The boat stopped at the jetty. The water was so crystal clear that you could see the grains of white sand at the bottom. I turned to Ivan and my breath caught. The wind had ruffled his hair and the sun was shining on his face. God, it was distracting to be with a man who was such a sight for sore eyes. I wanted to push my fingers through his hair.
I suddenly remembered seeing him at the cemetery for Robert's funeral. Then too, his hair had been ruffled by the wind, but he had seemed so distant, so unreachable. A cold, unknowable stranger in a cold, bleak landscape. So much had happened since then. That time seemed like part of an unhappy dream.
'Like it?' I asked.
He nodded. 'Yeah, it's phenomenal to find a place so unspoilt.'
'Come on. I'll take you to the house first. The sanctuary is on the other side of the island.'
I jumped into the water.
'What's the jetty for?' he asked with a laugh.
'It's more fun this way.'
So he dropped into the water with me and we waded to shore laughing.
Rosli, one of the four permanent staff on the island, picked up our bags and hauled them onto the wooden platform.
'I take the bags to the house,' he said with a wide grin.
'Thanks,' I said, and he jumped next to the bags with the agility of a monkey. He was soon nearly halfway up the beach. It was the most wonderful sensation to feel my feet sinking into wet sand again. For a moment I felt a pang of sadness. I will never come here with Robert again.
'What's the matter?' Ivan asked.
I shook my head. 'Nothing.'
He turned towards me and took my small hands in his large ones. 'You miss him don't you?'
I looked up at him, trying my best not to cry, but tears filled my eyes. 'All the time.'
'Hey,' he said gruffly and pulled me against his chest.
'I'm sorry,' I sniffed.
'It's OK. I know you loved him … in your own way.'
I smiled at him. 'Yes, I did. I really did.'
He used his thumbs to wipe away the tears from my cheek.
Then I took his hand and led him up the beach as we walked to the house.
We climbed the stone steps to the front door as Rosli was coming down.
'I'll be on the other side of the island if you need me,' he said.
'Thanks, Rosli,' I said again as he waved and went his way.
I looked at Ivan. He was gazing at the tall bamboo trees that surrounded the house and bent over it, their leaves leaning down to touch the roof and walls.
'Come on,' I said skipping up the steps. I stood at the threshold of a large rectangular living space nestled among the trees. There were no walls, just a sandstone floor and old ironwood posts to hold up a thatched roof. It had an open floor plan with low sofas, a coffee table, a dining area, and at the back end, a kitchen. I turned around to watch Ivan's reaction. He looked at his surroundings then back again at me.
'No walls?' he asked looking at balustrades made from matted coconut leaves that edged the space.
I shook my head. 'No walls,' I confirmed.
He raised his eyebrows. 'Interesting.'
'It's a great way to maximize the outdoor living experience. We wanted to be able to see the sea from wherever we stood inside the house.'
'Must be a job keeping the elements and the mosquitoes from the forest out? How do you do it?'
'You can say that again. It's a full time job getting rid of the leaves flying around. I'm afraid nature is constantly trying to regain its ground.' I grinned. 'There are ferns growing out of the wood in the kitchen, we have bee holes in some of the teak wood, and it is a nightmare with spiders.'
I pointed towards the rolled-up blinds.
'At night we pull down those white nets you see over there. When there is no one here, wood panels are fitted into those slots to weatherproof it.'
Ivan walked away from me and stood by one of the posts looking down. He turned around to look at me with surprise on his face. 'This house is hanging over a river-valley.'
'Do you like it?' I asked breathlessly. I don't know why it seemed so important that this powerfully contained, beautiful being should approve of my dream holiday home.
'It's fabulous,' he said.
'Let me show you the best part of the house.'
'Lead the way.'
I walked to the far end of the room and turned around. 'Ready to see my bedroom?'
'I'm always ready to see your bedroom, babe.' His voice was rich and throaty.
I descended the stairs and stood on the platform below the floor we had come from. 'Here we are.'
'You're kidding,' he said with a laugh.
'Nope.'
'What do you do when you're drunk?'
'You sleep upstairs,' I said very seriously.
He came down the ladder-like steps and joined me on the platform. He looked down at the river rushing thirty feet below.
'I hope we get a windy night while we are here. It's simply fantastic,' I said.
He looked up at the iron moldings holding the massive swing bed. 'Are you sure it is safe?'
I grinned. 'Try it … Tarzan.'
He gave me a very dirty look, grasped the thick ropes, then hopped onto the swing platform with the king size bed on it. It jerked violently and he had to widen his stance, bend his knees, and throw his arms up to regain his balance. 'Fuuuuck,' he said.
I tried not to giggle at that precious momentary look of panic on his normally cocky, arrogant face.
'We're actually going to have sex here?' he asked doubtfully.
'That would be completely acceptable.'
'What if these ropes break?'
'It is not just the ropes. The underlying suspension system was engineered to take the weight of a Boeing 747.'
His mouth curved into a slow, wicked smile. 'That's good to know because I have very sweaty, dirty nights planned for us.'
An electric tingle coursed through me. It would be a long time before I got used to the thought that Lord Greystoke, that mysterious, cold stranger who could barely bring himself to be polite to me, wanted me with the kind of intensity that Ivan showed.
'Where did Robert sleep?' he asked casually.
'Upstairs. He was a big coward. There's another bedroom on the side of the kitchen,' I said pointing up to my left. 'I tried to get him to come down here, but he always refused. On windy nights he used to keep waking up in the middle of the night and lean over the balustrade with a storm lantern to look down and check if I was still hanging on. I'm like a tick. No getting rid of me, I told him.'
He just laughed without making any comment.
'Come on, I'll show you the second best part of the house.'
He hopped off the platform and we went up the steps to solid ground again. I took him to the far end of the house out to the open air, heated pool made of old andesite stone from Java. Rosli had already filled it up with fresh water. It looked beautiful with the afternoon sun hitting the large dragon waterspout sculpture.
'Just what we need tonight,' he said.
Strange that after everything we had done I was suddenly shy. 'Now we really should hit the shower then make our way over to the other side of the island. I want you to meet everybody and I've got chocolates to distribute.'
We bathed outside in the custom-made rainforest shower. I arched my neck back, the water pounding on my face, my forearms pressed into the sweaty copper walls, and reveled in the sensation of Ivan's cock thrusting deep inside me. He bent his head over my face, his eyes glittering hotly as he kissed my mouth.
CHAPTER 31
Tawny Greystoke
I slipped into a T-shirt, boy-shorts and flip-flops, let down all the net blinds, and went to look for Ivan. He was standing at the edge of the water.
'Hey,' I said.
He turned to look at me and for a moment there was such a sad look in his eyes that I took a step back.
'What's the matter?' I asked.
He shook his head. 'I was thinking of Robert,' he said. I think part of me knew that he was not really thinking of Robert, but something connected to Robert.
A wave lapped at my feet. I squeezed my toes. 'Why were you thinking about him?'
He shrugged. 'Just how little I knew him. How he had this whole other life that I knew nothing about.'
'Yeah. Robert was special.'
'You still miss Robert very much, don't you?'
'Yes.'
'Wasn't it awkward with your age difference?'
'No.' I smiled thinking about Robert. 'Neither of us cared what anybody else thought. We used to go places where people would mistake us for father and daughter and we'd just laugh and tell them we were husband and wife.'
He nodded. 'Hmmm … '
'We should get going. They've probably prepared a barbeque for us. They always have a lovely bonfire.'
'Ah, bonfire,' he said mildly.
'I'm from the South. It's in my nature to love a bonfire.'
'Let's go to this bonfire then.'
We walked to the back of the house and took the narrow path that cut across the island. Once I nearly tripped on some roots and Ivan caught me. 'Be careful,' he warned with a scowl on his face. 'I'd hate to see even a scratch on you.'
As we neared the beach on the opposite side of the island, we could hear the sound of laughter and music and smell the food they were cooking. When we arrived in the clearing where the volunteers all lived they gathered around us, and I introduced Ivan to everyone. It was not breeding season for the sea turtles so it was a smaller crew, but they were a young, lively and idealistic group. Two Australians, a French boy, three British lads, a couple of German girls and some students from the local universities.