Page 73 of Modern Romance July 2025 #4-8

He paused to look at her. The navy shorts showed off the length of her legs and the loose, white vest top the toned slenderness of her arms. Like everyone else in the town where she lived, she was a proficient skier, someone who engaged in a lot of outdoor activities.

That part of the world was made for that kind of life, a life of being tuned into nature.

Her body was lithe and strong and he liked that more than he could have imagined, given that he had really only dated extremely slim models.

He liked the fact that she was straightforward.

He’d always liked that, especially as it had been so contrary to her privileged background.

He liked that she didn’t tiptoe around him.

He’d become accustomed to women falling in line with what he wanted.

His last girlfriend had, and he took the blame for that entirely, as she’d had to endure a lot before she’d finally had enough.

He enjoyed the way Cassie glared at him, ready to fight, even though she should have been subservient and eager to please, considering he was sorting out all her money problems.

What he didn’t like was the way his thoughts strayed so easily from the physical into the murky waters of a past he didn’t want to explore.

He knew that the two were deeply entwined, that the two of them were only here because of their previous relationship, but something deep inside him cautioned against trying to analyse and confront their past. He’d done enough of that eight years ago.

He snapped out of his introspection and she glanced up as he strolled towards her. ‘Ready?’

‘What about…er…towels and stuff?’

‘Someone will deliver towels and a picnic hamper when we get there.’

‘Really?’ Cassie rolled her eyes and stepped back as he opened the front door. ‘You’re very spoilt now that you’re a millionaire, aren’t you, Leo?’

‘Billionaire, and I’m not complaining on that front.’

‘You’re so arrogant.’ But she glanced across at him and laughed.

‘I’m both confident and adorable.’

‘I stand corrected.’

They walked out into bright sunshine and a cloudless blue sky. The ocean glittered in the distance, a band of blue beyond the coconut trees and abundant foliage. They strolled towards the buggy parked outside in the massive courtyard.

‘It’s so stunning here,’ Cassie said, sitting next to him as he eased the small, eco-friendly vehicle away from the villa. ‘Tell me all about it.’

She rested back, breeze blowing in her hair, eyes drifting to his long, brown fingers on the gear stick and listened as he told her about the island.

He gave her facts and figures and told her about the royal connections, the coral reefs that protected the many private coves and the yachts that passed through as they sailed down the Grenadines.

It took them no time at all to hit the beach and, as Leo had predicted, it was empty. Within minutes of their arrival, another buggy pulled up and, sure enough, towels and an enormous hamper were delivered before the buggy trundled away, leaving the two of them the only occupants on the beach.

White sand as soft as caster sugar led down to turquoise water as calm as a lake, and behind them coconut trees swayed between dense vegetation in all shades of deep green.

Cassie yanked the vest over her head and stood still for a few seconds, eyes closed, breathing in the salty fragrant air and tuning in to the soft lapping of waves barely breaking against the shore. The sun was absolute bliss on her skin.

‘Don’t overdo it.’ Leo’s voice was soft and his breath against her neck had her opening her eyes fast enough. ‘You don’t want to get sun burnt…and, by the way, why is your swimsuit so severe? Did you come here planning to compete in some swim trials?’

Cassie turned to look at him. He was in an old, soft tee-shirt and shorts and was barefoot.

He’d kicked off his shoes and, when she glanced past him, it was to see that he had set up a huge towel just behind them in the shade.

He shucked off the tee-shirt and she placed her hands squarely on his chest and splayed her fingers.

Deliberately, she licked a finger and idly teased one flat, brown nipple, feeling it tighten under the pad of her finger.

‘So is that how you intend to play this?’ Leo murmured with a slow grin. He moved his hands to cup her breasts.

‘Leo, we can’t! Not here.’

‘I don’t see anyone around, do you?’

‘No, but…’

‘Have you ever had sex outside of a bedroom?’

‘That’s none of your business!’

‘For this week, everything about you is my business.’

His hand crept to caress her cheek and his dark eyes were lazy, serious and amused, and such a turn-on that Cassie could feel herself melting.

She thought about her one semi-serious affair and how much she had longed for it to be the real thing so that it could help her get over a broken heart.

Adventure had not been part of that relationship.

‘Well?’ Leo prompted, grinning. ‘No need to answer that, Cass. I can read the answer in your eyes. Unadventurous lover, was he? Dull as dishwater?’

‘I’m hot. Let’s go swim.’

Leo burst out laughing. ‘Again, no need to answer that one.’ He stepped out of his shorts down to swimming trunks and grinned as her eyes traced the outline of his erection pushing against the trunks.

‘I know,’ he said piously. ‘Look at the effect you have on me.’ He guided her hand to his erection and smirked at the burning colour that invaded her cheeks and the frantic way she glanced across the perfectly deserted beach.

‘Cassie… I like it that boredom was the lynchpin of the relationship that didn’t work out. Frankly, hot sex is pretty vital when it comes to any relationship.’

‘I never said anything about boredom , Leo.’

She began heading to the water, leaving her discarded clothes on the sand and feeling relaxed despite the annoying man trying to needle a response out of her.

‘You didn’t have to. I get the picture.’

He slung his arm over her shoulder and pulled her against him. When he leant in to kiss her, it was the gentlest kiss—a brush of his cool mouth on hers, the soft probing of his tongue lingering and exploring as he took his time tasting her.

They were at the water’s edge and she could feel the tiny pull of the ebbing sea, her feet sinking slightly into the sand.

Bliss. She could lose herself in this. She could start thinking about ‘for ever’…

Just like that, Cassie came crashing down to planet Earth.

Just like that she had a vision of how easy it would be to be seduced into a daydream that bore no resemblance to reality.

Leo, with his many and varied relationships all filled with hot sex, had moved on from her a long time ago.

But had she moved on from him in the same way?

She’d thought she had but, instead, had she replaced him with a catering business after that one unsuccessful attempt at a relationship? Had she let work take over the desire to get out there and experience life ? Life with all its complexities, possible broken hearts and ups and downs…

She had become engrossed with her mother over time, involved in the drama of her ill health, her father’s concerns and a life overshadowed by the presence of tragedy.

But where had she , Cassie Farraday, only twenty-seven years old, been while all this had been happening—hiding somewhere waiting for life to happen without going out to find it?

‘Race you?’

She pulled back and looked at Leo who, she reminded herself, was nothing like the young guy she had once adored to distraction.

‘I know you’re a good swimmer, Cass, but are you forgetting that the last time you challenged me to a race you were still in the shallow end by the time I’d reached the other side of the pool?’

Cassie remembered it all too well, that sneaky night visit to the swimming baths in one of the other towns, far enough away for them to be strangers.

‘Bit of an exaggeration, Leo, and besides aren’t we supposed to be pretending that we never had a past together?

’ But she laughed, sprinted away from him and forgot the tangle of her thoughts as she struck out into the warm, turquoise sea.

The water was clear and shallow. She was a brilliant swimmer, her strokes long, fluid and rhythmic as she swam away from shore and away from all those disturbing questions that had pushed their way to the surface.

When she looked to the side, she could see Leo keeping pace with her with ease. Amazingly, she could still touch the sandy bottom when she finally paused and stood, and then she laughed when he asked her if that was the best she could do.

The sun glinted off his broad shoulders and when he pushed his fingers through his wet hair water cascaded over him.

‘I know you were struggling to keep up with me, Leo,’ she teased. ‘I probably get a lot more practice than you. I still go once a week to clear my head so, unless you and whatever girl you’re going out with swim against one another, I’d bet I’m in better shape in the water than you are now.’

She was laughing, relaxed, revitalised after thrashing out into what these calm seas had to offer and as good a swimmer as she’d always been.

Leo felt invigorated. He knew that not a single one of those women he had dated over the years would have enjoyed swimming in the sea.

They would have shown up at the beach in expensive designer gear and dipped a toe in the water but that would have been it—no wet hair, no make-up washed off, no physical exertion.

He felt a sharp pang of something remembered from long ago and cleared his head of it immediately.

‘Now, now,’ he crooned, gathering her up to him, two wet bodies pressed against one another in the heat with the water lapping around them, ‘You know we men have very fragile egos. You wouldn’t want to hurt me, would you? I might just have to punish you otherwise…’

‘How?’ Cassie wrapped her arms round his neck.

‘I can think of lots of interesting ways but let’s start with this…’

And he reached down under the tight crotch of her swimsuit and felt her shift her legs, parting them to accommodate his searching, questing, penetrating finger…