by Bethany-Kris
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, just 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.
“How did you—”
“I just know you, baby.”
Right.
Lucia sighed, leaning against the sliding glass door and folded her arms over her chest. “And what are you doing out here, anyway? A whole one with nature bit, or …?”
“Thinking. And also waiting for our car.”
“What?”
“A car,” he repeated, “we’re going out.”
“To do what?”
“How about you just enjoy the day, huh?”
Lucia smiled. “That sounds perfect, Ren.”
He shrugged, still holding her stare and making her heart skip beats. Even thirty feet away, he could still look at her and make her feel like the only woman in the world for him.
“Thought so. Get a dress on that you can move in, Lucia.”
She didn’t need to be told again.
TEN
“Okay, now this is how we should eat everyday.”
Renzo grinned, nodding. “Absolutely.”
Lucia winked at him where she sat across the small table they currently dined at under a hut that was set a good thirty feet off from the restaurant. They had to walk to it on a path made of smooth rocks. She shoved another bite of rice into her mouth.
Part of the draw for the restaurant was the fact that one could dine either inside, or outside, in private, under one of the many huts that surrounded the place. Reservations for this place hadn’t been on the docket, but after chatting with the chef who worked at the house, the guy said he could pull some strings if Renzo made it worth his while.
Ren did.
Worth every penny of that thousand dollars.
Lucia loved it.
The soft tempo of a song reached their spot. A tune that could make anyone want to dance, though there were no lyrics. Although where it came from, Renzo couldn’t be sure. Nonetheless, the music had Lucia swaying to and fro across from him, the delicate line of her shoulders moving to the beat of the song while she finished what was left on her plate.
“I need another drink,” she said, picking up her empty glass and waving it at him. “And you need to give me a dance.”
“Oh, you think?”
“Mmhmm.”
“Which do you want first?”
Because he wasn’t entirely sure where their server went, but it seemed as though there were only a couple that worked the huts outside. Not that he minded because it allowed them more time to enjoy the place together, without worrying about someone coming to interrupt them every few minutes. Besides, he could easily go in and find a server to bring them out another round of drinks.
He didn’t mind.
Lucia eyed her glass carefully, and then her gaze darted to him over the rim. “That’s a very hard decision, Ren.”
His smile grew wider, and his tongue peeked out to lick the corner of his upper lip as he asked, “Is it really?”
“These are good drinks, but you’re a good dancer, so …”
“Think maybe you’ve had one too many drinks.”
Lucia shook her head. “Not nearly enough, actually.”
Right.
God, he loved this girl.
“One more drink,” he said, “but I thought you might want to see the Ubud Art Market, and we can’t do that if you’re so drunk that you can’t walk.”
Lucia pursed her lips, her index finger coming up to tap at her chin while she stared at the ceiling of the hut and considered his words. “Well …”
“Hmm?”
“You have a point. Maybe water would be better.”
Renzo let out a quiet laugh, because yeah, he didn’t need her to admit it for him to know exactly how buzzed she was feeling. Hell, after three of his own drinks, he felt it. Neither one of them was driving, so that wasn’t a problem. He just knew t
he market was something she would appreciate the most about Bali, next to the obvious beauty and magic of the place. He doubted she wanted to miss out on it because she had one too many drinks.
“Water first, then a dance,” he told her.
Lucia sighed. “Fine.”
Renzo leaned back dangerously in the chair, letting it dangle on two legs as he peered around the support beam of the hut to see if maybe the server was on his way back. Unfortunately, not from what he could see. “Stay put, hmm?”
“Where would I go, Ren?”
“Never know with you, baby.”
Her guffaw followed him out of his chair, and he gave her a kiss on the top of her head as he passed her by to leave the hut. Renzo didn’t bother looking for a server when they really didn’t need one whole person just to bring them out two glasses of something to drink. Instead, he headed for the bar and ordered from the woman there. She didn’t seem to mind.
The bartender had just put the glasses to the counter when a phone in Renzo’s cargo shorts started to buzz. Again. It’d been doing that all day—so far—and the only reason why Lucia had yet to notice was pure luck, and perhaps a bit of the fact that she was really enjoying herself.
He felt like a shit.
His regular cell phone and hers were both put away—shut down and done for as long as they were still on this vacation and no emergency came up. That was their deal. Thing was, Renzo couldn’t shut off one of his phones, and as Lucia hadn’t asked about this phone, which had been provided by his bosses at The League, well … he didn’t offer the information.
And today, that phone rang.
And rang.
Not once had he’d bothered to pick up the calls but only because he wasn’t required to. Besides, Dare and Cree both knew he was away on vacation, so why someone from The League decided to call his phone was beyond him.
However, just to make sure they didn’t keep calling, Renzo pulled the phone out of his pocket while he was in the safety of the restaurant and Lucia wouldn’t know. “Yeah, Ren here.”
He hadn’t even bothered to check the caller ID. Not that it mattered. It would only be a handful of people calling that goddamn number.
“You don’t pick up the phone or what?”
