Chapter 8: Aboard the yatch

Aryana tried to calm her nerves. Didn’t she hate Erik? But didn’t she also have a crush on him since she was twelve? She took a deep breath. She then put on her swimsuit. The black one-piece halter and low-back swimsuit was to her liking, and then she put on a matching white chiffon halter cover dress. She stuffed a towel and a change of clothes in the beach bag that she grabbed earlier from the shop. She applied sunscreen on her skin and then put on the sunglasses and straw hat that Marlon gave her. She took out the new phone that Erik had given her and started the introduction to her video. There was still plenty of time, so she thought of continuing her video outside where the scenery was more beautiful. She also took a lot of selfies and photos. Unknown to her, Erik was watching her from the balcony of the villa. Erik must admit that she was very beautiful and looked alluring in the black swimsuit and the white chiffon dress. The dress was way above the knee, so her long legs were exposed. The chiffon cover did not hide the beautiful figure outlined by the black swimsuit beneath. Aryana was taking a photo of the beach when she heard a whistle. "Oh my gosh, is that you, Aryana? Oh, I did not recognize you. I thought you were the model from the other villa." Marlon blurted out. The look of admiration was apparent in his eyes. Aryana blushed at the compliment, but became furious when she remembered that Marlon had just done a catcall. "Did you just catcall me?" Aryana narrowed her eyes when he looked at Marlon, her hands on her hips. "Sorry about that. I am just showing my appreciation for beauty. Don’t be so petty." Marlon chuckled. "Can we take a picture together?" "No time. Let’s go." A cold voice from the entrance of the villa prevented Aryana from answering. "Oh, come on. How about you jo?n us." Marlon insisted. "No." Marlon rolled his eyes as he led Aryana to follow Erik. They were headed to the dock. There were two yachts on the dock. They boarded the smallest one. It was Aryana’s first time being on a yacht. It was a small one intended for a family or a small group. There were five cabins. One seemed to be the master’s bedroom, while the other three had four bunk beds each. The other cabin has a queen-size bed and is a little smaller than the master’s bedroom. Erik told her to occupy that cabin. On the deck, there was a pair of lounge chairs, a small coffee table in between, and there was also a circular pool. No, not a swimming pool but a sauna tub. Aryana was so excited. She forgot that she hated Erik. She walked towards him and asked for permission can take photos and videos of his yacht for her project. Erik readily agreed. It will be a free advertisement for him, especially if Aryanagrows a fan base. He saw some of her video clips. Those were automatically uploaded to his cloud drive, and they were quite good. It looked like Aryanahadn’t changed the setting of the cellphone he gave her. Her videos were not amateurish, and she looked photogenic. He was starting to consider getting her to work in his company’s marketing department or making her do ads for his company. That way, he can help her financially. Erik retreated to the main cabin while Marlon volunteered to take photos and videos of Aryana. He was busy reading his emails when the yacht finally stopped. They were still some distance from the beach. The yacht cannot go nearer as they are in shallow waters. He went outside to see Marlon getting into the speedboat. "Where do you think you’re going?" He asked Marlon, his eyebrows raised. "I’m accompanying Aryana to meet her cousin. I can’t let her meet them by herself." He answered him. "I’m coming along," Erik said, irritated by Marlon’s display of attention to Aryana. Marlon looked at him with his mouth wide open. He cannot believe Erik would spare time for such trivial things. Marlon took the steering wheel while Erik positioned himself opposite Aryana. He was wearing a dark shade and had been studying Aryana throughout the short ride. His fringe covered half of his forehead. Aryana was still taking videos and paused a second when she unexpectedly caught Erik on camera. ’Oh, my, he is so handsome!’ Despite herself, she cannot stop admiring the man in front of her. The ride was short. They arrived at the shore in no time. "Give me your phone," Erik said in a commanding voice. Aryana handed him the phone. The phone was wrapped in a water-tight plastic to protect it from water sprays or just in case it accidentally fell into the water. Erik passed the phone to Marlon and asked him to get off the speedboat. Marlon was confused. "Aren’t you getting off as well?" Erik glared at him, so he hurriedly got off The water was waist-deep. "I’ll let Yana steer the speedboat boat so take a good video. The cellphone has advanced camera capability, so you should be able to take good videos from afar." Erik started the speedboat. She let Aryana take the helm with him guiding her. Aryana was very conscious because Erik was crouching very close to her, and his two arms were caging her. His big hands overlapped with her small ones that were tightly clutching the wheel. She could smell his cologne, a light blend of patchouli, cedar, and sandalwood. The scent was very subtle and sensual. After several back-and-forth shifts, Aryana got the hang of it. Erik let her go by herself, but he was still crouching closely behind her. She finally managed to steer the boat to where Marlon was and stopped just a meter from him. "Well, do doneYana." He complimented her. He offered his hand to help her get off the boat. "Thank you, Erik. It was an exhilarating experience." She beamed at him before turning to Marlon. "Did you get good videos?" "Yeah," Marlon answered sourly. Erik looked at him. ’Is he jealous?’ After they got someone to take care of the speedboat, they walked for ten minutes before they reached the cottage where Denise and the company were staying. Aryana entered the cottage first. She stepped back when she almost bumped into Alex. "You seemed to be lost, Miss." Alex flashed her a flirty smile. He did not recognize her.