Jealousy

To say that they're kissing would be an understatement. They're making out. There is simply no other way to describe it.

It's a fine spot for it, I'll give them that: settled in on a loveseat beneath the shade of a gazebo with a view of the turquoise ocean. One of Eirika's hands clasps Innes's neck, the other, his shoulder. Bile rises in my throat as I see that his hand is more adventurous as it slides up from her waist towards her right breast. She starts, her eyes snapping open for an instant, but she doesn't reproach him or brush his hand away.

I might have been able to convince myself that what I feel is only brotherly protectiveness... if I didn't know how sweet her lips are. I should never have let Ephraim goad me into kissing her the Christmas before last.

I'm about to turn on my heel and leave them to... whatever... but my foot scuffs the wooden boardwalk and they break apart, staring at me.

"Seth?" Eirika squeaks. Her face turns scarlet in an instant. Her paramour, however, looks haughty and slightly smug.

"Ephraim asked me to inform you that we'll be having dinner in a few minutes." I turn and leave before either can say a word. I hear him chuckle and say something in a consoling tone. My stomach churns and I clench my jaw and keep walking away. It shouldn't matter to me what Eirika does; she's far too young and besides that she's the daughter of my employer. It would hardly be appropriate considering my position within Renais Enterprises. And if I lose that, I lose everything.

I take deep breaths of sultry tropical air as I make my way back to the villa where we're staying. It's the twins' first spring break since beginning college and they wanted to make it a real vacation so renting a small island in the Bahamas was deemed suitable. The cost of one week's vacation for the six of us on this seven acre island is equal to most of what I earn in a year.

The villa has eight bedrooms, each with a private bathroom (including Jacuzzi and bath for two), about equal in size to my apartment back home in New York. There's an indoor and an outdoor pool, tennis court, gym, bar, billiard room, and, naturally, a private chef. I'm here at the request of their father who wanted to me to "keep an eye on them." I can't imagine why...

Ephraim is waiting for me when I walk up the path and enter the villa's common room. "Did you find them?"

"Yes."

"And?"

"They'll be coming to dinner shortly," I reply.

Ephraim crosses his arms and glowers."What were they doing?" I say nothing at all but something in my demeanour must give it away for he grimaces. "I'll have to keep him occupied tomorrow," Ephraim grumbles. "And Cormag too for that matter." Tana has invited her beau as well, a young Air Force pilot on leave to study engineering at Columbia where Ephraim and Tana are both students. "No one is going to get laid on this vacation," he grumbles and then stalks off towards the kitchen. I still haven't been able to discern which of the two men he dislikes more.

Tana is cheerful at dinner and little by little Cormag begins to settle in. Innes and Ephraim argue over politics. Eirika, though, is unusually quiet and stares fixedly at her plate. I'm sure the meal is excellent, but I hardly taste it. All I see again and again is Innes's lips meeting hers, his hands caressing her body.

While the boys retire to the billiard room and compete to see who has the longest pool cue, Eirika and Tana decide to walk along the beach and watch the sunset instead.

"Seth," Eirika says, stopping me before I can slip away.

"Yes, Miss Eirika?"

"I'm sorry about before. Innes and I just–"

"You're nineteen," I cut in. It rankles me to hear her speak his name. "What you choose to do with your boyfriend and where you choose to do it is none of my concern." I can hardly stand the stricken look on her face and I turn and leave.

I go to the gym and try to sweat out my frustration. I take a shower– a cold one– and turn in early. But as I lie in the king-sized bed and listen to the lull of the waves drifting in through the window, all I see is Eirika. When I close my eyes, I'm the one who holds her in my embrace, who presses my body against hers and hears her whispers, her moans.

In the movie that plays in my mind, I taste more than just her lips.

ooo

Through long habit I'm up and dressed in shorts and a tank top before dawn, ready to go for a morning run. The scent of the sea is a welcome change from the usual stench of exhaust and garbage that greets me most days when I step outside into the bustle of the city. I'm stretching out on the villa's veranda and just about ready to go when I hear the doors behind me slide open.

"Good morning," Eirika greets me. She's dressed in shorts, a T-shirt, and sneakers. Her hair is tied in a pony tail poking out of the back of a ball cap. She looks adorable.

"You're up early."

She shrugs. "I've had early classes all semester so I couldn't shake the habit I guess. Could you use a running partner?"

"I normally run several miles a day..."

She sniffs and crosses her arms in the way she always has when she's at her most stubborn. "Just because I do most of my running in a gym doesn't mean I can't keep up."

What else can I do but nod my assent?

Side by side, we begin to jog along the beach while the sun rises out of the ocean in a brilliant canvas of pinks and oranges like on all the postcards of this place. The loose sand makes for slippery footing compared to what we're both used to. It would be easier if the tide were retreating so we could run on the packed, wet sand, but it's coming in and Eirika delights in running at the very edge where the waves race up and nip at her sneakers.

She's in good shape and keeps pace with apparent ease though, when I glance at her, I can see the morning light catch on glistening beads of sweat that trickle down her neck.

After a while we pause, leaning against a rocky outcrop on a rougher section of the shore and watch the sun sliding higher. The scattered clouds that hover on the horizon are awash with colour against the lightening sky. "I hardly ever see a real sunrise back home. It's so beautiful," Eirika murmurs.

"Hmm."

"Is your room all right? You have everything you need?"

"Yes. Of course."

"So you're comfortable?" I'm puzzled by her questions and by the way she's biting her lip, her brow creased.

"Everything's fine," I reply.

"It's just..." She turns to glance over her shoulder at me. The dusky morning gives her skin a glow like burnished gold. "You've been so quiet, Seth. More than usual I mean."

"I'm sorry." I can hardly tell her what's really on my mind, how I want to brush a stray lock of hair away from her eyes just to be able to touch her skin.

"I–" She sighs and her eyes are fixed on the bursting colour of the horizon. "I know that you're not really on vacation– that dad asked you to come and keep us out of trouble."

"He was... worried."

"What?" she says, smirking now as she gives me a sideways glance. "He thought we'd be having a week of drinking and debauchery? Is that it?"

I can barely suppress a smile myself. "Something of the sort, I imagine."

"What's he paying you? I'll double it."

I straighten and, with a raised eyebrow, "I'm afraid you can't afford me, Miss King. At least not until you've come into your trust fund."

She considers this a moment. "So when I turn twenty-one," she says, quirking an eyebrow, "you're all mine?"

All at once I feel like a deer in the headlights and something must show on my face because she starts to laugh. "I'm joking!" she says and squeezes my arm. "You don't need to worry, though," she adds, looking out again towards the morning light breaking over the sea. "I'll be good. I think Innes is getting a little ahead of himself anyway. He needs to slow down. Actually, the way you were glowering at him yesterday cooled him off some." She turns to glance at me, smiling. "Could you do that some more?"

"Gladly."

She smiles at me– charming, delightful, beautiful: everything an heiress should be, beloved of photographers and society columnists. But the smile she gives me is different from the one captured in their photographs.

"I miss home, you know," she says after a moment's silence. "Dad and Ephraim and you."

"We'll still be here when you finish college."

"Even you? You won't go running off to some other company?" Her tone is light, but her frown, slight though it might be, betrays her.

"Renais Enterprises is my home. Where else would I go?"

The happiness on her face is more beautiful to me than the sun's dazzling pallette on the eastern sky.

She straightens and stretches. "I guess we should head back. Innes'll probably be jealous when he notices we're gone."

Good.

She's grinning and winks at me. We run side by side again in the morning sunlight. And though I know she may never be mine to hold, at least she'll always be mine to protect.