Page 111 of Sins of the Orchid

“As my woman commands,” he purred softly. God, I loved it when he called me his woman. So barbaric and chauvinistic, but so damn hot.

Fifteen minutes later, we were back at our favorite beach. We walked towards the changing rooms, hand in hand, our fingers twined together. Just a boy and a girl. Man and woman. His don status didn’t matter here. Neither did my heiress status. No past or future worries. It was just him and I in this city, this country, and would forever be part of us.

“I’ll wait for you here.” Santi’s voice pulled me back from my daydreaming. Glancing at him, I wondered if he was as impacted as I was. He seemed content, relaxed, but I found that I craved his declaration of love.

I nodded and strode into the changing room. Once inside, I put my bikini on and suddenly felt nervous. Santi took me shopping yesterday because he had ripped too many of my panties, but he more than made up for it. He pretty much bought out the store. When I spotted this bikini, I snuck it in.

Though now I questioned whether it was smart. The bikini fit great, but somehow felt too revealing. It was white and the string fabric felt so freaking small. It made me a bit self-conscious.

I immediately scolded myself. The man has seen me naked plenty of times.

“But the rest of the beach hasn’t,” I muttered to myself.

Ignoring my self-doubt, I walked out of the bathroom and found Santi already wearing only his swim shorts. My eyes were glued to him, shamelessly eating him up. I had seen him naked more than once now, but each time, it felt new.

He was so much taller than me, and all I could see was his six-pack-abs and tanned, olive skin. Every ounce of him was pure muscle. A deep V on each side of his hips made my mouth water.

My breath caught when our eyes met, desire burning in them. His eyes traveled down my body and the longer they lingered on my skin, the hotter I got. He was my own personal sun, scorching my flesh.

“Do you have a cover up?” he purred, voice dangerously low.

“You don’t like it?” I breathed the question, the air in my lungs heavy. I adjusted the top to try and cover more of my breast, but it was fruitless. It was meant to be sexy, slightly revealing.

“I love it,” he drawled. “But unless you want me to kill every man on this beach, we better put a little something over it.”

A choked laugh escaped me. Santi wasn’t the sharing type. I dug a little wrap out of my bag and tied it around my waist.

“Is this better?’ At least it covered my almost naked butt.

He smirked. “The other way was better, but let’s save it for our pool time at the villa.”

We had used the pool once when neither one of us could sleep. A midnight swim under the summer stars was exactly what both of us needed. Well, it might have been the sex rather than the swim that did it, but both were nice.

“Let’s go,” he said. “You better stick close to me.”

I couldn’t help but laugh. Yet I appeased him because I loved being close to him anyhow. We walked towards the sand. We barely took two steps before a few whistles followed us.

“Ahhhh, mamma mia,” a man’s voice sounded, followed by more whistles.

Santi glared at the young men who immediately scurried away.

“You are too hot,” he mumbled the complaint.

“Oh, and you are not?” I gently shoved my shoulder into his hard biceps. “Can I glare at women when they drool after you?”

His smile practically dazzled me. “You can,” he said matter-of-factly. “But none of them compare to you.”

My heart glowed brighter than the Italian sun.Don’t read too much into it!

We found a spot on the empty side of the beach. A few people were sprawled out or swimming on the other end, which was fine by us. This spot was always empty, as if it was just waiting for us.

Santi laid two towels down for us. Peeling off my cover up and discarding it, I sat down on one while he laid down on the one next to me.

“Come here.” He pulled me over, and I laid my head on his chest, closing my eyes and putting my face up to the sun.

I smiled dreamily, enjoying the warmth of the sun on my skin.

“I want to stay here forever,” I murmured dreamily. “Just like this.”