David nodded at a cupboard. “Could you get out a couple champagne glasses?”
While Natalia took out two champagne flutes, he opened the refrigerator and pulled out a bottle of champagne. “I bought pink champagne,” he said.
“If I didn’t know better, I would think you were trying to impress me,” she said, stifling a giggle at the expensive-looking bottle.
“You know how we nouveau-riche wannabes are,” he said. “It’s an eternal struggle, trying to impress all you blue bloods. Tell me if it’s working.”
“I promise I will.”
David took the bottle in one hand, the enormous picnic basket in the other, and disappeared back up the stairs, taking them two at a time. “Come on. We’re going to have a picnic,” he called over his shoulder.
With the glasses in her hand and a bubbly laugh in her chest, Natalia followed him.
At the stern there was a table and benches coming out of the wall, and they each sat down on their own bench. While David peeled the pink foil off the bottle and then started untwisting the wire, Natalia examined the contents of the basket.
She furrowed her brow. “How many women were you planning to feed with this?” she asked as she started pulling out plates of air-dried prosciutto, salami, bresaola, and various cheeses, plus crocks of olives, roasted vegetables and pesto, and a warm bread basket.
“Just one hungry banker,” David said, watching her take out piles of focaccia and still more cheese.
“Wow,” she said when she found a butter-stained bag filled with miniature savory pies that smelled heavenly.
“Hmm. Maybe I should have bought red wine,” David said, eyeing all the meats and cheeses.
“This will be perfect,” Natalia said with a smile. “But this table isn’t big enough; there isn’t room for all the food.”
They ended up each filling a plate and taking it up to the foredeck, where they spread out a blanket. Natalia sat down in lotus position. David handed her a glass, filled his own, and raised it in a toast.
“Tell me more about how you became one of the world’s most successful venture capitalists,” Natalia said.
“What do you want to know?” he asked. It pleased her that he didn’t try to downplay his success, didn’t hide behind any false modesty.
“I know why, but I don’t know how. And I’ve never met anyone who’s done what you’ve done,” she said between bites. Lord, it was so good. And the champagne went right to her head. “Started from scratch, I mean.”
“Mmm,” he said. “I’ve always worked to support myself. When I was in high school and my classmates were going on tropical vacations or ski trips during breaks, I was working, every break, every weekend. That’s still how it is.”
Natalia took a big bite of tangy taleggio cheese. She was one of the people who’d always gone away on vacation. Although obviously she’d always known on some level that that wasn’t a universal, that some people couldn’t afford to, she’d still never really reflected on it.
“I saved as much money as I could from my earnings,” David continued. “I started buying stocks as soon as I figured out how, and I made some really good picks even back when I was going to Skogbacka.”
Natalia wondered what David had thought about the famous—or infamous, depending on how you looked at it—boarding school. Both Peter and Alexander had gone there. And her father was a trustee. You could say that the men in her family had Skogbacka in their blood. She’d gone to one of the other boarding schools, one that was considered milder and gentler, more suitable for the family’s women, or girls, as her mother called them. But both schools were expensive, and David—the son of a single mother, if she remembered correctly—could only have attended on a scholarship. She wondered how he’d been affected by what must have been a tremendous source of alienation. The elitist boarding school educated the children of the well-to-do, the really rich, people with noble titles, royal pedigrees, and manor houses. As the son of a single mother, David couldn’t have had an easy time there.
“I kept that up when I was at the Stockholm School of Economics,” David said, and Natalia pushed her other thoughts aside. David Hammar, grinning slightly as he sat across from her, and radiating power and vitality on the bow of a very pricey yacht, was hardly a man to be pitied. “So, all throughout school—as I worked my other side jobs—I kept buying and selling stocks. And I started building a network of contacts.” He shrugged. “That’s how it started. I studied abroad in London, where I met Gordon Wyndt . . .” He looked to see if she recognized the name.
“I know who that is,” she said. The last time she’d checked, Wyndt was number forty-five on the list of the world’s richest people. Having a man like that as a mentor was probably exactly what a hungry young student without his own family connections needed.
“Gordon taught me a lot. After the School of Economics I earned a scholarship to Harvard, so I went to the US and studied there. I worked at a restaurant to support myself. And I was a business analyst for an American venture capitalist.” He made a face. “I didn’t get much sleep during those years.”
“But was it fun?”
He nodded. “A lot of fun.”
Warmth spread through her chest. She recognized that pleasure, that love of work, and maybe that was why it was so rewarding to talk to him. They were so similar, which was downright crazy. But she saw herself in his passion, in his drive, and the conversation flowed so effortlessly. She felt comfortable with him. A little affected by him, yes; charmed—definitely. But not awkward or self-conscious.
“And then I founded HC,” he said with a beaming grin, maybe the first big smile she’d seen on him. “That’s when I really got to work.”
Natalia laughed, sipped her champagne, and exhaled a deep, contented sigh. This was about as close to the perfect day as you could get.
David looked at Natalia, sitting there on the bow of Michel’s boat, sipping champagne, and looking so genuinely content. Somehow she had managed to coax out of him the thing he normally didn’t like to talk about: the early years. He wondered how much she actually knew about what had happened at Skogbacka. But then she had carefully guided him through the conversation, and he had babbled on. Now she looked happy and a little giggly, and maybe that should put him on his guard, but he was feeling happy, too.
“What do you see yourself doing in ten years?” she asked.
David took his glass and leaned on one elbow, just like her. “No idea,” he said. “Working around the clock, I suppose. Maybe I will have stopped chasing other people’s money and just be investing my own.”
“Don’t you want to have a family?”
David opened his mouth and then shut it again. “No,” he clipped. “Not if I can help it.”
She cocked her head to the side. “Alrighty then,” she said quietly.
God, how wonderful that she just accepted that. He couldn’t keep track of how many women stubbornly insisted he would change.
“I’ve been thinking about you the last few days,” he said.
Her eyes started twinkling. “Really?” she said. “I’d almost forgotten about you.”
Her lie was so flagrant that David laughed. She sipped her champagne with her eyelashes lowered and a smile at the corner of her lips. He set down his glass, lay down on his back, put his hands behind his head, and thought that he could go back to being his usual calculating self tomorrow, but not now, not here. He couldn’t remember when he’d last been this relaxed. And he was just as surprised each time he saw Natalia and ended up having so much fun.
“What?” she asked.
He kept watching the sky. The sun was still warm, but the first star was twinkling way up in the east. “I just feel good,” he said to the sky.
Seagulls soared high above them. The waves lapped against the hull, and David felt her looking at him, so he turned his head to her. He looked into her big, slightly champagne-tipsy eyes. He’d been right, he thought. Her librarian hairdo hadn’t held up
very well in the wind out on the water. Loose locks of hair fluttered around her face, and the bun was sagging at her neck.
“I love the archipelago,” she said, and he thought her voice sounded breathless.
“When I did my military service a hundred years ago, I spent a lot of time at sea,” he replied, looking out over the water. “I love it out here. I’d almost forgotten. I never come out anymore.”
“I thought you seemed comfortable on the water,” she said. “But this isn’t your boat?”
“It’s Michel’s. He loves flashy things like this. At the moment, I guess I can’t blame him.”
“No, it’s wonderful,” she said.
The words hung between them.
David turned his head again. He surveyed the clean, classic features of her face and her strong, slender neck before continuing downward. He caught a glimpse of her small, hard nipples through the almost transparent fabric of her blouse. The sight sent a wave of desire coursing through him before he also noticed that Natalia had goose bumps and realized that she was probably more cold than drowning in desire for him.
He wasn’t as smart as he thought, he realized, sitting up.
Natalia watched David get up from their little picnic. With her hand over her eyes, she watched him while he quickly and efficiently gathered up the leftovers.
“Stay here,” he said. “I’ll be right back.” He disappeared into the cabin, and she sat up. She rubbed her arms. It was much colder now.
She heard him rummaging around down there for a bit before he came back up.
He’d put on a thick sweater and held out a similar one to her. “I’m brewing coffee. I hope you saved room for dessert.”
Natalia pulled on the sweater, which was much too big, and snuggled into the warmth. “Thank you,” she said.
David went back down and returned with a thermos under his arm and two coffee cups and a cooler in his hands. He opened the cooler and looked inside.
“What’s that?” Natalia asked.
“I have no idea,” he said, pulling out a cup with a lid. “Believe it or not,” he continued, his voice full of mirth, “but desserts are one of the exceedingly few realms that I have yet to fully master. I don’t remember buying this.”
“Give it to me.”
Natalia took the cup, opened it, sniffed it, and said, “Tiramisu.”
“Is that good?” he asked.
“Very,” she said, pleased.
David passed her a spoon and then unscrewed the lid of the thermos. The scent of coffee spread across the deck. She received a plump little mug full of pitch-black coffee and dug into the dessert. “I’m going to get fat if I keep going like this,” she said without thinking.
David raised his eyebrows over his coffee cup, and Natalia bit her lip.
David took a spoon and made a satisfied face. “This is good.” He took a few more spoonfuls, eating quickly, efficiently. Then he lay down on his side again, stretched out his legs, and cupped his hands around his coffee cup. “So, what do you do when you’re not working?” he asked.
Natalia took small sips of the hot coffee while she thought the question over. As a child she’d had dance. And for a long while horseback riding had been everything to her. She still loved to ride, but now . . . She heard David laugh softly and looked at him. “What?” she asked.
“Nothing,” he said. “But you always do that when you’re asked a question: stop and contemplate.”
“I’m not a rash, impulsive person,” she replied.
“No,” he said. “But that’s why you’re such a good corporate banker. And I like watching you think.”
“Well, like you, I work a lot,” she said. “My job is important to me. I’m not particularly interested in fashion or homemaking,” she continued. “And I can’t even remember the last time I went to the movies.” She furrowed her brow. It was pathetic when she thought about it. “I loved horseback riding when I was younger, and I still do,” she continued thoughtfully as she tried to remember what her interests actually were. “I’m really fond of handbags and ...” She stopped herself in time, but David had seen her falter.
“Tsk tsk, Natalia, you have a secret,” he teased. “Do tell.”
She lay down on her side. With her head propped up on her palm, she buried herself in the sweater. “I’m really stuffed,” she said.
“Don’t change the topic,” he said.
“I’m sure you’re an expert at wheedling information out of people that they would prefer not to share.”
He nodded smugly.
“I don’t usually discuss my, uh, private interests with men.” She closed her eyes. “I can’t believe I’m considering telling you this, but I collect French underwear. I buy it online. It’s very expensive and completely irrational. Most of it isn’t even wearable.”
She opened her eyes.
David was studying her intently. “Tell me more things that make you blush. You’re very attractive, in a non-corporate-finance way, when you’re blushing.”
Natalia shook her head. She reached for the thermos as an excuse to avoid looking at him. “I think that’s enough of a revelation for tonight,” she said. “Your turn.”
“Hmm, what do you want to know?”
Natalia cocked her head, and they looked at each other over the remains of their picnic. Oh, there was a lot she wanted to know. Why had he asked her out? What wasn’t he telling her about his past? What was that coldness she glimpsed in him sometimes all about? And most of all, of course: did he think they would be having sex with each other in the near future?
“What would you have done if you didn’t do what you do now?” she asked instead.
“I think I’d sail around the world. Give up the Internet, read books.” He laughed. “Maybe learn to cook.”
“You can’t cook?”
“Can you?” he dared her.
“I opened a jar of pickles the other day. Does that count?”
His eyes twinkled. “I don’t think so.”
“What did you do during your military service?” she asked. “I have two brothers, but you know, strangely enough, I’ve never asked them.”
“Romp around outdoors, get chewed out, work like a dog,” he said. “But I actually liked it. We followed orders, got a lot of exercise, slept well at night.” He fell silent.
She listened to the waves lapping. She heard a dog barking somewhere onshore.
He turned to her, raised himself up on his elbows. “Are you still cold?” he asked. “Should I go get a blanket?”
Natalia slowly shook her head.
David looked into her eyes. He reached out his hand and she held her breath. He grazed her pearl necklace with his fingers and she blinked. He fingered the heavy clasp, which had slid to the front. “What kind of pattern is this?” he asked.
She swallowed, trying to sound casual despite his fingers brushing over the base of her throat. A finger caressed her collarbone, almost absentmindedly. “The family crest,” she said, her pulse racing under his fingertips. “My brothers each wear it on their signet rings. I wear it on the clasp of my necklace.”
“Because you have a title? You’re a countess?”
“Yes.”
She couldn’t interpret the expression on his face. He was staring at the heavy gold clasp as if it meant something. Then he looked at her again, without taking his hand away. He leaned forward but stopped. And Natalia surprised herself. She moved her own hand behind his head, impatient and bold. They came together over the remains of their picnic, and he kissed her lightly, no more than a flutter over her lips. He lingered a second or two, warm and a little rough.
Natalia tried to think clearly, but felt only desire. There was no, no reason not to do this. It was as if she’d been waiting her whole life for this, she thought, to be kissed on an ostentatious yacht in the middle of the archipelago by David Hammar, who tasted like tiramisu.
Then he kissed her again, his hand on the collar of her sweater; he spread out
his fingers and palm until they covered her breast. She met his tongue eagerly, raised herself up toward him, pressing herself into his hand and mouth and tongue. It had been a long time since she’d felt something like this, this hunger, if she ever had.
David moved, and porcelain clanked beneath them. He pulled away from her.
“Not here,” he said, shaking his head.
“Should we go down below?” Natalia asked in a hoarse voice, shocking herself.
Nice girls were passive, not active. That’s what her mother, her girlfriends, everyone had imprinted on her, but it felt like advice from the nineteenth century. She wanted this so much, wanted to feel his hands on her skin, feel him moving above her, in her. And he seemed at least equally interested. Or had she misread him?
“No, we’ll go back,” he said.
Rejection. God, how humiliating.
“Believe it or not, I didn’t plan on our doing anything more than having a picnic today. This isn’t even my boat,” he said, smiling apologetically. “I didn’t bring any protection. Did you?”
“No,” she said, wondering if she could just die of shame on the spot.
“We’ll go back before it gets dark.” He held out his hand. After a brief hesitation, she slid her hand into his. She followed him in silence, trying not to notice how unbelievably intimate it felt to hold his hand.
After David pulled up the anchor, he turned to her, gave her a serious look, and then started the boat with a few quick motions. He turned them out of the bay and let out the gas so the motor roared.
Natalia didn’t realize how cold she was until he pulled her into the space between his body and the wheel. She slid into his heat and stopped shivering, stopped anything, just stopped, lost in the sensation of being enveloped by him with the sound of the motor in her ears. He sped up, and with a deafening rumble they bounced over the waves, heading back into Stockholm as twilight sank in around them. Now and then David’s cheek brushed her hair, and Natalia wanted to turn around, wanted them to kiss again, but she didn’t dare take the lead anymore. She didn’t know if she was imagining it or if the mood between them really had changed. She wasn’t even sure that she wanted to know.
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