Chapter Five
Pearl used to get up before dawn when she was on the swim team in high school. Now her body woke her automatically as the first salmon rays slid across the sky. Most days she was able to simply ignore it and go back to sleep, but today she found herself coming fully awake in a matter of minutes. It took her a shockingly long time to simply stop luxuriating in how good she felt and to remember what had happened.
Oh my god, what was I thinking? she thought in shock. He's a stranger!
A stranger who had dived into deep water to save a little girl, her mind whispered. A stranger who had helped her even though she had given him a false name and ducked him earlier at the hotel.
A stranger who felt amazingly good snugged against her back, she had to admit.
There was a tiny part of Pearl that wanted to do nothing more than close her eyes and go back to sleep. This part of the beach would probably be deserted until later on in the day. There was no risk in staying and simply relishing the novelty of being so close with Luciano.
Instead, after a few agonizing moments of indecision, she started to work her way out from under his arm. He muttered a little, and she was confident she heard him say her name once, but then he fell back into a deeper slumber. When Pearl was entirely free, she glanced back at him for a moment, unable to resist a fond glance.
In the growing light of day, she could see there was a scruff of new beard on his jaw and some sand caught in his dark hair from where he had rolled in the night. He was completely naked, and as he rolled over onto his back, Pearl couldn't resist taking a moment to marvel at his power and the masculine beauty of his frame.
I need to get going, she thought. I can't really stay. The more I look at him, the harder it's going to be to go.
Feeling a bit like Lot's wives, she stealthily made her way back to her clothes, discarded so easily the night before. She shook them out and redressed herself. They were a little uncomfortable, covered in dew and faintly grimy, but they would do well enough until she got back to her room.
Pearl remembered her news from her agent, and she started to smile. She was going back to the mainland, she was going to be in a bigger show, and that meant more money and more opportunities. It could represent an enormous step for her, and there was a part of her that looked forward to it.
She glanced back at Luciano, still sleeping so easily on the beach.
Well, as far as a last hurrah on the beach goes, I really did pick a good one.
Her body still had a faint and pleasant soreness to it as she made her way back up the beach. She would go up to her room to shower and put on new clothes. Then breakfast, as she was starving, and then she would call her agent.
There was something new opening up in her life, and she could feel herself growing more excited to think about it.
For some reason, however, she couldn't get Luciano out of her mind. As she showered, ate, talked to her agent and made her final preparations to leave Santa Joan, her mind wandered back to the beach where she had left Luciano sleeping. Would it really have been so very bad if she had simply woken him up with a kiss, touched him, told him her real name and where she was going?
The fact that you are this torn likely means something, she scolded herself. You need to keep your eyes on the prize, girl.
She knew that was true, but if it was, why did it feel as if she had left her heart behind her in the sand?
***
Luciano woke up with a start, disoriented and confused. His skin felt too warm, as if he had been sleeping in a microwave, and when he sat up, there was a moment of confusion so all-encompassing he wondered if he was still dreaming.
He had been checked into one of the most luxurious suites on Santa Joan. Why was he sleeping on a beach?
Memories of the night before flooded back to him, and with them came memories of his mermaid. A glance up and down the beach told him that she was nowhere to be found, and he sighed.
In the light of day, the time they had spent together barely seemed real. His mind might have found their meeting fantastical, but his body could still remember chasing her into the water only to realize that he was the one being chased. He could still feel her burning touch on his body, still remember how very good she’d tasted and how wonderful she had felt mounted on his hips.
Luciano shivered as he remembered how she had felt wrapped around him, her body tense at first before relaxing into the pleasure they had found together.
After a few moments revealed no sign that she was returning, Luciano sighed and went to find his clothes. They felt strange when he put them on, as if another man had worn them. His meeting with the mermaid had changed some elemental part of him, and it remained to be seen whether it was for the better or worse.
The walk back to the hotel gave him time to think, but when he was back within the marble walls again, he still hadn't reached a conclusion. He had told her that she should only give him her name if she wanted to, and it seemed clear at this point she wanted to keep it from him.
However, that didn't remove the subtle but aching need in him. The idea of never seeing her face again, of never seeing her smile, made his heart thump painfully in his chest.
I'll watch the mermaid show again, he thought. That'll help me figure out what to do next, and it might show her that I'm still interested, that I'm not one of those guys who simply runs off once he got what he wanted.
His mermaid looked like an angel, but there was a kind of world-weary toughness to her as well. He had seen how she’d fended off the son of the resort owner and her “admirer” on the beach the night before. He supposed she had no reason to think he was any different, but perhaps if he gave her an opportunity to see…
Before he could give the matter more thought, however, a call came in on his phone. When he saw that it was one of his investors for one of the more current projects, he debated for a moment and picked up.
"What's up? I'm on vacation."
"Sorry," said an investor who certainly did not sound sorry. "I know that you're meant to be unavailable, but there's this idea in my head that I needed to share with you before the deal went through..."
Luciano listened with growing interest and then with a kind of grudging curiosity.
"Yes, yes, I could see how that would work," he mused. "If you get me some numbers on it..."
"Too late," his investor said with a shocking amount of cheer. "I've already started proceedings to..."
"What?!" The people closest to Luciano flinched at the sharpness in his tone, but he stalked forward, completely focused on the call. "Are you seriously telling me that you went ahead with a major change in plans to something that a dozen men across the world have already signed off on?"
The investor went on to try to explain what he had done, but Luciano was already pretty certain he had nailed it. This was something that needed to be fixed sooner rather than later, and that meant flying back to Milan.
Luciano swore vividly and colorfully as he went back to his suite. As soon as he ended the call with the investor, he called up his lawyer, throwing his things haphazardly into a suitcase before giving up on it entirely. He had a full wardrobe of clothes in Milan, he wouldn't miss these.
"I need the private jet fueled up," he told his lawyer. "And I need a car that will get me there. I want to be in Milan as soon as I can, and right now that means as soon as I get out of the shower, understood?"
He barely had another moment to think before he was on the jet, taking off from Santa Joan. It wasn't until he was leaving that Luciano looked down at the vivid blue water and the beautiful resort nestled in the white beaches.
With a pang, he thought of his mermaid, and he shook his head.
I will return and find you. What we are, it is not over yet.
***
It seemed like a strange kind of fate when Pearl left her room after showering and changing and nearly walked straight into Luciano in the lobby. He obviously had not showered yet himself, but there was something so handsome about him that she found herself smiling anyway and drifting closer to him.
Maybe she had been wrong about this. Maybe she could unbend just slightly and...
She was close enough to call out for him when he lifted his head and seemed to look right through her. He held his phone to his ear, and he was walking like a man with purpose. He strode through the lobby scattering people left and right, and he came within a palm's breadth of touching her before he was past her and headed towards the elevators.
Pearl stood there in shock for a long moment, and then she wrapped her arms around herself, trying to shake off the feeling of intense grief that seemed to shoot through her.
This is for the best, she tried to tell herself. It is always better to learn who someone is sooner rather than later, isn't it?
She knew how true those words were, but still she felt herself quiver under the pain of it. It was ridiculous. He was a one-night stand, and it was her fault if she had put more into it than he’d ever intended. Pearl had no idea that a stranger looking straight through her without deigning to acknowledge her could be so very painful.
It only solidified her decision, however, and as she walked out of the lobby, she texted her agent.
Yes, I can be ready to leave Santa Joan by tomorrow. Just let me know when the plane is coming.