Under His Eye: Falling for Stepdaddy

Undertow

My mom was right - the Kent family beach was spectacular.

Situated in a little cove that you could only reach after descending about fifty steps, it had a sweeping view of the ocean. Best of all, thanks to the high cliffs all around, it was completely shielded from view. Unless someone was standing on the edge of the back lawn with a telescope, no one would ever be able to see you.

After laying out my towel on the pristine sand, I sat down and stretched my legs, soaking in the golden warmth of the early afternoon sun.

One of Malcolm's servants had delivered more than a dozen bikinis to my room, which had made choosing one quite difficult. In the end, I went with a simple white number that I thought looked both elegant and cute.

Despite how nice it was to be laying out there at the beach, I had trouble relaxing at first. Perhaps it was the thought of all the changes that the upcoming nuptials would bring to my family, or maybe it was because of all the crazy intensity of the encounters I'd had with Malcolm and his son, but it took a good half an hour before I could unwind and start enjoying my solo time at the beach.

I dug my book out of my bag, a trashy romance novel called "The Billionaire's Slut." I knew it was one of those silly stories that was embarrassingly melodramatic, but something about the title appealed to me. I guess I chose it because it had the word "billionaire" in the title, considering it research of a sort into what life was like for those for whom money was no object.

Between my book and the gentle kisses of the sun on my bare skin, I was feeling really good after a while. Realizing I was completely alone, I decided to take off my top so as to even out my coloring.

Normally, I was the kind of girl who dressed pretty conservatively when at the beach or pool, but since I had the place to myself, I decided to get a bit wild.

It wasn't long before I started buzzing all over, especially when I turned over onto my stomach, and I started remembering how it felt when I'd crashed onto Malcolm's lap, and he'd put his hand on my butt.

With my eyes closed, and the sun bathing me in its golden heat, I started to get pretty worked up inside. After a while, it became nearly unbearable, so I decided to go take a dip in the water to cool down.

I'd never gone into the ocean topless before, or anywhere else for that matter, but I was delighted at how freeing it was. Using my hands, I splashed myself with water, each drop a welcome relief as it hit my sizzling skin.

Between the endless vista before me and the expansive sky above me, that private beach was a little slice of paradise. Yet even splashing water on my skin wasn't able to cool me down enough, so I headed into deeper water, all the way until only my head and neck were above the water.

Nearly weightless, I spun about in slow motion with my arms out, my head thrown back, savoring how deliciously wonderful it all felt. For the first time, I felt absolutely no stress, all my worries and anxiety about my mother, school, and Malcolm drifting away with the waves.

It was just me, my nearly naked body, and nature, and I felt like some kind of ancient goddess, beautiful and pure.

I was so lost in my reverie that I scarcely noticed when the tide began to shift. The next thing I knew, it had pulled my legs out from underneath me, sucking me underneath the surface.

Flailing around in a blind panic, I struggled to get free, but the undertow kept pulling me out to sea. I'd never been a very good swimmer, and my heart began to pound in my chest as I realized I was on the verge of drowning.

Just then, thank goodness, the currents let me go, and I shot up toward the clear blue sky, coughing my lungs out as I gratefully inhaled lungfuls of air. The downside of being on a private beach meant that there was no one to rescue me, and I stood there for a moment, trembling as I realized just what a close call that had been.

Frightened out of my wits, I made my way to the shore, falling to my knees on the sand and uttering up a silent prayer of thanks that I'd survived.

It was only then that I realized that I was completely naked. In all the confusion, somehow my bikini bottoms had been yanked free of my body. I looked around, trying to spot them bobbing in the water somewhere, but they were gone. My bikini top was lying there next to my towel where I'd left it, but what was I going to do without any bottoms?

After drying myself off, I began considering my options. I'd left my phone back in my room, so I couldn't call my mother and ask for help. Likewise, I'd left all my clothes behind, leaving me with just a towel, my bikini top, and the odds and ends in my purse.

In the end, what I did was put my bikini top back on and then wrap the towel around my waist to make a kind of skirt. With the "skirt" knotted on one side, it actually looked kind of chic, but there was a really high slit on one side that left an uncomfortable amount of my upper thigh exposed. But I didn't really have much other choice in the matter, did I?

After gathering up my things, I made the long climb back up to the grounds of Malcolm's estate. The knot had threatened to come undone, so I re-tightened it as best as I could, praying it would last long enough for me to make it to my room.

Once I was back up on ground level, I tried to act as nonchalant as possible as I made my way across the lawn as workers scurried to and fro, getting everything ready for the wedding ceremony.

I had just about made it to the house when a familiar face popped out. It was Jack, of course, his eyes going wide when he saw me in that daring outfit.

"Wow!" said Jack, his gaze sweeping over my body, causing a shiver to run down my spine. "Looks like someone had fun at the beach."

"As a matter of fact, I did," I said with a little laugh.

Maybe it was all the sun I'd gotten on my skin that day, or maybe it was having survived a near-death experience, but I felt no anxiety whatsoever at that moment. Why should I care what that little brat thought of me? Let him look as much as he wanted to!

"Damn, Alice, you get hotter every time I see you," said Jack, his eyes glazed with lust.

"See you at the wedding, pal," I said with a grin as I sashayed my way past him.

I could feel his eyes on my backside, but I didn't care. In fact, I relished his attention, confident in my newfound knowledge that I was a beautiful sea goddess. I had nothing to hide, and soon, I was going to be a member of one of the wealthiest families in the world.

It was high time for me to accept that I was about to become a real-life princess, don't you think?