..::.. Chapter 57 - The Escape ..::..

He's fresh and brand spanking new this morning. He stretches, hanging onto the low ceiling as he decoils. His broad back muscles ripple, and his silk pajamas hang on for dear life around his hips.

"Briefing. Five minutes," he says about the contract. He grabs his coffee mug and disappears again.

I jolt awake. I was asleep on the couch, the piles of paper around me grouped with questions by sections. I rush to finish whatever I left undone before dozing off. Edward is looking at everything sprawled on the floor after he's dressed and showered. He walks over the pages between the gaps when the plane has landed. He just leaves it and me behind.

I rush to straighten and grab the stacks. pressing them to my chest.

The tarmac is vast and empty, but there's a path to an awaiting car. I climb in feeling lost, sloth-like, and unprepared.

He pulls on shades keeping his eyes averted from me or the shifting of papers on my lap.

It's loud. I'm loud.

My hands quiver with the lack of sleep and hydration. After a while of the sound of relentless shuffling sheets, he looks over, giving me a glare. I quiet down, stilling the stack of papers.

I don't know how Isah's villa would've looked like, but seeing this one makes me gasp. I bet this wouldn't have compared. We drive up to an estate, the floors stacked in modern architectural fashion between lush greenery, the ocean its backdrop. I don't know where we are but it took an entire night to get here.

I sneak a peek at Edward and I'm aghast at the wealth. Is this real? Is this all his? What else does he have to his name?

I don't say a word, not even when he marches right into the house. The door is gigantic and swallows him. I follow, quickly, so as to not get lost. Guards are left behind, no one enters beyond this point.

I'll be alone with him.

I see his light jacket sprawled on a stone bench by the entrance, which leads to a mammoth open-concept room. Sculptures stand in corridors; that's how ample the space is. The floors are cement, leading to patches of grass that flow right to the outside. A pool is practically inside the living room. Warm natural elements decorate the space around soft cream furnishings, tropical plants dipping into the living spaces in oversized petals. The wall to the far left is open to a green yard with hills in the distance.

He's sitting at a breakfast nook, facing the hills beyond, by a still, glassy pool. His lips sip on piping coffee. But I don't see maids, housekeeping, or a chef. Food is already laid out.

Flushed, pale, and staring at everything around me, I hesitantly walk up to the table and sit, papers still stupidly clutched to my chest.

"I could have Garret drop you off at Isah's villa. It's not too late," he says.

I sigh, rolling my eyes to look at more enchanting things in this space. Clearly more than a villa. This is an island.

Edward owns an island.

"You damn well know that wasn't going to happen. I was sealing you a deal," I argue. He doesn't respond. "To which, by the way, I should be thanked, praised with the mess you were in, not given the silent treatment. You're welcome." I slam the pile of papers on the table.

He cuts his eyes to me. A chuckle. Like there's audacity in my words…

"Settle down and eat. You haven't all night."

I almost gasp aloud. It was a punishment. He left me to suffer.

"Real nice," I snap, snatching the coffee mug in front of me. I stab through fruit and eggs piled up buffet style by the breakfast nook and sit to inhale it all, pissed.

Famished, I scarf down mouthfuls as he watches, running his fingers through his hair, a smirk ghosting over his lips. Then I feel utterly nauseated. An elbow lands hard on the glass top and my utensils rattle. I could vomit again.

"You're an asshole," I say with my eyes shut, breathing deep.

"So were you." He looks dejected. And I understand the meaning behind his words. Me in a stranger's arms. "Go clean up. Contract debriefing in an hour."

He stands. He toes off his shoes. He strips. Every layer of clothing is off. I watch through fingers, still splayed over my face.

And god, he's gorgeous. I take a staggering breath. How did he grow up to be so much?

The last I see of him is his broad back, his ass, and the splash he makes diving into the pool.

The ripples of his image sailing underwater like a fish. But I know, he's nothing tame as such.

He's a shark.

Me? Completely disarmed.

I hurt him yesterday. His pride was wounded.

I wander around the house. Is it a house? More like a museum. So many rooms: A library. A gigantic kitchen, two kitchens with dining areas, bedrooms lined, other living areas with plush, lounge sofas I've never seen before. I lose count of it all. I manage to find the master bedroom, then a shower. The kind that overlooks the bottom and the view. He floats beneath, lounging at the very edge of the pool that's visible from where I stand. He's looking up, watching me.

The sneaky fucker gets an eyeful. Like he knew. He smirks, hands behind his head.

So, I give him a show.

But really, the shower is amazingly made with many shower heads. Music taps in like it's programmed the moment the water gets going. An ambient melody plays as you soap up with soft lights to soothe and calm. But all the senses come rushing in at once and I jump with the start. I look down at him. He smiles and winks. I laugh watching him swim away.

I'm in a second room; clothing, a vanity, and shoes. The closet is bigger than my loft back home. Perplexed, I find women's clothing. Anything you'd need.

"Hm." His many concubines, probably. I walk out in a towel because none of those are mine. I find him where he was, where he's far in a wrap-around infinity pool. He disappears and the water moves. Right to me. His emergence puts me in a trance. He's peeking up below me.

That shark materializes and tugs on my towel when he swims up. His fingers beckoning, hands palm up, asking. His dark eyes, take me in.

"Let me show you something," he says. I climb in and he does the rest, he grabs my torso and pulls me in. His lips find purchase on the crook of my neck. We hug close like the fight in us doesn't ruin this tie between us. Cheek to cheek I hear his breath by me, working to move us both to that something.

I hear it before I see it. Waterfalls so heavy gush from above. I hide on his shoulder when he sails us beneath it. It pelts. I smile through it holding on to him for dear life. It's … magical. We linger and whirl. He watches me and I can't help but feel that fire that always seems to kindle between us.

He navigates to rocks behind the giant stream and sits, pulling me on him where we float. It's loud, but we're cocooned.

"I wanted to show you so much, while I have the chance," he says to my ear. I can't take my eyes off him. I run a hand over his cheek to his lips.

"Tell me first," I suggest, so that we won't move an inch. This is perfect. "How many more places like this, Boss?"

He doesn't like that name from my lips. Not in moments like this.

"Whatever money can get," he says. I wait for more. "So many, Bella," he says, like the walls come barreling down and he's just talking to me. "So much. And I never cared for any of it until now." He runs a thumb over my lips.

I smirk. "Not even other women to share it with all these years? A closet full of clothes for all of them." I hint at that.

"No," he corrects. "Not here. Never here. You're the first … and the last." His words serious.

I grieve this. I look away.

"Kiss me. Give this old sap a chance at his pathetic dream with his girl," he says. He's never asked before. This is what he's wanted for years.

"How long have you waited?"

"You have no idea."

"What if it all goes away, what then?" My throat catches. All because of me and my traitorous ways, Jenks at my heels with his threats.

"We'll only ever have now," he says. "It will all go away."

How is he so sure? Does he know something I don't? I watch him, the fear in me.

"So are you going to enjoy it, or stay angry at—what is it you said?—this terrible, terrible human you fell in love with once," he utters.

I kiss him. I jump to. He's right. We'll only ever have now. That boy and girl who have pined for one another deserve this much. No other details that muddle this belong.

"Edward," I whisper, our knitted brows hooded over eyes tightly shut. So much feeling pouring out like a waterfall. Bigger, much deeper.

The stream rushes above and so do I above him. He watches. My mouth falls open at the feeling. I whimper, but steady on him. Head back, the deafening sounds of water rushing muffles my sounds when I sink down onto him. His fingers dig into my hips taking over when we're frenzied, like it's the very last time.

That something he wanted to show me was this; fully and totally immersed.

"Come," he says when we're desperate and have made dizzying love in this reclusive place. I do, already at the brink. I'd go to any place he takes me.

….