The Royal's Obsession (7 page)

He sounded so serious that she sat up, pulling the sheet up to cover herself. She could have hated it, the moment where she felt the need to cover herself in front of the man who had been caressing her most intimate places just a few moments before.

“I…I feel good,” she said hesitantly. “You gave me a kind of pleasure that I have never experienced before with another person, and I can still feel it echoing through me. I guess I also feel a little afraid? You’re standing there as if you want to pass judgment on whatever it is I am going to say next, and I am a little afraid that you will…revile me, or call me names or tell me I am a little fool for thinking this was something real between us.”

With a soft sound of repentance, he was back in the bed and cradling her against his body. She might have wanted to be a proud woman who pushed him away, shunning such comfort, but she could not do it. Instead she clung to him, burying her face in his chest.

“Was I a fool?” she made herself ask. Her voice was tinny and small. “Was I foolish for letting this happen between us?”

“I swear that I do not think of you as a fool,” he growled. “I swear it, and you will never have a cause to regret this. This was an experience I never could have predicted, and I know that it left a mark on me. You have marked me with what we have done here tonight, and I never want you to regret this.”

She nodded into his chest, but he wasn't done. “I don't know what will come of this night. All I know is that I am not sorry it happened. I want…I want you to feel good. I know that is very important to me.”

“I do,” she said immediately. “Oh god, I do, Augustine, better than I have felt with anyone…”

He seemed to relax at her fervent words. He stretched out his long body along hers, until they touched from head to toes. This felt closer. It felt warm and safe.

“What are we going to do?” she whispered.

He kissed the top of her head.

“We have had an extraordinary time,” Augustine said after a moment. “But the fact remains that neither of us are at home. We came from very different lives to be on the
Wild Waves
. What happens here…it is not real.”

Her heart thudded in her chest. She swallowed hard before speaking.

“It felt real to me,” she said, her throat dry.

He only chuckled. “Yes, it felt real. It felt wonderful. But when the
Wild Waves
docks in a week, everything goes back to what it was before.”

“Like Cinderella and her rags,” Anastasia whispered.

“Just so. You will return to New York. I will return to Athens. We will let this be what it needs to be now. This can be pleasurable and sweet for both of us, something that we will look back on with great pleasure.”

Anastasia could see the truth of his words, and after all, he was known for telling the truth. He wouldn't fit into New York any more than she was likely to fit into Athens. They were split apart by culture and language, background and expectations.

She took a deep breath and nodded. “You're right,” she said. “It feels real, but that’s because we are in the world of the
Wild Waves
. Only, Augustine?”

“Yes, darling?”

A part of her curled with pleasure at the endearment. The other bridled at the idea of him using it after he had essentially told her she was his vacation fling.

“You must keep telling me the truth,” she said. “Not only when I ask, but also when something comes up that I need to know. Do you understand?”

He chuckled a little at her sternness, kissing her gently. “Of course, my dear. The truth and nothing but for you, because nothing less will do for someone like you.”

She pressed her unease with the situation down. She had had one of the most incredible nights of her life with this strange mercurial man. The fact that she could have this while on vacation in the Mediterranean was amazing. After all, he was right. They were from two different worlds.

She drifted off to sleep, her dreams fraught and frail. She dreamed of being at a showing at the art museum again, only this time, it was Augustine on a pedestal roped off from the public. He stood with all the charm and charisma that he normally had, and the public gathered to sigh at his beauty. She knew that she had to go tell him something, but no matter how hard she fought, she simply could not reach him.

After a while, she started to cry.

Though he lay as still as a statue, Augustine was awake for hours after Anastasia had fallen asleep. She was a warm and welcome weight in his arms, and sometimes he would stroke her rich brown hair gently just to feel the sleek strands slip through his fingers.

He had never spent the night with a woman that made him feel what she had made him feel. She was a responsive lover, a woman that seemed made for him. There was something deeper going on here, however, and it was unnerving him badly.

He had never been one for vacation flings before. None of his relationships had ever been overly long, but normally he was perfectly happy to let them go where they needed to go. He had never tried to put fences around them or chains on them.

Now, with his relationship with Anastasia, he was trying to do everything he could to keep it bounded. He tried to tell himself that it was only logical, that it was for her own good.

No matter how he sliced it, though, he had to come back to the point that he was doing it for himself. There was something about this woman that got under his skin, and the idea of giving her more of himself made him deeply uncomfortable.

Then he looked down at her sleeping face. He thought about what it might be like to say goodbye to her when the trip was over. His stomach lurched. Augustine pushed his feelings away. They wouldn't serve him now when she was in his arms, and they wouldn't serve him when he had to let her go, either.

The pleasure that they found in each other's arms was too intense to waste. He had never felt anything like it before, and he might never feel anything like it again. Augustine drew her a little closer, pleased when she murmured softly and pressed herself against him.

Whatever happened between them, he knew that she was a diamond, a gem he would not see harmed for the world.

“I will always tell you the truth,” he murmured. “Always…”

Chapter Five

The next day, Anastasia had a brief moment to wonder why there was a man showering in her bathroom. Then the memories of last night came back to her with a rush, and she smiled.

As silent as a cat, she sneaked into the bathroom and with a quick motion, leaped in with him, making him start.

“Good god, woman, you're a menace,” he said with surprise.

“I do my best,” she said, pressing her way under the hot spray. “What are you doing today?”

He shrugged. “We'll be making landfall today a little later in the afternoon. Before that, there are a few logs for me to organize, and I need to make sure that I get some work back to the mainland.”

She made a face. “That sounds like too much work on your vacation,” she said, “but do you think it would go faster if I helped?”

He shook his head ruefully. “Would that it could. No, it is work that I need to do on my own. Why don't you go speak to Trinity and see what she is doing? Perhaps you can clear up my reputation a little. She was quite angry about what happened yesterday.”

“Trinity is a little overprotective,” Anastasia said with a giggle. “I guess I will do that. And maybe I'll see you once we make landfall this afternoon?”

He hesitated, making her bite her lip. “Look, never mind. Don't worry—if I see you, I see you…”

She had no more gotten the words out of her mouth then he turned to her, resolute.

“Yes, you will see me at landfall or at some point after if my work runs late. I want to spend time with you. I’m just sorry that some of my work needs to get in the way.”

Anastasia wondered at his pause from earlier. Had he wanted to get rid of her? He seemed to want to pull her back to him soon enough. Inwardly, she shrugged. At the end of the day, this was a vacation fling, and it wouldn't do her much good to get clingy and anxious.

She started to say something to that effect, but then his strong arms were around her again, and he pulled her in for a deep kiss under the spray. All of her protests died under the water, and she fell into the kiss with a will. She could already feel the pleasure sparking through her body again.

After a shower the likes of which she had never had before, she dressed while he made his way back to his cabin to change into real clothes. Dressed in a dark blue dress that made her skin glow, she wandered onto the deck to see what was going on.

She found Trinity enjoying a small bowl of orange-tinted yogurt close to the railing. She caught the scent of mango. Trinity turned to her with a happy smile that quickly turned into a look of shock.

Anastasia blinked. “What is it? What's the matter?” she asked concerned.

Without a word, Trinity touched her neck, and confused, Anastasia touched her own neck in the same place. She found a tender spot, and she groaned.

“Is that what I think it is?” she asked, and Trinity nodded briskly.

“It's just a little one, but there are only a few things that can be, I think. So who's the lucky fella?”

It was on the tip of Anastasia's tongue to say 'Augustine,' but for some reason, she paused. There were a handful of other men on the yacht, so the man who had torn her view of love to shreds the day before was not the natural choice.

Trinity studied her friend carefully, and before Anastasia could say anything, she nodded.

“This may be one of those things that you don't want to talk about,” she said confidently. “That's just fine. You are an adult, and I trust you. As long as you're having a good time, that's what matters the most to me. You
are
having a good time, though, right?”

Anastasia was nodding before she thought to say anything. When she thought of the pleasure that Augustine had given her the night before, her toes still curled.

“It was more than just a good time,” she said slowly. “It was…it was sweet. Kind. I…it felt really, really good…”

Trinity's smile was wide and pleased.

“I'm so happy to hear that. Sometimes, what you need isn't Mr. Right, it's Mr. Right for Now. I'm happy for you.”

Anastasia hung on to her friend's words, because after all, they were nothing but the truth. She and Augustine wouldn't fit into each other's worlds. Right now, though, they stood in a fragile world that was just for them. Instead of being on land, where they both had responsibilities that would pull them apart, they were on the water, where they could simply be with each other.

She resolved to treasure that for as long as she could, and when they couldn't have it any longer, she would let it go.

Sometime after noon, they made landfall at the small resort island of Nicea. Where Santa Olivine had been a sweetly old-fashioned island, Nicea was a modern gem in the middle of the sea. There was a small strip lined with impressively exclusive shops, and beyond lay the resort, which Anastasia soon realized was internationally renowned for its spa and luxury recreation options.

She was making her way down the dock when an unfamiliar voice hailed her name. When she looked up, she was startled to see Carlos waving to her from the railing.

Carlos was a tall man with an easy smile, one of Apolo's friends. He hailed from Spain, and if she remembered correctly, he was an industrialist of some renown.

“Oh, are you speaking to me?” she asked in surprise.

“Of course I am,” he said with a wide grin. “Tell me, Anastasia, what are your plans for today?”

“Well,” she said. “I know I'm meeting someone, and after that…”

“You don't seem sure,” he teased. “Perhaps you should come with me instead.”

She laughed at his joking tone, shaking her head.

“Oh? And do you have any specific plans that require my presence?”

She wondered if his smile grew a little more sly, a little more inviting.

“Well, we could explore the island together. Perhaps take advantage of the pool, and then after that, the hot tub…”

“Or you could come with me, as I know this island from top to bottom,” said Augustine. He smiled, but there was a dangerous light in his eyes as he approached the gangway.

“Are you escorting the lovely Anastasia today?” asked Carlos with a raised eyebrow. “She did not seem all that certain about it…”

“I am, actually,” said Anastasia with a grin. “Maybe another time, Carlos. Augustine?”

Augustine shot one more dire glance at Carlos before coming down to take her by the arm.

“It doesn't do to encourage Carlos,” he said darkly. “I've known him for years through my brother, and he's not terribly serious.”

“Oh?” asked Anastasia innocently. “I thought that 'not terribly serious' was what we were doing…”

At Augustine's dark look, she couldn't resist squeezing his arm and nuzzling his shoulder a little. He really was an outrageously handsome man, even when he looked so suspicious.

“Relax,” she said. “I told you I would always tell you the truth, and that is just what I am doing right this minute. On this trip, you're the one I want to be with, and you're the one I want to see. No one else even compares.”

Augustine looked at least partially mollified by this, and that was enough time to get them to an artisan ice cream shop full of flavors that neither of them had ever considered.

“Olive flavored ice cream…this sounds like a poor idea,” murmured Augustine looking up at the choices.

Olive ice cream, in fact, was a poor choice from the sample that they were given, and lobster ice cream was simply too salty. However, Augustine's rum and coke flavored treat was a hit, and finally Anastasia decided on a chai tea flavor that was only enhanced by a sprinkle of cinnamon sugar.

They made their way to the pristine beach to enjoy their treats, staring out over the water.

“I love this trip for showing me exactly what it is that I am trying to save,” Anastasia said, gazing out over the endless bright blue. She slipped her sandals off so she could curl her toes into the sand.