It was simply pride, he assured himself. No man wanted to feel rejected—especially not by the woman they were about to marry.
They emerged through the foliage onto the most beautiful little pebbled beach. The gentle curve of the land had created a perfect shallow pool where they could see tiny fish swimming.
Valerio gestured towards the end of the inlet, where a small wooden dock had been erected. The dock housed a single sleek black speedboat. ‘I had this skippered over from the marina—figured I’d take a chance while we’re here to get up to speed on our latest toys.’
‘Oh, I see how this is. You get to do some work but I’m not allowed to?’ she jibed, accepting his hand as she stepped down into the boat.
‘This has never been work to me.’ Valerio inhaled deeply as he fired up the engine and set his hands firmly on the wheel. ‘Dio, I forgot how good this feels.’
She sat back, watching the waves while he focused on pulling out from the small dock and gathering speed as they moved out onto open water. The boat was effortlessly smooth, and Valerio knew he was an expert at the helm. The familiar feeling that he had every time he was out on the water washed over him. It was as though he had finally come home.
He’d always had this affinity with the sea, this soul-deep connection. It was the thing that had bonded him and Duarte—their passion for sailing and exploring the world without fear.
Something within him stilled as he realised he had barely given his best friend a thought since the night before. Perhaps it was just the natural evolution of grief—the intensity of the pain wasn’t any less but the frequency was bound to change and lessen. Guilt threatened, but he pushed it away, refusing to sully what he’d shared with Dani. He refused to mark it as wrong, somehow, when it was possibly the most right he had felt in a long time.
‘Where are we going?’ Dani moved to sit beside him, speaking loudly above the noise of the speedboat crashing its way through the waves.
‘You’ll find out soon enough.’ He smiled, his hands moving to take hers and place them on the helm. ‘But for now it’s time to ease you into your new life as an explorer. Step one: you will now captain this boat.’
She shook her head. ‘No! I’ve never had the first idea how to drive one of these things. Take it back.’
She squeaked as he took a step away, leaving her alone and holding on for dear life.
‘Just relax and feel the power in your hands. Feel the hull slice through each well.’ He spoke next to her ear. ‘Keep your eyes straight ahead. Brace your body and move with the water. Don’t fight the current... Ease against it.’
Impulsively, he gently kneaded the tension in her shoulders. ‘You’re fighting it, Daniela. Breathe in deep and exhale... Lean into it.’
She rolled her eyes, doing as she was told, loosening her grip and easing forward. Her resulting smile was dazzling as she moved the boat over the swell without any tensing at all.
‘Careful, now—I might start to think you’re enjoying yourself,’ he teased.
‘I’m just very eager to earn that phone back.’
She pursed her lips against another smile as his hands covered hers on the wheel, joining her as they navigated over the water together.
Valerio had congratulated himself on his innovative idea of getting Dani to drive the speedboat to their surprise diving lesson excursion in Rodney Bay. But once he’d achieved the task of getting her out in the open water with their instructor, she had asked a million questions. The man had explained that this kind of diving was called Snuba—a cross between snorkelling and scuba diving—and that they would be connected to a small raft by air lines and safety lanyards the entire time.
Valerio tried not to laugh as Dani finally finished wrestling with the large diving mask on her face and took a long look at the depth of the water before them.
There was no certification required, because it was quite safe, but Dani still looked terrified now, as she stared down over the side of the boat.
Valerio advanced on her, his own mask making his voice sound muffled. ‘We can just go back to the marina if you want?’
As he’d expected, she narrowed her eyes on him in challenge and turned to the instructor as he finished securing her weight belt, regulator and air line to the small safety raft. But as she moved to ease down the metal ladder on the side of the boat, her foot slid and she tumbled rather ungracefully sideways into the sea.
Valerio felt a shout leave his throat, moving to dive in after her, but the diving instructor stopped him with a hand on his chest, showing him he had a firm grip on her safety harness.
Sure enough, Dani emerged instantly and grabbed on to the large blue-and-white water tank floating beside the boat, pulling the regulator from her mouth and letting out a strangled cough that Valerio felt deep in his chest. He watched with awe as she gasped, holding on to the safety lanyard as she tried to adjust the mask on her face and remove the water.
‘See, I’m a natural!’ she shouted nervously. ‘Well, Marchesi, are you coming in, or are you having second thoughts?’
Valerio finished his own set-up and eased down the ladder. They followed the guide’s instructions, paddling out a specific distance from the boat before preparing to dive down. It had been a long time since his own deep-water scuba diving days, but he still felt the thrill of being out in the depths, with nothing below them but glittering blue adventure, pass through him.
He had only dived down about a metre when he looked to his side and realised Dani hadn’t come with him. Using his own natural buoyancy, he kicked his way back up to where she still clutched tightly to the safety lanyard on the raft.
‘Okay, so I was bluffing. You go ahead. I’ll just watch from here!’ She spoke over the noise of the waves.
‘What about adventure?’ He popped his own regulator out and pushed his mask up on his forehead, looking into her eyes. ‘What about trusting me?’
‘I do trust you. We both know that you can do this. You’ve always been brave and fearless. So don’t let me hold you back. Go...please.’
‘While you just wait around up here in the safe zone? Is that it?’ He hardened his gaze. ‘And how much happiness has that got you so far, Dani? All that fear and tiptoeing around...not taking any risks.’
‘It’s kept me alive, hasn’t it?’ she retorted, then gasped at the realisation of what she’d said, shaking her head. ‘I’m going back to the boat. I’m sorry.’
‘Look at me.’
He pulled her towards him, the water lapping at them on a light current. He could see the instructor watching from a short distance away. He didn’t care—he wasn’t letting her go without saying what he needed to say.
‘There’s a difference between actually feeling alive and just going through the motions of life. This, right here, being so far out of your comfort zone, is where you’ll find the former.’
‘What would you know? You’ve practically been a ghost for six months. Are you telling me that you feel alive?’
He took the hit of her words, knowing they were the truth. ‘I deserve that. But the truth is I forgot how this felt—how healing it is to let yourself just be free. These past few days you’ve brought a part of me back to life that I’d thought lost for ever. I just want the chance to push you to do the same. The way I should have done the first time you asked for my help.’
She frowned, her bottom lip quivering slightly. For a moment he worried that he’d gone too far and opened too many old wounds. A part of him hoped that she would just swim away from him—that was what he deserved. Maybe it was just too little, too late, as the old saying went.
But, as usual, this woman had far more strength than anyone gave her credit for. She steeled her shoulders, taking one hand off the raft and extending it to him. ‘I’ll need your help. I’m shaking too hard to let go.’
For a moment Valerio stared down at h
er hand, shocked at such an open show of vulnerability and trust. Then, once she had the regulator in her mouth, he grabbed hold of her, feeling the tremors in her fingers vibrating against his own. He grasped her tightly, embracing her for a long moment as he pulled her bodily from the raft.
She stiffened, then moved with him, following his guidance as they trod water together in an easy rhythm. Valerio locked his eyes with hers, gesturing with the fingers on his free hand as he silently counted down from five and they slowly dropped below the surface together, hand in hand.
Daniela remembered, as a child, running after her brother through the gardens of their country home and always stopping the moment she got as far as the black gate that led into what Duarte had christened ‘the haunted forest.’ It had been just a normal country wood, but the trees had been so dense it was almost pitch-dark once you were a few steps in.
Her brother would assure her it was okay, but her fear would always stop her from stepping nearer the shadows and into the unknown beyond. She’d needed to see safety ahead—not jump in and think later, the way he had.
Now, even as an adult, she trod softly and kept to her plans. She was fearless in the boardroom, and fearless in what she wanted for her career, but deep down she sometimes felt that she was still that child, staring at the line between safety and the unknown and keeping herself stubbornly behind that line.
But once she’d emerged from the water with Valerio’s hand still in hers, she’d finally had a taste of what it was that pushed him to test his boundaries the way he did.
Pushing past her own fear had been terrifying, but that fear had got less and less as she’d dropped down into the ocean and seen the wonders that lay below the surface. Schools of tiny, vibrant coloured fish had danced through the current, and as Valerio had guided her deeper, she’d been entranced by the play of light on the seabed. She’d watched tiny creatures as they scuttled in between rocks and coral, and had spotted a couple of spiny lobsters locking claws with one another. The highlight of the dive had been the moment a sea turtle had swum nearby, its graceful body turning in the water and reflecting glorious beams of turquoise and blue light.
Dani had been utterly charmed by the world below the surface, filled with such simple quiet wonders. Wonders that she would never have seen from her spot on that life raft. She was grateful that Valerio had pushed her. Clearly he had seen something missing in her life—something she had never known she needed. And he was right. This feeling of adrenaline and triumph was healing.
She felt free. She felt as if she could take on the whole world.
The feeling carried on for the rest of the afternoon as, back on the speedboat, Valerio unveiled a small picnic lunch which he’d had delivered from a local restaurant. She knew he was still worried about her safety, and was thankful for the time he was giving them alone together, without their security detail.
Valerio took them out to a remote spot along the coast of Rodney Bay, from where they could view the impressive length of Pigeon Island in the distance. The food was from one of the finest chefs on the island: a delicious spread of green figs and fresh lobster, followed by a dessert of banana cake—a special St Lucian recipe that was deliciously spiced and sweet.
They talked for what felt like hours and she remembered exactly why she had always liked talking to him. He didn’t just listen and nod; he gave his full focus to her—just like with everything he did.
She found herself telling him how she’d been relieved to cancel her plans for her own firm and how fear had always held her back. He seemed surprised at first, then quietly pensive as he listened to her ramble.
For the first time ever, she admitted out loud that it had been a need for comfort and closeness and safety that had driven her to work at Velamar after her parents had died. Then, when success had come upon her, she’d found excuses to not run on ahead into the unknown. She had held on tight to her position at Velamar, holding herself back by only taking on short-term outside contracts.
In turn, he told her of his decision to drop out of college and how disappointed his parents had been—how he had almost gone back just to please them. But he had known he would never have been happy in the perfect corporate tower with his perfect brother, as much as he wished he could have been. There had always been something wild in him—something that needed the open sea and the pull of adventure.
Sailing had always been his first love, so he’d bought his first yacht, and the tabloids’ ‘Playboy Pirate’ had been born—a result of uncertainty and youthful pride.
A companionable silence fell between them and Dani realised that she’d always known there must be a lot more to Valerio Marchesi than anyone saw. He wasn’t just the party-mad reprobate the media painted him as. Perhaps on some level he had purposely harnessed that image as a means to control his fall from the supposed grace of the Marchesi dynasty—to defend himself from the possibility of failure. It was strangely comforting to think that perhaps she wasn’t completely alone in her fears.
Dani watched as Valerio began to pack away the remains of their food and tried not to focus on the swirl of emotions warring inside her. She was grateful to him for giving her this perfect day, but it wasn’t gratitude that had her skin heating as he lay back on the blanket and let out a deep sigh of satisfaction.
They hadn’t really talked about the night before and what it meant. Suddenly she found herself wondering if maybe he wanted to draw a line and leave it as a one-night stand. It would be understandable, considering the complications that carrying on would mean. But seriously...how was she ever going to look at him again without remembering all the things they’d done?
His body was an impossible distraction. He already looked more tanned and vital after only a few hours in the strong afternoon sunshine, and the pale blue linen shirt he wore only served to draw more attention to the impressive power of his shoulders and biceps. A memory of having those arms around her the night before rose up, her skin tingling with an electric current as she forced herself to look away.
‘You have the most expressive features—did you know that?’ He spoke softly, with a smile in his voice. ‘What were you thinking just now?’
Dani looked back to see his sunglasses were off and the sun and sea were reflected in his cobalt-blue eyes. She cleared her throat, finding her mind blank and all her snappy retorts having deserted her. This man made her brain malfunction. She should be furious—should use that anger to stop herself from diving into this crazy fire that felt as if it was just waiting to explode between them again at any moment.
They were going to be married, for goodness’ sake. This inconvenient attraction was fast turning into something deeper. The man was a drug—one taste and she couldn’t think of anything but her next hit. But she couldn’t torture herself like this. That way lay only danger and pain.
She bit her bottom lip, standing up and climbing down to the cockpit to grab a bottle of water in a vain effort to cool herself down. She heard him approach from behind.
‘I told myself I’d let you lead the way—but, Dio, Daniela... I want to kiss you again.’ He spoke softly. ‘I haven’t been able to think of anything else all day. Have you forgotten so easily?’
Her breath was shaky as she braced her hands on the smooth surface in front of her. ‘I don’t think I’ll ever forget...but we both know this is a bad idea, Valerio.’
Warmth pressed against her from behind...the barest touch of strong, calloused fingers on her hips through the fabric of her dress. She closed her eyes, preparing herself to turn round and tell him that they had to be sensible. Then his lips traced featherlight kisses along her nape and she felt her traitorous body leap to attention. She pressed back against him, feeling him hard and aching, exactly the same way she felt deep inside.
She turned in his arms, her mouth finding his like a homing beacon, needing to taste him, needing all of him.
Afte
r a minute they were both frantic with need and tearing at one another’s clothing. Her brief, momentary panic at being out in the open, where anyone could sail past and see them, was quickly overcome by his wicked whispers to enjoy the risk. So she did.
She leaned back against the side of the boat, spreading herself wide for him, letting him know that she was his for the taking. She was all his.
His guttural groan was almost enough to push her over the edge as he grasped both her thighs, his fingers like a brand on her skin as he forced her even wider to accept his length. His lovemaking was primal, and frantic with longing, as though he too felt as if at any moment one of them would come to their senses and bring things to a halt.
She felt the swaying movement of the boat underneath them as he thrust hard and fast, taking her closer and closer to heaven. As she came, she looked up at the sky and let out a sound of pure abandon, not caring who heard her.
After a second, slower exploration of one another, Valerio helped her back into her clothes and insisted she sail them back to the small dock at the villa. His powerful body behind her guided her the whole way. And as she helped him gather their things and finish docking, she felt laughter bubbling in her throat at the fact that not only had she sailed a boat and deep-dived off one in a single day, she had also had two very public orgasms on it too.
‘Something funny?’ He raised a brow, offering her his hand as she stepped off the wooden pier onto the soft pebbles of the beach.
She smiled. ‘I can’t remember the last time I just felt...happy.’
‘I’ll never look at that boat again without remembering you, spread out against the mahogany deck with the glow of another orgasm on your skin.’ He pulled her close. ‘How many is that now? Not nearly enough yet.’
His use of the word ‘yet’ seemed to break a spell of sorts. It seemed that both of them had remembered there was a time limit on whatever it was that they were doing. She bit back the words on her tongue—the urge to ask him when it would be enough. When it would be over.
The Vows He Must Keep (Mills & Boon Modern) (The Avelar Family Scandals, Book 1) Page 13
