《Arranged Love (Currently Being Edited)》Chapter 21 - Frustration & Tension
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"This is delicious," Paulo finally said, breaking the silence between them as he took another bite.
"Thank you. It's just something I whipped up with what we had. So how are you feeling today?"
"Better," he nodded. "A lot better."
"Good," she said, giving him a smile.
"In fact, I feel so good I think I might go surfing today."
Her eyebrows raised and she gave him a look like 'You can't be serious!'
A smile crept across his face and he laughed. "I'm just joking. I think I might wait a couple days to do that again."
"Good," she laughed. "I don't know if I'm prepared for that quite yet."
"You should've seen the look on your face. It's the same look my Mom gives me right before she smacks the back of my head and tells me to stop being an idiot," he laughed.
She smiled and laughed too, shaking her head. She couldn't picture his Mom doing that. She seemed like such a sweetheart.
Eva's cell phone rang and she looked down and was surprised to see that it was Paulo's Dad calling.
"Hello?" she said, hesitantly.
"Eva! Oh I'm so glad I could get through to you! I'm sorry to bother you on your honeymoon but it's an emergency. I already negotiated the higher wheat prices with China like you suggested and they accepted. They were desperate for it just you said they would be because of that drought. But now I have the Emporer of Japan on hold and I need your help. I tried to explain the deal you were thinking of to them but they don't understand. If you could explain it to them in their language that would be so helpful!"
She smiled and said, "Sure. If you bring them on the line with us I'd be happy to."
"Oh thank you! You're a life saver!"
When they got on the line the King introduced her as his daughter-in-law and then she started speaking to the Emporer in Japanese and he sounded very impressed and happy. She discussed the pork shortage his country was suffering because of the swine flu and offered to export pork to them in exchange for their tech imports. He was so desperate for it and grateful, that she got the tech for an amazing price and she thanked him before telling the King, "He has accepted our offer to exchange our pork for their tech imports and he said if you send the paperwork over he'll be happy to sign it and send it back right away."
"Ok, thank you Eva! I appreciate it so much. Now I'll hang up and stop bothering you. Oh, and please don't tell my wife I called you for a business meeting on your honeymoon. I would never hear the end of it."
"Ok, I promise," she said with a smile. "Bye."
"Bye," he said right before they both hung up.
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"Well the deal with Japan is done," she smiled. "They accepted our offer and so did China."
"Nice," Paulo said, giving her a high five. Then he sat there and looked at her for a few seconds before saying, "You're pretty impressive. You know that?"
It felt really good to get a compliment from him like that. She smiled at him and said, "Thank you. It felt good to be able to help Spain out and be useful to my new country."
"I have a feeling it won't be the last time," he said, studying her face.
They both sat there looking out at the ocean and he finally asked, "You feel like going for a walk?"
"Yeah," she nodded. "But we should probably get dressed first. You're still in your underwear and I'm in my pajamas."
"If you insist," he said playfully.
She went inside and put on a short pair of high-waisted cut-off shorts and a baggy crop top that hung off one shoulder and showed just a sliver of skin at her waist. She pulled her hair up into a high ponytail and slipped on a pair of flip flops before heading back outside.
"Ready?" he asked. He was already out there wearing a pair of navy blue beach shorts and no shirt with a pair of leather flip flops.
"Yeah. I'm ready," she said, swallowing hard at the sight of him. No matter how many times she saw him she was never prepared for how good he looked.
"It's a beautiful day. You'd never imagine it was so bad out just a few hours ago," he told her, picking up some debris and throwing it off the trail.
They started walking towards the ocean and she noticed that there was a lot of debris washed up on the shore.
"Where's the little paddle boat that was tied to the pier? You think it sank?" she asked.
"Probably," he nodded, bending over and picking up a little peach colored conch shell that had washed up on the beach. He handed it to her and said, "Here you should keep this."
"Thank you. This will make a nice keepsake so we can always remember our honeymoon."
He didn't say anything to that and they just kept walking along the beach where there were a couple downed trees and fallen limbs.
He stopped in front of a tall skinny palm tree and slipped his shoes off and started climbing.
"What are you doing?" she laughed.
"I'm getting us some coconuts."
She watched as he shimmied his way up to the very top of the tree and he plucked off two coconuts and tossed them down to the sand below before climbing down, brushing his hands off.
"Where did you learn to climb trees like that?" she laughed.
"When I was a kid my little brother and I would get bored around the castle so we'd go outside and climb trees. We even built our own tree fort."
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"That sounds like something my twin brother Kristoff would've done. He was always getting into something growing up. When he was really bored his favorite thing was to prank the housekeepers and nannies and then record their reactions."
"It sounds like me and Kristoff could be good friends," he laughed.
"Yeah. From what your friends told me at the wedding reception it sounds like that's right up your alley."
"I haven't pranked anybody in years but I used to be the master."
He picked up the coconuts and they continued walking along the beach, collecting shells and a shark's tooth and bits of coral.
When they got back up to the house she sprayed the shells off with a water hose and laid them out in the sun to dry before stripping off her shorts and tank top to get some sun on a pool lounger.
Paulo kicked his flip flops off and dove head first into the pool and when he came back up and climbed out she couldn't help but stare at his chiseled, muscular body covered in droplets of water that glistened in the sunlight. He was so perfect and gorgeous, her mouth opened slightly and she didn't notice she had stopped breathing as she watched him run both hands up through his wet hair. She was practically drooling.
"You coming in?' he asked her.
She blinked, snapping out of the trance he had her under and quickly said, "No, I'm just going to lay out and get some sun."
"Okay. Suit yourself. I guess you can just lay there and enjoy the view."
"The view?" she asked, swallowing hard.
"Yeah," he said, turning and pointing behind him. "You know, the view of the ocean?" he laughed.
"Oh! That view. Of course," she laughed awkwardly, wanting to face palm herself. She was such an idiot sometimes. For a second there she thought he had caught her staring at his body and was calling her out on it.
She slipped on her sunglasses and laid back on the lounger with her face blushing red, wanting to just go hide under a rock somewhere and never come out. At least then she couldn't embarrass herself.
He walked away and dove back into the pool and she started rubbing a tanning lotion that smelled like coconuts on her front side while he started doing laps in the pool. She laid her head back and relaxed, soaking in the heat of the sun. It was so nice to not have anything to do for once, no charity balls or public relations luncheons to attend, no television interviews or meetings with foreign ambassadors.
Here she didn't have to be on and smiling and saying and doing everything perfect. Every little thing about her wasn't being scrutinized. She could just be. She took a deep breath in and let it out, enjoying the rare chance to really relax. After a while she turned over to get her back side tan too and then she realized she couldn't reach it with the tanning lotion herself.
"Hey Paulo?" she called out, seeing him swim up to the edge of the pool closest to her.
"Yeah?"
"Could you rub tanning lotion on my back? I can't reach it."
"Sure," he said, hoisting himself up out of the pool, dripping everywhere before grabbing a towel and drying off.
He sat on the edge of the sun lounger next to her and picked up the bottle of lotion, squirting some into his hand and rubbing them together. She laid on her stomach with her chin resting on her arms as she felt the cold of the lotion touch her back before he massaged it in.
Feeling his hands on her body felt so good and she closed her eyes and savored the moment, wishing it could last forever. He rubbed up and down her back, sending shivers up her spine when he hit the ticklish part on her sides and he even rubbed lotion onto her butt, the back of her arms and legs and feet.
By the time he was done she was so relaxed she could almost fall asleep but she also wanted to jump on him and beg him to make love to her like they should have done on their wedding night. She didn't do it, but she wanted to so bad. She wondered how long she was going to have to endure this 'just friends' thing, because the last thing she wanted to be was just his friend.
"All done," he said, rubbing his hand down her back, before getting up and she lifted her head and watched him walk away, diving head first into the pool again.
She laid her face down onto the soft plastic of the lounge chair and let out a low frustrated groan. The sexual frustration she felt from being trapped on this private island with a gorgeous, perfect Greek God that she was starting to have strong undeniable feelings for was becoming more than she could bear, and it was killing her that he only wanted to be her friend.
She saw Paulo climbing out of the pool again and walking over to the diving board, walking out onto the end and bouncing a couple times before doing a couple twists in the air before splashing into the water. As he climbed up the ladder close to her, with water dripping off of him, she decided she couldn't take anymore.
She got up and said, "I'm going inside," gathering up her things and walking over to the house, letting out an exhale as she closed the sliding door behind her. She turned around and headed to the bathroom because she needed to take a cold shower. She had always heard that worked for men so she decided to try it. She was willing to try anything to get the image of Paulo off of her mind.
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