Chapter Nineteen
chapter nineteen
CAIO
Droplets of sweat trail down the back of my neck, soaking into my T-shirt as we ride back to the house. Moving the goats was easy enough but the sun was beating down on us like a steady drum.
Every summer is getting hotter than the last, but this year it’s like the sun is right at the edge of the earth’s atmosphere.
I could use a cold beer or two right about now.
My horse Blade snorts from beneath me, the poor guy is probably boiling even more than I am. The sound of female laughter infiltrates my ears as we get closer. I can see the girls lounging in the pool from my high vantage point, Isla is sitting up on the edge of the pool, leaning back on her hands with her legs dangling in the water. Her hair has gone all wavy the way it does when she’s been in the water. She’s always trying to tame it, but I love it like that, I just want to tangle my fingers in the messy waves.
She’s wearing that same blue bikini from that night in the pool, my dick twitches against my jeans at the sight. She’s laughing at something that Marina said, her smile stealing all my attention. She looks irresistible, even better than that night, the dim lighting in the pool didn’t do her figure justice, the bright sun is highlighting her every curve. I can barely take my eyes off of her as I mindlessly pull on the reins, leading Blade towards the barn. I’m aching to touch her.
We dismount and hose our horses down. They need the cool water just as much as us, if not more. Heath has got a little slice of paradise out here. He loves the peace and quiet and I love coming to visit, I haven’t done it enough recently.
I give Blade a grateful pat as I lead him back into his stall, my hands trailing across his black and white coat. A pang of guilt hits me right in my chest. I used to see this handsome guy all the time, used to make the trip out here regularly. This is the perfect place to get away from the office when I was having a hard time. Heath and I would ride for hours, we’d barely even talk, just exist peacefully out here together. I haven’t made enough time to get out here in recent months, so it’s good to be out here again today.
I close the latch on Blade's stall, giving him a kiss on his big nose before walking out. I can’t resist this guy.
We slowly make our way to the house where three beers are sitting cracked open on the table by the pool. I immediately pick one up, gulping the cool liquid down. That feeling is unlike any other. A cold drink on a hot day is a different kind of ecstasy.
“Good?” Isla’s voice cuts through the silence I didn’t realize had fallen upon us, as all three of us guys are chugging down the beers while the girls are sitting there in silence watching us.
“Mmm, very good,” I respond.
“I thought you’d all be a little hot after being out there.” Her eyes skim over my body, catching on my T-shirt that is stuck to my chest with sweat around the collar.
“Thank you,” I say. My gaze connecting with hers before she looks away. She keeps doing that lately, and I despise it.
“Welp, I could use some extra cooling off,” Heath says seconds before diving into the pool right in between the girls splashing them with water, resulting in an echoed sound of annoyance from all of them. May decides to splash him back as soon as he comes up, resulting in them wrestling in the water until they get too tired and give up calling it a truce.
The sun has lowered in the sky, leaving us looking out over golden fields as we lounge around the pool. A complete feeling of peace filling the air.
“So what’s for dinner?” Marina asks.
“Ooh yeah I’m getting hungry too,” May adds. Isla sits there quietly smiling.
“Oh shit,” Heath says. “I hadn’t planned that far ahead. I think I have some freezer pizzas?” He raises his shoulders in question as he looks around the group.
“Do you not have a chef at this fine estate?” May mocks.
“Ha-ha. No, I usually just whip something up for myself, but I can’t say you’d appreciate my cooking.”
“Yeah, let’s not do that,” Rafael cuts in. He and I have been subjected to Health’s “cooking” one too many times.
“I’ll make something,” he gets up from his spot against the edge of the pool starting into the house. “I hope you at least have basic ingredients.” He throws the comment to Heath over his shoulder.
“Yeah, good luck with that,” I throw back. Heath has never been the most organized of us.
An hour later Rafael comes out with six bowls of his signature carbonara. We eat in silence as we all scarf down our first meal in hours. The only sounds being crickets and the occasional satisfactory groan from my hungry friends.
The few beers I had were holding me over, but I couldn’t have gone much longer without a meal, and this is exactly what I needed after a big day. It takes all of my control to stop my eyes from flicking to Isla who’s sitting across from me. The girl loves her food, and I love watching her love it. Something about the pure bliss on her face when she eats a good meal makes me smile.
There’s a comfortable silence between us all, Isla and May have slotted into our routine perfectly. I can’t imagine how quiet it’s going to feel when they go home at the end of the season. Dread settles at the bottom of my stomach thinking of not seeing Isla’s pretty face again. She’s become a part of my everyday life, whether that includes actually seeing her or just my mind involuntarily thinking of her multiple times a day. Though not that I believe that would stop even if she wasn’t around.
After dinner, Marina slowly takes May up the stairs to one of the ten bedrooms here to sleep off the one too many Margaritas she had, while me and Isla bring the dishes in to wash up. She’s a little wobbly on her feet as she stands at the sink rinsing the dinner plates.
“Let me do that,” I say taking the dish brush from her before she falls asleep standing.
She’s been quiet all night and I hate it, I feel like she’s avoiding me, but I can’t think of why. Did I overstep the other night at the fundraiser? When we were talking about her family and her ex?
I was walking that fine line again, wanting her to open up but not wanting to scare her off. Maybe I misjudged how the conversation went, because after that night I felt like we took a step forward, but today it feels like we’ve taken a few steps back.
She finally breaks the silence between us. “I’ve got something for you,” she says, shuffling over to her bag by the door on wobbly feet.
She walks over to me with something clutched behind her back. I lean back on the counter, tossing the towel over my shoulder before crossing my arms in front of me. “What do you have there?”
She’s got a funny look on her face as she sways in front of me. “This.” She pulls out an envelope from behind her back.
The envelope.
She won’t ever give up, will she?
She pushes the envelope into my chest, but she can’t get away quick enough as I close my hand around her wrist. “When will you learn that I won’t take this from you?”
I got housekeeping to drop the envelope back in Isla’s room after they tried to give it to me last week.
“I can look after myself Caio.”
“I know you can, and I’ve never doubted that. Except for when it comes to a handbrake, of course,” I tease, and narrowly miss her swatting my chest in retaliation. “But just because you can look after yourself doesn’t mean you always have to.”
She frowns up at me and it makes me smile. I like her frowns, especially her drunk frowns when I can’t tell if she knows she’s even doing it.
“I don’t want anything but you, here, under my roof. I won’t let you pay for something that I’m implementing.” I might be exposing myself too much here, but I take the envelope out of her hands and reach around her to tuck it into the back pocket of the little denim skirt she put on earlier in the night. “I don’t want to see that anywhere but in your room again. Okay?”
She nods, slipping free of my grasp and moving to sit on the stool under the other side of the bench. She rests her head in her palms with this look on her face like she’s contemplating life.
I go back to the sink, continuing to wash up the rest of the dinner dishes, if I couldn’t see Isla in the reflection of the window in front of me, I wouldn’t even know she was there, she’s so quiet. The only noise filling the room is the swirl of the hot water beneath my hands, until she finally breaks the silence between us.
“Do you ever feel like you’re just a little acorn or a leaf or something, and the world is just having its way with you?” Her voice is tired, and she’s still a little drunk, but I can hear the conflict in there. I put the last dish on the drying rack before I move over to where she’s siting as she continues. “Like a storm is always looming, the wind just blowing you around in every direction with no intention of stopping. Like you have no idea where you’re heading.”
Her words strike a chord with me, I felt exactly like that when I first landed here, no clue what I was doing or why I was here. Is this why she’s been so quiet? She’s been in her head about where her life is headed.
I come to stop in front of her. “Isla,” I say, running a finger down her bare shoulder, eliciting those goosebumps I love to see. “You could do anything you’ve ever dreamed of. Complete control over your life is only a hairbreadth away. I promise, you just need to reach out and take a hold of it.” She looks up into my eyes. I can almost taste the alcohol on her breath she’s that close, and fuck how I want to give in and see what she really tastes like, but not tonight, not like this. So I just tuck a wavy strand behind her ear. “For the record, sweetheart, I’m glad the storm blew you here.”