Page 63 of Modern Romance January 2025 5-8

‘Hmm?’

His lips pursed at her distracted response. ‘You’re testing me.’

‘Am I?’

‘Security can be there in twenty minutes,’ he coaxed thickly.

She looked around her. ‘Bali is beautiful. It’ll be a shame to miss this opportunity.’ She met his gaze. ‘And you don’t need me, do you?’

He opened his mouth, then hesitated. ‘I need to feed you. Because you’re hungry.’

It was nowhere near sufficient but still her belly flipped and her heart jolted with enough emotion to make her breath stall. Regardless, she forced herself to shake her head.

‘I’ll get my own lunch, thanks. See you in a few hours.’

She ended the call with shaking fingers.

And as she’d feared, after hours of exploring sights and sounds and food, as she made her way back toLa Venganza, she remained terrified that she would find it near impossible to walk away from Jario when the time inevitably came.

CHAPTER TEN

TWOWEEKSFLEWby in a breathless kaleidoscopic blur of good food, exquisite lovemaking and a deep delve into everything that sparked pleasure.

Specifically,herpleasure.

It was almost as if Jario had made it his mission to discover every contentment point so he could explore and fulfil it. To drown her in pleasure to the exclusion of everything else.

Everythingimportant.

Because blurred but not entirely suppressed was the premonition that things were coming to a head even though, by unspoken agreement, they didn’t speak of her father or his parents.

The moment she’d stepped back on his yacht five hours after her Ubud tour she was directed to the topmost deck where he’d had a lavish breakfast-for-dinner feast of pancakes and waffles waiting for her. He’d insisted she sample each iteration of the yummy pastry, topped it with exquisite milkshake, then caught her in his arms and carted her off to his bed, where he’d tortured her until screaming his name was the only thing she’d been capable of.

They’d sailed into European waters two days ago and had explored Iceland and Denmark by helicopter. Willow had been stunned to discover his mother was Swedish-American and that he’d spent a few Christmases in Stockholm as a child. Those nuggets had been shared with her mostly after lovemaking, in those seemingly stolen minutes when she held her breath and prayed he would fall asleep and find nightmare-free rest.

More and more, her heart swelled with joy when that happened, often staying awake to watch over him.

It was in those cherished moments when she glimpsed the carefree boy he’d once been, the one who still cared enough to revisit his mother’s homeland, albeit from a high distance, and to fight for his father’s memory, that she finally admitted to herself that she’d fallen in love with Jario Tagarro.

She’d been thankful that he’d been asleep when emotive, panicked tears fell. Then she’d allowed herself to whisper it to him as he slept. And as his arm tightened around her in his sleep, she accepted that she had two choices open to her—leave or fight.

Jario raced across the water on his jet ski, another unfamiliar grin cracking his face—and his insides if the warmth easing through him was a testament—as he executed another arc around a frustrated Willow.

He should be ashamed that thoughts of retribution had receded like light mist in sunlight—not quite disappeared but not as urgent.

Just as he should be contrite for ignoring the facility director’s emails for the past two weeks. Hell, he hadn’t bothered to open the last three in his inbox. But he’d checked with security and they’d assured him his mother was safe and healthy.

Whatever the director wanted to discuss could wait... a while.

Willow Chatterton had challenged him to be happy. And he’d never backed down from a challenge.

He watched her slow to a stop, rise to straddle the seat as she dragged irritated hands through her wet hair, and his body stirred wildly.

Dios mio, she was stunning.

Both inside and out, he was discovering. Every time she smiled, he got hit by a wave of vertigo.

The tiny veering off track that had occurred when she’d left his yacht unannounced, triggering panic, had continued to widen a crack he couldn’t quite close. One that impressed ever strenuously how essential the daughter of the man who’d wronged him was becoming.