The sound of the sea was a slow, steady heartbeat.
Damian stood at the bow of the yacht, hands gripping the railing, the wind biting at his skin.
His boss's voice still echoed in his mind:
"The merchandise must be in perfect condition. In a week, you'll deliver her, and we'll make a fortune."
The merchandise.
The girl who slept only a few meters away.
The one whose eyes had cut straight through his armor.
He clenched his jaw, rage rising like bile in his throat. He had never known conflict like this before. He understood hatred, not guilt. Violence, not tenderness. But this time was different.
She was different.
He ran a hand through his hair and exhaled sharply. He could have fixed everything with a single call. He could have called Leo.
But pride was poison in his blood.
I won't give him the satisfaction of saving me. Or her.
He turned to head back to the cabin, when a faint metallic sound stopped him.
A soft step. The whisper of fabric.
Damian moved quietly toward the noise.
At the stern, bathed in pale moonlight, was Naiara, her hair tousled by the wind, her figure fragile against the dark horizon.
For a moment, she didn't know herself whether she wanted to escape or just breathe. But as soon as Damian advanced toward her, her instincts screamed, she stepped back.
"Where do you think you're going, Tigna?"
His voice was deep, low, rough.
She stumbled, tripping over a loose rope, and nearly fell over the railing.
It happened in a blink, he caught her by the wrist, yanking her back against him, pulling her away from the sea's edge.
Her body collided with his, breath mingling, hearts hammering.
Her mind spun.
He's my captor. I should hate him. So why do I feel like this?
"Let me go!" she cried, pounding her fists against his chest.
He didn't flinch. Didn't even move.
Then, suddenly, he wrapped his arms around her, not in anger, but in desperation.
"Don't do that again," he murmured against her ear.
"Don't make me hurt you."
Her breath hitched, sharp and trembling.
"Then what the hell do you want from me?!" she shouted.
"Let me go! What am I to you? Or do you just plan to kill me?"
Tears welled in her eyes, burning hotter than fear.
Damian stared at her, his expression breaking apart.
"I can't hurt you," he said, voice raw. "Don't you understand? I'm not the threat anymore.
Now I feel like I have to protect you… and that's my curse."
The truth slipped out before he could stop it.
For the first time, it scared him more than any order he'd ever been given.
Naiara's voice trembled.
"Then tell me who is the threat. Tell me you didn't use me from the very beginning.
You mentioned my father. What does he have to do with this?"
He hesitated, fingers still gripping her wrist, then, slowly, his touch softened.
He let his hand trail upward, brushing her face.
"At first, yes, I wanted to use you. But now… I don't know anymore.
I told you about your father because it's him I should protect you from, not me.
You were supposed to be just a job."
Her skin burned beneath his fingertips; her scent filled his lungs, salt and warmth and something he couldn't name.
She closed her eyes.
"No. That's not who you are," she whispered.
"You're the only one I ever let touch me because I trusted you.
You respected my limits… you saw me."
The words hit him like a blow.
For one suspended heartbeat, Damian was no longer the vengeful brother or the trained weapon.
He was just a man, one who'd forgotten what it meant to feel.
Naiara took his face in her hands, trembling, and kissed him. Not gently. Not fearfully.
But like someone trying to breathe again after drowning.
For a heartbeat, Damian froze, then he gave in. His hands tangled in her hair, his lips meeting hers with fire and hunger and pain.
When they finally broke apart, both of them were breathless, lost.
He pressed his forehead against hers, voice low and hoarse: "You don't understand, Tigna… you're my damnation."
Nay brought her fingers to her lips, that kiss was so different from the kisses they had given each other so far.
Leo seemed to have changed, not only in his ways but more profoundly.
She whispers in his ear: "What happened to you?"
Those words put through Damian's heart like a blade. He would have liked to answer her that so many things had happened to him, that he had taken the wrong paths, that he had spent his life being devoured by anger and that only with her that pain had subsided but he said nothing to her.
Only a tear, uncontrolled, ran down his face.
She saw it and was shocked because the Leo who knew her would never cry, he would never have shown himself broken.
With a thread of voice, she said: "Talk to me."
He lifted her up with a quick gesture, taking her in his arms and told her: "I don't want to talk now."
He looked into her eyes and kissed her intensely, looking for her tongue with his.
He bit her lower lip, making that guttural grunt that drove her crazy. Continuing to kiss her, he went into the cabin and threw her on the bed. He continued to kiss her all over her body, on the scar, and feeling her body stiffen, he whispered to her: "Let me do it." And he sank with his head between Nay's legs, starting to lick and suck her clitoris.
Nay was surprised by Leo's way of being, he had never been so rude to her, very fiery, yes, but always delicate and careful not to cross the line with her.
Now, instead, he touched her and kissed her with a new, more cheeky intensity.
Damian felt her enjoying pleasure and her moans made him more and more excited.
He accelerated the pace, touching her nipples with his fingers.
She felt the pleasure growing inside her until she reached a breath from orgasm.
At that moment he stopped, leaving her with that broken pleasure and her head confused.
"Please go on" she told him, running her tongue over her lips. He kissed her on the inner thigh and went up to her breasts, without speaking. He licked her nipple, making her sigh, then approaching her ear, whispered: "I want to fuck you."
She turned her head suddenly meeting his eyes: "I... I don't know if I'm ready..." He continued: "And I don't know if I can resist. I want to be inside you. Do you want me to stop?" As he uttered these words, his fingers were already inside her. "Do you feel how wet you are? How much do you want me?"
She didn't know whether to run away or give up.
She couldn't answer, she was torn between fear and desire.
He didn't wait and slipped inside her, looking into her eyes and telling her: "how hot you are, Nay, how much I want you."
She let out a loud moan and clung to his shoulders with her hands. "Let go, enjoy."
At those words, he increased the pace and pulled himself up on his knees to have the freedom to fuck her and touch her clitoris. With the other free hand he began to squeeze her nipple and Nay squirmed with pleasure.
He felt her orgasm that was about to arrive and slowed down, breaking her pleasure again.
She, exhausted, said to him: "Please, please. Let me come."
He smiled mischievously and pulled her up on his lap, holding her with one hand behind her neck to control the pace.
With the other hand he squeezed her around her waist, then while he dangerously accelerated the rhythm of the blows, he put a finger inside her ass.
Naiara opened her eyes wide, stiffening immediately. Damian, between labored breaths, whispered: "Let me make you enjoy like no one has ever done in your life, my heart."
My heart, that name she had never heard from Leo's lips, caressed her like a feather, accelerating the excitement she felt growing inside her own belly.
Damian accelerated the pace of the blows and began to kiss her brutally, whispering in her mouth words that were heaven and hell together. "I want to hear you scream, I want you to come for me, let me feel how much you like it."
Naiara exploded in an orgasm she had never felt before. The pleasure interrupted several times had brought her to the peak of enjoyment, making her scream and tremble.
Damian waited for her to fully enjoy that moment of ecstasy, then came out of her, producing the guttural sound that belonged to him, coming on Nay's belly.
He got up almost immediately, leaving her perplexed, but he took her hands and took her into the shower.
"This shower will be different" said Damian, waiting for the water to get hot. Then he hugged her, tight, so tight that Nay could feel his heartbeat through his chest.
So, squeezed under the jet of hot water, Damian knew he had crossed a border. He wanted to make his brother suffer and instead the only suffering he would have to face would be his own.
That woman, that fragile but incredibly strong creature he held in his arms, had made him feel feelings that he thought were buried forever.
Only a thought crossed his mind and pierced his heart: "I have to tell her the truth. And she will hate me."