Page 50 of Dagger in the Sea

“Behave tonight,” Alessio said.

“I’ll try my best.” Luca headed for the stairs at the stern to board the launch that waited for them. Gennaro and Miguel, his bodyguard, followed.

Alessio took Adriana’s hand and kissed her once on each cheek. “Join us by five o’clock, okay?”

“Five o’clock,” she repeated.

Alessio lifted his chin at me and joined his family on the launch. They zoomed away on the water, heading for the beach club.

Ciao.

Standing at the railing, Adriana and I watched them until the launch docked at the shore. We turned to each other. My pulse thrummed, and it wasn’t from the hot sun or the double espressos. The two of us. Alone.

“So,” she said.

“So,” I said.

She giggled, a throaty sort of laugh that only cranked up the tension in my muscles. Especially one particular muscle. I needed an outlet or I was going to do something I might regret.

“Is there a gym on this yacht?” I asked.

“Yes, small but fully equipped. Do you have gear with you or do you need—”

“I’m good. Show me the way?”

“I was going to head there too. Nothing like cardio to clear the head and refresh the body.”

“Oh, I agree.”

“There’s a jacuzzi on the top deck we can go to right after if you like.”

“Perfect.”

Adriana and I hit theAllegra’s gym. Her on a spin bike, and me pounding it out on the treadmill. She’d turned on music from the built in stereo system and wasn’t chatty but remained focused on her workout, like me. She finished before I did and got two sports drinks from the mini fridge. Our eyes met as she opened one and popped it into the drink clip of the treadmill for me.

“Thank you,” I mouthed, and she grinned.

She stretched out her sweaty body on a mat, and I kept my eyes pinned out the window to the sea, as ideas on how to make her even more sweaty rioted through my mind.

Dionysus, you fucker.

We both finished and went back to our cabins, changed into swimsuits, and headed for the top sundeck. A jacuzzi was frothing in invitation, a number of padded lounge chairs stretched out over the beechwood decking. Our very own private beach club.

Adriana slid into the jacuzzi. “Perfect,” she purred, her head falling back, her face bathed in sunlight.

“Certainly is.” I got into the warm water next to her.

Shewas perfect. Her long, wet throat glistened in the sun, and all I wanted to do was lick that slick skin down to her full round breasts that now seemed to float in the bubbling water from within that pink bikini top. Watching her body work in the gym was enticing on one level, but this was enticing on a whole other. A prolonged feast for the eyes, the imagination.

I adjusted my sunglasses. “I’m really appreciating the…sudden quiet.”

She glanced at me, squinting, a grin on her lips. “Yes, me too.”

We stayed in the warm water another ten minutes then lazed on the loungers side by side. She took off her top and stretched out in the sun, her long, curvy body, slick and shiny from her spray of sunscreen oil.

Motherfuck.

I took in every line of her. Better than I’d imagined while kissing her the night before. In the bright light of day, my fantasy had been made reality—curvy hips, tight ass, long legs, those full tits. She turned over on her stomach.

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