by Ali Parker
Did she see something I couldn’t see? Or was I just as enamoured with this view the first time I saw it when I was a young kid coming to the beach with my mother?
I couldn’t remember, which seemed a shame.
“It is beautiful,” I agreed.
“How often do you do stuff like this?”
“Like this?” I asked, considering her words. The real answer was never, simply because I never took my boat out with just one woman for company. Most of the time if I was bothering to go to the work to go out on the ocean, I brought a handful of girls with me. Sometimes, I’d bring some of my boys too, and we’d all go our separate ways at the end of the night with the girl of our choosing after spending the entirety of the day drinking and doing things that were bad for us.
“Fairly often,” I said.
“I don’t think I’d ever leave if I had something like this.”
“What’s your home like?” I asked, leaning backward to prop myself up on one elbow while I sipped my drink.
She glanced at me over her shoulder, and her lips pressed together in a firm line. “It’s nothing like this.”
“Yeah, I guess this is a bit extravagant, isn’t it?”
“A bit?” She giggled. I was glad to see her stern expression disappear as soon as it arrived.
I rubbed the back of my neck. “I’ve gotten so used to this kind of thing. Sometimes you forget this isn’t the norm, you know?”
She smiled, and her eyes glistened in the sunlight. Then she leaned back to join me. “I wouldn’t know. I’m not in a position where it’s easy to forget.”
“You are now, Piper. All of this is yours. Your whole year is going to look a lot like this.”
She played with the hemline of her dress. “I suppose so. I don’t think I’ve really adjusted to that yet. It all still feels very surreal to me.”
The sun beating down on us had sweat breaking out all over my skin. I sat up and pulled my shirt off over my head. Then I tossed it onto the deck behind us, put my now-empty mimosa glass off to the side, and laid on my back to clasp my hands behind my back. I closed my eyes. The sun turned the back of my eyelids bright red.
I could feel Piper looking at me. Did she like what she saw?
I cracked open one eye. “Aren’t you warm in that dress?”
Her eyes widened a bit when she realized I’d caught her looking at me—correction, at my abs. I couldn’t blame her. They were pretty magnificent.
She bit her bottom lip. “A bit.”
“So, take it off. There’s nobody to see you.”
“Except for you.”
I shrugged one shoulder and closed my eye again. “I won’t look if that puts you at ease.”
“That’s silly.”
“So is sitting on a boat like this and stopping yourself from taking off your dress all because of me.”
I could practically hear her thinking. Then there was a soft rustling as she took off her dress. I smiled, all smug with my accomplishment, and kept my word. I didn’t open my eyes.
I heard her lay down beside me, and then she said, “You’re allowed to open your eyes. You’re right. I was being silly.”
“You’re sure?” I teased.
She laughed. It was a dazzling sound that mixed with the soft lap of the waves hitting the prow of the boat down below. The chorus of sounds warmed me up on the inside while the sun toasted me on the outside.
“I’m positive,” Piper said.
I opened my eyes and shielded them from the sun. Then I turned my head to look over at her and found her gazing back at me. Her cheeks were pink, either from the sun or because she was shy, and the smile on her lips had my mind racing.
What was she thinking about? What did a girl like Piper James think about all of this?
Did she think me a playboy? Any woman with half a brain surely would, and I knew one thing for certain about Piper. She was smart as hell. Smarter than any girl I’d been with over the last couple of years.
A little light bulb went on in my head. Perhaps that was why I hadn’t voted for her back in December. Perhaps I wanted someone who couldn’t challenge me. That would have made it easier to stay in my comfort zone.
“Nice bikini,” I said when I realized we’d been staring at each other for a good twenty seconds without saying anything.
She giggled and covered her eyes with her forearm.
“What?” I asked.
“Nothing,” she said, her smile still lingering on her lips.
If she were any other girl, I would have taken advantage of her bashfulness and leaned in close. I might have even had the nerve to put a hand on her knee or her hip. Maybe I’d have even dared to kiss her.
But she wasn’t any other girl.
And God damn it all, she had me nervous. Me. Easton Price.
We spent the better half of the afternoon sunbathing and sipping fresh cocktails. At around noon, we indulged in some lunch, taking our time and picking over the meal my two servers had prepared in the small kitchen on board the yacht. There was fresh fruit, a plate of nachos topped with jalapenos that Piper devoured, veggies and dip, and some candied salmon. By the time we were done, all the plates were empty, and we were both rubbing our full bellies with contentment.
Then Piper surprised me by going to the edge of the boat and leaning over the railing to peer down at the water. “So, are we going to do what they do in the movies and jump off the edge, or what?”
“You want to?” I asked.
She nodded enthusiastically. “I’ve never gone swimming in the ocean before.”
“Come with me.” I held out my hand. She took it.
I brought her down a level and then to the back of the boat, where there was a diving board and a slide. “If we go down to the bottom deck, you can just get in. You don’t have to jump or slide or—”
She let go of my hand and went straight for the diving board. “Are you coming, or do you need to go down a level?” She dared me, looking back over her shoulder as she stepped onto the diving board. She walked forward, and it flexed and bounced gently under her weight.
“I most certainly do not.”
She threw her head back and laughed. At that exact moment, a breeze picked up and carried her hair off her shoulders.
She looked like a magnificent creature, poised over the water, her hair dancing all around her like it was alive, possessed, or full of magic. I hated myself for all the romanticized images, but I had them nonetheless, and I was incapable of looking away as she stood with her toes at the very edge of the board and looked down into the bright blue waters below.
Then she let out a cry of excitement and hopped off.
I jumped up onto the diving board and peered down into the water as she popped up to the surface and slicked her hair back. She was laughing, and I realized that I was as well. She swam back a bit to create space for me to jump and treaded water like a pro, bobbing ever so slightly in the gentle waves.
“Jump!” she called, licking water from her lips.
I took a running jump off the board, tucking my knees into my chest and spinning forward to do a somersault in the air before diving in head first. The water broke over me, swallowed me whole, and then flooded all of my senses. Bubbles skittered up my skin to make their way to the surface and so did I.
When I emerged, I sought Piper out immediately.
She smiled bigger than I’d seen in the short time we’d known each other and then splashed me.
“You don’t want to pick this fight, Casanova Girl,” I warned her.
Her smile broadened somehow. Dimples I didn’t know she had appeared in her cheeks, and she splashed me again, this time letting out a nervous laugh as I shielded my eyes and then dove back under the water.
I opened my eyes and went right for her ankles.
I could hear her shrieking with delight when I grabbed onto her. She squirmed away, and I went back to the surface to find her laughing hysterically.
“This feels so good!” she cried
before leaning back and kicking her feet up so that she was floating on her back.
The girl had no idea what she was doing to me.
Her breasts floated above the water, and her string bikini showed a lot of taut, smooth, fair skin. I was so close I could see two freckles on the inside of her right breast. She closed her eyes, and I gazed down the length of her, over her flat stomach, down her navel, her thighs, knees, all the way to her pink painted toes.
“Easton?”
“Yes?”
Piper was watching me. “Is everything okay?”
I nodded. “Yes. Yeah. Everything is fine.”
She chewed the inside of her cheek as if she was deciding whether or not to believe me. Then she closed her eyes once more, let out a deep breath, and tilted her head back to submerge her ears in the water.
It was the same thing I used to do when I was young. I liked to hear all the sounds under the surface. The waves. The whisper of sand far below pulling across the ocean floor. The bubbling sound whenever you or someone near you moved.
She reveled in the moment, and so did I.
The anger that had become my closest friend over the last year suddenly seemed very far away.
Chapter 10
Piper
Easton hauled himself out of the water and onto the back of the boat. I watched his back and shoulders, rippling with muscle. It was impossible to look away. He was a powerful man with tanned skin and one hell of a body.
He turned back to me as I treaded water below. Then he bent at the waist and held out both of his hands. He curled his fingers in a come-hither motion.
I put my hands in his, and he pulled me up out of the water like I weighed no more than a freshly caught trout.
He reached for two fluffy white towels folded neatly on a ledge beside the stairs. He unfolded one and draped it over my shoulders as the sun started to go down.
We must have been swimming for at least two hours. Once I was in the water, I didn’t want to get out, and Easton had been content to keep me company the whole time. It felt so good to have the ocean all around me like that. It was a warm, comforting sensation and completely unlike what I’d been expecting. It felt like I was part of something much bigger than myself.
Easton ran his towel down his face. “Dinner should be ready soon. You hungry?”
“Famished.”
He flashed me a crooked, charming smile. “Swimming will do that to you.”
“I’m always hungry.”
He laughed. “Well, no woman waits on food when I’m around. Let’s go back up to the top deck. We’ll have a drink and sit down to eat. Sound all right?”
“Sounds perfect.”
I followed Easton up to the top deck and stepped in his wet footprints on each step. When we arrived at the top, there was a chill in the air. Easton was prepared because as I hurried to towel off, he grabbed two fleece blankets and set one on each chair at the dining table, which had been completely changed since I saw it last, covered in the dishes from our lunch.
Now it was covered by a sheer white table cloth. In the middle were three burning candles of various heights and freshly cut, pale-pink roses. There was a basket of bread, a side of whipped butter, and a bottle of white wine in a freshly filled ice bucket.
Easton opened the bottle while I finished drying off and pulled my dress on. Then I took a seat beside him and draped the fleece blanket over my legs.
Easton poured me my glass of wine. Then he filled his as I took my first sip. It was fruity, not too dry, and went down easily. I wondered how much it cost.
Probably a couple hundred dollars. At least.
I helped myself to a piece of bread and smothered it with butter. Easton watched out of the corner of his eye, and it occurred to me that he might not be used to being in the company of a woman who liked to eat.
Well, he’s going to get a surprise. If he thought how much I ate at lunch was impressive, he had no idea what was about to transpire. There was no way in hell I was going to sit and daintily pick at a feast that had cost upward of thousands of dollars just to appear ladylike.
Absolutely no way.
My mouth was already watering. I had no idea what meal was going to be served, but the smells wafting out from the kitchen promised a delicious spread. Rich, creamy, and cheesy aromas floated up from down below, and something sweeter punctuated the scent like frying onions.
I sated myself with the piece of bread while we waited for our meal.
“So,” I said.
“So.”
“Football, huh?” I asked, popping the last bite of bread in my mouth.
He chuckled. “Yeah.”
“Do you love it?”
“More than anything in the world.”
I licked a bit of butter off my thumb before remembering there were napkins. He probably thought me an uncultured slob. “What are your plans after football?”
Easton stared at me, frozen like a deer in the headlights, and I hurried to swallow my piece of bread.
“I’m sorry. Was that invasive? You don’t have to answer.”
He held up a hand and shook his head. “No. It’s all right. Truth be told, I have no idea what my next step will be. It’s something my agent has been trying to get me to seriously consider, but every time my mind goes there, I feel…”
“Trapped?” I asked, cocking my head to the side.
He sipped his wine, but his gaze remained fixed on me as he tilted his head back. Then he set the glass back down. “Yes.”
I rested my chin on my hands. “How come? Aren’t there a ton of paths for a pro player like you to go down once you’re finished playing the game?”
Easton shrugged. “Sure. But nothing that interests me.”
“How is that possible?”
Easton played with the edge of the table cloth. “I don’t know. I guess I never spent much time worrying about what life might be like without the game. I never developed any other interests. Well, none that could serve as a good lifestyle once I retired, that is.”
“How do you know? What sort of interests?” I crossed one leg over the other and watched him contently. His good looks made him an easy guy to watch.
Easton rubbed the back of his neck almost bashfully. “Women?”
I burst out laughing. At my explosion of amusement, he chuckled too, and some of his nerves washed away. I slapped my knee with one hand and clutched my aching ribs with the other. When I finally managed to get the laughter under control, I had to dab tears out of the corners of my eyes. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t laugh like that. You just caught me by surprise is all. I suppose women do make for a good interest but not necessarily a good game plan for your future. Unless of course, you aspire to be like Hugh Hefner. Which I realize might be every man’s dream.”
“You said it, not me.”
I was about to clap back with a silly rebuttal, but we were interrupted by Easton’s two servers, who arrived top deck with massive platters covered with silver lids. They set everything down on the table and lifted the lids, revealing dishes of creamy pasta topped with fresh seafood and a massive fresh garden salad.
Easton nodded at the plates. “Dig in.”
The food was some of the most delicious I’d ever eaten, and I considered myself to be a bit of a connoisseur after spending most of my life in the restaurant industry. My father made good pasta, but this? This was out of this world good.
I twirled the noodles around my fork and practically inhaled the entire dish. Easton busied himself with his food, and by the time we were both done, I slumped back in my chair and dabbed at my lips. “Everything was delicious.”
“It was,” he agreed. “And now that we’ve refueled, I think it’s time I learn a bit more about you, Piper James.”
I picked up my wine glass. “What do you want to know?”
“Where are you from?”
“Born and raised in New York City.”
“And what are some of your interests? Aside from
dating wealthy billionaires, of course.”
I giggled and shook my head. “To be honest, I don’t have much time to indulge in my interests. I spend a lot of time working and studying.”
“Oh?”
I nodded but didn’t elaborate. I was afraid to come clean with him. Would he think less of me if he knew how I spent most of my days? Wiping down tables and stocking book shelves were probably not the things the girls he dated spent the majority of their time doing.
“What do you do for work then?” he asked.
Damn it. I should have known better than to try to avoid this question. “Um.”
He watched me, and I sat up a bit straighter. If he was going to look down his nose at me, then that was his problem, not mine. And it was an irrational thought. I trusted him to be kind and not judge me. He hadn’t done anything all day to make me think he would be an ass about this.
The only real risk I was running was that he might figure out that I was after the money and not love, and he might sell me out.
They can’t prove anything, I thought as he nodded at me to go ahead.
“I work as a server at my mom and dad’s restaurant. They opened it together when they were young. I was just a girl at the time. Things have been pretty rough, and I’m expected to take over the business when the time comes. It’s a lot to cope with sometimes. Especially when managing a restaurant is the last thing I want to do. I’ve seen the burden it puts on them, and I can’t help but want to run as far away from that life as possible.”
Easton’s eyebrows crept higher and higher up on his forehead. Then he smiled at me. It was a crooked, kind sort of smile, and it instantly put me at ease. “I can understand wanting to get out from under the expectations of others.”
“Really?”
“Sure.”
“It’s frustrating,” I said. “I don’t want to let them down, but I don’t want to spend the rest of my life fulfilling someone else’s dream other than my own, either. Does that make sense?”
Easton’s eyes flicked back and forth between mine. The hand that had been playing with the edge of the table cloth had long since fallen still. “It makes perfect sense.”