SHATTERED VOWS: An Arrange Marriage

CHAPTER 10: MORINA

When I awoke, no idea how much later, a streak of sun peeked through the window.

The plane was still and quiet, signaling we’d already landed. Bastian sat up in the bed, one tattooed arm behind his head as he stared out.

He didn’t turn my way, so I wasn’t sure how he knew I was awake when he said, “I’m happy we distracted you from the landing.” I shrugged away the warm feeling in my chest that he might care about something like that and grumbled, “Sure.”

He nodded toward the window.

“This is a place that hasn’t been marred by man. I bought the island just to watch the sun rise. It’s by far the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever done … and the best.” Soft. Gentle.

His voice was back to smooth businessman. I sat up and wrapped a sheet around myself.

“Then we’d better get out onto the sand to really see it, right?” His stare melted as he looked at me, and the smile that crossed his face wasn’t at all the ruthlessly delicious man I’d had the night before.

I left my clothes on the floor and opted for wrapping the sheet around me as Bastian slipped on boxers to tell the pilot to lower the stairs. The sun shined on the beach and made the sand sparkle.

The water swayed in like it always did on every other beach, and I breathed the air I loved best. I’d grown up going near the ocean every day with my dad who’d come from the Caribbean and had a bit of Samoan mixed with his Haitian roots. Loving the ocean was in my blood.

“I’ll never think there’s a more beautiful thing in the world than the beach.”

“You may be right about that,” Bastian murmured.

I knew he was staring at me as he said it—I saw him from the corner of my eye. It made me feel special enough to lean into him while watching the waves and the sun for a little while longer.

We made our way back to the plane and lost my sheet and his boxer briefs along the way. The lovemaking we did then was softer, and my one-night stand rolled into another morning where I got lost in a make-believe world.