by Lucy Score
He was getting by on less and less sleep these days given her proximity. He checked on her a few times a night. Just sticking his head in her room, making sure she was safe, comfortable. But every time it was harder than the last to close that door and go back to his own empty bed. A part of him hoped that she’d be awake, that she’d say his name and hold out her hand to him. How could he say no to that?
He wanted things he couldn’t have.
She was a client. She was only twenty. They came from different worlds, and their personal aspirations were not relationship material. He had a business to build. And Waverly? Waverly needed time to find herself, finally, without the interference of family or a lover.
So he stayed silent, as he had when she’d talked about Stanford.
Xavier hadn’t wanted to bring up security concerns of what college life would mean for her plans. Just as he hadn’t wanted to tell her what he’d learned about Ganim yesterday, not while she was enjoying herself like this with the people he loved the most in the world. He didn’t want her to associate his family home with learning that the man obsessed with her was already a murderer.
If Les Ganim were still out there in the world by the end of summer, there was no way Waverly was going to college.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
After a casual lake weekend with The Saints, Xavier felt a bout of culture shock coming on when he boarded the yacht Robert had borrowed for their last-minute cruise.
The azure waters of the Aegean Sea shimmered beneath the white hull, all one hundred and sixty feet of her. Waverly accepted the hand of a steward, who introduced himself as Leonidas, and climbed off the tender onto the lower deck of the yacht. Xavier followed. The deck, a glossy teak, climbed twin staircases and continued around both the starboard and port sides of the boat on the main level.
There was yet another level above that. Each with a wraparound deck and dark reflective windows promising no paparazzi lens could penetrate the privacy of the interior.
“Think this would fit on the lake at home?” Xavier quipped, peering up behind his aviators.
“Just a nice, quiet family vacation,” Waverly sighed.
“Your parents don’t do anything small.”
While a second steward unloaded their bags from the tender, Leonidas led them up the port stairs to the main deck. They walked aft almost the entire length of the yacht, passing a covered outdoor deck scattered with loungers. A large sofa in marine-grade white fabric faced a large teak table and chairs that sat just outside a wall of retractable glass doors. They entered what Xavier assumed was the main salon. A grand space for grand people was the only way he could describe it. Two seating areas were organized on opposite sides of the room. For casual conversations, there was a gigantic sectional sofa, again in white, and an uncomfortable-looking divan. Glass-doored bookcases that would make a librarian weep housed important tomes as well as trashy paperbacks and stacks of fresh, glossy magazines.
On the opposite side of the space was a bar with backlit shelves filled with every high-end liquor known to man. Here dark leather club chairs and a low, white sofa were clustered around an ornate coffee table. The rugs, antique Persian, offered a soft wash of color in navy and gold.
Beyond the living space was the salon’s dining area with service for twelve with tufted leather scroll back chairs around a glossy walnut table that mimicked the inlay of the room’s ceiling. Wide windows ran the length of the salon. Unshaded, they invited the Greek sun inside.
“Holy crap,” Waverly whispered.
“Be cool, Sinner. You’re used to this kind of insanity, remember?” Xavier teased.
Leonidas led the way down an interior stairway. “Ms. Sinner, you are in here,” he said in his thick accent. He opened a stateroom door for her. “Mr. Saint, you are across the hall here. Mr. and Mrs. Sinner are awaiting you aft on the upper deck.”
Waverly thanked him and ducked through her door.
Xavier ignored his room and followed Waverly into hers. It was spacious for boat living. The queen-sized bed buried under ivory linens had a curved, padded headboard that reached the ceiling. A long window offered a sea level view over the built-in dresser. The floor was some kind of zebrawood. An attached bath was accessed through a door next to the bed. Two built-in wardrobes and another dresser framed a flat screen TV on the wall opposite the bed and a silk upholstered couch took up most of the space on the interior wall.
“Didn’t security already sweep the yacht, X?” Waverly reminded him.
Twice actually. The Sea Goddess had been swept for stowaways, listening devices, and explosives. Each crewmember had been vetted and required to sign a non-disclosure agreement. In addition to the usual staff, the crew now included two contract security personnel from an established Athens firm who would shadow Robert and Sylvia when they left the boat.
It had been impossible to keep the news of the Sinner family vacation from the media, but keeping the yacht moored offshore cut down on any unwanted paparazzi attention.
“Just doing my job, Angel.”
“I thought you were trying to figure out the best way to sneak in here at night,” she said, batting her lashes at him.
He frowned at her, but she’d spent too much time with his sisters and shrugged it off with a laugh.
“At least tell me this,” she amended. “Do you think about…us? About what we did?”
“Only every second of every day,” Xavier admitted. He knew what it felt like to have his hands on those breasts, to have her breathless and wrapped around him. To hear his name on her lips as she came.
She let out a breath. “Thank God. I thought I was the only one.”
He closed the distance between them and brushed her hair over her shoulder. A gentle, intimate gesture that had the tops of his fingers skimming her neck. “Almost makes me wish the timing were different.”
“Yeah, me too. Almost.”
He grinned. “Get changed, and we’ll go upstairs… or whatever you call it on a floating palace.”
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Xavier’s room was nearly identical to Waverly’s, but his adjoining bathroom—head, he corrected—didn’t have the cauldron-like soaking tub. He changed out of his travel-worn suit and pulled on a pair of golf shorts in a dark gray and a light blue button down with short sleeves. He debated and then tucked his gun into a waistband holster. He’d keep it on him for now, at least until they were underway.
Waverly was waiting in the hallway, and he gave her outfit an approving nod that had her rolling her eyes. He was thankful that her cover-up was an ankle length dress that hid her bikini from him. The last thing he needed was to be distracted by her spectacular body in front of her parents.
They found Sylvia and Robert lounging on an open deck, frothy pink beverages in hand. Sylvia was curled on the sunken horseshoe-shaped couch against plush white cushions. Huge Dolce and Gabbana sunglasses hid most of her face. She wore a short white kimono over a high cut white one-piece bathing suit. Her blonde hair was pinned up and covered by a black and white scarf. She was the epitome of classic Hollywood style.
Robert wore an unbuttoned white linen shirt and walking shorts in navy. He was reading a newspaper and smoking a cigar on a lounger with an unobstructed coastal view.
Beyond him, Santorini rose from the water, a dazzling array of white washed buildings that sat like sugar cubes chiseled into cliff. Two blue domes the exact shade of the sea below topped two tiny churches.
“You guys sure can pick a spot,” Waverly said by way of a greeting.
“There you are!” Sylvia gained her feet and tottered over on ridiculous heeled sandals. “Can you believe this is our first family vacation in four years?” Sylvia air kissed Waverly’s cheeks and then gave Xavier the same greeting.
Robert folded his newspaper and wandered over, martini glass in hand.
“Hello, sweetheart,” he greeted Waverly with an awkward hug and then offered his hand to Xavier. �
��Who’s ready for a drink? Talia makes a delicious grapefruit martini.”
Xavier declined Robert’s offer as did Waverly, but they did accept tall glasses of ice water that Leonidas appeared with.
“Empty, Leo!” Sylvia wiggled her glass in Leonidas’ face, and Xavier saw Waverly wince. She snatched the glass out of her mother’s hand and turned a much warmer smile on for the steward’s benefit.
“I’m sorry, Leonidas. It looks like my mother is in vacation mode already.”
“It is no problem,” he said with a white-toothed grin. “I will be happy to bring a refill.”
“Maybe a water, as well,” Waverly suggested.
“My pleasure.”
“Xavier,” Robert said, clapping a hand on his shoulder. “Why don’t we take a tour of the sun deck?” He pointed up yet another set of stairs that led to the very top of the yacht.
“Of course.” Xavier knew a man-to-man talk when he saw one and wondered what this one was regarding. He was entirely unprepared for the wave of guilt that crashed over him. He’d slept with the man’s daughter, a man who was paying him to protect her, and in that moment, he felt lower than Douchebag Joe. He’d betrayed the trust of a client, crossed a line, and there was no way to fix it. Even ensuring that it never happened again wasn’t good enough.
He just hoped to God whatever Robert wanted to talk about wasn’t how Xavier had made love to his daughter and refused to find her another security team.
Mid-crisis of conscience, Xavier turned back to Waverly and Sylvia. “Behave ladies,” he said in mock sternness.
Sylvia giggled, but Waverly looked a little sick, and he wondered if she was thinking the same thing he was.
“We’ll do our best. Come on, Mom. Let’s see what kind of snacks we can find,” Waverly said, steering her mother toward the doors.
Xavier followed Robert up the stairs and onto an open deck with a small pool, a hot tub, and yet another lounging area. The area surrounding the hot tub was a series of pads, turning the entire space into one large bed. Huge colorful pillows were stowed in a cabinet built into the deck.
Robert took a seat on a white lounger while Xavier positioned himself at the rail facing the stairway.
“I understand the investigation is proceeding,” Robert remarked, his expression unreadable.
Xavier had checked in with Micah when they’d landed in Santorini at the ungodly hour of three a.m. in L.A.
“It’s proceeding, but we’re not seeing the results that we need yet.”
Robert nodded and stared into his glass. “When we hired you, I was mostly doing it to keep my wife happy,” Robert said.
He didn’t seem to require an answer, so Xavier stayed silent.
“I didn’t really grasp the physical danger Waverly was in until Friday night. When I heard those explosions and knew my daughter was still on the carpet, my heart stopped.” He shook his head.
Again, Xavier stayed silent.
“I haven’t done the best job protecting her,” Robert admitted. “It’s par for the course in this industry. There will always be someone who has unhealthy feelings toward you. And when you’re used to something, it’s not as scary as maybe it should be. But you identified a threat the rest of us would have ignored. Without you, Waverly could have been snatched off that carpet.” The man’s shoulders slumped. “I could be looking for my missing daughter right now instead of enjoying a few days on the Mediterranean with her. I owe you for that.”
Xavier’s guilt wouldn’t allow for compliments. “It’s all part of my job. I’m not going to rest until we find Ganim and neutralize him.”
“You’ll do what you need to do when the time comes,” Robert said. Xavier knew what the man was saying, just as he knew how far he was willing to go to keep Waverly safe.
“I will.”
Robert gave him a nod. “I’m counting on you. Waverly is lucky to have you.”
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Dinner was a candlelit affair on deck with the lights of Santorini twinkling off the port side. Tonight they would weigh anchor and start their leisurely tour of the islands. Waverly hoped she could survive it. Paradise just wasn’t paradise when her parents were involved.
She thought about her good-bye with the Saints. It had been surprisingly emotional for her. In a way, she felt like she was leaving her own family rather than Xavier’s. And she wasn’t ready to let go. She told herself it was because they’d been so welcoming, so blissfully normal and kind. Carol had given her one last hug on the airport’s tarmac. “I know I’ll be seeing you again,” she’d whispered in Waverly’s ear. And Waverly fervently hoped that Carol was right.
She glanced over at her mother as Sylvia hefted her second martini. She forced herself not to worry about it. Her father was aboard. He could deal with a drunken Sylvia for once. She speared a delicate piece of roasted eggplant and glanced across the table at Xavier. Her mother had insisted he join them for dinner. She had also insisted that their first dinner aboard be formal attire.
So it was out of the sexy summer shorts and back into a sexy suit for Xavier. Waverly had donned a backless black halter dress with plenty of sparkle and not a lot of skirt. She knew her mother would approve, and Xavier would squirm. It was the perfect choice.
He’d barely taken his gaze off of her all evening. They’d had no chance to speak privately though. She was dying to know what her father had cornered him about. For just a split-second, Xavier’s face had betrayed him, revealing the guilt he felt most likely over their “transgression”.
She’d tried to see it his way. Xavier was a Boy Scout. Rules didn’t just exist to be occasionally observed. They provided a code to live by. By slipping and sleeping with her—a client—he’d broken a rule and an important one.
But damn it, when something felt that life altering, she was having trouble seeing it as a negative. It had been something they both wanted, and, sure, it made being around her parents a little more awkward, but it wasn’t as if Xavier had taken advantage of her or had a serious breach of ethics… as both her parents continued to have.
But Xavier held himself to a higher standard. And if she were being honest, it was one of the things she found most attractive about him. She’d never known anyone like him, so committed to integrity, so determined to do the right thing.
“How’s your sea bass, Xavier?” Sylvia asked, preening as if she had steamed the fish herself.
“Delicious, Sylvia. Thank you again for the invitation.”
Waverly met his gaze across the linen topped table. Yesterday they had dined on bacon from a paper towel, drinking coffee out of mismatched mugs. Tonight they dined with china and crystal on a five-star “red carpet-friendly” meal prepared by a private chef, and she knew without a doubt they both were wishing they were crowded around that kitchen table in Idle Lake.
Reading her mind, Xavier gave her a discreet smile.
“Darling, your father and I are going ashore on Ios tomorrow for a little shopping. Will you come?” Sylvia asked hopefully.
Waverly glanced at Xavier, who gave a subtle shake of his head. She figured there was no way he was letting her off this yacht without an army before they flew out for her London premiere.
“I think I’ll stay behind. The jet lag is bound to catch up with me tomorrow,” Waverly told her. Sylvia’s face crumbled.
“But if you’re shopping, maybe you could find something for me?” Waverly asked.
“Of course!” Her mother was cheerful again. She loved to buy gifts, the sillier the better, and was actually quite thoughtful about it. “What would you like?”
“Something that you see, and it makes you think of me,” Waverly decided.
“Oh, what fun!” Sylvia clapped her hands together. She’d gotten a little sun today but not enough to change her ivory complexion to pink. Waverly watched as her father put one of his hands over his wife’s and brought it to his lips.
The last time she’d witnes
sed any kind of physical affection between them was… most likely on the red carpet. Just for show. What had begun as a red-hot love affair had morphed into a never-ending volatile argument and then, in recent years, an icy indifference as they’d each floated along sharing the same space, the same town, the same job.
Maybe a family vacation would be the beginning of a newer, healthier relationship between the Sinners?
Waverly’s short-term hope vanished when Sylvia handed over her empty martini glass to Talia, a tall, lithe woman with dark hair and eyes. Both her parents’ vices in one package. A talented bartender for her mother and a beautiful young woman for her father. Waverly prayed her father wouldn’t pursue anything there. He had a weakness, and she worried that Talia’s exotic olive skin would be too much for him to resist while Sylvia drank herself to unconsciousness.
“Oh! Did I mention that the chef has fresh baklava for dessert tonight?” Sylvia asked the table brightly.
Waverly perked back up.
“None for you, sweetheart. That premiere dress has zero give in it,” Sylvia said wagging a finger at Waverly.
“Thanks for always watching out for my dresses, Mom,” Waverly grumbled.
“You’ll thank me when you see the pictures and no one is speculating that you’re pregnant.”
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Depressed after watching everyone else fork up delicious, air-thin layers of baklava, Waverly excused herself early for bed. Her mother was already slurring, and for once, she was determined to not be the caretaker.
She kicked off her sandals and flopped back onto the bed. She’d change out of her dress in a few minutes. She just wanted to lay in the quiet now.
The tired was setting in. She felt it like a fog in the brain, a heaviness in her limbs. It was hard to believe that she’d run halfway around the world just to avoid a man. A dangerous one, of course, but still just one human being had the power to keep her locked in a cage.