Aris: A Sexy Romance Novel (Thief of Hearts Series Book 1) (10 page)

“You ordered for me?”

“No, we’re honored guests here.  Umiko brought the house’s best dishes.”

Saoirse nodded her head uncertain whether she believed him or not.  “You never did answer my question.”

“What question was that?”

“How many languages?”  Saoirse arched her eyebrow as she looked at him, pouring him another cup of sake. “You’ll want to drink that now.  Sake’s no good when it’s cold.”

“Are you trying to get me drunk?”

“Me?  Please, I’m an attorney!  I don’t need to get you trashed for you to tell me what I want to know.” 

“Nine.  Can we have lunch now?”

Lunch was a leisurely process that Umiko spread out a little over an hour.  The only thing Saoirse wanted when they finally pushed away from the table was a nap.  Aris lead her to the front door of the restaurant.

“You’re just going to walk out on the bill?”

“It’s not quite like that.”  Aris took a couple of large bills out of his pocket pushing them into the back section of a book that Umiko was reading before he walked out the door.  “It’s not walking out on the bill when you’re an owner.”

“You’re telling me you own part of that restaurant?”

“I’m telling you that those contracts that made you so crazy this morning go to businesses like that one.”  Aris put his hand out for her to get back in the limo.  “Umiko is the granddaughter.  She helps her grandfather and her mother in the restaurant.  Umiko has to go to college, there has to be money for grandfather to stop working.  The business has to provide for her mother.  If you think about it for a minute, if everyone in America gave you just one dollar, all on the same day, how wealthy would you be?  It’s the same principle as our contracts, it’s just a little harder to administer all of it.”  Aris settled back in the seat closing his eyes.

When they got home, Denise was sitting at the counter in the kitchen, with Jerith, eating a late lunch. 

“Hey!  Where you guys been?  You want some lunch?”

“Oh god, no.”  Saoirse walked into the outdoor room off the side of the house plopping down in an overstuffed wicker chair.

“What happened?”

“I went to lunch with him.” she pointed at Aris.

“Yeah?  What did you have?”

“Japanese and an unsolicited lesson in economics.”

Denise wrinkled up her nose,  “Eew, econ.  I don’t remember seeing a Japanese restaurant in the village.”

“It’s not.  It’s in Darwin.”  Jerith said to Denise after rattling something to Aris.

“Darwin?  What, like Australia, Darwin?”

“Yeah, the food was great but I don’t think I’ll go again, the econ lesson afterward causes heart burn.”  she was resting her head on the back of the chair with her eyes closed.  Aris grinned without saying a word.   “Speaking of heartburn, wait til you see the mess their darling Martin left!  You have your work cut out for you.  The guy had no clue about anything.”

“Eew.  Now I have heartburn.  See, Aris was right.  If you don’t work while you’re eating you don’t get heartburn.”  Denise started to walk out of the room.

“Hey, where are you going?”

“I can eat, or I can work.  See ya!”  Denise walked back into the kitchen with Jerith not far behind.

“She hasn’t even been here a whole week yet, and already she’s corrupted.” she looked at Aris shaking her head.

“I think she corrupted rather nicely.  How about a swim?” 

“Swim?  We just ate.”

“No, that was more than an hour ago.  It should be fine by now.”

“I didn’t pack a swimsuit.  I’m not much for pool side.”

Aris grinned pulling her out of the chair leading her upstairs to her bedroom.  She wasn’t sure she wanted to know how he knew where everything was in this room, nor why exactly it was all her size.   

Saoirse plopped down on the bed watching him.  He went straight to the dresser, third drawer from the top.  “What color?  Wait, I know.  No green.”  Aris pulled several items out of the drawer tossing them on the bed next to her.  “What about blue?  Or white?  Not to worry, it’s lined.  There’s black.  Mm, too formal for an afternoon swim.  How about red?” 

“What is that the magic swimsuit drawer?”

Aris grinned over his shoulder at her. 

She began looking through some of the items he had been tossing on the bed, “Um, I thought you said these were swimsuits.”

“They are.”

“Ha, no.  These are strings with Irish pennants.”

“Hm, I think a bikini would suit you, but...” he shrugged, “if you’re not comfortable with that there are some tanks in here.”  Aris tossed a couple more items on the bed. 

She picked them up with the ends of her fingers, “You do realize, that just because it’s called a woman’s swimsuit, doesn’t mean you can’t expect to get some fabric for your money right?”  the maillot she was holding up was cut high and low with lots of cut outs in the rest of the design.

“There’s plenty of fabric there.”

“Sure if you have three inch hips!”

“Try it on.”

She took a deep breath looking at the plethora of string in front of her, “Pass.”

“Are you going to at least come out and sit on the sand?”

Saoirse let out a sigh.  “I suppose I could for a little while.”

“Let’s go.”  Aris took her hand pulling her off the bed.  He practically flew down the stairs heading out to the bay.  When he hit the sand, he stopped with her beside him, “You sure you won’t change your mind?”

Saoirse looked out toward the bay not paying attention to what Aris was doing.  “I’m sure.  I probably should have brought my sunglasses out though.  You didn’t get a...”

Aris had stripped down to nothing and was already a few feet away in thigh deep water. 

“You said swim, not skinny dip!”  without realizing that he would answer her, she continued watching him wade into the water.

Aris turned around, “You’re not coming, so what difference does it make?”

Saoirse turned four shades of red, “Oh my god.” she looked down at her feet but it was too late, she’d gotten a perfect view of his ass, and an even better look at his package, before he disappeared under the water.  She turned around heading up toward the house.

“Where are you going?” 

“I’m going to get my shades and a towel.”

“Don’t get lost or I’ll come find you.”

“I think I can find my way to my room and back.”

Aris slowly sank under the water.  When she came back out he was no where to be seen.  She kept her eyes on the water as she walked closer on the sand.  There was a shallow sided surfboard looking thing floating in the water.  When she got to the water’s edge, she could see his hand on the far end of it as it floated up to shore.  In a minute he stood up on the other side of it, holding out his hand to her. 

“What is that?”

“It’s an old dug out that’s been broken down for targets.  It’s okay, it’s clean.  It won’t sink.”  Aris was motioning for her to come toward him.

“I thought we agreed I was going to sit on the sand?”

“You’re worried about sand fleas.  Besides, it’s hard to carry on a conversation hollering across the bay.”  He couldn’t see her eyes behind her sunglasses.  Her eyebrow arched up.  Her mouth twisted up, not to mention that she already had her arms crossed. 

“Sand fleas?”

“Isn’t that what you said last night?  Something about I wasn’t supposed to be sleeping in the sand because of sand fleas.  I could be mistaken, I was drinking last night.”  an evil grin spread across Aris’s face.  He shrugged, “Of course, if you’d rather not that’s fine.  I can come sit in the sand with you...”

“No!  No, that’s not necessary, I’ll try your target, whatever.” she shook her head as she threw the towels on the sand. 

The dug out thing rocked violently, even with Aris holding it, but she did manage to get seated on it.  Aris dropped back down in the water pulling the dug out to the center of the bay with him.  He disappeared under the water again.  She watched his form under the clear blue water.  He swam with the grace and ease of a fish as he disappeared out of sight.

He was gorgeous.  He was sweet.  He was smart.  He was still kidnapping her every time she turned around.  Lunch today was in Australia, now look at her.  She was floating in the middle of the bay because he wanted her to?  Almost as if she had summoned him, Aris’s head broke the surface of the water.  He had something enclosed in his hand. 

“Hold your hand out.” 

She looked at him for a minute trying to decide what he was going to do.  She put her hand out toward him.  He pushed it back over the dugout she was sitting in, cupping it in his hand.  Slowly, he opened his hand pouring a small creature into her palm.  She couldn’t tell what it was at first.  She cupped her hands together.  Aris grabbed a handful of water letting it drip into her hands.  The little octopus uncurled its tentacles looking for a means of escape.  She smiled at the comical movements of the little thing.  She moved her hands one over the other as the little creature danced around searching for home.

“Here,” she held her hands back out to him.  “Put him back where something won’t eat him.  He’s probably scared half to death.”

“You sure you don’t want to put him back?  I’ll show you where he belongs.”

“No, I’m good where I am.”

Aris disappeared under the water again.  He came back faster this time settling himself on the side of the dugout.  He pushed his thumb into the side of her arm.

“Thanks, I needed to be wet.”

“You’re getting burnt.”  Aris turned the dug out pushing it toward shore.

“You never did say how you guys ended up here.”

“What the islands?  They were for sale.” 

A large brown object moved in the water perpendicular to Aris.  “What is that?” she pointed frowning.  Her first reaction was shark, but she wasn’t sure.  Embarrassing herself was not what she had in mind right now.

Aris dropped under the water coming back up with less ripple than he had going in.  “It’s nothing, it’s a wobbegong.  They’re docile sharks as long as you leave them alone.” 

“How did you end up robbing banks?”

“That’s kind of out of the blue isn’t it?”

“You’re intelligent, educated.  It’s not like it’s the only option you have.”

Aris pulled the boat until it was parallel with the shore.  He eased his forearms onto the side of it, letting it take his weight in the water. 

“Sometimes, when people don’t have anything, offering them something makes whatever it is look like the golden ring.  Sometimes they believe that you must be a good person, because you’re making the offer.  It’s only later, when they start to learn about what they have, that they have to make decisions about whether it’s what they want, or whether they should hand it back, if they can.  

A long time ago, a young man with nothing was offered something.  At the outset he believed what he was told.  He believed he was doing the right thing.  Then one day, something went seriously wrong.  He had to rethink what he was doing.  He had to question the reasons why what he was doing was a good thing.  In his anger, he caused the death of an old holy man.  Decisions were made that day, and a few days later when a friend’s wife died, that set things in motion which can’t be undone.”  Aris smiled at her.  “I’m educated because I chose to be.  Noah taught me to read when I was young.  When I suddenly had money in my hands, I went to find people who could teach me.  It was not as if I was educated as a kid with options as a young man.”

“Is that why you speak nine languages?”

Aris laughed, “No.  I speak that many languages because that’s what everyone else speaks around me!” he was pensive as his finger caressed the side of her leg,  “It’s not that I don’t have regrets, but there are things I can’t change no matter how much I want to.  But...”  Aris turned the dugout toward shore again, “not all things are bad all the time.  Sometimes, when things go very wrong, the opportunity for good things comes out of it.  Anything else out of the blue you want to know?”

“Yeah.  Are you going to use the towel I brought out for you or are we going to have the conversation about sand fleas again?”

“Are you blushing?”

“I’m not blushing.  I’m sun burnt.  You said so.”

Aris nodded his head grinning at her,  “So I did.”

Saoirse watched him walk out of the water.  She was grateful her sunglasses were dark, it was a good thing he couldn’t read minds either!

Chapter 8

Aris had a pillow shoved under his back as he laid in the hammock reading with Seer between his legs, who was working on her laptop.  Dinner had gone fairly well with Mata staying to eat.  Both of them got on the tram to see Mata home then walked back to the house together.  The island was very pretty in then evening when everything started to quiet down.

Seer was starting to ask questions.  He liked that, but he was concern
ed that she wasn’t asking any of the tough questions he had anticipated she would want to know.  It created an empty feeling in the pit of his stomach that she had already decided she wasn’t staying.  She’d said as much this morning at breakfast but Mata seemed to think it was too early to be sure.

Aris must have read the same page on his tablet a dozen times.  He was holding the tablet in one hand, his other played with the ends of Seer’s hair, but his mind couldn’t focus on the page in front of him.  All he could seem to think about right now was her.   All he wanted to focus on was how to change her mind. 

He turned off the tablet letting his hands find their way to Saoire’s shoulders. 

“I can’t work like this.”

“I’m sorry.”

“That implies you’re going to stop doing it.”

“No, I’m sorry means
‘I’m sorry you can’t work like this’
.  I never said I would stop.”

She sighed, “Am I going to get anything else done tonight?”

“Of course, just not on the laptop.”

He leaned forward folding up the laptop before putting it on the table beside the hammock with his tablet.  He dropped his legs over the side of the hammock sitting up.

“Drop your legs over each side.”

“What?”

“Straddle and lean forward.”

Aris shifted his weight forward against her back more.  As she dropped her legs, she came to a sitting position.  He took hold of her wrists pulling her arms forward.  She flinched uncertain what his intentions were.

Putting her hands up on the opposite side of the hammock he let her rear end slide down between his cock and the hammock.  He leaned forward on her until his hips held her against the hammock.  She pushed up on her hands locking out her elbows.

“You’re trembling.  Are you cold?”

“I’m fine.” 

His ears picked up that edge in her voice again.  Something between irritated and intimidated.  Aris’s weight pressed down on her harder as he reached over her for the blanket hanging on the rope in front of her hands.  A barely audible gasp escaped her lips.  Aris didn’t miss the tensing in her body.  Snatching the blanket from the rope he spread it out over her letting the sides fall down her legs.  He leaned forward against her slowly wrapping his arms around the inside of hers before putting his hands over hers.  His arms shifted inside hers forcing her elbows to bend.  He brought her down on her forearms on the hammock.  His hands caressed hers underneath him.  His lips caressed the side of her neck.  His breath was hot on her skin as his teeth teased her ears.  She was shaking.  His arms flexed around hers, squeezing her, as his hips pressed harder against hers catching them under him.  She could feel his cock pressing against her back.  He moaned her name as he bit her shoulder.  All he could think about was him all over her.  A shiver ran down her spine. 

Aris stopped what he was doing.  He was aware of her body shaking worse than it had been a minute ago.  Her breathing came in short pants and gasps but this wasn’t the sound of pleasure.  She was nervous.  If he had not been part of the situation he would have thought she was frightened.  He tightened his grasp on her hands.  With a slight jerk, he pulled her up off the hammock shifting both of them back to a sitting position.  He unwound his arms from around hers pulling the blanket in around her.  He could hear her trying to catch her breath but she had completely lost control of the shaking.  

“I need to go in.”  she was trying to get herself off the hammock but it was proving more difficult for her than she anticipated. 

She froze for a minute trying to regroup.  Her jaw clenched.  Aris watched her struggle realizing he needed to get her out of the state he had put her in.

“My love, you’ve caught a chill.  Why didn’t you say something?”  he stood up over the hammock dismounting it like a horse.  He threw his arm around her shoulders pulling her into him as his other arm wrapped around her legs.  She jerked, clutching his shirt in her hand, as he swung her weight up into his arms. 

He carried her upstairs to her bed laying down in it with her.   He pulled the pillows and blankets around her trying to make her comfortable.  He lay there with her huddled up against his body, rubbing the back of her neck, waiting for her trembling to quit.  Every muscle in her body was rigid.  Aris moved his foot along her ankles and feet finding that they were probably the only part of her body that wasn’t trembling.  His mind reviewed what he’d done in the hammock.  She would have said no, in clear terms, if she had not wanted his attention.  He didn’t think he’d moved on her enough to hurt her.  In the end, the only idea left to him was that he had pushed her out of her comfort zone.  His actions didn’t strike him as being aggressive, but maybe that was her perception.  He smoothed her hair back from the side of her face.  She had settled down and was dozing lightly.