Page 56 of Worth the Risk

‘For starters, I’m going to watch you sunbathe. Nude. After that—’ he shrugged ‘—you get to pick. Will you do it?’ he asked with a gruff plea.

His unique way of disarming me when I needed to keep up my guard unnerved me further. Like last night when he’d asked to join me for dinner. I stared at him, knowing in my heart I wasn’t going to refuse this either. I’d already agreed to spend the day with him anyway. What we did during that time didn’t really matter.

It should.

I ignored the voice, took a sip of coffee before I answered, ‘Yes, I will.’

‘And would I be pushing my luck if I said I want a repeat of the same when we dock in Sicily, too?’

So he wasn’t leaving for another couple of days.

I cleared my throat and strove to maintain a neutral expression. ‘Yes, you would. For all I know spending today with you might prove a huge ball of disappointment.’

His eyes gleamed. ‘Is that the challenge, Leonora?’

‘Maybe...’

He rose, a wicked smile turning his face even more mouth-wateringly gorgeous as he held out his hand to me. ‘Then I guess it’s game on.’

He spent an hour videoconferencing with his office, while I video called with Andrea.

‘So everything’s going well?’ she asked, peering into the screen.

I prayed my face didn’t give me away as I nodded. ‘Yes, no major dramas so far, thank goodness.’

Andrea smiled, then winced as her overexuberant baby kicked inside her. ‘And? Is he going to buy the yacht?’ she asked eagerly.

I wasn’t about to confess I hadn’t given it much thought in the last couple of days. Now that I’d decided to remain in the South of France, there wasn’t an urgency to make the sale. The consortium had given me a year to find the right buyer, and I was confident I would.

So I shrugged. ‘I’m not hard selling. He’ll either buy it or he won’t. If he doesn’t, I’ll cast my net wider.’

Andrea nodded. ‘Sounds like a plan. Well, don’t worry about the office. It’s been pretty quiet. I’ll email if anything crops up that I can’t handle.’

I signed off, went to my cabin to grab my sun protection.

Four hours later I was sprawled on the top deck, glistening from head to toe in the coconut-scented sunscreen Gideon had liberally massaged into my skin. With my only apparel the oversized sunglasses shielding my eyes from the sun, I waited for him to return with the cocktails he’d gone to the bar to make.

I’d dismissed every crew member, including the captain after he’d found us a private cove to moor the yacht a short distance from Budva. We had six hours to ourselves. I wasn’t sure whether it was being completely alone with him or the promise of more sex that had me hyperaware.

I heard him approach and, unable to help myself, lifted my head to watch him. Like me, Gideon was completely naked. Unlike me, though, there wasn’t an ounce of self-consciousness visible as he set the tray of drinks down next to me.

‘You never answered my question.’

‘What question?’

‘The boat. Did you name it?’

Smiling, I accepted the dirty martini he handed me. ‘Yes, I did.’

He chuckled. ‘Thought so.’

I sipped my drink and attempted to play it cool beneath his intense scrutiny. But it was no use. The moment his ravenous gaze dropped to my breasts, they began to tingle and tighten. ‘Stop that.’

His smile widened. ‘I don’t plan to. You really are incredibly beautiful.’

There was an odd note in his voice that trigged a series of rapid heartbeats but I played it down.

‘You’re not so bad on the eyes either.’

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