Page 140 of Modern Romance October 2025 5-8

It was no matter that the woman was a conniving gold-digger out for whatever she could get from him. His body clearly hadn’t got the message.

‘But how do I know where I’m going? It’s so dark,’ she said, almost in awe of the expanse of night around them.

‘Can you see that light in the distance?’

She nodded.

He bent his head to her ear and wondered if he imagined the shiver he felt from her body. ‘Aim for that,’ he whispered.

Determinedly, she put her hands on the wheel, flexing her fingers, and eventually took the cream leather in a firm grip.

‘Like this?’ she asked, and he couldn’t tell whether the nervous excitement was for his benefit or real.

‘Exactly like that. Just hold her steady.’

She nodded, the wind whipping at her hair, casting it free from the long line of her neck. And while there were many more places on a woman’s body that he found erotic, the swanlike sweep of Rin’s neck into her shoulder fascinated him for far longer than it should have done.

‘You really are an adrenaline junkie,’ she said to him, without taking her eye off the yacht’s light in the distance.

He hadn’t considered himself one before, but he was beginning to agree with her. Being with Rin, playing this cat-and-mouse game, it wasthrilling.

She squeaked in alarm when the speedboat hit a particularly determined wave, thethunksending the nose upwards and in shock she pulled her hands off the wheel. He caught it almost immediately, laughing as she turned into him, hiding her face into his chest as she groaned in embarrassment.

Nowthat, he decided, was most definitely an act, but it only served his own cause. He anchored her with a hand around the back of her head, holding her to him for comfort.

‘I think I’ll let you do the driving,’ she admitted with a smile, looking up at him with those incredible bright blue eyes.

‘Your wish is my command.’

She turned back to face the horizon, but stayed in the circle of his arms, leaning back against his chest and he wondered whether it was natural to be so impressed with someone so treacherous.

They reached the yacht shortly after, a bright glowing beacon in the night seascape, where they were helped aboard by two uniformed deck-hands.

He’d already warned his staff of Rin’s perfidy—namely so that they too could keep an extra eye on her. He had instructed them to treat her with no less respect or courtesy than any other guest, and he wasn’t surprised to see the captain and crew welcoming her with wide, eager smiles.

‘Shall I show you around?’ Enzo asked, after the introductions were done.

‘Please,’ she said with a wide-eyed glance at her surroundings.

With one of the deck-hands already having swept away her luggage, he held his arm out for her to take. Rin was unable to keep the look of awe from her eyes—no one was that good an actress. Though to be fair, theSea Viewwas a spectacular ship.

‘She’s one hundred and seventy-one feet, with five suites that can sleep eleven,’ he said as he followed her out of the glass elevator and onto the sun deck that offered a dining area that could seat thirty people, a BBQ, and a protected Jacuzzi. She gravitated towards the rail at the back of the deck, to where in the distance the lights of Capri danced as the yacht began to muster its engines, ready to move them further on down the coast.

‘The bridge is directly below us, along with many of the staff quarters and facilities. Below that is the lounge, more entertainment areas, and an office.’

‘Do you use that office much?’ she asked turning her back to the view, her arms stretched out across the railings and a wry smile across her lips.

‘Never,’ he lied, intensely private about the income he earned given just how many people wanted pieces of it.Including Rin.

‘And where’s your cabin?’ she asked, the hint of flirtation in her raised eyebrow.

‘Oh, Rin. I have nothing so small as acabin,’ he teased, an almost nauseatingly lewd innuendo. For a second he thought he saw her mask slip, as if she too had thought the same thing, but it was blinked away almost immediately. ‘TheSea Viewboasts fivesuites,’ he clarified. ‘Would you like to see yours?’

She nodded, and he thought he saw relief in her gaze this time. As if she had thought he might try and install her in his. And distaste rolled in his gut. He might be willing to play this game, but he had never, would never, force someone against their will like that.

He took her down three floors to the deck that housed the sleeping quarters. The interior design was all Art Deco, and he appreciated it anew through her eyes as she unconsciously ran her fingers across the smooth cherrywood polished to a glittering shine. The owner had been trying to sell it to him for years, but that spoke of a permanency that Enzo disliked intensely and would, he presumed, continue to reject for many years to come.

He led her down the corridor to the open door to the Queen suite and was satisfied to hear her gasp of surprise.