“Please don’t ask me to run around naked, Jett.”
“I wasn’t going to ask.” His eyes twinkled—probably at the thought of having me at his mercy. “I was going to plead.”
“No way.” I slipped into the wet dress. It was useless. It was so transparent that I could see the outline of my nipples. And judging from Jett’s grin, that had been the plan all along. I crossed my arms over my chest and put on my most serious expression. Grinning would only encourage that inflated ego of his. Actually grinning would encourage him to do naughty things, and I’d probably end up playing along just for the sake of it.
Or maybe because you want him as much as he wants you.
“You can wear this, baby.” He pushed his dry shirt into my hands. I pressed it against my chest, realizing it was shorter than my dress and would probably barely cover my butt.
“Seriously?”
He was standing before me half naked, with nothing but his jeans and muscles on display. He caught my appreciative gaze and in response flexed his chest muscles, the movement making his tattoo come alive. But that wasn’t what made me swallow hard. Hard and defined. Like a bronze statue. His body was so sexy I wanted to trail my tongue all over it.
“Are you shy? Or are you just pretending?” He removed my arms from my chest and held them up. Inside the pool water had covered my body. Now it was just the thin layer of my dress, and under his gaze I felt exposed.
“There’s nothing to hide, baby. You’re sexy and you’re beautiful. I love every inch of your body.” His gaze swept over me in a way that made me blush. He placed my hands on his hard stomach. “I like you touching me. And that’s not the only thing I want you doing to me.”
His eyes met mine, and I couldn’t stop my mouth going dry at the thought of having him inside me again.
“I’m beginning to think you’re insatiable, Jett,” I muttered. “Either that, or you’re a sex addict.”
“Maybe I am.” He grinned. “Or maybe I’m just saying that I can’t get enough of you.”
He drew my mouth to his and kissed me softly.
“I was thinking we should skip the beach walk and just watch a movie. You realize we’ve never done that?” A wicked grin appeared on his lips. “In the darkness, just you and me.”
“Now that sounds tempting.” I liked the idea of darkness and Jett, and the way he said it made it sound like he shared my naughty thoughts.
He held open the door. “You first.”
I walked in, turning to see if he was following me, and found his eyes glued to my ass again.
“Nice view.” He nodded appreciatively. I shook my head and kept on walking. A side look into one of the large mirrors reminded me I looked horrible. My hair was a complete mess. And my make-up had vanished. By the time we reached the long foyer, I had made a mental list of all the things that needed taking care of.
Change into something more suitable.
Blow-dry my hair.
Apply make-up.
I even pondered how long it’d take me to dry my dress with a blow dryer. And I had to insist on cleaning the house before leaving. No way would we leave clues of our breaking and entering behind. The last thing we needed was our DNA prints or fluids scattered all over the place.
“Can you give me twenty minutes?” I asked on the way to the living room.
“Ten minutes.” He kissed my cheek and opened the door. ”We only have twenty-two hours left and I’m not deducting your minutes from my meager hours.” He grinned and then slapped my ass playfully. “Don’t keep me waiting too long, woman.”
The southern accent again.
I giggled and headed for the stairs, then remembered this wasn’t our home. We weren’t even guests. I stopped in the middle of the stairs. Jett hadn’t moved from his spot.
“What about the house?” I pointed to the wet footprints on the marble floor. “We need to clean up.”
“Don’t worry your pretty head about it,” Jett said. “Cleaners are coming in for an open day next week. They’ll take care of everything. Besides, Kim knows.” He winked. “She even gave us her blessing.”
Epilogue
IT WAS OUR first vacation together. Jett and I had arrived at the lush Hawaiian resort three days ago and had barely left the room for anything other than to eat and give the poor cleaning lady some space.
“Care for a visit to the beach?” Jett asked. In the moonlight flooding through the restaurant’s window, his face was nothing but beauty and pure sexiness.
I shrugged and interlaced my fingers with his. “Sounds good. It’s not like I can sleep.”
“I’ll help you change that,” Jett whispered, and led me out of the restaurant and down the path of trees, shrubs, and bushes to the beach.
It was true. Ever since I was held hostage and woke up in the hospital, I couldn’t sleep because fear kept me awake, which was why Jett had insisted on taking this vacation. I was supposed to rest, to live and forget. I leaned against his arm, enjoying the delicious sensation the sound of his voice sent through me.
The sky was pitch black, dotted with thousands of stars. I had seen it before, but this time it seemed more beautiful than ever. As if my bad experiences made me appreciate the view more. Or maybe because whenever Jett was around, the whole world seemed different. Serene and colorful. Full of magic and mystery. Pure perfection—just like the man I loved.
He spread his jacket on the soft sand and sat down, the water just inches from our feet. Slowly, he wrapped his arm around my shoulders. Engrossed in our thoughts and each other’s presence, we watched the waves of the ocean crashing against the shore.
I smiled at him and rubbed my cheek against the roughness of his stubble, wishing I could collect the magic of the moment in a bottle and keep it forever.
“It’s so beautiful here,” I whispered, and looked up at the sky. He didn’t reply. At some point I realized Jett was looking at me—as if I was the only star in his night sky. I turned to regard him, and Jett kept looking at me, his eyes meeting mine with gentleness.
For once his silence didn’t worry me, because no words were strong or expressive enough to capture the beauty of the moment. No words could express the magnitude of my feelings for him, or how much I wanted us to have a future. No words could express how much I didn’t want to let him go—not yet, not now, and surely never. It was sad, really, because if we were in a dream I’d wish we’d never wake up from it.
But it was reality, and while I wanted to forget the past, there were ugly reminders that lingered at the back of my mind. Danny. The estate I never wanted but had inherited nonetheless. The lawyer, Clarkson, who’d disappeared. In this reality, with the way things were progressing, I knew life would go on, and the little moments I spent with Jett would not stay forever.
Like bubbles, this moment would rise to great heights until someday, I just knew, it would burst—little droplets we’d struggle to hold onto, falling, until the fragments disappeared, leaving behind nothing but a fleeting memory. A dream. I swallowed hard, reminding myself never to take any moment with the love of my life for granted. Because it’d pass too fast. In a heartbeat. Lost forever.
“What are you thinking?” Jett asked. “You just had the strangest expression on your face.”
I pondered for a few seconds whether to tell him or not, when I remembered Sylvie’s advice on relationships and honesty. In the serenity of the night, with the soothing sounds of the ocean enveloping us, I knew I could trust him the way I had trusted him when I told him about my past. By confiding in him, we had become one mind—connected in some way, like the water to the moon.
Like the tides.
“I want to keep all my happy memories with you, because they’re the only thing that remain of the past, but I don’t know how.” I rested my head against his shoulder. “I see the stars in the sky, and they make me think of life. Of the many plans dwelling inside my mind, but how few memories I have. No matter how hard I try, I can’t choose which memories I want to keep or which I can forget. So I’ve been wondering what’s the purpose of creating memories if I can’t keep them all?”
Jett took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “You don’t have to try so hard to remember them, Brooke,” he whispered. “The moments that mean the most to you stay etched in your mind. They might be few, but those are the only ones that matter.”
I turned to him, taking in his beautiful eyes. “How do you know?”
He shrugged. “Do you know why I had the tattoos done?”
His question threw me off balance.
“No,” I admitted.
He lifted his shirt. Under the moonlight, his skin shimmered golden, the black tribal tattoos hauntingly beautiful. “I had them done to help me remember all the things I don’t want to forget.” He pointed to the upper one on his shoulder. “This one helps me remember how hard my father was and all the lessons he taught me. It also reminds me that true power comes not from submission or gain, but from controlling my inner demons. Because our true enemies live within ourselves and feed from the lessons we failed to learn from our pasts.” He arranged his shirt back in place. “Ever since I got my tattoos, my bad memories have become good memories. Even valuable.”
“Maybe I should get my own tattoo,” I said.
He laughed and tilted his head to the side. “I’m not sure I want your skin covered in ink. I love it the way it is just now.” As though to prove his point, his fingertip brushed my collarbone, sending a shiver down my spine.
“Are you telling me what I can’t do with my skin?” I raised my eyebrows, which made him laugh harder.
“If we’re talking about a small one.” He pointed to my ankle. “A tiny one that’s not noticeable, then feel free to come along. I’m getting a new one soon.”
“You never told me you wanted a new one.”
“Yeah, well, I didn’t know until I met you.”
He lowered me onto my back and settled on top of me, his dark green eyes lingering on me. Beneath me I could feel the sand on my skin. It was cold but not unpleasant. “You know the feeling you get when you think you hear music, and it makes you stop in your tracks, completely absorbed? Well, that’s how I felt when I kissed you for the very first time. I knew right then that I could love you. The night in the bar? That was the best thing that ever happened to me, and that’s what I want my next tattoo to remind me of. I want your face on my skin. Something to look at when you’re not around.”
“No way,” I said, laughing. “You’re not doing that. What if we fight and you come to regret it?”
He shook his head slowly. “Never.” He was so serious that my laughter died in my throat. “I’ve never been this much in love. And never before did I feel the desire to have someone as much as I want you in my life. So, you’re stuck with me, Miss Stewart. Whether you want it or not.”
“I hope I’ll be stuck with you for a long time,” I whispered. “Because moments pass way too fast.”
