Page 35 of Modern Romance January 2025 5-8
Hell, if anything, he wastoo arrogantin that department.
After spritzing the perfume at her pulse points, she applied a coat of lip gloss and left her cabin.
Climbing up from the lower decks, she realised she didn’t know where to find Jario. On a yacht this size, she could easily waste fifteen minutes looking for him.
She was wondering the best way to find out when Dylan, the deckhand who’d refereed their e-Foil race, appeared.
‘Good evening, Miss. Mr Tagarro will see you on the fifth deck.’
‘Oh. Thanks. And it’s Willow.’
He nodded politely. ‘I can show you the quickest route if you want?’
At her nod, he led her to a sleek lift she hadn’t spotted before. She knew why she’d needed the escort when he used a silver key card to activate it. When it slid open, he stepped back, ushered her in, then pressed the appropriate button. ‘Enjoy your evening, Willow.’
He was gone before she could answer. And in the short ride up, all the nerves she’d tried desperately to suppress surged up with her.
Jario was standing tall and a solid six feet away when the doors slid open, giving her zero time to collect herself.
His gaze raked over her, as brooding and incisive as they’d been the last time she saw him, when he’d held her captive between his thighs and awakened a hunger that hadn’t abated despite her efforts to suppress it.
Don’t think about that!
‘What was that with Rebecca this afternoon?’ he asked abruptly, but she caught a flash of something vaguely resembling concern in his eyes. ‘Did something happen?’
Her eyebrows shot up. ‘Something like what?’
His shrug was offhand. His fierce stare was anything but. ‘Another allergic reaction?’ He bit the words out like they offended him.
‘No, but...how do you know? Are you watching me?’
His exhale was slow, heavy, like he was...relieved? The hard glance he slid her a moment later diluted the notion but didn’t erode it altogether, making her heart race even faster.
‘You’re on my property, Willow. I’m well within my rights to do whatever I want.’
‘Sure, but I thought you’d have better things to do than to watch me.’ Why saying that sent hot tingles arrowing through her was a reaction she pushed to the back of her mind. Fairly unsuccessfully.
‘I’m great at multitasking,’ he said, his voice silky-smooth and devastating.
‘One of those tasks isn’t to fire her, I hope?’
His jaw gritted at her sharp tone. But he didn’t answer immediately. He approached her, his loose-limbed strides belying the power and dynamism packed into his hard body.
The back of his knuckles drifted down one cheek, leaving a trail of delicious fire. ‘Pretend all you want that outrage on Rebecca’s behalf is the reason your cheeks are flushed and your body is reacting so...interestingly. We both know differently.’
‘You can think what you want as long as you don’t fire her. She’s done nothing wrong.’
His gaze drilled into her for nerve-shredding seconds while they both acknowledged the subtext of their open conversation.
And when he answered, she knew better than to think she’d won some sort of battle, never mind the war. ‘She’s a valued member of my staff. She’s not going anywhere.’
Relieved it was something she wouldn’t have to add to her list of mounting problems, she murmured, ‘Thank you.’
A glint lit his eyes then, but he turned away before she could deduce its meaning.
‘Have you eaten dinner yet?’ he asked, again taking her by surprise with his abrupt change of subject.
She wanted to rile him by asking if he didn’t know the answer since he’d been watching her but she stopped herself, reminded of the less...aggrieved times they’d spent so far. Like when he’d taught her to throw the axe. Or in the moments before she’d won their race on the water three days ago. When she’d watched him sleep.