by Bethany-Kris
“Your ma packed the bags for us. They’re already waiting on the jet. The gallery will be handled. John is going to keep an eye on Diego. Your father will keep everyone else in line.”
Lucia laughed lightly. “Of course.”
“So, what do you say? Are we going to Bali? You did want a vacation.”
“I was joking.”
“Didn’t really take it that way, babe.”
God.
This man.
She loved him so much.
And right then, all she wanted to do was climb across the front seats of the Maserati and show him just how much she loved him. Which she was sure Renzo would love, too, but chances were … they needed to get on that plane.
“How did you do all this in a day?”
He shrugged. “Money can do anything. That, and a lot of hope, luck, and generosity from your parents.”
Right.
She had another thought, then.
Renzo rarely acted like he had money. He didn’t throw it around stupidly just because he had enough to do it. In fact, he lived conservatively and invested a lot of what he made working through The League.
She bet this cost a lot, even if the trip itself had been her mother and father’s. That didn’t mean everything else he’d factored into the trip didn’t cost money. And she would not ruin it with her worries.
“We’re going to Bali, Ren.”
EIGHT
“Sir, we’ll be arriving at the house in twenty minutes.”
“Thank you.”
The partition between the front and back of the car closed again, allowing Renzo his privacy from the driver.
Lush greenery, brightened by a sun so high in the bluest of skies, cloudless and stretching so far, had Renzo more than happy to be sitting in the backseat of a car for once in his damn life. The driver at the front had closed the partition between the front and back seats as they were chauffeured from the airport to the private residence he’d rented for the week, but the back windows were down.
Just a crack, not much.
It was enough, though.
To smell the air.
The island.
All the water.
Usually, he’d be the one in the front seat driving. He preferred that, really, because he didn’t like giving someone else control of a vehicle. Today, he didn’t have a single damn to give because not only did he have the best view of the volcanic mountains, thick with lush forests ahead of them, but also of the woman napping in his lap.
That flight?
So long.
Lucia had done her best to stay awake for most of it, not wanting to miss a thing. He knew that feeling, but at the same time, he didn’t blame her when she’d finally fallen asleep in the seat next to his after the plane had landed and she’d snuggled in close. He was used to staying up for hours on end, constantly. Forty-eight hours with eyes peeled wide open was fucking nothing for him because that was one of the first things The League had ever taught him to do.
You have no limits.
He couldn’t forget those words.
He didn’t.
Drifting his fingertips through the length of Lucia’s dark hair, smoothing out the strands with each stroke, he finally took his attention away from the views outside to admire the one in his lap. Those long lashes of hers fanned against her skin, and her lips stayed in the pout of her sleep, making her pretty features far softer.
She looked happy.
Relaxed.
And wasn’t that everything he wanted?
God, he hoped this week gave his girl everything she didn’t even know that she needed. Lucia worked nonstop—was still the most motivated person he knew, frankly. She woke up with a smile and went to bed with one, too. It was one of the reasons he loved her the most. You know, next to literally everything else about her.
Sometimes, he wondered if they took nearly enough time for one another in their very busy lives. Hell, there were times when he felt as though they barely even saw each other. He’d just get back from one job for The League only to be immediately sent out on another. Sure, he could refuse them, being he was an independent contractor for them now … but he didn’t know how to slow down.
Lucia never told him to.
She worked damn hard, too.
He never told her to stop.
Of course, then he had moments like these. Quiet moments. All he had to do was stare at her—the world seemed a little slower around him—and all he seemed to think about was that he could do this exact thing for the rest of his fucking life with her.
Absolutely nothing.
Just stare at her.
Maybe that was the thing.
Life wouldn’t slow down.
He had to make it do it.
• • •
“Oh, wow.”
Renzo grinned, helping a still sleepy-eyed Lucia from the back of the car. He didn’t mind that she wasn’t really looking at him, but only because she was so entirely entranced with the vacation home waiting for them. Protected by a large, stone fence and a wrought iron gate that didn’t even creak when it opened to let their vehicle into the circular driveway, it was quite a place. Deep within the forested land of the island, the three-level home had been designed with just enough of a modern hand but with a touch of the island that housed it.
The place welcomed them with a wrap-around terrace for the bottom and second floors, a cobblestone pathway, and shrubbery native to the island as they headed for the house. Because of the photos he’d seen of the place, he knew they would find scenery worth dying over, a massive pool, the waterfall he told Lucia about, a hot tub, and far more behind the place.
It was going to be a damn good week.
“Where are our bags?”
“Already carried in,” he explained, “something else you slept through, babe.”
Her hand smacked his stomach, but he only laughed. Dragging her closer to his side, he pressed a kiss to the top of her head as they climbed the stairs to the front door that was already opened and waiting for them.
“The cook comes tomorrow,” he explained, “and a maid will be here later to note anything we might want ready for the next couple of days.”
She grinned up at him, not even paying attention to the foyer of the large vacation home because she was far more interested in him. “Oh?”
“Yep.”
“So that means—”
Renzo slammed the door behind them, saying at the same time, “It’s just us here, babe. And I know the first thing I want to do.”
Her smile turned more sinful.
Playful.
“And what’s that?”
“Well, I was told your parents rented this house for the pool and we both know all you have under that dress is a pair of white panties, so …”
She cocked a brow.
He winked right back.
“Race you,” she whispered.
That was all she said before darting away from him. It wasn’t like she needed direction on where to go. A good portion of the downstairs seemed to be an open-floor plan and they could see from the front almost to the back. There, a wall of glass waited, acting as a window to the terrace that wrapped around the back in natural, wood tones.
He chased after her, their laughter coloring up the quiet house.
Time to give it some fucking life.
Their kinda life, anyway.
Renzo watched Lucia make it to the back of the house, where she pushed open the sliding glass doors leading to the rear terrace. Bamboo poles with a thatched roof overhead led the guests of the house straight out to the pool under the cover of shade. The terrace covered the full length of the house, too, with spots to lie in the sun, or under hammocks with similar coverings as the one he stood under while he watched Lucia drop her dress at the edge of the pool.
Her panties followed the same path.
Fuck.
He was stuck between staring and appreciating this beautiful place around him, jus
t as much as he was captured by the raw sexiness that was his wife in her naked glory standing here.
Well, his wife won his attention over the island. That was okay, he thought as he headed toward Lucia just as she jumped from the edge into the clear, blue water. He’d have plenty of time over the next week to enjoy this place and all it had to offer.
First, though?
He was going to love that woman here.
Renzo wasted no time dropping his pants and standard white T-shirt to the ground. His boxer-briefs quickly followed the same path. His clothes on the smooth wood of the terrace were quickly soaked by the oncoming ripple Lucia made as she went under the water again and moved farther out toward the far wall that was nothing but glass overlooking the rear property.
He barely even felt the iciness of the water when he broke the surface of the pool. He was far too caught up in making it to his wife in four long arm strokes. Shaking the water from his face and ruined hair as he stood straight in the pool, he closed the distance between him and his wife where she stayed leaning against the far wall.
Her hands were already reaching for his cock when he pressed into her, their lips melding together in a familiar kiss. His thick groan from the fast strokes of her tight grip burst against her lips. And when she opened that sweet mouth of hers, he was so fucking happy to get a taste of her on his tongue.
He was enjoying her hand on his cock a little too much, but he knew it was going to be far better once he was buried deep in her pussy. Her tongue slashed alongside his as he pulled her hand from his length, stepping in between her widening legs at the same time.
Lucia let him lift her to the wall, and as fast as she got those thighs wrapped around his waist, was the time it took for him to be sliding into the heaven that was her pussy.
He still didn’t feel the cold water.
Couldn’t, when they were like this together.
All of Lucia’s sweet sounds became muffled by the kiss he couldn’t seem to break. And he loved the way her lips trembled against his when she came closer and closer to her peak.
Welcome to Bali, he thought.
What else waited for them here?
NINE
There was something … entrancing about a place like Bali. Maybe it was the sights from every window. Lucia stood at them to stare outside, seeing lush green trees, clear streams of water that trailed from the waterfall behind the house, and beautiful skies overhead. It could have been whatever she was breathing in because all she wanted to do was keep every single window in the large house open. The distinct scent of island air.
Clean.
Fresh.
Enticing.
Bali was nothing like the city, and the thing was … Lucia hadn’t even left the house yet. Two days on the island and the only things she had seen so far were the house and the land it rested upon. Which honestly, were quite the sights in and of themselves.
The animals in the morning.
Palm trees swaying with that gentle breeze, bringing along a cooling wind that she enjoyed so very much to help with that heat. Oh, she certainly could have shut all the windows and appreciated the central air in the house, but what was the good in that?
She was here.
She just wanted to experience it.
Currently, however, she was trying to get as much information from her father as she could, but the man wasn’t helping her in the slightest.
“Daddy—”
“Lucia, you’re supposed to be on vacation.”
“And I would enjoy it far more if Aunt Kim would just pick up the phone.”
Because yeah … as much as she tried to just enjoy this vacation and the chance to have zero responsibilities and stress, her mind kept going back to New York and all the work she’d left behind there without any direction whatsoever. Not that her aunt couldn’t handle it. Kim certainly could because hell, that gallery had once been hers. And yes, while she knew all those things very well, it still bothered her more than she could explain.
Still, Lucia hated being out of the loop.
She needed all the info.
“Listen, if I can talk to Kim—”
“She’s not picking up the phone for you because she knows this is supposed to be time for you to get away from it all,” her father said, his tone brokering no room for argument. She knew right then and there that he would not be helping her out here. “And that’s what you’re going to do, Lucia. Let her handle the gallery for the whole week you’re going to be gone. This time away should be relaxing for you, dolcezza.”
Right.
The problem with that, though?
“I don’t know how to not think about work, Daddy.”
“Guess you better learn, hmm?”
God.
That didn’t help at all.
She was sure he knew it, too.
“Thanks for nothing.”
“Oh, stop, Lucia. Everything is fine here. If something were wrong, Kim wouldn’t hesitate to call you.”
Lucian chuckled and the sound of her father’s amusement made her smile, even as she tried to keep her voice down. She wasn’t entirely sure where Renzo currently was in the large house, but she had no doubt he wouldn’t appreciate the fact that she was hiding in the walk-in closet of the master bedroom to use the goddamn phone.
“And hey,” her father added, “does Ren know you’re on the phone? Because I’m sure he told your mother and me that he planned to hide those for the week so you could both focus on this time away, right?”
Lucia scowled, eyeing the doorway. “Not sure if he knows or not …”
“And why is that?”
“Because I found where he hid the phones, and now I’m hiding from him so that he doesn’t know I’m on them. No big deal.”
“Lucia!”
“I’m worried about work!”
“The gallery is fine,” Lucian replied, “and that is the last time I will tell you. Unless something happens, don’t call me again. Enjoy yourself, as your husband wants you to. That man went through a lot of trouble to get this last-minute vacation set up for you both. Take the time to … do something. Sleep in more, eat food you’ve never tried, take more walks … whatever. You deserve it and so does he. You’re worrying for nothing. I love you, bambina, and I will see you when you get home.”
“Daddy—”
“I said what I said.”
He didn’t even give her the chance to respond before he hung up the call. Lucia was left standing in the empty walk-in closet—they hadn’t brought along nearly enough things to actually use the space—staring at the phone in her hand. She had enough sense to at least turn the phone off entirely and place it back on the top shelf of the shoe rack in the closet. She put it with Renzo’s, where he’d clearly thought she wouldn’t go looking for it.
Nonsense.
She looked everywhere.
A whole lot of good it’d done, too.
She might have found the phones, but she hadn’t gotten what she’d wanted from them. It was like despite being in this beautiful place where she should be having the time of her life, the universe still wanted to laugh at her.
Or maybe …
Maybe she should just do what her father said.
And follow Ren’s lead.
Lucia gave one last look at the shelf where Renzo had hidden the phones and decided that would be the last phone call she made while on this island. Yeah, she would still worry about everything happening back home and with the gallery. That was just who she was, and she certainly wouldn’t apologize for it, but there was nothing she could do, either.
Enjoy her time.
So, she would.
Lucia went in search of Renzo—when she’d left him earlier in the kitchen, he’d been going over the menu for the next week with the chef—but quickly realized he was no longer worrying about the food. In fact, her husband looked as though he didn’t have a single care in the world as he walked along the far edge of the pool with bare feet at the
back of the house.
It kind of looked like he was walking on water. The far edge of the pool was nothing more than a glass wall with a ledge that was about five inches wide. The water of the pool went right up to the top of the ledge, though, giving it that invisible appearance. It seemed to drop off into the backdrop of dense forest, framed by a waterfall a good hundred yards away, before dropping down from a ledge made up of sharp rocks into a crystal-clear pond of water down below.
One of her most favorite parts of the vacation home. Renzo’s too, she knew.
For just a moment, Lucia stayed back in the shadows of the sliding glass doorway leading out to the rear terrace that Renzo had left open so she could watch him without being seen. He stopped in the middle of the ledge, a good ten feet on either side of him before he would be safely back on the terrace.
Not that it seemed to bother him.
One wrong step and he’d fall thirty feet below to the ground.
She didn’t worry about that happening at all.
Besides, she was far too interested in the way her husband looked in nothing but loose-fitting pants that only reached above his ankles in length, resting low on the hard cut V of his groin. His tattooed back was on display as he stretched his arms high above his head.
He truly was a beautiful man.
And she was the lucky bitch who had his whole heart.
“Enjoying the view?”
Lucia grinned at Renzo’s question, walking forward a bit until she was finally in view through the doors. Still, her husband didn’t turn around to look at her. She wasn’t exactly surprised that he’d known she had been watching him.
It was like the man could just feel it.
“It’s a very nice view,” she replied.
He did glance over his shoulder, then, dark eyes nailing her to the spot as he cocked a brow in challenge. “Only nice?”
“Best view on this island, Ren.”
“Hmm, well, we’ll see about that. Are you done sneaking the phones from me?”
Goddamn him.
