Chapter Four

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“SIGN HERE.” Elder Prest pointed at the leather-bound folder in front of Sully.

The final stage of our tour: signing the completed ownership papers now that Sully had approved the delivery of the most impressive vessel I’d ever seen.

No matter how many years passed, I doubted I’d ever get used to the obscene wealth Sully had...which was now my wealth, thanks to Sully’s generosity and insistence. We lived such simple lives that coming face-to-face with the final tally of the two yachts we’d purchased—witnessing the figure of almost two hundred million written bold and brash on the contract—threatened to make my knees wobble.

It didn’t matter that I’d signed invoices as high as that when we’d enlisted contractors to begin building the resort on Rapture. And it didn’t matter that the lease alone for the islands in Tahiti commanded such a price tag—and they were just a rental instead of an asset—I would never become accustomed to that sort of money. My hands shook as I looked around the elegant, opulent lounge, pausing to truly take stock of how incredible my life had become.

There was a blue piano glittering with sunshine, for heaven’s sake. A blue piano! And bottles of rare liquor and Faberge fabric were used willy-nilly as if they were cheap counterfeits.

When my father came to visit Goddess Isles six months or so after Sully and I were married, I’d been wary of his judgment. Even though I was his daughter and he loved me,  I worried he’d think, just for a second, that I’d married Sully for his money.

I’d been stupid to worry, of course. My father had already gotten to know Sully on our regular video calls, and we’d escorted him around the island on our cell phones, so by the time my dad arrived in person, he plopped his bag in his villa, shook Sully’s hand, which turned into a hug between father and son-in-law, then promptly barrelled into the warm sea.

His visits were always welcome and enjoyed.

My mother’s, on the other hand.... The first and only had been strained, and she’d lasted two days before using work as an excuse to leave. She’d forgotten how to just be. How to sit on the beach and have no files to log for work, no to-do list to conjure for next week, and no need to chase stress.

Perhaps, we could use Calypso and go visit her in London, where she was stationed with her firm. Maybe we could use this yacht to snap her back into awareness, seeing as it had done the same for me?

“I would like to test drive Thimble. Is that due to arrive soon?” Sully asked as he skimmed the contract and read the fine print.

“Thimble has been delivered to your other address in the South Pacific.” Elder Prest glanced at his fiancée before running a hand through glossy blue-black hair. “The craft is swift and one of the fastest we’ve designed, but she isn’t suitable for long journeys out to sea. If there were a storm between here and there, I fear she might not weather well.”

Sully narrowed his eyes. “And this boat will?”

“Calypso is fitted with automatic stabilisers, top-of-the-line ballasts, and onboard levellers to prevent seasickness. Her autopilots and numerous engines prevent capsizing better than any other vessel in high winds and waves.” Elder took Tasmin’s hand, subtly and smooth, keeping their linked hands hidden behind his back. The fact that he’d had to touch her, even while doing business, made me smile.

I hadn’t been able to decipher Elder all that well. His stern face and unreadable black eyes gave nothing away about who he was, but he couldn’t hide the protective possessiveness he felt toward the quiet, quick-to-jump-but-fast-to-smile woman who’d captured his heart.

“Pim and I endured a storm ourselves.” He cracked a rare smile. “A tropical typhoon caught us while we were out to sea. It was...an experience.”

“Pim?” I asked.

Elder’s jaw clenched. “Slip of the tongue. Tasmin.”

“Pim is...” Tasmin spoke up in her husky voice. “I guess it’s a nickname. Pimlico—like the train station in England.” She braced herself, standing taller as if shoving away past memories.

I narrowed my eyes at the history in her tone. Had something happened at that train station?

Tasmin caught my stare, and her guarded fierceness that I’d seen a few times on the tour blazed in her green eyes. “The storm was ferocious.” She laughed lightly, dispelling whatever had brewed inside her. “I didn’t have enough respect for the ocean back then. I was new to the sea and decided the best place to ride out a storm with waves bigger than us was on the balcony.”

“Oh, my God.” I gasped. “I’m surprised you didn’t fall overboard.”

“She would have if I hadn’t strapped both of us to the railing.” Elder’s black gaze smoked with other things that’d happened that night, not just wild weather.

I smiled and nodded politely. “I’m sure she was grateful you kept her safe.”

“I’m grateful every day,” Tasmin murmured, her body curling closer to Elder’s.

Elder cleared his throat and gave her a look before his face slipped back into indifference, and he resumed his attention on the contract Sully had just finished reading.

“Everything in order, Sinclair?”

Cal had been reading over Sully’s shoulder, and he answered on Sully’s behalf. “And the warranty is fifteen years?”

“If something breaks in twenty years, I’d be suspicious you weren’t the cause.” Elder scowled. “My builders are meticulous, and our products are high end. The warranty is merely a formality. I give you my word that this yacht is built to the highest of standards and will last long after you are dead.”

Cal pursed his lips as if to argue, but Sully nodded. Placing the contract back onto the bar, he said, “It all looks satisfactory. Apart from one minor detail.”

“What detail?” Elder frowned.

Sully looked up, catching my stare before his attention swept over the gorgeous sun-drenched lounge and out the windows to his islands beyond.

Large ones, small ones, all of them cradling us with their palm trees and reef breaks, housing so many rescues and rehabilitation centres.

He was ready to go home.

Me too.

Smiling gently in my direction, Sully muttered, “It’s not me who needs to sign.” Holding up the expensive-looking pen Elder had given him, he motioned me closer. “Eleanor.”

I padded to his side, hiding the flutter in my belly as my skin kissed his when he passed me the pen. Electricity sparked in our fingers as it always did when we touched. “You sign. Rapture is your baby, and this yacht officially belongs to that company.”

“But we’re both directors of that company.”

“But you’re the managing shareholder.” He smiled, wrapping my hand around the pen and pressing the nib to the contract. “Rapture’s success is all down to your innovation and ideas. Calypso is yours.”

I looked across the bar where Tasmin watched me carefully. Her eyes had widened at Sully’s abdication of authority to me, as if she wasn’t used to men being nice to women.

Our gazes caught.

They held.

Then she smiled and nodded, her shoulders relaxed and her head tipped to lean on Elder’s shoulder. I didn’t know what’d happened to her, but everything seemed like a shock to her system, followed by swift acceptance. Almost as though she’d been denied basic kindness and now found the very hint of it absolutely shocking, followed by a reminder that simple sweetness shouldn’t be a rarity but common.

Sully kissed my temple, whispering in my ear, “Sign, Jinx. I want to be back on our beach.”

With his breath tickling my nape, I did what he requested and scribed my signature. I took ownership of Calypso and Thimble, and Jess clapped her hands as a waiter brought around six glasses of champagne.

“A toast,” Jess said. “To new friends and new adventures.”

We all raised our glasses and clinked.

And my dirty mind went to what Sully had promised in the master bedroom of this floating palace.

He said he’d code me an underwater fantasy. A hallucination I’d been wanting to try for a while now. A fantasy that’d been born thanks to Sully’s affinity with the sea and my lust for his body dripping with water.

Soon, I wouldn’t just be a woman who bought yachts as if they were seashells.

I would be some water nymph with a dangerous man begging at her feet.

I can’t wait to see what he comes up with.