Chapter Nine
Angelica was in heaven. She’d never been so relaxed.
The sun beat down but she was under the shade of an umbrella so it wasn’t too intense.
The lapping of waves against the shore came from nearby.
The only other sounds were birds, circling high in the air.
And insects in the lush vegetation that bordered the small, private beach.
The entire island, a little jewel in the Caribbean, was private. The only thing on the island was a luxurious and very exclusive resort, with dwellings so spread out that, since they’d arrived, Angelica had only caught glimpses of other people in the distance.
They had a beach villa. A vast open-plan space, with a private pool and this private section of beach. When they’d arrived the day before, Angelica had had a massage in the villa’s spa room and her bones still felt like putty.
She’d lain down on the bed after her massage, while Leo had his massage, and had woken up this morning, still in the robe, after sleeping straight through.
She’d found Leo, bare-chested, wearing shorts, on the terrace having breakfast, which had been set up for them by staff. She’d felt shy, still not believing that he’d really spirited them away to this paradise for a honeymoon, even if it wasn’t a real honeymon. It had suddenly felt like it.
She’d said, ‘Sorry, I had no idea how tired I was.’
He’d smiled, and admitted, ‘I fell into a coma too.’ Then he’d held out an arm and said, ‘Come here.’
Angelica had gone over and he’d pulled her into his lap. He’d looked at her for a long moment and then just said, ‘Hi.’
Angelica had felt absurdly emotional. ‘Hi.’
‘How hungry are you?’
Sitting on his lap, his hard body under hers, all around her, she’d only been hungry for one thing. ‘Not very.’
Needing no further encouragement, he’d lifted her effortlessly and brought her back inside to the bedroom.
Within seconds they’d been naked and on the bed in a tangle of limbs, urgency in the air.
When Leo had reached for protection, Angelica had stopped him, saying, ‘I’m still on the pill…
I didn’t come off it during…the marriage.
I was afraid to in case…’ She’d trailed off, and winced inwardly when she’d seen Leo’s expression darken.
But then he’d put the protection aside and said, ‘I will make it up to you Angel. You shouldn’t have ever had to endure that torture.’
She’d reached a hand up to his face and jaw. ‘You don’t owe me anything. It’s over now, we’re here, he’s not. I never thought we’d be together again, like this.’
Leo hadn’t said anything, he’d just joined their bodies in one cataclysmic thrust, stealing any more words from Angelica’s mouth and any rational thoughts from her head.
Angelica heard the sounds of someone wading out of the water and lifted her head, shading her eyes with her hand. Leo was emerging from the sea and he took her breath away. Dark hair wet and flattened to his skull only drew the attention to the bone structure of his face.
In short swimming trunks that left little to the imagination, he was hewn from rock and steel. Every glorious inch bronzed and rippling. He was a sea god. A maruading pirate. And he was coming for her, it was in every taut line of his face and body.
‘You should have come in, it’s beautiful.’
‘I’m enjoying the view.’
‘Are you, now?’
She nodded. He reached down a hand and said, ‘Time for a siesta?’
Angelica lifted up her hand and he grabbed it, pulling her up. Her skin was sandy. She felt young and carefree. As she’d felt when she’d first met Leo. Until he’d dumped her. She pushed aside the unwelcome dark shadow. No shadows here. She knew what this was. A diversion. An exorcism. A sexorcism.
‘That sounds good.’
A wicked glint came into Leo’s eye and before she knew what was happening, he’d ducked down and she was over his shoulder, one hand on her bottom, tapping it, and as he headed back towards the sea he said, ‘A siesta is only earned after a little physical exercise.’
Angelica squealed as they hit the water and once they were out deep enough, Leo dunked her.
She came up spluttering and laughing. ‘You’re so dead, Falzone.
’ She splashed him and he ducked under the water and pulled her under.
They kissed, and their bodies intertwined as they rose lazily back to the surface, sucking in gulps of air.
She had her legs wrapped around Leo’s hips and her arms around his neck. Mouths hovering mere centimetres apart.
A little breathlessly Leo said, ‘I think that’s enough exercise for now.’
Angelica rocked her hips against Leo’s erection. ‘I agree. I’m ready for my siesta.’
They swam back into shore and walked up the small beach, hand in hand, across the lush lawn and into the villa.
Dusk was falling over paradise a few hours later, as Leo looked out over the view.
They’d spent the afternoon in bed and he hated to admit it but it hadn’t felt like just sex.
It had felt somehow deeper. As if they were coming back to each other.
As if there’d just been some sort of a hiatus in their relationship, and not a violent schism.
He would never ordinarily choose to come to a place like this with a woman, a lover, because it would send all sorts of wrong signals.
And yet he hadn’t hesitated to suggest it to Angelica. Angel. But this was no ordinary situation and it never had been with her, not even when they’d first been together. All the usual rules had gone out of the window. She’d been almost more independent than him.
He’d had no hint of her falling for him, which was why he’d got such a shock when she’d blurted it out.
She’d said it was an infatuation. Maybe she was right.
She’d been young. He had been her first lover.
They were both older and bruised and battered after the last three years.
If Angelica had been a romantic, she wouldn’t be any more.
So, she was the perfect woman to bring to a place like this because they both knew this had no future, not once the chemistry had burnt itself out.
A noise from behind him made him turn around to see the staff completing setting the dinner table on the terrace. There was a buffet set up on a table nearby, groaning under the weight of different foods. Fish, salad, pitta bread, hummus, succulent meat on skewers.
And then Angel appeared looking like a vision.
In a strapless long loose kaftan-style dress of a million different colours, her hair caught up in a loose bun.
Even from here he could see the golden glow the sun had added to her skin.
And he noticed too that she looked less…
weary. Jaded. There had been a little frown etched between her eyebrows since they’d met again—since you kidnapped her, pointed out a voice.
Leo’s conscience prickled. He would make sure neither she, nor her family, would ever want for anything again.
What about when she has a family of her own? asked another little voice. Well, then she wouldn’t need his protection anymore. Leo’s chest tightened at the thought of someone else having that privilege in her life. Angel would make an amazing mother.
He wouldn’t be part of that scenario. Even just the thought of risking the same thing happening to Angel that had happened to his mother—gunned down in cold blood—was enough to have a familiar roiling sensation in his gut, and his breath becoming more shallow.
He focused on her now to divert his mind form the horror. She was gracious with the staff, smiling and gesticulating and thanking them for such a beautiful display of food. They beamed at her. He could empathise.
She saw him and walked over. Barefoot. Face free of make-up. No jewellery. Eyes very green. She’d never looked more beautiful. Leo focused on that to stem the rising tide of panic.
She said, ‘Did you see the layout of food? It looks amazing. They’ve outdone themselves. Come on, I’m starving.’ She caught his arm and led him back into the flickering light of candles dotted around the space and he allowed her to soothe the jagged edges inside him.
They filled up their plates and sat down. Angelica said, ‘It’s been so long since I’ve been able to just sit like this and eat good food.’
‘Still not cooking for yourself?’ Leo asked, unwittingly opening up the conversation to a memory of the past.
Angelica wrinkled her nose. ‘I’d like to say that I used the three years of purgatory to learn to cook well but I’m afraid I was working so much it was invariably takeout or food at work and if I was with…you know who, he had chefs cooking for us.’
‘I did a cooking course in prison.’
Angelica nearly choked on some pitta bread. Her eyes were watering but she took a sip of water before Leo had to go and pat her back. ‘You…what?’
Leo nodded. ‘Quite a fancy course too. I can chop vegetables like a pro and I can make an assortment of pasta dishes and slow-cooked stews. My boeuf bourguignon got special praise from the teacher.’
‘That doesn’t sound like it was all so bad…’
Leo made a face. ‘To be perfectly honest, while it wasn’t a nice environment and I learned to watch my back after I got stabbed, the worst part of it was probably the boredom. And the sense of impotency.’
He looked at her. ‘The thought of you, out there with him.’
Angelica’s eyes were huge. Bruised. ‘I’m sorry.’
‘You have nothing to be sorry for. It was all him. I boxed and did some self-defence too…to feel stronger, to be able to protect myself.’
Angelica’s cheeks pinkened. ‘I, er…noticed that you were a little more…muscular.’
Leo arched a brow, enjoying her embarrassment. Enjoying this whole unexpected scenario, on a tiny idyllic slice of land in the Caribbean far away from the trials and tribulations of the last few years. ‘Did you, now?’