Chapter 10 #2
I’m halfway to the door when Leo’s voice rings out. “Aly?” My name tumbles from his lips like a plea. I pivot, looking back at him. His lips part and close in a silent battle with his thoughts. Just when I expect something profound, he catches me off guard. “We need to go shopping.”
“Shopping? Seriously?” My eyebrows shoot up in surprise.
“Hell yeah. Look at me!” He gestures down to his outfit, another too-tight polo shirt and beige shorts—it couldn’t be further from Leo’s usual biker-dude look.
Positioning my hip against the door, I arch an eyebrow at him. “And how exactly do you propose we go shopping? Unless there’s a mall somewhere out here in … wait, where exactly are we?”
“Heart of the Mediterranean,” Leo replies, his eyes crinkling in the corners. “We’ll be docking in Lipari tonight, an island off Sicily’s coast to refuel. There’re a few shops we can hit up.”
A worried frown creases my forehead. “Is it safe for us to leave the boat?”
“I’ll make sure it’s safe.” He crosses his arms over his chest looking like a superhero come to life with his bulging muscles and chiseled jawline. “And it will be under the cover of night.”
My first impulse is to tell him no, but a different part of me, the part still grappling with what I overheard, with the raw vulnerability in Leo’s voice—pipes up instead. “Alright, let’s do it.”
“By ready at nine,” he says. “Maybe we’ll go dancing afterwards.”
I narrow my eyes at him, but I can’t help the smile that forms on my lips. Or the flutter of excitement between my legs. “Don’t push it.”
He grins back at me. “But that’s what I do best.”
I spend the afternoon in the yacht’s home theater immersing myself in nostalgic nineties rom-coms, but instead of getting lost in the on-screen romance of Notting Hill, my mind is preoccupied, replaying the conversation I overheard earlier between Leo and Kira.
Who would force his hand to end things with me?
And why wouldn’t he just tell me if that was the case?
We knew his father and brothers would be angry when Leo refused to take the vor oath, but he was prepared to stand up to them.
We were going to forge our own life, even without his family’s approval, believing they would ultimately accept our choice.
When Leo broke up with me—dismissing our relationship as nothing more than a summer fling—I took his words at face value. But deep inside, doubt always lingered. Maybe there was more to it that I didn’t see at the time?
Confronting him is just too damn daunting. Some things are best left in the past. Especially memories so jagged they can still knock the air from my lungs. It’s time to accept he had his reasons for doing what he did. I may never know those reasons, but I’m ready to let it go. Mostly.
What I need to stop doing is feeling all fluttery every time his arm brushes against mine or he stares at me from across the room. No more of that. I’ll keep my head on straight and treat him like any other friend.
Are we friends, though?
Can we ever just be friends?
Who knows, but my brain is fried just thinking about all this, so I decide to settle in and watch Hugh Grant attempt to charm Julia Roberts, when there is a knock on the theater door.
“Come in,” I call out. Somehow, I’m not surprised to see Jack standing in the doorway.
“You can’t watch a movie without popcorn,” he says, holding up a giant bowl in his hands. “It’s actually against yacht rules.”
I straighten in my seat and smile at him. He’s obviously trying to win my favor, but I appreciate the thought. And I do love popcorn. “Thank you,” I say, taking the snack from him.
“Mind if I join?” he asks, already settling into the seat next to me. As usual, he’s looking handsome with that tan and athletic build. I’m sure most of the ladies he encounters love being doted on by him, but I’m not one of them. And I intend to make that clear.
“Your fiancé sure works a lot for a guy on holiday. Must suck for you.” His hand delves into the popcorn at the same time as mine. I pull my hand out from the bowl like it’s on fire, not wanting to make contact.
“Yeah, well.” I shrug. “He’s a busy man with a busy job. You know how it is.”
“Oh yeah.” He smirks. “I see it all the time. A powerful, rich dude wants to impress his woman, so he rents a mega yacht and then neglects her the whole time. Common story.”
My jaw tightens. He’s certainly making a lot of assumptions about my relationship. Well, my fake relationship. “His work is demanding, but he’s trying his best. We’re actually going on a date tonight.”
“Oh really?” Jack lifts his eyebrows as he sinks further down into his seat. “Big plans?”
“Yes, in fact. We might go dancing.”
“Happy to hear that. I hate to think of a beautiful woman like you being neglected.”
I roll my eyes. “Puh-lease. You probably say that to all the girls.”
A grin stretches his lips. “Just the pretty ones.”
Do his super cheesy lines actually work? I get it, he is used to all the bored housewives on the yacht spreading their legs for him, but that won’t be me.
“Just to be clear, I’m not looking for anything else. I’m in love with my fiancé.” I pause for a minute and look him square in the eye before delivering what I hope he takes as a dismissal. “Thanks again for the popcorn.”
He takes the hint and stands. “Well then.” Jack tosses me a wink. “You know where to find me if you need me.”
Like hell. I plan on giving him a very wide berth.