Page 84 of Ruthless Commander

“What…now?”Xael barked, her eyes widening.

I couldn’t hold it back. The deep chuckle rumbled in my chest. “No, Xael. Not right now. When we’re ready.”

“Of course,” Dominic agreed.

Taran Davies was deadly quiet. I didn’t need to meet his gaze to know he didn’t like this one bit. The sound of rotor blades grew louder. “Looks like our ride is here.” I announced.

Dominic just glanced down at the red dot hovering on his chest. “I take it you’ll be taking your brother with you.”

I just shook my head and turned to leave, my smile lingering. “Nope…he’s all yours.”

I heard the confused mutter behind me as the leader of the Commission tried to work out if that was a good or bad thing. I was sure they’d work it out…eventually.

34

Mateo

Some time later…

“Mr. Ristani,”the clerk nodded, his thick Australian accent strange to my ears as I strode through the doors to the hotel, leaving the heat of the island behind, and stepped into the cool air-conditioning.

Mr. Ristani.

That’s how they knew me here.

Not Commander.

NotThe Commander.

And not Komandant.

I lifted my gaze to the sprawling resort grounds. Green palm trees swayed in the summer breeze. It was the same cool ocean breeze, the same roar of the ocean, but everything else was different.

Crystal blue water shimmered clearer in the heat of the Whitsundays. The beaches were whiter, the sand fine under my bare feet. I gripped the bottle in my hand and clutched the bag in my other, lifting it to clutch the access card in my fingers as I pressed it against the glass door, then stepped out, heading to our private villa at the far end of the resort.

I glanced down at the bottle of champagne in my hand and wondered if any of this was real—ifIwas real. Heavy steps echoed as I lengthened my stride. Movement. Warmth. The same tone in my voice. The same body…but everything else in me was changed.

I wasn’t the same as I'd been before.

And it was all because of her.

I lifted my gaze, stepped up to the door, and pressed the card to the scanner. The lock clicked open and I pushed the door open, leaving it to close behind me with athud.

But there was only silence.

“Xael?”

“Out here,” she called.

I stepped through the cool air of the sprawling private rooms and headed to the doors to the outside…and there she was.

My gaze went to the long line of her neck and a surge of desire coursed through me as I stepped out the door onto the sprawling patio.

She’d wound her hair up, but a few long, midnight strands had rebelled, like the woman herself. They fell down, brushing the bare skin of her shoulders. Christ, she made me hard.

“Did you get them?” She lifted her gaze as I rounded her chaise lounge, flourishing the bag.

“Fresh off the trawler, didn’t even make land.”