I laugh as I bat her away. ‘Yes, Bridezilla!’
‘Hey, I’m milking the bride status for all it’s worth.’ She winks as she says it and I give her another playful shove as I pass her by. The door clicks shut behind me and I stop in my tracks.
Wow. Just, wow.
In a high-end hotel I’d be impressed, but on water... The contemporary grey, white and chrome soothes as much as it impresses, and I’m almost scared to touch anything for fear of leaving my sweaty fingerprints behind.
I wander on, checking through the open doors as I go. There’s a walk-in wardrobe bigger than my bedroom at home, a bathroom with a sunken tub for at least six, a glass shower enclosure with double heads and a floating bed that makes the most of a glass-walled one-hundred-and-eighty-degree view of the horizon.
I carefully place my bag down on the bed and open it up, scouting out the red string bikini—another of the items Dani coaxed me into buying. I pull it out and give a little wince. It’s practically non-existent and very...strappy. Then I think of Rafael seeing me in it and a thrill runs through me.
It doesn’t matter that he’s reaffirmed his bachelor status, that he appears to have avoided me since we talked about my divorce. He hasn’t faked the way he feels about me when it comes to sex. And this thing screams sex.
My lips are already lifting as I head for the bathroom. There are only two days left before the wedding, three before we part ways, and I want to maximise every chance I get to enjoy him. All of him.
But first, a quick shower wouldn’t go amiss. I’m hot and sweaty after my dash in the mid-morning heat, and while I have this place to myself with all the high-end toiletries ready and waiting... Well, it would be rude not to.
The shower is heavenly, but I don’t hang about. It feels a bit like trespassing on someone else’s domain. Silly, when I know it’s ours for the day. I shut the water off and dry myself before picking up the tiny bundle of red.
I eye it and take a deep breath. Well, here goes. The bondage-style affair is a bitch to get into, but the effect, as Dani informed me, is totally worth it.
I only hope Rafael agrees.
I can’t douse the smile building now.
* * *
‘What is it about weddings that has companies adding a zero to the end of everything?’
I don’t mind saying it out loud to Dante. Dani and the rest of the guests are all on the lower deck enjoying the
view and the plunge pool. My niece and nephew are haranguing the deckhands, begging for a go on the jet-skis, and Faye... Well, she’s here somewhere, and I’m damned if my body doesn’t want to find out where.
‘I wouldn’t know and I don’t plan on finding out. You can afford it though, Raf...’ he gives a carefree shrug ‘...so what does it matter?’
‘It matters because I feel like they see you coming. Maybe I should consider setting up a company, one that offers events at reasonable prices. Reckon it would do quite well.’
Dante erupts into a belly laugh now. ‘You? The billionaire bachelor owning a wedding company? Brilliant. Truly brilliant.’
I even manage a grin myself. ‘You laugh now, but just you wait...’
My phone starts up in my chest pocket and I pull it out. ‘I need to take this.’
It’s the call I’ve been expecting, to authorise payment for some last-minute tweaks to the wedding breakfast. It’s also a good excuse to hide out for a few minutes and rebuild my defences before I have to face Faye again. It’s getting harder and harder to resist being around her, to resist pulling her aside and doing all the wicked things my body so desperately wants to do. And it’s not just the wicked things either; I want to talk with her. About the wedding, my family, her past... Diavolo, anything.
I’ve managed to keep people between us since I promised Dani but the closer we get to the wedding, the closer we get to parting ways altogether and it’s not sitting well. Not in the slightest.
And any second now I will see her again, wearing another blasted swimsuit, and I’ll have to keep myself in check.
I feel another cold shower coming on.
Call, then shower, then Faye.
All in that order.
I swipe the phone to answer. ‘Ciao?’
I run through the details with the wedding planner as I make my way to the owner’s deck. It’s been a while since I’ve been on the yacht and I really should take more time out to enjoy it. Perhaps when the wedding is over, I should stop for a bit. Spend some time at sea. Get a woman to accompany me, a woman who can get me over my incessant need for Faye.