The Billionaire's Island Romance (The Romero Brothers, Book 3.5) (10 page)

“Woohoo!” Arianna shouted excitedly. “We
did it!” They had finally reached the top of the Dunn’s River Falls in all its
glory and breathtaking scenery. It was amazing. She didn’t think she could do
it, but she did. Oh, God! She made it to the top. It had taken them an hour to
climb up and it was the best thing she had done in the longest time that she
could remember. She made it. She didn’t cave in to her fear of rivers or
waters. She was okay. She was not a prisoner of her fear.

“Yes!” Christian grinned, hugging her from
behind. “You did it, baby. I’m so proud of you.” He pressed a soft kiss to the
sensitive skin on the side of her neck and she shivered with a surge of
pleasure. She had accomplished more than she could have ever imagined today.

She drew in a deep breath. She was actually
looking over the glorious Dunn’s River Falls. “Oh, God! This is so beautiful.”

“Just like you,” he said, grinning. He
still had his arms wrapped around her waist, swaying with her to the beat of
the music playing over some speaker nearby. He kissed the top of her head.
“Honey, I’m so proud of you. You have no idea.”

“Thanks, baby. Thanks for putting up with
me. I’m sure you would have made it to the top in half the time if I wasn’t
with you.”

“And what fun would that be?” he murmured,
kissing her again.

“Hmm. Come on, I’m famished.”

He laughed. “After climbing the most
magnificent falls on the island, you’re famished?”

“Yeah, so what?” she toyed with him,
winking.

“I’m hungry as hell, too but not for food.”
Christian looked at her seductively. His dark, sexy eyes locked with hers and
she smiled sheepishly.

“Yeah, we can eat again over at the hotel.”

Later, after they had dried off, they
strolled through the shopping area that was situated at the top of the falls.
They purchased a refreshing bottle of water for each of them and chugged it
down in no time. Arianna felt so alive, as a tourist, for the first time since
she’d arrived on the island to help out at the hotel. She felt as if she didn’t
have a care in the world when she was with Christian.
 

Christian and Arianna took a
five minute
drive to Dolphin Cove where they watched the
dolphins at play. Dolphin Cove was the next best activity to experience out in
Ocho Rios, next to the famous Dunn’s River Falls hiking. The interactive dolphin
show was a fun aqua activity that provided crazy entertainment. Seeing the
dolphins do their thing totally brought her into a whole new world. She’d even
forgotten for a fleeting moment that she was in charge at the Duponte Hotel and
that she had the massive Romero wedding to oversee this coming weekend.

They also took a walk along the jungle
trail and later soaked up the sun on the white stretch of sandy beach. Ocho
Rios had one of the best beaches on the island; miles of white sand and
glorious views of the sea. Hugging and kissing like young lovers without a care
in the world on the
beach,
while their eyes drank in
the crystal blue water was a magnificent way to end their day.

Why hadn’t Ari taken time out for herself
like this before? Perhaps having her parents, especially her father, so in need
of emotional support had taken its toll on her without even realizing it. Thank
God for Christian. If he hadn’t pushed her to take the plunge, so to speak, she
would have worked her way through another week without a break. She needed this
reprieve—badly. Of course, she thought that she and Christian were
through, so burying herself in work and making sure her parents were all right
had been her top priorities at the time. Well now, she was going to take some
time for
herself
once in a while to debrief.
To recharge her energies.
Really recharge her energies.

*
   
*
  
*

What a day it had been. Arianna snuggled up
to Christian in the bed as he slept. Thank God, Christian had taken Arianna off
the premise for a change in scenery. She really needed that badly. They had
taken a fun-filled splash in the famous Dunn’s River Falls and soaked up the
sights of the west coast and taken in a midafternoon concert and later relaxed
by the beach in a secluded area. The dolphin show was a blast! It was a dream.

Christian even gave her a wonderful, and
erotic, massage. She hadn’t realized how tense her muscles were until he got
out most of the kinks. Gosh, he was so good with his hands in every way
imaginable.

Everything had been centered on the Duponte
premises and she’d been working overtime lately to get caught up with
inventory, special events and back orders. Not to mention handling the
management that had been placed there long before she came on board. Since her
father’s health had deteriorated somewhat, Arianna wanted to ensure everything
was in order and no one was going to take over.

Especially her debt-ridden, gambling uncle
who would like nothing more than to yank the resort from underneath her and
sell it off to the highest, or lowest, bidder he could get. He already ran
several of his other companies into the ground. No way was her uncle going to
take the hotel away from them and do what he pleased with it. It would kill her
father. It would kill everything they’d worked so hard for. The Duponte was his
whole life. He’d taken the once run-down property, which was willed to him on
certain conditions, from a useless property to the five-star exclusive hotel
that it was today.

It was more than her parents’
dream
,
it was their life
.
It was her life. She had moved her world over to help manage things, relocating
temporarily from New York, while things got running again smoothly. She had
every intention once her staff had a handle on things to shift back to the
States, where she could go back to her normal life, overseeing things from
abroad. But right now, Arianna had other things to take care of. Her life.
Her love life.
Her
well-being
.
Christian was right; without taking care of herself first, she didn’t have a
hope of taking care of others—or her business.

The following day, things had pretty much returned
to normal. Crazy normal. Arianna spent most of the morning going over budgets,
staff appraisal comments, making notes for the person who would take over in
managing the day-to-day functions of the hotel—someone who had been on
staff at the hotel from the beginning, and reviewing upcoming events, like the
Romero wedding over the weekend.
Inventory was satisfactory
,
thank heavens
.

But oh, last night with Christian was so
amazing. Last night and into the early hours of the morning Christian made love
to her over and over again until the beautiful glowing sunrise on the beach,
warming them into a new day. The cadence of the crickets singing outside, the
ocean waves beating against the white sandy beach, the birds chirping,
everything was so melodious, calm and perfect.
Ari’s heart
thumped like crazy in her chest just thinking about him.
Missing him
already when he wasn’t in her sight. Oh, how she craved his presence all the
time.

Would she ever get enough of hot and sexy-as-sin
Christian Romero? A delicious heat enrobed her body. Her pulse leaped with
excitement just thinking about spending time with him, knowing that he was hers
and she was his. What more could she want from life? When you have love in your
life—everything seemed to fall into place. Life didn’t have to be
perfect, but just having that special person by you, with you, made the journey
so much more pleasurable.

Arianna sat at her desk in her office
sorting out some paperwork with a huge grin on her face. Christian. Her spine
tingled pleasantly thinking about their precious moments together yesterday and
early this morning. She wondered what he was up to.
Probably
with the rest of his family going over some last minute details regarding the
wedding.
The rehearsal was still a few days away, the evening before the
wedding. That would be Friday night.

Christian energized her in a way she never
would have thought imaginable. It was true about finding that special soul
mate.
That special one.
Oh, she couldn’t wait to see
Christian again. Her body tingled from head to toe just thinking about him, the
feel of his soft skin on hers.
And those lips.
Oh,
those sweet, sexy, kissable lips of his all over her body. What had she almost
given up by breaking off with him a month ago? She didn’t want to even
entertain that thought. She had to prep for an upcoming board meeting with the
department heads at the hotel.

The phone on her desk rang. “Hello.”

“Hey, Arianna, just thought I’d let you
know that your uncle is heading your way.” It was Tiffany, who was known by
many as Tiff, her assistant general manager who was on the other end of the
phone.

Tiff was an older Jamaican woman who knew
the hotel like the back of her own hand. She was always on top of things and
was genuinely kind and helpful. Tiff always kept Ari in the loop with tons of
stuff happening around the property. In fact, if it hadn’t been for Tiff, Arianna
didn’t know if she would have been able to grasp as much as she had in the
short time that she had taken over the reins from her father. Tiff was her
dad’s assistant for many years since he assumed ownership of the hotel.

Tiff was so down-to-earth, funny and took
no nonsense from anyone. She also knew the painful relationship between her
uncle and the family. Tiff had seen him on one of his drunken rants before and
almost had him thrown out of the hotel for misconduct. She wasn’t afraid of
dear old Uncle Ned. She was loyal and devout to Arianna’s parents, and for
that, Arianna was truly appreciative. She wanted to give Tiff more
responsibilities as things moved forward. Perhaps promote her to GM eventually.

“Oh, no. Thanks, Tiff.”

Just then the door swung open. Uncle Ned
had a stiff expression on his face.

“What’s
going on here, Arianna?”

“What?
What do you mean? You can’t just barge in here like that without an
appointment. I have a meeting to go to and a business to run.”

“Oh, no.
Not so fast. Your father should be the one running this business. I’ve been
trying to reach him. Where is he?”

“I don’t
know. Did you try leaving him a message?”

“Don’t
be smart, my girl. I heard you talking to him on the phone this morning. I
think you do know. You also know full well the conditions of your grandfather’s
will pertaining to this hotel, Arianna. You know full well, I could take over
any time now. You better not be hiding anything from me,” he sneered, jabbing his
finger at her.

“You
were listening to my phone calls?” she said with alarm. Now she thought she’d
heard enough. “You have no right to be snooping around here, Uncle Ned. You can
stay here but only on the condition that you don’t harass my…” she paused,
biting her lower lip, trying to stifle a tear. “…
my
parents or me, or our guests!” Arianna was emphatic.

“You
know full well, this joint should be mine. And I’m sick and tired of you guys
hiding stuff from me.” His tone was chilly. So cold, Ari shivered. She knew
what he wanted to do. He wanted to use the hotel to pay off one of his gambling
debts. He had several failed “gold-rush” businesses that he ran into the ground
with reckless management and poor staffing decisions due to his inability to
control himself and his alcohol intake. He couldn’t care less for the hotel and
he’d told her father and her on many occasions in the past. He wanted whatever
money he could squeeze out of it.

“Uncle,
we’re not going to go through this again. You know why grandfather left the
hotel to Dad. We’ve been through this a million times. Besides, this is not
about the hotel and you know it.”

“Ah, so
now we’re talking,” he mocked her. “Yes, that’s right. Money. It’s about money.
Money that should be mine.”

“Uncle,
you’ve had many businesses in the past, on your own. This is all Dad has. Why
would you want to take that away from him?”

“Because
if he can’t run it, I will.” His voice was hardened, his eyes cold and
calculating. So cold, it made Arianna
feel
uncomfortable enough to want to call for help or summon backup. She’d heard
about her uncle, not just on his boasting sprees in the past, but from others
about his evil connections and how he liked to “fix” people who were getting on
his nerves. He was
all bad
. That apple fell far as
hell from the family tree. It's no wonder her grandfather didn’t want him in
charge of anything. Her dad was nothing like her uncle. They were night and
day.
Fire and Ice. Opposites.
Completely.

If Dad can’t run it, you will? Yeah, right. Run it
into the ground more likely.

“Who’s
to say he can’t run it?”

“You
know damn well why he can’t. He should be going over inventory and running this
place, not you.”