That afternoon they take it easy.
Titan showed her around the villa. She'd already seen her room so they didn't explore that one. There was a room with a mirrored wall and exercise equipment, a spare bedroom, two bathrooms, a kitchen, a storeroom, a dining room, a porch and their room, the master bedroom. It is dominated by a huge cream bed. A mosquito net hangs over it like a cloud.
'Very romantic,' Malora said.
'Mossies will eat you alive without the net. They are terrible, the only drawback to this place. Make sure you spray on a lot of bug repellent before the sun sets.'
It was like doing things in reversal. The tour he was supposed to give her when they arrived was happening now. It was just as well, since Malora didn't intend to explore the place without permission.
'Okay.'
They swam and went snorkeling. The water was super clear because it had been a calm day and he pointed out all kinds of fantastically colored fish and marine life.
When evening came they stood on the beach and watched the sun setting. The sky was almost purple. It was unforgettably beautiful. Titan twined his hands into hers.
'What happens after sundown?' Malora asked.
'Nudity,' he said with a smile.
She laughed. 'How much nudity?'
'Lots.'
They went fishing, and Titan was able to catch two big one, while Malora caught one tiny one. Titan laughed at her before letting the fish swim back into the sea. Malora pouted and sulked until he pecked her lips. She lit up from within.
Titan barbecued the fish that he caught and they ate them. They were succulent and wonderful the way food never was when you're not truly hungry. After the meal she had a shower. The water was brackish. Then they sat on the beach covered in bug repellent drinking martinis and talking about random things
'Listen,' Malora said, suddenly catching what seemed to her to be the sound of music.
'It's a party on the mainland,' he replied.
'Wow, the sound travels that far?'
'Sometimes when the air is very still you can even hear a dog bark.'
'Really?'
'You want to go?' he asked.
'To the party?'
'Yeah.'
'Of course I want to go to a mainland party,' she said enthusiastically.
'Okay,' he agreed.
'We're going to crash their party?'
He smiled. 'See you need to get into island mentality. This is not England where you need to let people know that you are going to come around. Here people just drop in. More or less everyone on the mainland knows me. I'm usually invited.'
'Great.'
'Come on then. Let's go.'
Malora changed into an white top with spaghetti straps, tight red leather shorts and the only pair of sandals she had left, now that her other pair lay at the bottom of the ocean. But the gold sandals actually looked glitzy and party-ish. She layered on the mascara and slapped on the gloss as she'd been taught and she was ready.
'Looking good, Mal,' she told her reflection.
'You look amazing,' Titan said from their bedroom doorway.
Malora turned around and looked at him. He was wearing all black. In the dim light, he looked mysterious and positively unreachable. Malora walked up to him and touched him. A thrill of something potent but secret ran up my arm. The desire for him didn't abate but just became stronger and stronger.
'I don't know why I did that.'
He grinned. 'I don't know either, but I like it.' He ran his index finger down her cheek reflectively.
Suddenly she felt nervous. She smiled weakly. 'You're staring.'
'So are you.'
She pretended to grin. 'I can't stop. What's your excuse?'
'Same,' he said very quietly, with no trace of humor in his voice.
He bended his head and claimed her mouth and the kiss—she didn't even know if she could describe it as a kiss—was a mess of all things: it's soft and yet hard, caring and yet fierce, liberating and yet possessive.
For a while she resisted the conflicting demanded of the kiss and then Malora gave in, and she found herself in a slow dance. But it was not them who were dancing. It was their souls, entwined, swirling, merging like liquid. It was so beautiful and profound it hurts. When he broke away, she touched her mouth and stared at him in awe. She felt almost drunk. Her pulse was racing like mad.
'What the hell was that?' She whispered. Her voice sounded tiny and scared.
'I was carving my name into your heart.'
Oh God. What the hell was he saying?
Malora looked at him, the hottest man in every room. 'What the fuck did you do that for?'
'Because you're the most beautiful fucking thing I have ever seen.'
She looked at him. 'How can you say that when you won't tell me anything about you?' Malora hated the whiny sound of her voice.
'Sometimes things are not as they seem.'
Something small and fragile bloomed in her heart. Malora wanted to be coolly sarcastic. Laugh and say something richly comic. But she couldn't. She had to be true to the moment when their souls mingled.
'What do you mean?' she whispered.
'One day, Malora. One day soon I'll tell you. Now: are we going to this party or not?'
Malora took a deep breath and smile, intoxicated the way no drug or amount of alcohol would ever make her feel. 'We are.'
They take the small, shallow boat. It had a huge headlight on it that lit the way through a long, deep water channel that belonged to an old salt company. It showed the way into the bay. Malora had never been on a boat at night and it was a-fucking-mazing.
The water gleamed dark and mysterious. The cool wind blew in her hair and face and the occasional sea spray that showered them was exhilarating. She loved the sensation of her hand trailing in the water, which was still warm from the day's sun.
Malora urged Titan to go fast and faster. The speed was addictive and the feeling of flying headlong into the darkness was crazy.
When they got to the mainland Titan secured the boat and helped her out. Her hair was a mess. He ran his fingers through it and smoothed it down.
They walked along the beach. He held her hand. It felt right. On their right, dark vegetation rose up like an impenetrable shadow. The sand was so soft it got into her sandals so Malora took them off and carried them in her hands. The sand was cool on her feet. There was no moon. The only light was from the torch Titan carried. Little transparent crabs scurried along the sand in front of them. There was the ever present sound of the insects in the trees and the faint sound of music.
In the distance they saw the lights of the party. It was being held on the beach outside a tiki hut. There were lanterns lit around it and a bonfire was going. Lana Del Rey's Summertime Sadness started playing on the loudspeakers and Malora felt a thrill of excitement run up her spine.
'Come on,' she urged excitedly, tugging Titan's hand. 'I love this song. We have to dance to it.'
He looked down at her amused, but he nodded, and like a pair of kids they ran toward the party. There were many people there and most of them either call out to Titan or waved at him. Malora dragged him to the middle of the throng of people dancing. This was one of her favorite songs. If she closed her eyes she could actually see it like waves in the air.
Malora found a gap in the crush and gyrated to the beat.
Titan stood a foot away from her body and watched her. There was passion and possession in his eyes. Then she swaggered closer to him and sinuously slid her hands onto his shoulders rubbed her body all over his. She wanted him all over her and she was saying it in no uncertain terms. He grinned, his eyes at half-mast, and moved his hips to match hers. It's casual. And it's damn sexy.
Malora pulled his body so close she felt his erection. They gazed into each other's eyes. The music changed and she didn't really notice. He ushered her around a corner and pushed her up against the wall of the nearest house with his lips. The music was so loud it was rattling the wall of the house that she was pressed against.
'Right now all I want to do is suck your wet cunt loudly and hungrily,' he said. The thought was so fucking erotic Malora soaked her knickers through there and then.
'I didn't know men loved eating pussy that much.'
'I don't know about anyone else, but I can't fucking get enough of yours. I dream of eating your pussy,' he said, and claimed her mouth in a hard kiss that took her breath away.
'Hey, mister lover,' someone called from behind them.
Titan took his time about releasing her lips. 'Later,' he promised, his hot breath mingling with hers.
Titan turned around and Malora saw a man, his startling white teeth flashing in the darkness.
'Look at you,' the man said in a really cool accent. 'You brought a beauty.'
'This is Noah,' Titan introduced and then turning to Noah with a wry smile said, 'And the beauty is Malora.'
'You finally went and got yourself a girl, huh?'
Titan rubbed his chin thoughtfully. 'Yeah, but she's a bit of a handful.'
Malora punched Titan on the arm, hard.
He pretended to wince and rubbed his arm.
Noah laughed and said, 'It's island love.'
Something dark filtered over Titan's hard so fast that if Malora hadn't been watching him, she'd have missed it. And she had a vague idea about what just happened.
A woman came to join them and Noah introduced her as his wife. Her name was Gwen. She had the most amazingly beautiful brown skin, the exact color Malora would have chosen to have if she had been given a choice in the matter, and she was wearing big hoop earrings with beads in them, which Malora secretly coveted. She had an Afro hairstyle. She wore a flowing knee-length floral dress and blue flip-flops.
Gwen grinned at Malora and Titan.
'I love your hair,' Malora told her.
'Thank you,' Gwen said, 'yours is beautiful, too.'
Dark colours stained her cheeks. 'Thank you,' Malora said and felt Titan's eyes on her. 'I have always wanted to dye my hair green.'
'A green hairstyle might be pushing it even for you,' he said with a chuckle.
'I'll do as I like with my hair,' Malora said haughtily. She got a warning look in return, which she chose to ignore for the time being.
'Did you enjoy the chicken?' asked Gwen quickly.
'Very much. It was delicious,' Titan replied smoothly. 'But there wasn't enough for me. Malora ate most of it.'
Oh. That explained where he got the chicken they had for dinner last night.
Noah laughed hard, his eyes twinkling, and she wondered if he knew what really happened to the chicken.
'I will cook some more for you tomorrow,' said Gwen.
'Would you?' asked Titan beseechingly. He sounded so different with Gwen that Malora turned to stare at him. There was no mask, no barriers. Just boyish enthusiasm. The man was like an onion; there was a different shade under each wrap. It was so strange seeing him let go this much.
Who was this man, anyway?
'Noah would bring it,' she said, nodding firmly.
'Thank you,' both Titan and Malora spoke in unison. It was a strange thing to speak in unison with someone. It had never happened to Malora before. They smiled at each other.
'You two are already drunk on love, but come and have some rum anyway,' invited Noah with a chuckle.
The statement was casual but explosive to her. She dared not look at Titan to see his expression. Malora turned toward Noah eagerly.
Rum, she must say, was a drink Malora found she enjoyed very much and it flowed very freely that night. She made friends with everybody. The mainlanders must be the friendliest people on earth. They laughed uproariously at her jokes and taught Malora all kinds of really cool phrases.
Bust up meant badly drunk; you could intensify anything by adding the word dead in front: dead cold, dead ugly. To sip, sip was to gossip, Jack meant friend, leg short meant you had arrived too late for something, to be without money was to be break. Malora consumed more and more rum and it was all great fun. Everything was funny as hell and she was the life of the party.
A man in an open blue shirt carrying a guitar came and sat opposite us. Titan introduced him as Terry. Someone switched off the music. The air filled with the sound of the waves and human voices. Terry smiled broadly and started strumming his guitar. Soon the place became silent but for his guitar, the crackling of the fire and the incessant waves. It was very peaceful. She turned to look at Titan. His blond hair shone in the firelight. Terry started singing. It was a strange song.
Malora must be very drunk because she was unable to catch all the words but some stuck in her head as if they have been nailed in.
Sometimes people fail. They love. . .
Understand this truth.
Fire is the in-dweller of the water.
Understand the truth.
Understand your in-dweller.
She was too drunk to make any sense of it. Malora frowned up at Titan. 'What's the song about?'
'It is about us, people. Who don't understand their dweller.'
For a moment she stared at him. Was he serious? 'What do you mean?'
'It is a cry of the soul, the fire inside the water, to wake up.'
'Wake up?'
'Most of us are sleepwalking through life. He is daring you to explore your inner world.'
'Yeah,' she said, looking at Titan with new eyes. There could be something more to this man than meets the eye. Something deep and profound.
Terry has finished his song and started singing Kool and the Gang's Cherish The Love. Now this she could understand. A few songs later, Terry packed up his guitar and music from the loudspeaker filled the air again. This time Sia's Cheap Thrills filled the dark sky.
Time to dance again.
Malora got up and when for it.
When Feeling Hot, Hot, Hot came up on the loudspeaker, the crowd actually parted for her solo. Fueled on alcohol and Titan's hungry eyes Malora gave it all she's got.
She was still dancing when Titan picked her up bodily and said, 'Time to go home, Dancing Queen.'
'Awww. . .Don't a party popper,' she slurred drunkenly and brought her glass of delicious drink—Noah's famous gin and coconut water cocktail—to her lips. He took the glass out of her hand so fast Malora was left staring at the empty space where the glass had been.
'Say goodbye to everyone,' he said firmly, his jaw tense.
Some of the men jokingly told Titan not to spoil the party by taking her away.
'See? They don't want me to go,' Malora told Titan. 'They want some of this fabulousness.'
'Sorry, guys, but it's this little one's bedtime,' Titan said good-naturedly.
Malora stood on her tiptoes and whispered in his ear, 'I ain't going to bed until you show me all kindsa shit.'
'Right you are, beautiful,' Titan said coolly, catching her as she stumbled.
Noah grinned at her.
Malora said her bleary goodbyes and let Titan lead her to the boat. She had to admit the return journey on the boat was not nearly half as much fun as the journey there. She laid at the bottom of the boat feeling quite sick. Instead of urging him to go faster she yelled at him to slow down. 'Oh God! I'm going to throw up.'
The man was pitiless. 'Just hang your head over the side and throw up,' he shouted.
Fortunately, it never got to that and thankfully the ride was fairly short. The engine was cut. As she lolled about at the bottom of the boat in a state of inebriated self-pity, Titan came to Malora. He stood over her with his legs spread wide to steady himself in the rocking vessel. Malora squinted up at him.
'Give me a hand then,' she groaned.
His answer was to heave her up like a sack of potatoes onto his shoulder.
'Whoa,' Malora cried.
He walked her up the path and opening the front door took her directly into the bedroom. The cool air from the air con made Malora's sticky skin tingle. It felt wonderful. He put her on the bed and she looked up at him. His hair was messy with the wind and a whole shock of it had fallen on his forehead.
Malora raised her hand and pinched his rough cheek. 'You are so cute,' she told him. 'I could take you to bed.' She spoil it then by yawning widely.
'You're totally wasted, aren't you?'
'No, I'm not,' she insisted, but her words were slurring so badly they were almost indecipherable.
'Bed for you, I think.'
Malora snaked her arms around his neck before he can straighten. 'No, no, no. I want to fuck. . .you.' She smiled feeling inordinately proud of the way she left that paused between fuck and you.
He raised a disbelieving eyebrow.
Malora let go of his neck and started trying to wriggled out of her pants, but it's difficult to accomplish in her condition. Malora looked up at him. He was standing over her, stone cold sober, just watching her.
'Help me then,' she demanded.
He held both the ends of her trouser legs and tugs hard just once, and her trousers slid out from under her like water.
'Smooth,' Malora told him in an impressed voice. 'Now my top.'
He made even shorter work of that. Malora slid a finger into her knickers and looked up at him with flirtatious eyes.
'Last bit,' she said invitingly.
Titan slid them down her legs and off her feet. His eyes inspected her. Malora liked that! She opened her thighs wide and said, 'Come and get it, hot stuff.'
Chapter dedication: RupalGhagre
Thank you❤
A/N:
Loving the playfulness, aren't you? 😏
What do you think of Titan's behavior?
Would it still continue when they return to London?
Why is he acting so nice toward her?