Author: Priscilla West

The stars idly watched as we put on one hell of a show for them.

Chapter Six

I woke up in daylight surrounded by warmth. Every muscle in my body felt sore but in a good way. A familiar spicy scent tickled my nose and I realized Vincent was holding me in his arms tight against his chest, his calm breaths against the back of my shoulder and the morning breeze a feathery touch to my skin. Though no longer hard, he was still inside me. We were wrapped in layers of velvety blankets beneath a purplish-red roof under a dazzling blue sky. The fire in the pit had gone out. Was this another dream?

I shifted my naked body in his arms to face him and studied his stunning features. His dirty-blonde hair was disheveled. Traces of dry chocolate hung at the corner of his lip. I wiped it off with my finger and sucked the pad.

His eyes opened slowly, blinking a few times then revealing those dark irises I’d become so fond of.

“Hey,” I said softly.

His lips curved up lazily. “Hey.”

“It’s morning.”

He rubbed the drowsiness out of his eyes. “Did you sleep well?”

I nodded. I hadn’t even remembered falling asleep. I couldn’t remember ever being separated from Vincent’s body last night. Had I fallen asleep with him inside me?

He yawned like a lion waking from slumber. “How do you feel?”

“Like I’d been thrown around by a tornado. You?”

He smiled. “Like I was in a fight with a panther.” He twisted his head to look over his own shoulder. There were long red streaks marking his golden skin.

I gasped and began lightly massaging around the wounds, hoping it would help with the pain. “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize I was scratching you.”

“I didn’t either.” His lips gently kissed the tip of my nose. “Definitely feisty.”

“I got carried away. I didn’t know I had that side of me. I promise I’ll be more careful.”

He kissed my forehead. “That’s going to be hard because I intend to bring that side out as much as I can.”

“But I hurt you, Vincent.”

He nuzzled his cheek against my head. “You make me feel alive.”

I curled up into him, kissing his neck, inhaling his scent into my lungs. He was almost too good to be true.

“By the way, I’m sorry about your clothes,” he said.

“It’s all right. They were in the way. I won’t miss them.”

“We’ll get you some new ones once we get back to the city.”

“That sounds fun.”

“Speaking of fun,” he said. “I was thinking we’d explore the island today and do some birdwatching. You interested?”

I voiced my excitement for the activity, my adolescent interest in birds recently reignited.

After cuddling in front of the waves for a while, we decided to head back to the cabin. Vincent put his clothes back on and I had to make do with a blanket in place of the garments that had been destroyed in the heat of last night’s passion. We rinsed up, put on fresh clothes, and ate a light breakfast of eggs and toast in the cabin.

I was perusing the pictures next to the fireplace while he went to find a set of binoculars. The first few seemed to be of him and his surfing buddies on various beaches across the world, grinning and showcasing their abs and surfboards. There were one or two women in the pictures but it was clear each was the significant other of one of Vincent’s friends. A few other pictures showed Vincent shaking hands with famous people. It was obvious they were taken at events or parties. My eyes halted on a picture of just two people on a beach. It was Vincent smiling with his arm around a stunning brunette. Her straight silky hair framed sultry dark eyes and full lips. Her body in a bikini was elegant like a model’s but she also had curves in all the right places. She was beautiful—much more so than me. My chest tightened with jealousy. Who was she? One of Vincent’s ex-girlfriends?

Vincent returned to the living room with a pair of binoculars around his neck. “Found ‘em.”

“Great,” I said. “Hey Vincent, who is this in this picture?”

He came to my side in front of the row of pictures. “Oh, that’s Giselle, my younger sister.”

Giselle. The name was pretty. I felt my chest relaxing, knowing she was Vincent’s sibling.

Vincent had a sister? How come I didn’t know that. Come to think of it, I didn’t know much about his family even from all the research I’d done. There just wasn’t a lot of information available. “I’ve seen a lot of pictures of you when I was researching your background. But how come I’ve never seen her in any of them?”

“Most of the pictures of me out there were taken when I was out in public. Some with my approval, some not. As you might’ve guessed by now, I like to keep my private life—well, private. That’s why I was concerned about ships seeing us last night.”

“Oh.” I’d forgotten how famous Vincent was since our involvement. Our frequent interactions made him flesh and blood, real. It was easy to forget he was often under a watchful eye by the media.

“Your sister’s very beautiful.”

He paused, eyes seemingly far away, deep in thought. It was the same look he had when I first told him about Marty. “She’s a good girl. I’d like you to meet her sometime. I’m sure you two would get along well.”

I wondered what Giselle was like. Was she basically a female version of Vincent? Perfect and charming?

“Come on. Let’s do some spying.” Vincent put his arm around my shoulders and we headed out into the forest like a pair of adventurers.

The rest of the morning passed in a flurry of bird sightings—ones I’d never seen before or seen only in nature magazines. Vincent played tour guide, giving me details about the different species on his island. We traded off on the binoculars and I whipped out my phone periodically to take pictures.

We were hiding behind a bush, the sun bright overhead, when I spotted a familiar bird perched on a tree branch. “Whoa, that looks like a puffin but with a big ‘ole beak.”

Vincent laughed. “It’s a toucan. Like the bird from those Fruit Loops commercials. Except this one is a Keel-billed Toucan.”

We watched it groom itself, using its beak to preen its breast feathers. With its brightly colored coat and distinctively shaped head, it looked majestic.

Vincent pointed and I saw another bird on a branch behind the grooming one that looked to be of the same species but considerably larger. The big one was closely watching the smaller one, bobbing its head up and down, shifting from side to side on the branch inspecting the smaller one from every angle. The grooming one didn’t seem to notice the sketchy behavior.

“What’s that bird doing?” I whispered.

“The one grooming is female and the other is male.”

The female toucan continued going about her business while the male silently hopped from branch to branch, edging closer to the female without her noticing. The female turned her head to preen at the feathers on her back and I thought she’d spot the male, but the male cleverly jumped to another branch out of sight as if anticipating her movements. Before long, the male made it to the same branch as the female, inched closer, then suddenly jumped on top of her. The female squealed and fluttered her wings but the male kept her steady with his strong claws.

“Whoa,” I said, my finger clicking the shutter on my cell phone camera. “Is that big bird humping the little one?”

“It’s called a cloacal kiss,” he said. “Birds have an orifice on their backside called a cloaca for reproduction. They touch their cloacae together and the male deposits sperm into the female. In some species, it only takes a few seconds.”

“Sounds kind of anticlimactic,” I mused, snapping another picture.

“I guess it depends on the birds. I’m sure it’s that way with some humans as well.” He grinned.

“Not with us. It’s a very long and hard process.” I turned my camera to snap a picture of him.

He smiled. “With lots of climaxes.”

“For sure. At least on the female’s end.”

“The female is what’s important. The male has to win her over.”

“Like some kind of challenge?”

He shook his head. “Because she’s worth the pursuit.”

“You could always try sneaking up and mounting the female like the birds do.” I pointed to the toucans. The female had calmed down and become receptive to the male humping her.

“You think that would work?”

I smiled mischievously at him. “Catch me and find out.”

He wrapped his arms around my waist and I playfully struggled to get free though I knew it was futile. “I got you.”

“No fair,” I said. “You have to give me a head start. Close your eyes and count to a hundred.”

“There’s steep slopes and sharp rocks on this island. I don’t want you getting hurt.”

“You’re sweet, Vincent. But I think my fragile female body can handle a frolick in the woods.”

“Okay, Kitten.” He smiled, releasing his hold on me. “I’m game.” He cupped his hands over his eyes then started counting.

I dashed off, zipping through the dense trees and hurdling over small bushes. I could hear the sound of his numbers growing distant.

“One hundred,” he said, voice faint. “Here I come.”

A few minutes later, I heard his footsteps crunching against leaves nearby and I ducked behind a large brush. I thought he’d find me but he walked right past the brush, calling out my name. I picked up a small branch from the ground and threw it in a different direction. He headed off toward the sound of the branch thumping against the ground and I had to keep my hand against my mouth to stop myself from laughing. I was amused I could outsmart billionaire Vincent Sorenson.

Once he was out of sight, I made my getaway in the opposite direction. I was having fun eluding him. I hadn’t played coy last night, but today was different.