soothing hot jets of water cascading over her skin. It shouldn’t have been arousing, but the memory of Sebastian’s hands and lips doing the very same thing heated her blood and she twisted the handle to cold, relishing the sharp shock and clearing the sensual fog from her mind.
Laughing at herself a little, she reached for a towel, dried herself and then took the silk robe hanging beside the shower. As she walked out towards the decking, fastening the robe at her waist, she took in the signs of what had happened last night. At the foot of the bed she picked up her silk negligée from the floor, running it through her hands as she looked out to the decking and the feast on the table. Condensation had formed on the glass jug of freshly squeezed orange juice and the pang in her stomach prodded her into action.
She sat in the place opposite a cup that still held an inch of rapidly cooling coffee, her frown dissolving as she bit into the most delicious flaky pastry, uncaring that she groaned out loud, especially with no one to hear her. Not even halfway through it, she was already eyeing another, contemplating just how wicked it would be to have a second. Sebastian had made her wanton and as her tongue flicked out to rescue a sliver of sweet almond she couldn’t bring herself to care.
Although there was a slight sense of unease building as she considered the range of emotions Sebastian might be feeling. Did he regret it? Had it been okay for him? The wisp of concern at that thought was immediately soothed by the memory of the look in his eyes last night, the awe that she’d felt reflected back at her in his gaze...that wasn’t fake.
She held the rim of her coffee cup against her lip, unseeing of the horizon or the beautiful blue sea peppered with boats at varying distances from shore until a small speedboat caught her eye. Not because of the speed at which it was going but the figure at the helm. Tall, proud and focused, there was something about the man that made her think of Sebastian as the boat cut through the waves.
Without thinking, she went into the room to retrieve the binoculars from the table and, returning to the decking, brought them to her face, startled by the detail she could see.
The wind rippled across his white shirt, flicked through his hair and pressed against his tan trousers, outlining powerful thighs. For a moment she was distracted by the sight, her senses still alert from the night before. Until her gaze snagged on two large dark shapes on the floor by his feet and she remembered the duffel bags they’d waited for at the airfield back in London.
Sebastian passed a catamaran and several jet skiers, ignoring their greetings, his focus zeroed in on a beautiful yacht way out in the distance, far enough for the two figures waiting on the boat to seem tiny even with the binoculars.
Unable to look away, it was some minutes before Sebastian met the yacht, pulling up alongside to pass something to them which could have been the duffel bags. After a brief exchange Sebastian manoeuvred the speedboat around and turned back to shore.
Sia put the binoculars to the side and picked up her coffee cup, her mind purposely blank. Automatically she finished the croissant, no longer under its sugary sway. She must have sat like that for quite some time because she stirred only when she heard footsteps on the pathway and saw Sebastian approaching the steps to the cabin.
His lips quirked into a broad smile and he removed the sunglasses to reveal eyes sparkling with sensual mischief. He closed the distance between them and before she could finish her breath had placed a firm kiss against her lips.
‘I was hoping to find you in bed,’ he said.
‘I could say the same,’ she replied, purposely keeping her tone neutral.
‘Oh, that,’ he replied as she saw his eyes skate across the table and over the binoculars. ‘A couple of guys sailing the islands underestimated how much fuel they’d need. I didn’t want to bother the staff in their preparations for the opening, so I headed out and gave them enough to get where they were going.’
‘Very kind of you.’
‘You sound surprised,’ he remarked with a raised eyebrow.
‘Not in the slightest,’ she said, unable to resist the smile pulling at her lips.
He leaned in and stole