MARINA The sound of the door clicking shut behind me barely registered. I’d just stepped into the hot spray, my eyes still heavy with sleep, my skin cool from the sheets. The kids were downstairs with my mum, the house still quiet, the sky outside only just beginning to lighten.I hadn’t expected him this early.I didn’t even hear the front door.But I felt him.A shift in the air behind me. The unmistakable heat of his body.I turned slowly, blinking away steam.He was there.Alexander.Suit jacket gone. Shirt half unbuttoned. His hair slightly damp from the mist, his jaw shadowed with stubble. He looked like sin and power and something barely contained. Exhausted. Wild-eyed. And so achingly beautiful it hurt.His eyes dragged over my wet, naked body like he hadn’t seen it a hundred times before. Like he might drop to his knees from just looking at me.He stripped in silence, quick, deliberate, and stepped into the shower.The moment the door closed behind him, I was in his arms.
MARINAThe house was dimly lit when we walked in, quiet, calm, almost too calm for what my heart was doing in my chest. Vincent and Xavier charged inside like it was already theirs, their laughter bouncing through the hallways as if they belonged here. In a way… they did.Alexander stood beside me, one hand still resting on the small of my back, like he wasn’t ready to let go. Or maybe like he didn’t trust the night to behave in his absence.My mum stepped out from the kitchen just then, drying her hands on a dishtowel, her brows knitting at the sight of us. She looked from me to the boys, and then slowly… to Alexander.Dad came up behind her, glasses pushed up on his nose, silent and stiff, saying nothing but clearly noting everything.“They’ll be staying the night,” I said quietly, gently steering Xavier’s little backpack off his shoulder.My mother looked at me, something unreadable in her expression. “Are you sure you’re up for that?”“I want to,” I said. And then added, “Alexande
MARINAI woke up warm. Warm in the kind of way that had nothing to do with the sun.Alexander had tucked the sheets around me at some point during the night, even after we’d tangled them in the throes of everything. I turned my face into the pillow, breathing in the scent of him, citrus and something darker, something unnameable but intoxicating. My body was sore in places that made me blush when I shifted, but it was the good kind. The kind that reminded me I’d been touched with reverence. That I was wanted. That I was loved.I blinked slowly, adjusting to the soft coastal light spilling through the windows. And there he was.Sitting in an armchair by the window, already showered, dressed in navy slacks and a white button-up rolled at the sleeves, reading something on his phone. He looked like something out of a magazine. Yet when he glanced up and met my eyes, his whole face softened.“There she is,” he said with a slow smile. “I was going to let you sleep a little longer, but your
MARINA After the walk, Alex proposed I come stay with him at the beach house where we had our first date, I don’t know how I accepted immediately, I jutted wanted time alone with him to make up for the lost times. We dropped the boys at the penthouse with Carlos for the night. I stared at myself in the mirror of the guest bedroom Alexander had let me use, my fingers trembling as I tried to undo the zip of my dress. It wasn’t just Sarah’s voice in my head, it was the weight of everything. Of being called names. Of being discarded. Of feeling invisible in that house before.And now... of being seen.Alexander had knocked once before, quietly. Said he’d be waiting if I wanted to talk. And then he walked away.Not forcing. Not demanding.Just waiting.I didn’t even realize I was crying until I tasted the salt on my lips.I left the zipper half-undone and walked barefoot through the long hallway toward his room. The mansion was quiet, like the world was holding its breath.I paused at hi
MARINA Three days after the beach dateI wasn’t expecting anything, and maybe that was why it caught me completely off guard.The knock on the door came just after noon on a Wednesday, my day off, and I was still in my robe, hair wrapped in a towel, trying to convince myself to start the laundry. I dragged my feet to the door and opened it… and just like that, there he was again.Alexander.This time, holding something behind his back, in jeans and a soft white shirt, not formal but deliberate. His hair was a little messy not styled the way he usually wore it and he had a sheepish look on his face that almost made me laugh.“I come in peace,” he said, and brought forward a bouquet of my favourite flowers deep red ranunculus and white roses. My heart flipped in my chest.“You remembered,” I whispered.“I remember everything,” he said, then added more quietly, “Especially when it comes to you.”I took the flowers, smiling despite myself, and moved aside to let him in.That was the firs
MARINAThe morning light filtered in softly through my curtains, brushing against my skin like a warm whisper. I lay still for a long time, cocooned beneath the duvet, my fingers curled loosely beneath my chin. My lips still tingled his kiss etched there like an unshakable memory.Alexander.I turned onto my back and stared up at the ceiling, watching the fan spin in slow, lazy circles. Everything about last night felt surreal. The ocean breeze, the stars above us, the weight of his apology… and that kiss. God, that kiss. It wasn’t just passionate, it was raw, full of ache and wanting and something deeper I hadn’t dared let myself name.I pulled the duvet over my face and let out a soft, muffled scream.It was too much.Too intense.Too real.A vibration on the nightstand startled me. I reached out blindly for my phone and saw Katie’s name lighting up the screen.Katie 🌙 calling...I answered and tucked the phone under my ear, not saying a word.“Oh no,” she said immediately, her voi