Page 216 of Modern Romance January 2025 1-4

‘You. Tied up. Yeah, definitely not so bad,’ he drawled.

Colour whipped into her cheeks, but his laugh became a cough when she shed her shorts and tee.

‘Scarlet bikini?’ he gasped.

Scarlet and skimpy and she was going to give him a heart attack.

‘People tend to stare at me so I might as well give them something to really look at.’

‘Why do you think they stare?’

‘I think it’s the red hair.’ She shook her ponytail ruefully. ‘Loud and out of control. I guess they thinkI’mlike that as well.’

‘I think you’re very in control. Most of the time.’ He winked at her. ‘I think you give people what they expect. You play up to it.’ Her past had hurt her, so she’d toughened up. He didn’t blame her in the least. ‘What’s real and what’s the armour, Elodie?’ He jerked his head towards the cliffs. ‘How brave are you really?’

‘You like to challenge me,’ she muttered.

‘I like seeing you enjoy yourself.’ He held out his hand. ‘Do it with me.’

She held his hand painfully tightly. He gripped hers as hard back and grinned. Twelve long seconds later they surfaced.

‘My bikini slipped.’ She giggled as she grabbed her top before it could float away and eyed him accusingly. ‘Which is what you wanted!’

Buenos Aires, Argentina

‘You really like dancing,’ Ramon murmured.

She’d been entranced by the tango display but now the performance was over and the club’s resident DJ had taken to the decks. Revellers were crowding the floor and Ramon ached.

‘Yes, I do.’ Elodie sipped her drink and nodded. ‘No lie. It’s liberating. I like being alone in a crowd but knowing we’re all feeling the same beat. It’s the safest place to express myself. It’s sexy.’

Shewas sexy.

‘Go on then,’ he dared her huskily.

She disappeared into the crowd but soon enough he spotted her in the middle of the crowd. She had such sensual physicality—in tune with her body, dancing unconditionally, unreservedly, and he could only stare. But eventually she came over, the tease obvious in her eyes.

‘You only like to watch?’

Her cheeks were flushed and there was a sheen to her satiny skin and how could he resist?

‘You like to challenge me,’ he growled, echoing her words from the other day.

She smiled. Remembering. He’d known she would.

‘I like seeing you enjoy yourself.’ She held out her hand. ‘Do it with me.’

Which is how Ramon, who hadn’t gone dancing in more than a decade, found himself in the middle of a packed-out club floor. Liberated and laughing. Until he wasn’t laughing and he could hear nothing but the music, feel nothing but the beat and the heat—driving him to move closer to her. It was more than two hours later before they made it back to the hotel. To a cool shower. Then long moments more—dancing of a different kind.

‘Is this liberating?’ he breathed as he buried deep inside her. ‘Sexy?’

‘Si,’she sighed. ‘Yes.’

‘Look, fluent in my first language already.’

Somewhere over the Atlantic

The less than two-week trip had spilled into three when Ramon extended the trip in South America, purely because she’d never been there before and he’d been enjoying her wide-eyed enthusiasm. But there could be no more prevaricating, he had to fly back to London. Duty called. But he sprawled next to her on the wide sofa, his safety belt loosely fastened in his lap. He ought to be working but simply didn’t. It wasn’t that he was too tired, he was toorelaxed. A very different thing.

---