‘It’s fabulous,’ he said.
‘Let me show you the best part of the house.’
‘Lead the way.’
I walked to the far end of the room and turned around. ‘Ready to see my bedroom?’
‘I’m always ready to see your bedroom, babe.’ His voice was rich and throaty.
I descended the stairs and stood on the platform below the floor we had come from. ‘Here we are.’
‘You’re kidding,’ he said with a laugh.
‘Nope.’
‘What do you do when you’re drunk?’
‘You sleep upstairs,’ I said very seriously.
He came down the ladder-like steps and joined me on the platform. He looked down at the river rushing thirty feet below.
‘I hope we get a windy night while we are here. It’s simply fantastic,’ I said.
He looked up at the iron moldings holding the massive swing bed. ‘Are you sure it is safe?’
I grinned. ‘Try it … Tarzan.’
He gave me a very dirty look, grasped the thick ropes, then hopped onto the swing platform with the king size bed on it. It jerked violently and he had to widen his stance, bend his
knees, and throw his arms up to regain his balance. ‘Fuuuuck,’ he said.
I tried not to giggle at that precious momentary look of panic on his normally cocky, arrogant face.
‘We’re actually going to have sex here?’ he asked doubtfully.
‘That would be completely acceptable.’
‘What if these ropes break?’
‘It is not just the ropes. The underlying suspension system was engineered to take the weight of a Boeing 747.’
His mouth curved into a slow, wicked smile. ‘That’s good to know because I have very sweaty, dirty nights planned for us.’
An electric tingle coursed through me. It would be a long time before I got used to the thought that Lord Greystoke, that mysterious, cold stranger who could barely bring himself to be
polite to me, wanted me with the kind of intensity that Ivan showed.
‘Where did Robert sleep?’ he asked casually.
‘Upstairs. He was a big coward. There’s another bedroom on the side of the kitchen,’ I said pointing up to my left. ‘I tried to get him to come down here, but he always refused. On windy
nights he used to keep waking up in the middle of the night and lean over the balustrade with a storm lantern to look down and check if I was still hanging on. I’m like a tick. No
getting rid of me, I told him.’
He just laughed without making any comment.
‘Come on, I’ll show you the second best part of the house.’
He hopped off the platform and we went up the steps to solid ground again. I took him to the far end of the house out to the open air, heated pool made of old andesite stone from Java.
Rosli had already filled it up with fresh water. It looked beautiful with the afternoon sun hitting the large dragon waterspout sculpture.
‘Just what we need tonight,’ he said.
Strange that after everything we had done I was suddenly shy. ‘Now we really should hit the shower then make our way over to the other side of the island. I want you to meet everybody
and I’ve got chocolates to distribute.’
We bathed outside in the custom-made rainforest shower. I arched my neck back, the water pounding on my face, my forearms pressed into the sweaty copper walls, and reveled in the
sensation of Ivan’s cock thrusting deep inside me. He bent his head over my face, his eyes glittering hotly as he kissed my mouth.
CHAPTER 31
Tawny Greystoke
I slipped into a T-shirt, boy-shorts and flip-flops, let down all the net blinds, and went to look for Ivan. He was standing at the edge of the water.
‘Hey,’ I said.
He turned to look at me and for a moment there was such a sad look in his eyes that I took a step back.
‘What’s the matter?’ I asked.
He shook his head. ‘I was thinking of Robert,’ he said. I think part of me knew that he was not really thinking of Robert, but something connected to Robert.
A wave lapped at my feet. I squeezed my toes. ‘Why were you thinking about him?’
He shrugged. ‘Just how little I knew him. How he had this whole other life that I knew nothing about.’
‘Yeah. Robert was special.’
‘You still miss Robert very much, don’t you?’
‘Yes.’
‘Wasn’t it awkward with your age difference?’
‘No.’ I smiled thinking about Robert. ‘Neither of us cared what anybody else thought. We used to go places where people would mistake us for father and daughter and we’d just laugh and
tell them we were husband and wife.’
He nodded. ‘Hmmm …’
‘We should get going. They’ve probably prepared a barbeque for us. They always have a lovely bonfire.’
‘Ah, bonfire,’ he said mildly.
‘I’m from the South. It’s in my nature to love a bonfire.’
‘Let’s go to this bonfire then.’
We walked to the back of the house and took the narrow path that cut across the island. Once I nearly tripped on some roots and Ivan caught me. ‘Be careful,’ he warned with a scowl on
his face. ‘I’d hate to see even a scratch on you.’