Chapter 10
10
Kelsey smiled as Ari swam up behind her, joining her at the infinity edge again. He fit around her perfectly and she revelled in all his solid, naked flesh.
She’d had the most divine few hours of her life. Swimming with Ari, chatting about Mykonos and laughing over his funny Greek stories. Eating olives and Dolmades and the most divine Spanakopita. Sipping a cool locally grown white wine as they lazed in the sunshine and made out in the pool.
She sighed, already sad that today was going to end. Ari dropped a kiss on her shoulder. ‘She’s magnificent, isn’t she?’
Kelsey’s gaze came back into focus and she realised she’d been staring at the Hellenic Spirit . ‘Why are ships always chick names?’
‘Ah, the age-old question.’ Amusement laced his voice as his lips nuzzled back and forth between her neck and shoulder, his breath warm as it fanned over her skin, spreading prickles of awareness down to the hardening tips of her nipples. ‘Some say it’s because a ship is a vessel, like a woman is a vessel for a child.’
She shuddered. ‘That’s some kind of patriarchal bullshit.’
‘Yes.’ He laughed. ‘I prefer the more poetic explanation.’
‘And what’s that?’
‘The whimsy of men. Personifying objects of beauty with feminine characteristics.’
‘Hmmm.’ Kelsey wasn’t sure that sounded much better, but her eyes hurt from the beauty all around her and she didn’t want to ruin the mood. She wanted to soak up every nuance of this glorious day.
‘Your boss must be rich,’ she said as her eyes lazily followed the wake of a small boat, foaming white against the brilliant blue.
His lips lifted from where they’d been teasing. ‘He’s… not short of a quid.’
She sighed, remembering how comforting it had been when she’d thought she had money to burn. ‘That must be nice.’
‘To be rich?’
‘Yeah.’
‘You want to be rich?’
‘No. Not really. I was rich, once… for a while, anyway. It didn’t bring me much joy. I’d settle for comfortably off.’
‘You were?’
‘Well…’ She gestured to the view before them. ‘Not filthy rich, no. But my grandmother died and left me and my mother a sizeable inheritance.’
‘Which you… don’t have now?’
‘Nope.’
He rested his chin on her shoulder. ‘What happened?’
‘My ex happened.’
‘ Oh .’
Oh, indeed . Kelsey cringed whenever she thought about it.
‘He… stole it?’
If only. Kelsey wouldn’t have felt like such an idiot then. ‘No… I gave it to him willingly.’ And that’s why it really hurt. Sure, he ran off with it, but she’d handed it over to him without hesitation.
Gullibly, naively, trustingly.
Ari didn’t say anything. But his arms tightened around her a little more as if encouraging her to tell her whole sorry tale. Kelsey hated rehashing it, but wrapped up with him like this, far away on the other side of the world, Australia and all that happened seemed a very distant memory.
And he’d confided in her about his wife.
‘He was a con artist with a get-rich-quick scheme. And I was young and in love. I thought he was a tech genius who was going to be the next Steve Jobs and I wanted to support him, so he could fly to those dizzying heights.’
‘So you gave him your money.’
‘Yep. Between my mother and I, we handed over half a mil.’
He winced. ‘Ouch.’
‘Yeah. I didn’t do it to get rich, although he’d certainly implied that I would. I did it because I loved him. He was funny and charming and wanted to take care of us. Like my father had done before he’d died.’
That was what probably stung the most – not that he took off with their money but that he’d fooled her into believing he actually loved her. Sure, she’d been young when she’d met him – nineteen – and he’d been almost eight years older, but she’d never been an idiot. And they’d been in a relationship for a year before she’d offered him the money.
Clearly Eric had been in it for the long game.
‘It wouldn’t have been so bad if it had been just me, but my mum losing her money too…’
He’d refused her mother’s money to start with but when she’d insisted several times, he’d caved magnanimously.
Fucking. Bastard.
‘My mother had just been diagnosed with a degenerative eye condition at the time and we knew she’d slowly go blind over the next ten years. But that didn’t seem to matter to Eric.’
‘Did you report him to the police?’
‘Of course. It wasn’t his first rodeo, though. There’s a warrant out for his arrest but we aren’t holding our breath. And with my mother’s health situation we knew we didn’t have time to sit around and lick our wounds. We decided his greed wasn’t going to keep us from our dreams so I dropped out of university and got a job with the ōceanós Line with the goal to save as much money as I could for as long as I could to set us up for when mum becomes more dependent.’
‘You’re not exactly paid a fortune, though, right?’
‘Well, no, but my salary has increased year on year, the conversion rate is in my favour, the tips are excellent and with absolutely nothing to spend my money on I can save most of it. One more contract after this and I’m calling it quits.’
‘Because of your mother’s sight?’
‘Yes. She’s lost about 50 per cent of her vision in each eye now. She can still work in a reduced capacity so she’s relatively independent, but she can’t drive and they expect her eyesight to decrease more rapidly over the next few years. Plus, we’ll have enough money for a sizeable deposit and it’s important we’re settled and established with the house modified and supports in place while she still has useable eyesight.’
He didn’t say anything for a while but his lips brushed her skin again, and Kelsey shut her eyes and let her head flop back against his big, hard shoulder. It felt so good here in the circle of his arms.
‘I’m sorry,’ he murmured quietly. ‘About your mother’s sight. That must be tough for you both.’
Kelsey’s eyes fluttered open. It had been a devastating diagnosis eight years ago. But her mother had always been pragmatic. She’d picked herself up after becoming a widow at thirty-one and she hadn’t let impending blindness set her back for long either. ‘It was. But we adjusted.’
‘Is it hereditary?’
‘Yes. Although there isn’t a family history that we know about. But… I’m lucky. I’ve been tested and got the all-clear.’
His arms tightened again and Kelsey snuggled in close to him, aware of the press of his cock against her buttocks. Even flaccid it was an impressive part of his anatomy.
‘I’m also sorry about your malaka ex. Is he why you’re still single?’
‘Mostly. It’s hard to trust men after what he did and I can’t go through that again. They all get judged through an Eric lens now but even then, I don’t allow myself to get close just in case one slips through the radar.’
Except for Ari. In seven years she’d let him closer than any man and she’d known him for five days. Five days . That should be terrifying her but there was too much bliss here in this bubble right now to go there.
‘But he’s not the only reason?’
‘No.’
A light breeze danced across her sun-kissed skin and she turned in his arms, settling her back against the wall tiles as she snaked her legs around his waist, jamming his not-so-flaccid-any more cock between them. He shut his eyes as she wiggled a little.
His hair was starting to dry and get springy on top, and the sun had deepened the bronze of his skin, emphasising the dark dots of stubble prickling his jaw. His hands slid to her hips, his eyes opening to rest on the buoyant float of her breasts, her nipples putting on a blatantly sexual display.
Her wiggling turned to rubbing and was about to become grinding. She just couldn’t get enough of this man. But Ari obviously wanted to talk. He clamped down tight on her hips to stop her squirming and captured her gaze.
‘You were saying?’
His hands were remarkably proficient in their hold and Kelsey gave up trying to create some friction.
‘Cruise life isn’t exactly conducive to permanent relationships,’ she said. ‘Long absences away from loved ones make it difficult, which is why there’s a huge hook-up culture amongst staff.’
‘But you could get involved with another crew member, right? On the same ship?’
‘Sure. But there’s no guarantee you’ll both stay on the same ship which makes getting serious difficult and, I don’t know if you’ve noticed this or not, but the Hellenic is like the United Nations. The crew hail from all around the world, which means that eventually, if you do become serious with someone who lives in a different country to you, there’ll be all those challenges and choices to make as well.’
‘You don’t think something like that could work?’
He seemed serious all of a sudden. Maybe he was thinking about his wife, about how they’d made their cross-culture marriage work. About the value it had brought to his life, despite the pain.
‘I’m sure it can and does,’ Kelsey said. She didn’t want to diminish anyone devoted to making relationships work. ‘If both parties are committed. But I’m committed to going back home to Australia. To my mother. She’s going to need me more and more and that’s my priority. Cruising has only ever been a means to an end for me. And why,’ she said with a little smile, trying to rub against him again, ‘the hook-up scene is more my style.’
His hands held her firm but she didn’t miss the way his eyes glazed over a little, or the very definite, albeit brief, drop of his gaze to the shift of her breasts in the water.
‘So you’re just using me, huh?’ he said as he ground against her this time.
Kelsey grinned as his cock hardened between her folds. ‘I’m trying my best.’
Then she leaned in and kissed him, gasping as he entered her, giving herself up to the sun and the water and the potency of his possession.
* * *
By four o’clock, Kelsey was dressed and standing at the door with Ari indulging in lazy goodbye kisses. It had been a glorious day – a day that would live in her memory forever – but all good things came to an end.
Including this relationship – or whatever the hell it was. They’d agreed this was it, their final hurrah. But that didn’t stop her wanting to linger.
‘I got you something,’ Ari said when they finally parted, pulling a small beribboned box from his pocket.
Kelsey frowned as she stared at the offering in his hand, which was obviously jewellery of some description. ‘You didn’t have to get me anything.’
‘I know.’ He smiled and damn if that smile didn’t do funny things to her tummy. She’d never had a problem with goodbyes where men were concerned, but Ari was proving to be the exception. ‘I wanted to.’
Her hand shook a little as she took the box. She should refuse but she was curious. Untying the ribbon, she flipped the box open to discover a beautiful Greek mati – evil eye – bead attached to a silver chain.
A black dot stared out at her from the centre of the blue glass bead. Kelsey had seen a lot of this type of jewellery over the last seven years. Most of it was the cheap and gawdy stuff they sold in the tourists’ haunts.
But this was the real deal from a bona fide jeweller. Everything about it screamed class, from the fine silver chain to the luminescence of the bead to the exquisite polished finish.
She’d bet this cost more than a couple of euros.
‘A little something to remember Mykonos,’ Ari said as her finger stroked the surface of the eye.
Kelsey glanced at him and smiled. ‘If you think I’m going to forget anything about today, you’re crazy.’
He returned the smile. ‘Here.’ He reached for the box. ‘Let me.’
She really should refuse but it was such a lovely gesture, and before she could knock it back he was taking it from her hands, removing the necklace from the box. And it was an easy step from there to turn around, face the mirror near the entrance and swoop her hair out of the way so he could secure it around her neck.
‘Well?’ he said, their gazes meeting in the mirror. ‘What do you think?’
It was divine. The chain was short and the eye sat just below the hollow at the base of her throat, and Kelsey loved it. ‘It’s beautiful,’ she whispered, fingering the eye, ‘thank you.’
He smiled and dropped a kiss on the side of her neck. ‘ You’re beautiful.’
God… this man was good for her ego, and she was going to miss him. ‘I shall treasure it. But I feel so bad. All I got you was a lousy umbrella.’
He chuckled, his lips nuzzling her skin, spreading goosebumps and tightening her nipples. ‘And I shall treasure it.’
Kelsey laughed and then she turned in his arms and hugged him. She would always remember Mykonos.
* * *
The following two days were sea days on their way to Venice and they flew by. Ari spent most of them holed up in his cabin writing his report, which was extensive and which he was presenting at the board meeting in Venice the day after the ship docked.
Being cabin bound was also a good way of avoiding Kelsey. They’d decided Mykonos was it and Ari was fine with the decision. Perfectly fine . Kelsey had been some kind of aberration, a crack of sunlight into the bleakness of his life – nothing more. They lived on opposite sides of the planet with very different lives and neither of them was looking for a commitment.
Plus she was very busy with a ship full of passengers. Too busy to smile and chat and flirt. Definitely too busy for one last hook up.
Although hooking up wasn’t what they’d been doing. Not that there was anything wrong with it if both parties were keen. Hell, Theo almost exclusively hooked up. As did most of his cousins if the European tabloids were any indication.
Ari had even done it a few times himself – before Talia.
But it hadn’t felt like that with Kelsey – not even the first time. There’d been something between them from the second she’d served him at the bar on the day of their departure.
A spark. A connection.
And it hadn’t been sexual. Or not just sexual anyway. It had been… deeper. Beyond the recognition of her as a woman and him as a man. It had been…
The umbrella.
That silly little umbrella. Or the sentiment behind it, anyway. A cheap, tacky bit of fluff that had probably cost less than one lousy cent to produce had dragged him kicking and screaming into the land of the living. Had opened his eyes. To life.
To her.
And he wouldn’t be seeing her again after today. They’d made their majestic entrance into the Venetian lagoon an hour ago and passengers who’d had an early breakfast were already disembarking. Ari was all packed to go but he didn’t want to leave without seeing her one more time. Even if it was just eyes meeting across a room, he needed to catch a glimpse.
Heading to the dining room, he scanned it, his gaze running over the sparsely populated tables. Obviously, most passengers had decided to eat early and get out into Venice as soon as possible. He couldn’t blame them – Venice may be a waterlogged old relic to many but to Ari it was a majestic citadel of inconceivable beauty.
Suddenly, he spotted Kelsey approaching a table with a pot of coffee and his heart leapt. Striding towards her, he seated himself at the empty table next to the one she was serving. When she was done, she turned and spied her newest customer, heading in his direction, faltering only slightly when she realised it was him. She was in her formal uniform which clung in all the right places and his necklace was at her throat.
‘Good morning, sir,’ she said, a smile fixed on her face but wariness in her gaze. ‘Would you like coffee?’
‘Yes please,’ he said, holding out his cup to be filled.
‘Are you eating breakfast, sir?’
‘Stay with me in Venice.’
She blinked. Hell – he blinked. Ari had not been going to say that at all. But then she was wearing his necklace and they were both going to be in Venice together so… why not?
She didn’t say anything for a beat or two and a hollow feeling in the pit of Ari’s stomach deepened to black hole proportions. He didn’t want this to be it .
Glancing around, she dropped her voice. ‘ Ari …’
‘I know,’ he conceded quietly, his heart beating like a gong in his chest, wanting this so badly suddenly he could barely breathe. ‘I know we agreed to not do this but you’re in Venice for the next two nights and I’m in Venice for the next five. It seems a shame not to take advantage of that.’
He searched her face, her teeth digging into her bottom lip like she was giving it serious consideration. Like she was torn. And Ari wasn’t above pushing his advantage.
‘Come on, agápi mou. It’ll be just like Mykonos but better. Two solid days in bed. No early morning interruptions for the breakfast shift. We’ll order room service and stay naked. Just you and me in a place where nobody knows us.’
He had the board meeting tomorrow at ten but other than that he had no commitments. He just needed to book some mid-range accommodation somewhere because he was pretty sure staying in the family suite in the Gritti Palace would raise questions.
For the first time in days, a little knot of guilt bunched at the base of his spine. Apart from misleading her about the villa in Mykonos, he’d forgotten that he’d been lying to her all this time. Sure, mostly by omission, but he hadn’t been upfront with her and there was no sugarcoating it.
Being incognito for his investigation on the ship was one thing; continuing the deception after his mission was complete was another. Especially now he knew about her ex and how much he’d screwed her ability to trust men.
When she’d told him on Mykonos, Ari’s blood had run cold and he’d wanted to track this Eric down and kick his ass. There were no words – not even Greek ones – for men like that.
He didn’t want to be another man in her life deceiving her, so if she did agree to stay in Venice with him, Ari knew he had to tell her the truth, as soon as she arrived at his door, before anything else happened between them.
‘I… don’t know,’ she said, her brow furrowed.
‘Okay.’ Ari knew better than to push and he didn’t want to be that guy. As unwise as it might be, he wanted to see her again, to spend the next two days with her, but he wanted her to want it too. He wanted her to be as unable to resist the idea of more time together as he was.
He grabbed a nearby napkin and asked for her pen. ‘Just think about it.’ He wrote the name of a hotel on the napkin. It was a good modest hotel and Ari knew the owner. He handed the pen back with the napkin. ‘I’ll be here. Just ask for me at the desk. What time do you knock off?’
‘Sometime between one and two,’ she said, her voice faint like she couldn’t quite believe she was even contemplating his proposal.
‘Excuse me, miss?’
She turned to the man who had called from the table behind. ‘One moment, sir,’ she said with a smile.
Turning back to Ari, she pocketed the napkin. ‘I’ll think about it.’
Ari nodded and prayed like hell that she’d find this crazy pull between them as impossible to resist as he did.