Yacht
Standing near the rail of the yacht, her heart was beating terribly fast. She met the blue-eyed gaze of the man studying her as a team of men untied them from the dock and then looked away just as quickly.
“You look nervous.”
“I don’t want to be here.”
“You liked my kisses in the car.”
“I cannot stop thinking of where those lips have been and how much I do not want to find myself on the receiving end of an oozing sore on my mouth.” She watched as her words hit him with the impact she longed for. “What else was I supposed to do but kiss you back when you kept me confined in a car and I know you’re carrying a weapon?”
“Thought you weren’t afraid of dying?” He ignored her insult.
“I’m not but until I know Sidonia is safe, I’ll play your little game.” She turned her attention towards the open water beyond the marina and into the bay.
“What game is it you think I’m playing?”
“You’re far more experienced than I am, Icaro. You think you’re going to give me a few kisses and I’m going to capitulate like one of your paid escorts and let you do whatever you want. I meant what I said. For Sidonia’s sake, I’ll marry you, but I want the STD test panel, an all inclusive one, in my hand ahead of the wedding night.”
“What do you think it will accomplish?” he asked her. “Do you really think you’ll spend a lifetime avoiding my lips? We have a baby to make.” His voice was teasing, mocking even.
She curled her fists around the metal banister as the ship started to move. “There is no need for us to be intimate for such things. We can use a medical clinic and a petri dish.”
He leaned carelessly against the rail and studied her, reaching out to tuck a strand of hair flying in front of her face behind her ear. “You do know the church’s stance on IVF and basically anything having to do with women’s bodies, right?”
“I imagine the church doesn’t likely condone forced marriages either where the entire bridal family could be murdered if it doesn’t happen.”
He laughed, “the old testament is full of arranged marriages. Not even your God can give you an excuse not to be married by arrangement.”
“This is not a blessed union.”
“You’re wrong. Everything happens for a reason, amoré,” he chuckled at her consternation. “You need to open your mind to all the possibilities.”
“You don’t get it!” she slapped her hands on the metal, feeling the sting on her palms as much as the one in her heart. “I have spent my entire life believing someday I would find a man, meet him, fall in love and then get married and have a family. I believed in being good and pure I was attracting the blessings of God and now, for what? What did doing the right thing, being the good girl get me? A one-way trip to hell.” She snarled angrily.
“I promise you, our life together will not be hell.” He studied her carefully and then tugged her bottom lip from between her teeth. “Do not do this. Now, tell me, all the men who you’ve gone on dates with and kissed, why did you not carry relationships?”
She looked away hating the question. “Our values never seemed to align.”
“How so?”
“The first guy I went with made a big deal over the fact it was my actual first date and I was nineteen. He and I went on multiple dates, and he kissed me a couple of times on our second and third dates but by the fourth date he wanted more and he,” she was embarrassed, “he touched my breast through my blouse, and I slapped him. He never called me for a fifth date.”
“He touched you?”
The chill from his words made her shiver, “he was kissing me, and it was nice I suppose but he was getting really excited and he groped me. I asked him to stop but he did it again, so I slapped him. I got out of the car, and he drove off. Sidonia saw him the following weekend with another girl at the movies. She was letting him do far more than grope her in the theatre.”
“He had no right. When a woman says no, it means no.”
“I said no to you when you kissed me, and you kissed me anyway.”
He gave a nod and then sighed, “I apologize. I should not have done so. I won’t do it again.”
She was stunned by his words. “You won’t?”
“No. If you tell me no for a kiss or anything more, I will respect your wishes.”
“Thank you.”
“The other two, what was the story there?”
“One guy kissed me on our second date at the door when he walked me to the door. It,” she twisted her lips in embarrassment. “It was not an experience I wanted to repeat.”
“I’m going to hate myself for asking but why?”
“It was really wet. Like strings of salvia everywhere. My entire chin was wet. His mouth was huge, and he tried to swallow my face like the whale did Jonah. No man’s lips should be so big!”
He threw his head back and laughed and Zorah decided she really enjoyed the sound of his laugh. It was a rich timbre like a deep melody floating over her skin. This moment in time was going to be one she recalled for all of eternity as he laughed deep from his gut at her words.
She giggled at his reaction and soon found herself laughing alongside him until tears rolled down her cheeks. She was holding his arm for support as they laughed together and when he hooked his arm around her neck and pulled her closer, kissing her temple as he wiped his own tears of laughter away from the corner of her eyes, she was still smiling broadly.
“Oh, that’s too funny,” he managed to speak. “Like the whale swallowed Jonah.”
She tittered at his words.
“Was the last one as repulsive?”
“No. He simply didn’t like when I flat out told him I was saving myself for marriage. He’d made a couple of comments during our third date about going back to his place after dinner. He left me in the restaurant,” she paused, “with the bill, after sneaking out the back when he lied about needing the bathroom.”
“Well, I promise to not dine and dash with you this evening.” He kissed the top of her head this time.
“You kiss me a lot,” she whispered suddenly.
“I’ve been waiting a lifetime to get this opportunity. I’m not wasting a moment.”
Zorah considered this might be the most romantic thing anyone ever said to her, and it was coming from a man who admitted he was a murderer for hire.
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