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We extend our stay for a few extra days to check out some of the other potential sites now that our initial idea was a bust. Don’t get me wrong, I’m pleased we sealed the deal and secured a new site for one of Luka’s casinos, but it’s a far cry from what I originally had in mind, which was the first step of creating an empire of my own.

Ella is walking on the beach ahead of me. I don’t think she’s forgiven me yet for turning her down the other night, and that’s fair because I don’t know if I’ve forgiven myself, either. I could’ve had her all night long, and instead, I spent another night with fucking blue balls because there’s no other woman in the world for me now that I’ve found her. So I guess this is just my life.

Cock blocked in business and love. Is that what I’m calling it now? Do I love her? I think I might be falling for her, even as she keeps me at arm’s length. “Hopeless romantic” has never been a term anyone’s applied to me before, and I’m not ready to let anyone, especially not her, know what’s happening, but there’s an undeniable spot in my chest where she’s burrowed. Hair blown by the wind, skin turning golden from these days in the sun, Ella looks like a goddess sent down to earth. How everyone on this beach isn’t staring at her is a mystery to me, but it works out because I’d have to pluck their eyes out for it. She’s mine. I pick up the pace and catch up to her, careful to keep a foot of space between us.

She’s wary, side-eyeing me with those big brown eyes that make me melt.

“Forgive me, yet?” I chance, hoping some time in the sun without work to worry about has softened her.

She wags her head from side to side, but I catch a smile teasing the corner of one full lip. “Not yet, but if you find me a seashell pretty enough, I might change my mind.”

I can never resist a challenge. “Deal.”

The beach is pretty picked over this time of day, so I wade into the surf up to my ankles, scouring the waters for a seashell that can change a girl’s mind. I’m so focused on my mission that I don’t even notice the group in front of me splashing and squealing in the waves until one of them shouts my name.

“Anton? Are you… shell hunting? Like an old man?” I recognize the voice. Anya. She’s waist-deep in the crystal-clear water, shading her eyes with one hand as she gazes at me. “I’m telling everyone I know. Immediately.”

“A guy’s gotta have hobbies,” I say with a shrug. “What are you doing here?”

“I’m on vacation, obviously. Ella! Hey! Come over here!” Anya splashes over toward Ella, who hovers at the water’s edge, not wearing a swimsuit. “Didn’t you bring a bathing suit? Or did you expect him not to give you any time off to actually, you know, enjoy the place? Sounds like him, honestly. He can be such a workaholic like the rest of my brothers.”

Ella crinkles her nose. “He really is, isn’t he? But we’re taking the day off.”

“Oh my god,” Anya squeals, grabbing Ella’s hand with her own, a soaked one. “We should go shopping. You and me, and I guess he can come too if he really has to, but I bet you’ve never checked out the shops around here, and they’re seriously to die for. You have to. I’m not taking no for an answer.”

Ella glances at me before answering. “I’m not much of a shopper.”

By which she means, she has no money to spend on something frivolous like a shopping spree.

“Consider it market research,” I say, knowing the best way to get Ella to agree to anything is by appealing to her business sense. “It’ll give us a chance to see what the city has to offer.”

She hesitates, but no one can say no to Anya, especially not when she looks as excited as she does.

“I’ll just run up to my room and change. Meet me out front in five!” Anya runs up the beach toward the stark white hotel where she must be staying.

“She’s a whirlwind,” Ella says, picking her way up the beach at a more sedate pace than Anya’s.

There. A perfect, pink shell washes up in the surf right at my feet, and I stoop to snatch it up before trotting to catch up with Ella. “Found it.”

Taking the shell, she holds it up to the sky and inspects it front and back before closing her hand around it. “Hmm. Is it good enough?”

I stop dead in my tracks. “I’ll comb this beach for the rest of the day if that’s what it takes.”

She takes pity on me, relenting. “It’s perfect. You’re forgiven. After all, you were only trying to keep your promise, and I can’t really blame you for that. Even if, in the moment, I hated it.”

We stop at the walkway up to the hotel and brush sand and saltwater from our lower legs before pulling our shoes back on. It’s not the most pleasant feeling, my socks sticking to my tacky skin, and I would have preferred stopping for a quick shower before heading into the city, but that’s just the way it is with Anya. You get pulled along for the ride.

***

Two hours later, we’re at our third store and somehow, Anya has managed to loosen up Ella to the point where she actually seems to be enjoying the shopping experience. I’ve settled into a comfortable sofa with a strong coffee and some work on my phone while I wait for them to finish trying on shoes. Ella still hasn’t bought anything, though Anya is already carrying two bags. Correction, I’m carrying two bags, because I’m a sucker who can’t say no to my little sister.

“What do you think?” Anya kicks up her leg to display a pair of black pumps, the type of professional shoe one might wear to the office. “Businessy enough for my new workplace?”

“What new workplace is that?” I look back down at my phone. “Because I know you don’t mean my office.”

“Luka’s office,” she jabs back. “And that’s exactly what I mean. What do you think, Ella? You love them, don’t you?”

Ella is way too nice. “They look great on you. I could definitely see you wearing those with a suit.”

Anya gasps when Ella stands up, and I pull my gaze away from my phone to see what has her so excited. “You have to get those, El. They look perfect on you! Doesn’t she look hot, Anton? Tell her how hot she looks.”

“I’m her boss,” I remind Anya, but I’m stealing a long look at Ella anyway. The shoes look good on her, but then, what doesn’t? “They’re nice shoes.”

“God, you are so lame,” Anya groans, toeing off her pumps and pulling another shoe box toward herself. “You have to buy those, though. I’m serious. If you don’t buy them, I’m going to buy them for you.”

True to form, Ella resists. She doesn’t know yet that arguing with Anya is a fruitless battle. If she thinks I’m stubborn, she’s about to find out what the word really means.

“I really don’t need any more shoes,” Ella replies, sitting down to take off the pair she’s wearing. She’s barely got them off before Anya thrusts another pair into her hands.

Anya tuts. “Who said anything about need? You’re on vacation! You need to loosen up.”

“I’ve been telling her that same thing,” I chime in, not looking up.

“Like you can talk,” Ella argues.

She’s looking longingly at the pair in the box Anya just handed her and damn do I want to spoil this girl because she sure as shit isn’t going to do it for herself. When was the last time she bought something just because she wanted to, not because it was a necessity?

“I know how to loosen up. If you recall, we went out dancing just the other night.”

Any gasps. “You got him to go out and party? That’s a miracle, El, seriously. Normally, he’s all about the grind.”

When Ella slides on the next pair, a set of sky-high stilettos with little silver chains around the ankle, I can’t stop staring. It’s not just the shoes, though the chain detail has me thinking about how much I’d like to tie her up and have my way with her. It’s the thought of her in just the shoes. And nothing else. Her perfect, naked body and those heels.

I’m growing hard in the middle of a shoe shop, just imagining it. I cross my legs to hide the evidence. Luckily the girls are distracted, cooing over how good the heels look on Ella, and no one notices the way I’m practically eye fucking her.

“Okay, these you have to get,” Anya insists, taking Ella by both hands. “I insist.”

“You sound like your brother,” Ella says with a long-suffering sigh. “So demanding. So stubborn.”

“It’s a family trait,” Anya agrees with absolutely zero shame. “Doesn’t she have to get these?”

They both turn to look at me, and I hope I’m doing a good job of hiding the erection straining the front of my chinos. “Let me treat you both. Get whatever you want from this store and I’ll pay, as long as this is the last store.”

Let them think I’m bored to death watching them try on shoes because I can’t admit to the reality that I’d happily watch Ella do literally anything all day, especially if she looks like she’s enjoying herself.

“I can’t—" Ella begins just as Anya blurts out, “Deal!”

She shushes Ella. “Let him pay, El. He has the money, and really, he’s buying himself out of having to shop all day, so don’t even feel guilty.”

If Anya weren’t there, Ella would never agree to it, but this makes it seem like I’m spoiling my little sister, and I watch the argument die in her eyes. She bites her lip, then nods.

“Okay, but just this one pair.”

My obnoxious little sister rolls her eyes and grabs a stack of boxes. “Shut up, we’re getting all of them. Don’t you know how to treat yourself?”

I pass Anya my card as she walks by. She plucks it out of my hand without so much as a thank you because she’s a spoiled brat, but I let it slide.

Ella shifts from side to side, the silver chains jingling softly against her ankles with her movements. “Thank you,” she says, pink creeping across her cheeks.

Anya is distracted, chatting with the clerk at the check-out counter, so I dare a little boldness. I crook my finger to beckon Ella closer.

“It’s really for me.” I drag my finger slowly up her leg, from ankle to mid, inner thigh, until I hear her sharp inhale. “Because you look so fucking good in them.”

“Anton,” she protests, pushing my hand away and stepping back just as Anya returns.My name sounds so good on her lips. I want to hear it over and over, preferably moaned into my ear while she’s arching beneath me, but I’ll take it right now, too.

“Alright,” Anya says, handing me back my card. “The damage is done. They’re going to bring these out to the car for us. Are you going to wear those out, El?”

“Yes,” I cut in, replying before Ella could. “She is.”

“O-okay,” says Anya, looking back and forth between the two of us in confusion. “Weird, but I’m not judging. Should we head back to the hotel?”

We agree to head back and pile into the spacious backseat of the car, a tower of boxes in the trunk behind us. Anya squeezes into the middle between me and Ella because she’s a pain in the ass and starts chattering, keeping up a constant stream the entire ride back to the hotel.

“Why don’t you stay with us tonight?” I offer to Anya. She might take up more of Ella’s attention than I’d like, but she also has the effect of loosening her up, helping her relax and enjoy herself, and that’s a reward of its own. “You can meet back up with your friends tomorrow.”

“Yeah?” Anya tilts her head to the side, considering. “Okay! We’ll get dinner and then make a girls’ night of it. Sleepover in my room with way too much junk food and a scary movie?”

Well, shit. I didn’t consider that Ella might bunk with Anya instead of me, and if I backpedal now, it’ll be obvious that something is up. I sigh when Ella agrees. We have dinner by the pool, and I get to enjoy the sight of Ella in a bathing suit before the girls head off for their sleepover, leaving me to walk back to my room alone.

It feels too big and empty without her in it, so I put on some music and pour myself a glass of whiskey, passing the hours with a book I’ve been meaning to read. Half past midnight, there’s a knock at the door. I put my book down and check the peephole, always wary, but it’s Ella standing out there, worrying at her lower lip.