Towering over me, with a thumb and forefinger he caught me beneath the chin and lifted my face up, so he could stare down at me with the same intensity he had when he'd been on the other side of the pool.
One blue eye, one green, those eyes narrowed on me like a panther narrowing in on its dinner.
I knew he'd eat me alive, but I hadn't expected the weird déjà vu I felt when he reached up his other hand and touched the soft skin just under the brown part in my left eye and caressed it with an odd tenderness. His touch burned me as he crowded me, crossing all the acceptable boundaries that should have existed between two people who'd never spoken a word to one another. His minty breath wafted over my face as he loosed a sigh, dropping his forehead against mine and closing his eyes while he sank his teeth into his lush bottom lip.
I stared up at him for a moment, turning my gaze over to where Chloe watched with her mouth parted in shock. She waved a hand at herself, seeming to encourage the crossing of all the boundaries I should’ve had.
But there was nothing about him that made me want to push him away. None of the revulsion I expected to feel that someone would invade my space. Just an odd sense of belonging as I turned my face back to his to find his eyes open and watching me. He pulled his forehead away from mine, tilting his head as he watched me.
I spun back for the bar quickly, grasping my wine in my hand and taking a massive swallow. Chloe elbowed me in the side when he didn’t walk away, giggling at me as I tossed back the rest of my wine. “Otro?” the bartender asked, moving to refill my glass as I nodded. I sucked back more wine with none of the hesitation I’d felt before, knowing he clearly had no intention of taking the hint and leaving me alone, despite my best efforts to ignore him.
“He estado pensando en ti,”he said at my back. The rough, raspy sound of his voice curled around the words, making them his and claiming them in a way that I would never find again. Even if someone said the same words, they’d never be like him.
He left me with no choice but to turn and face him, and I swallowed back my nerves before doing just that. As I pressed my spine into the bar to keep as much distance between us, he eyed the gap as if it was an affront to everything he knew.
“Lo siento. No hablo Español,” I said with a sheepish smile.
“I’ve been thinking about you,” he murmured, the accent of his voice in English somehow just as attractive as when he’d spoken Spanish. I bit my bottom lip as he stepped closer, reaching down to take my hand in his. He ran calloused fingers over my palm, staring down at it as if he needed to memorize all the lines.
“That’s very sweet,” I said with an uncomfortable laugh. “Is it normal to be so forward in Ibiza?” I asked, pulling my hand back from his grip. He released it reluctantly.
“Yes,” Hugo laughed, inserting himself into the conversation and giving a warning look to the stranger who seemed intent on invading my space. “Spanish men are not known for subtlety.”
“Have some more liquid courage,” Chloe urged me, slipping my wine into my hand. I brought it to my lips, already feeling the effects. The stranger moved next to me, tapping his fingers on the bar once before the bartender raced to serve him. Chloe elbowed me in the side, making wide eyes at the service he commanded.
“Un chupito de whisky,”he said, watching as his drink was poured. He left it on the bar, turning his attention back to me and staring down at me.
Unnerving me with every second that passed.
“What are you so afraid of,mi princesa?” he asked, his eyes gleaming as his lips tipped up into a brilliant smile.
I huffed a quiet laugh, my own lips forming a hesitant smile to match his as an odd moment of intimacy passed between us. With his multicolored gaze bearing down on my own, it was impossible to deny that it felt like he saw me. That he saw everything that longed to break free from my carefully crafted persona of obedience and responsibility. “You,” I whispered. The admission echoed between us as my friends stilled at my side.
He tilted his head, something dark passing behind his eyes. Reaching down to take my hand in his, he tugged me away from the bar and toward the area where other people danced."Baila conmigo a la luz de la luna,"he said, his deep voice raising the hair on my arms as those sinful lips formed Spanish words so smoothly I nearly melted into a puddle at his feet.
"I don't understand," I said with an awkward smile, shaking my head as Chloe inserted herself and pried my wine glass from my hand while he guided me away.
My friends were traitors.
"Dance with me in the moonlight," he translated, pulling harder until I stumbled into his arms.
"I don't know how to dance like this," I admitted, glancing to the side at the women who rolled their hips and bodies to the smooth Spanish beat that pulsed through the air.
"I'll teach you,mi princesa," he said, dropping his voice low. His hands touched the back of my shoulders, giving me a little shake as he smiled. Rough fingertips trailed over the bare skin of my back to either side of my spine as his eyes held mine. I leaned into the touch, craving more despite myself, and he used the increase in the distance between us to move them to my hips. The pressure of his fingers guided them to the music, moving them in ways I'd have never considered possible.
My hands dug into his shoulders, clinging to him in the belief that I would fall on my face if not for his support. With a glance around, I worried what I must look like with him guiding me through the motions of dancing in a way the others did without hesitation. A few people around the space watched us in shock, only worsening the insecurity I felt. When I turned back to him, he touched his forehead to mine again. "Only me and the music," he whispered, winding my hips in a roll from side to side.
I moved as he guided, until the pressure of his fingers faded and I dared to try to move on my own. I might have looked like a monstrosity for all I knew, but he never let me feel it. Not with his skin beneath my hands, his eyes on mine, and his touch burning through me.
There was only him.
We continued to dance for a few songs, my body growing more comfortable with every song that passed, until sweat dripped down the back of my neck beneath the curtain of my hair. Tucking a strand behind my ear, he pulled away and drew me to the edge of the patio. Stairs at the edge led down to the beach, and I hesitated at the top.
Heels, even wedges, were new to me. Wearing them in sand didn't seem like a promising thought. I followed him down the steps anyway, pausing at the bottom to bend down and take them off so I didn't break my neck. He grinned, shaking his head before I could get the straps undone. He grabbed me around my thighs and lifted me off my feet to walk me to one of the daybeds set up in the sand. Squealing with nervous laughter, I stared down at him as he set me down gently.
"You're trouble," I teased, shaking my head at him.
He smiled that double edged sword of his as his face took on a dark glow that called to the worst parts of me. "Princesa, you have no idea."