by Holly Rayner
Her immediate thought was that it had to be Matteo—even though she knew it couldn’t be. That was her text tone.
So she wasn’t expecting much—or rather, didn’t really know what to expect—when she picked up the phone and read what was there.
Hello Josie, this is George, Matteo’s assistant. He’s had me cancel all his afternoon appointments today in hopes that you’ll spend the day with him. Please let me know if I can send a car for you, and where it should be sent.
Josie was torn. On the one hand, her heart leaped: secondhand contact from Matteo was contact all the same. On the other hand, she couldn’t help but feel slighted. He had told his assistant to text her? Sure, he didn’t text. But if he wanted her to spend time with him, why couldn’t he call?
It felt like a power play. But a power play didn’t feel consistent with what she knew about him so far. It didn’t feel consistent with the personality of the man she had been building in her head by remembering their interactions all morning.
Josie hesitated. She wanted to go; she knew that much. But if he was going to play games, why shouldn’t she?
She set her phone down on the kitchen table and sat down in a dining chair. She looked at the phone as though it were some foreign object that didn’t belong to her. Had it been any other man she knew exactly what she would do; he contacts her through his assistant instead of contacting her himself? She says no. He tries to play games? She says no. He does anything this early on to make her doubt his genuine interest? She says no.
But this wasn’t any other man. And, as she remembered the tenderness of their goodbye the night before, she sighed and picked up the phone.
She entered her address and said that she would be free.
It was barely a second later when George replied. He told her to be ready at 1 p.m. and that the car would meet her outside.
She canceled her plans with her “friend” and began to get ready. George had given her no information about what the day would entail, and she had a feeling that was intentional. Part of her wanted to send a couple more messages asking—after all, hadn’t her agent said that George was a “nice boy”? But if Matteo was trying to surprise her with the day’s activities, she didn’t want to put his assistant in an awkward position.
Still, it made it difficult to choose something to wear. She ended up deciding on a short, flirty sundress paired with flats just in case they ended up walking much more than anticipated, the way they had the day before at the aquarium. And, when 1 p.m. came around, she stifled a surprising amount of nervousness and headed downstairs to meet the car.
The driver was polite, but not talkative. Josie didn’t ask him where they were going, and he didn’t offer. Instead, she just looked out the windows and tried to figure it out.
Miami was beautiful in the afternoon. Especially looking at it in the comfortable air-conditioned interior of the limousine. She didn’t know the city all that well, even though she had lived here a few years, so it took her a while to figure out that they were headed toward the city’s largest and most expensive marina.
When they got there, the driver stopped the car and opened the door. Hopping out onto the sidewalk, Josie instinctively looked for Matteo, but he was nowhere to be seen. Instead, she saw a young man with a nervous, energetic expression on his face. He was headed right for her.
“You must be Josie,” he said.
“I am,” she replied, guarded. “And you must be…”
The young man smiled widely. “I’m George. Matteo is getting the boat ready to take out. I’m sure he would’ve called you himself, but he’s been in meetings all morning. I’ll take you to him, if you don’t mind?”
Josie nodded, wary and relieved at the same time. She accepted George’s explanation, though she still didn’t feel it was quite sufficient.
Josie was fairly familiar with boats in general. There had been plenty of shoots in the last few years on boats—and she had always taken every opportunity before then to get out on the water as well. But none of the craft she had ever boarded prepared her in the slightest for this.
It wasn’t the size of it—as it wasn’t the largest boat in the Marina. There were several ostentatious super-yachts that Josie was relieved weren’t her destination. No, the sailboat that George left her in front of looked to be in the 50-footer range, which was decently large, but not so large as to be unwieldy. What set it apart was the sheer class and style of the vessel. The clean, classic lines were nothing short of beautiful. It was a work of art on water, with a deep navy hull, classic teak decking, and aquamarine sails that felt like a mixture of the sky and sea.
And there, absorbed in checking the rigging and equipment, was Matteo.
Josie didn’t call out to him right away. As much as she wanted his attention, watching him work was hypnotic. His focus on the task in front of him was deeply attractive. And even if it hadn’t been, the way his body looked under his tight, light, casual sailing attire as he went about his tasks was a sight to behold.
Eventually, he noticed her. Josie hoped he didn’t realize how long she’d been standing there, but if he did, the immediate smile on his face as he saw her made her sure he didn’t mind.
He moved toward her and held out his hand to help her aboard.
“You made it,” he said.
Josie smiled. “I did,” she said, grasping his hands and boarding the sailboat. “This was all a little cloak and dagger for a sailing trip, don’t you think?”
“I wanted it to be a surprise. I hope you don’t mind?”
Josie laughed—out of relief, mostly. She had let doubt creep in—doubt that he was the man she had remembered—and that their evening last night had been at least in part a result of wishful thinking.
But the man standing in front of her was exactly the man she remembered. All the excitement, all the butterflies that had fluttered in her stomach the night before, returned.
He gave her a tour of the sailboat, and, as impressive as it was, what she enjoyed seeing more than all of the opulence and custom touches was Matteo’s clear enthusiasm for the craft. She couldn’t help but wonder if he had, in fact, been deeply involved in designing it. Sure, even from knowing him just the last few days it was clear he had an extremely busy schedule. But he seemed to know so much about it, and how every little thing worked, that she couldn’t help but suspect that this was the kind of thing he would make time for.
And, apparently, so was she.
She liked that they didn’t have any crew with them. She was impressed that he had managed to rig a craft this size for single-handed sailing, and she was glad for it, too. As wonderful as yesterday had been, so much of it had been spent in the presence of others. The aquarium, the restaurant, the clubs… At all of those places they had been surrounded with people who wanted to look at them, and talk to them, and steal his attention away from her. As Matteo guided the craft out into open water, the most luxurious element of the entire situation was simply having Matteo’s undivided attention.
Well, nearly undivided. He had to expend a certain amount of energy on sailing the ship—but even that felt like a bonus. Watching him prepare for their afternoon trip had been enjoyable, watching him actually sail them out into the deep blue was only more so. Flute of champagne in hand, perched on a comfortable chair in the cockpit, Josie enjoyed watching him, and his body, hard at work. She didn’t try to distract him with conversation. She wasn’t sure how anything could be better than this.
She wasn’t sure how much time passed while she sat happily, feeling the warmth of the sun on her face. It could’ve been five minutes, or it could have been an hour. All she knew was that eventually Matteo seemed satisfied, hit a few buttons, and then headed over to where she lay. He moved another chair so that it was close to hers—nearly touching—and took his place beside her.
“Enjoying the champagne?” he asked.
She smiled and nodded. “And the view.”
He looked around them. “There’s
a lot to enjoy.”
Josie waited till his gaze returned to her and then winked. “There certainly is.”
He laughed, and she was struck by how much she loved the sound of it, as she was every time she heard it.
“So where have you taken us?” she asked.
“You want GPS coordinates?”
“More just wondering what makes this bit of ocean different from all the other bits of ocean…”
“Finish your champagne,” he said, “and I’ll show you.”
She did as she was told and enjoyed the firmness of his hand in hers as he helped her off of her chair. They went around to the bow, the boat swaying gently with each wave. When they got there, Matteo took her right to the edge of the sailboat, braced himself against the safety line, and wrapped his arm around her waist to keep her standing steady.
The feeling of his arm around her brought back memories of the night before—watching the movie, in the car, dancing in the club. But the sweet memories were banished when she followed his gaze out to the water off the bow of the boat.
Josie gasped.
“I’m sure you’ve seen them hundreds of times before,” Matteo said with a grin.
She shook her head, speechless. No more than fifty feet from where they stood, a pod of dolphins swam alongside the boat. A sight Josie had always wanted to see was playing out before her eyes.
“Really?” Matteo said, grinning broader still. “Well I’m glad I got to be the one to take you out to see them. I know some people who know some people who were able to tell me where this pod would be. Luckily, they were right.”
Josie nodded dumbly. There were any number of witty, flirty things she could say right now, but she didn’t say any of them. She was too overwhelmed by everything around her.
The dolphins were beautiful—jumping, playing, and seeming to race the boat. Seeing them in person was better than any photograph or video ever could be. She hadn’t expected that, but all the same it was true. And the joy of watching the creatures mixed with the pleasant feeling of the warm wind rustling her sundress, and the gentle strength of Matteo’s arm around her waist.
He didn’t rush her. She was glad for that. Whether he sensed just how happy she was in this moment or not, she didn’t know. All she really knew was that he waited, and let her take it in.
After a while—again, Josie couldn’t say how long it had been—Matteo gave her a little squeeze and brought his mouth close to her ear.
“Hold on tight, I’ll be back in a minute.”
And with that, he was gone. Instantly, she missed his arm around her waist.
A few moments later, Josie noticed the boat began to slow. It happened so gradually and smoothly that at first, she couldn’t be sure that was what she felt. But as the boat grew slower and slower, it became clear. She worried at first that the dolphins would leave—they must be going somewhere, after all. But as the boat slowed down, the dolphins slowed with it. And by the time they were more or less at a complete stop, the dolphins had begun swimming in circles.
She heard some noises and felt some reverberations in the boat that must have been an anchor being dropped and set, and she began to get excited. By the time Matteo returned, swimsuit in hand, her excitement was barely containable.
He held up the swimsuit and raised his eyebrows. “Don’t want to disappoint our new friends, do you?” he said with a smile.
She plucked the swimsuit from his hands and pranced past him. “Oh,” she called back over her shoulder. “I never disappoint.”
Chapter 12
Matteo
Matteo knew that looking amazing in swimsuits—and anything else, really—was part of what Josie did for a living. Still, he was amazed at just how good she was at it. The bikini fit her perfectly, and he hoped she didn’t mind the hungry way he couldn’t help looking at her. The way she kept smiling, whenever she caught his glam, certainly implied that she didn’t.
He checked the anchor before he joined her, not wanting to become yet another cautionary tale about a billionaire who got lost at sea while trying to impress a woman with dolphins. Still, it would have been worth it for the look on her face as he watched her now.
This had been a good idea, he knew, as they played in the water. Just as it had in the aquarium the day before, Josie’s enthusiasm overflowed, and he got to see a side of her entirely without pretense. Of course he enjoyed it when she looked at him, and he loved being the focus of her attention, but watching her enjoyment was an even better feeling than that.
They played in the warm ocean until the dolphins tired and swam off. Matteo, not used to swimming this much, was beginning to tire, and he could see that Josie was too. They were about fifteen feet from the swimming platform of the sailboat, and Josie was closer to it than he was. Still, she swam over to him instead of back toward the boat.
It felt good to have her so close to him. He could see how exhausted she was, but also how satisfied. As he had so enjoyed doing on the bow of the ship, Matteo wound his arm around her, holding her up in the water with one arm, while keeping them both afloat with the other and his legs.
She wound one of her arms around his shoulder, and with her other hands cleared some of his wet hair from his face. Her attention on his face was intense, and he enjoyed that about it. So much of the mask she wore seemed designed to play down or defuse that intensity, he saw now. He wished he had the words to tell her what a shame that was.
He leaned his face down toward hers and was glad when she raised her own in response.
It was a sweet, salty kiss, matching the gentle warmth of the late afternoon sun out on the ocean, and the little splinters of its light that the wavelets around them reflected onto her perfect face.
They parted after a moment, and only after a long, prescient moment did he speak again.
“Ready for dinner?” he asked, and she nodded wordlessly in response.
He started toward the boat, pulling her along with him. When they reached it, and climbed out, he enjoyed watching her towel off and wrap the towel around her waist. He must have been watching a little too closely because after a bit she laughed, which made him laugh too.
“You said something about dinner?” she said.
“Right this way.”
He set up a table in the cockpit so they could continue to enjoy the fresh air. It seemed a waste to go below deck, even as gorgeous as the dining area was. Besides, he loved watching the way she enjoyed the sun and the wind. He could tell it was renewing her, and he loved the feeling of being the one who had made that happen.
Matteo went to the galley to retrieve the dinner that George had arranged. It was a gourmet concoction, but he couldn’t imagine it would hold a candle to the enjoyment of the day they had already experienced.
When he got back out to the cockpit, he saw that little wisps of hair had begun to dry around Josie’s face, which was turned up toward the sun, eyes closed.
She hadn’t heard him, and he almost didn’t want to disturb her, she looked so peaceful. But she must have heard as he set their plates down on the table, for she opened her eyes, looked at him, and smiled.
“This is a pretty good move,” she said to him as they ate.
“What is?”
She gestured around them. “This. The boat, the dolphins…”
“You think I need to take women out on a boat in order to seduce them?”
She laughed. “It’d be a bit of a waste if you didn’t…”
He chuckled. “Then I guess this gorgeous boat that I enjoy sailing is a terrible waste.”
She looked at him skeptically, and then looked down at her swimsuit and back up at him. “You’re saying you’ve never brought a woman on this boat?”
He laughed again. “First of all, do you really think I’d give you a swimsuit that some other woman had worn? I bought that for you.”
“You bought it?” she said with a hint of a smile.
“Oh, all right,” he said. “George bought it.”
“He has good taste,” she said.
Matteo couldn’t help but grin. “He had an easy task.”
Now it was Josie’s turn to laugh.
“But no,” Matteo went on. “I’ve never brought another woman onto this boat. At least, not like this. I’ve thrown a few little parties on here, with close friends. But I’ve never brought a woman out here alone.”
Josie seemed to be deciding whether to push the issue. Matteo was glad when she did.
“Why not?” she asked.
He fixed her with his steady gaze. She had responded well the day before to sincerity and openness. As light and flirtatious as she could be, he was beginning to suspect that this was more the way to her heart than returning her banter was. And he might not know much about developing something more long-term with a woman, but he felt instinctively that this was the way.
“Sailing on my own is one of the few things that really feel like mine. I spend all my time impressing others, thinking about how to make them think of me the way I want them to. I don’t want to bring that here.”
Josie sat with that for a moment. Her flippant responses were always quick, but her more genuine ones took a little bit of consideration, he noticed.
“And there’s never been a woman who you wanted to share that with?” she said softly.
“No,” he said. “There hasn’t been.”
Josie grinned and gave him a knowing look. “So, does that mean I’m your first?”
Matteo laughed. “In a manner of speaking, I suppose it does.”
She swirled the champagne in her flute, watching the bubbles. When she spoke again, she spoke just loudly enough to be heard over the soft white noise of the wind and the waves.
“I think I like the sound of that.”
“I hope you do.”
She leaned back in her chair, the delicious dinner before her apparently not as interesting to her at the moment as watching him was. Again, she showed him that unfiltered intensity. It was electric.
“It must be nice,” she said after a few long moments. “Having a place like this where you can go and just feel like yourself. No acting, no pretending, no…putting yourself on display.”