She had learnt lessons from Scott, the biggest being that when it came to longevity, she would take her time and go safely, go with the guy who would be her rock.
But she had learnt other lessons along the way...lessons from having to deal with the sudden death of both her parents. Life was short, and tomorrow was, after all, another day easily dealt with...
CHAPTER EIGHT
NICCOLO’SCLIENTSSTAYEDa further two days, during which time Sophie emerged from the shadows of being Annalise’s nanny. She had envisaged, before arriving on his amazing superyacht, that she and Annalise would amuse themselves wherever the action happenednotto be. Certainly, on day one, reclining on the upper deck, she had happily concluded that that would become the routine over the next four days. While big money was made and deals were finalised over fine wine and fine food, she and Annalise would be out of sight, although not out of mind, because she had, of course, factored in the fact that Niccolo would spend some quality time with his daughter and when he did she, Sophie, would busy herself reading or relaxing in one of the many secluded areas on the yacht. It was certainly big enough for her to find a spot where she could be on her own.
There were a multitude of decks, after all, and no less than three swimming pools!
That had been the plan.
Plans, she discovered, changed. Secret desires, she discovered, changed too. Lusting undercover was quite different when the forbidden became accepted. Over the next couple of days, whilst she occupied Annalise in the mornings, enjoying the run of the yacht, including the child-friendly space which had anything and everything designed to amuse a kid, she was invited to spend time mixing with the guests in the afternoon and in the evenings. It had also become routine for Julia to take over childminding duties from six onwards.
Sophie was guiltily conscious of those lines that had been blurred but she was too wrapped up in a haze of unimaginable excitement to pay much attention.
Whatever Vincenzo’s assumptions about their relationship, Niccolo made sure to limit public displays of affection, and so there was a heightened sense of awareness of one another as they socialised under the hot, starry nights, dining informally on exquisite tapas served by his various chefs, with the ocean lazily lapping the sides of the massive yacht.
She would catch his eye and know that he had been looking at her, and even if he wasn’t anywhere near her she would feel his dark, brooding gaze as powerful as a physical caress.
And the sex...
Mind-blowing. It was as if her body had finally realised what it was meant to do, as if her femininity had, at last, been wakened, reminding her that she was still a vibrant young woman, stillalive.
Strangely, she knew that this person who had emerged in the least likely of circumstances would have thrilled her parents. They would not have wanted her to spend the remainder of her youth wallowing in grief. They would have wanted this adventure for her and knowing that gave her tremendous peace of mind.
She had thrown herself headlong into a situation with a predetermined outcome and she was loving every illicit second of it. Eyes wide open, she was doing what she had never, in a million years, thought she was capable of doing...
She was enjoying a relationship that was going nowhere with a man. Love...commitment...any notion of longevity was absent from what they had and, for someone who had always been conscientious to a fault, good at making sensible decisions, this represented a huge diversion from the norm.
With the last of the guests now gone, Sophie stared out at a blue horizon and slowly accepted that London was a mere two days away, once Niccolo had finalised the last touches to his deal and communicated with various departments within his sprawling organisation on the business of briefing the press.
Today, for the first time, she and Annalise would not be spending the day together because Niccolo was taking her out for lunch.
‘Where?’ she’d asked, wondering whether she’d missed some other five-star restaurant nestled in an obscure corner of his fabulous yacht. She didn’t think anything could surpass the pleasure of eating perfect food under blue skies, with the salty ocean breeze all around and a horizon that stretched limitlessly into a fine strip of navy where sky and sea seemed to become one.
‘It’s a surprise,’ he had drawled. ‘The code is casual dress. Let’s refine that...the code is swimwear until such time as it becomes birthday suit...’
So now here she was, and she gave a little yelp when she felt him dip behind her to kiss her shoulder.
She turned around, standing as she did so, and her heart gave that familiar flip-flop and all the thoughts she’d been having skittered through her head and disappeared like water running down a plughole.
‘I’m liking the dress code,’ Niccolo murmured, holding her at arm’s length and inspecting. ‘Bright colours suit you.’
‘It’s the first time I’ve worn anything bright in a long time,’ Sophie admitted. She glanced down at the swirls of orange and yellows in her long, flowing skirt and the pale blue of her sleeveless top. In the canvas bag, one of many beachwear accessories available on the yacht for anyone who might need them, was her black one-piece, her towel and the usual array of suncreams and sunglasses.
Niccolo nodded. She confided easily. Little confidences told with a certain hesitancy which he actually liked and had certainly become accustomed to.
She didn’t demand his undivided attention and he figured that that was why she managed to get it so easily because he certainly hadn’t been able to keep his eyes off her over the past couple of days, when their relationship had gone from platonic to sexual with the speed of a supersonic rocket.
‘Make sure you’ve got a lot of sunblock.’ He tucked some strands of blonde hair behind her ears. ‘You’re so fair you’ll end up looking like a lobster if you’re not careful.’
Sophie burst out laughing. ‘I appreciate the concern. Not to worry, I’ve packed enough sunblock to open a small shop.’
Just for a second, Niccolo stilled and frowned, disconcerted by a certain protectiveness that had swept over him and even more taken aback by the shift in atmosphere from sexual banter and teasing to something more unsettlingly...familiar. Since when did he do familiar? He had spent years mastering the art of conducting affairs withoutfamiliarever becoming part of the package. Maybe it was just his imagination, but he wasn’t about to take any chances.
Have I said something wrong?Sophie wondered.
She’d noted the way he had pulled back, a shadow of withdrawal that had been glaringly obvious to her, and after a few seconds of confusion she rallied fast because of course she knew exactly why the mood had shifted.