I thought of the way he had cut me, then sucked me, lifting me up onto the edge of the bath, his hot breath in between my legs, his tongue pressed against me.
My hand ran down in between my thighs as I replayed the images.
Quickly, I snapped myself out of it, turning the water to cold for a single second before turning it off.
I didn’t have time for that. I shook my head out of the thoughts again as a grabbed a towel.
I did not have time for that at all, and as much as I wanted it, I knew that an even better release would be happening later today.
I let myself into the wardrobe, gasping again as the door opened.
I don’t think that I would ever get used to the feeling of seeing this.
Walking slowly across the shelves. I wondered what would be the most appropriate outfit for a day out on the boat.
And by boat, Henry meant the most luxurious yacht that I had ever seen.
“What are you going to wear?” the familiar voice echoed around me, making me jump.
Ruth. Shit, with everything that had happened in the past twenty-four hours, I had completely forgotten about her.
Which made me wonder, was she always here?
Or did she somehow have an off button? Had she been watching everything?
Had she literally been lying dormant watching everything that we got up to last night?
Was she somehow watching over me in the very moment I came?
A part of that felt so wrong, but as I shook my head out of the thought, I couldn’t help how a part of it also felt like such a turn on.
I loved the idea of someone watching me.
Henry was right, that alongside the anticipation were my exact fetishes.
“I don’t know,” I sighed, “I’ll pick some swimmers out obviously. But maybe you could help me out with the exact vibe of the day, or the boat for that matter.” I still didn’t know why I was saying boat like Henry.
Ruth appeared in her perfect vision next to me, “Well, you’re talking to the right person, because the boat is my favorite place on this whole island,” she sighed. “Well, at least it was.”
“It was?” I interrupted her, was the AI that Henry had created, no longer a part of the boat anymore?
Ruth shook her head. “It doesn’t matter, long story, I might be able to tell you some other time but right now you need a killer outfit, literally, the best outfit that there is.”
“Yes, and I need to find it quickly, I’m kind of in a time crunch right now.”
“Okay, well if I were you, I would choose the gold cut out one-piece, that will make your hips and ass look so good. If you want something where you know he is not going to be able to take his hands off, you then that would be my choice. It’s in the middle drawer to the left.
” I followed her directions, pulling it out and throwing it on.
“Also, there’s a sarong in the drawer underneath it, gold white and navy-blue pattern.
They go amazing with the broad white hat you’ll find on the top self in the far corner. ”
Wow, she really did know this place inside out.
I tied the sarong around my hips, reached for the hat, making a note to quickly brush my hair before I walked downstairs.
I think I would have to opt for a no make-up day, not just because I felt like I didn’t have time, but it was probably the best thing when it came to going snorkeling anyway.
However, I really did need to find some sunscreen.