“You and your crew have five minutes to vacate this beach. I’ll take Stella back in my boat.” I’d chartered a private boat from the hotel and anchored it further down the beach, not far from Delamonte’s own charter. Emmanuelle’s cheeks flushed crimson. I wasn’t her boss, but like most people, she was susceptible to authority no matter what form it came in. Still, she put up a last-ditch effort to stand her ground. “We can’t pack that fast.” Nervousness diluted the impact of her protest. “We also need to clean and store the necklace first. It’s worth over seventy thou—”
“Bill it to me.” I couldn’t give less fucks about how much the necklace cost. I wanted everyone except Stella gone. When the director didn’t move, I raised an eyebrow. “Do I need to repeat myself?” I asked pleasantly. I checked my watch. “Four minutes, Ms. Lange.” She finally picked
up on the veiled warning in my tone and scurried off. Two minutes later, the crew was gone, leaving nothing but footprints behind. “Should I be worried?” The wind carried Stella’s sweet, teasing voice to my ears. She was still in the ocean, but the crew’s departure had broken the spell keeping her quiet. “You’re not planning on murdering me here now that you’ve scared off the crew, are you?” “They were annoying me.” I walked closer to the shore until I reached the natural border demarcating dry sand from its damp, wave-tossed brethren. “And I didn’t scare them off. I merely requested they leave.” “What would you have done if they hadn’t complied?”
A strong breeze whipped a curl across her face. She brushed it away with one hand while keeping her other arm over her chest. She looked different here. Without the nearby threat of the stalker hanging over her head and the proximity of her family dragging her down, she was brighter, more carefree, with a playful sparkle in her eyes that outshone the emeralds around her neck. “I would’ve let it go like the gentleman I am.” A smile worked its way onto my mouth at the way her brows formed twin arches of skepticism. “You said you weren’t a gentleman.” “I didn’t. You did.” “And I was right.” My smile morphed into a soft laugh that promised all sorts of ways I could further prove her right. “Come here, Stella.”
31
CHRISTIAN/STELLA
CHRISTIAN
Stella didn’t move, though a hint of desire darkened her eyes at my velvet command. “What’ll you do if I don’t comply?” Her tone remained light, but the electricity in the air intensified until it seeped beneath my skin and crackled in my veins. My smile took on a more dangerous curve.
“Stay in the water and find out.” I’d give her ten seconds before I went in after her. It’d been forty-eight hours since our last real interaction, and I already craved her closeness like an addict hungering for his next hit. I’d given up any concept of distance between us. I wasn’t just fascinated with her—a puzzle to solve. Obsession felt simple to me now. I needed her. “You need to work on saying the word please. I promise it won’t kill you.” Despite her dry observation, Stella finally moved. Her tall, slender frame cut through the shallows with fluid grace until the water cascaded off her and left only tiny, glittering droplets behind. She stopped in front of me, so close I could smell the faint scent of coconut sunscreen and green florals mixed with the salty kiss of the ocean. I didn’t believe in paradise, nor did I believe I could reach it even if it existed, but she smelled exactly like how I imagined paradise would smell. “Can’t promise something that’s yet to be tested, sweetheart.” I brushed my fingers over the sun-warmed jewels draped around her neck. Seventy thousand dollars for one moment alone with her. It was worth it. The rhythm of her breaths stuttered. “You’re telling me you’ve never said the word please.” “Never needed to. People do what I want anyway.” A chuckle vibrated in my chest at Stella’s adorable grumble. “I should’ve stayed in the water and made you say please
before I got out. Teach you a lesson.” She eyed me with curiosity. “What are you doing here, anyway? I thought you had work.” “I finished.” Not all of it, but the rest could wait. “I couldn’t leave without visiting the set at least once.” “I don’t know if watching me stand and pout is exciting,” she laughed. Her arms tightened over her chest, but neither of us made a move toward her clothes, which lay folded on a towel a few feet away. “I could watch you count every grain of sand on the beach and it would be exciting.” I wasn’t a patient man, nor was I one who dealt well with restlessness. That was why I enjoyed puzzles so much. They fed me the stimulation I required to stay sane, because God knew I couldn’t rely on other people to keep me interested. Stella was the only exception. Her mere presence fascinated me more than any rambling monologue on film, travel, or whatever the fuck people liked to talk about. Her laugh faded into a hitched breath at the conviction in my voice. “But if you want to know the truth…”
My hand skimmed from her necklace onto the delicate slope of her shoulder. “I didn’t come to watch the photoshoot.” A gentle shiver rippled through her body when my touch trailed down her forearm. “Then why did you come?” Her question expanded between us like it was the most important thing on the beach. “For you.” I lingered on the soft, bare skin above her elbow. The sun blazed overhead, but it was nothing compared to the sparks igniting in the air. Thousands of embers peppered my skin and lit a trail of fire up my arm and into my chest.
“Drop your arms for me, sweetheart. I want to see you.” It was the closest I ever came to begging. Silence shrouded us and suffocated any remaining traces of lightheartedness. In its place was something dark and textured that weighed heavy on my shoulders while I waited for Stella’s response. The delicate column of her throat jumped as her eyes held mine. Her eyes had always been her most expressive feature, like clear, jade-colored windows into her innermost thoughts. Every fear, every desire, every dream and insecurity. For the first time, I couldn’t decipher what she was thinking by looking at her, but I could feel the indecision twisting her inside. We’d been inching toward this line in our relationship since we signed our agreement, but we both knew that if we crossed it, there would be no going back. My pulse slowed to match the interminable wait. Then slowly, ever so slowly, Stella lowered her arms, and my pulse shifted from slow motion into high gear as it throbbed to the frantic rhythm of my heart. I didn’t take my eyes off her face until she stood with her arms at her side and a ruddy flush beneath her tan. Only then did I allow my gaze to slide down and bask in the sight before me. Firm, lush breasts tipped with sweet brown nipples that I ached to taste. Delicate curves and graceful limbs that dipped and rose beneath miles of luminous skin like a roadmap to a heaven I would never reach. And a tiny scrap of white fabric that covered her most intimate spot. My cock turned to stone while a beast stirred in my chest, snarling at me to take her and mark her until it was clear to every single person who she belonged to. Me. Stella’s breaths left her in shallow puffs as she shifted beneath my scrutiny. She was clearly unused to someone staring at her for so long, but when she moved to cover herself again, I stopped her with a grip on her wrist. “Don’t.” Desire roughened the edges of my voice. “You don’t need to cover yourself in front of me.” “I don’t…I’m not…” Her throat moved again with a visible swallow. “It’s been a while since someone saw me like this.” Embarrassment coated her admission. The fierce flame of possessiveness burned in my gut, a thousand times hotter than when I’d caught Ricardo staring at Stella after the shoot. Of course, I knew she must’ve been naked in front of other men before—just as I knew I wanted to peel the skin off said men’s flesh and leave them