Ezra's POV
I stare at the monkey in it's cage, but I know my head isn't there. It's on the beautiful woman standing beside me taking countless pictures. I refrain from staring at her because the last thing I want to do is scare her away.
"The monkey is staring at me." she gasps and takes more pictures. She's so fascinated, whereas I'm fascinated with something else entirely.
I look around the mini zoo. It's just about six other people here. Maybe The Maldives wasn't the best choice for activities because all you can do is literally swim and we're on an island but it's nice for the relaxation and no worries aspect.
My thoughts are cut off when Harlem takes my hand and pulls me towards the aquarium. I swallow, staring at her as she takes more pictures. My reactions to her touch are life threatening.
After we see all the animals, literally ALL, we walk back towards the boat skii section which is closer to our rooms. We haven't said a word to each other and I don't know how I feel about that but I'm glad she's even here to begin with.
We get into the boat and I realize I forgot to ask her if she's okay on water. " Do you want to do this?"
"What do you mean?" She furrows her brows.
"You're not scared of water. Are you? If you are we can do something else."
She rolls her eyes and scoffs "I'm not so fragile. Water is not a big deal, Ezra."
I stare at her. I will never get used to the sound of my name on her lips.
"What?" She asks
"I like it when you say my first name. You always use my last." her eyes widen slightly and she clears her throat.
"Well, I guess it's easier to say it than Roth. But why though?" she curiously tilts her head.
I open my mouth to answer when the attendant speaks. "Sir and Ma'am, are you ready for the boat to take off?"
We turn to him and I realize we haven't even started skiing.
"Harlem? Is it fine?" I turn to her
"Yes, of course." She says.
"Okay, in the case of emergencies, there's an SOS flare by your right, and please do not take of your life jacket for any reason whatsoever and lastly, the ride is for 30 minutes. You drive it, slowly, in the direction you want not crossing the floating buoys and be back in 30. Any questions?" Wait, am I riding this thing?
"No, thank you very much." Harlem smiles at him and he leaves. She turns to me.
"What are you doing? Aren't you gonna drive?" I blink at her. I thought the attendant would be coming with us. Isn't that how these things work?
"Ezra? You might wanna use your words." Harlem raises a brow expectantly.
"I don't know how to drive a boat skii." I tell her wincing.
Her eyes widen and she purses her lips "Then, we're so fucked… if I didn't know how to." She stands up and moves to the front. I notice the attendant still waiting for us to begin so he can time us.
"You know how to drive a boat?" I ask her as she sits near the steering.
"Yes, I learnt in college… what kind of person rents a boat and doesn't know how to drive it? She pauses and turns to me raising a brow.
"Uhm, the kind that goes on yachts?" I smile and rub my neck nervously. Hopefully, she finds that funny.
She pauses and then snorts. "Wow, that was such a rich people thing to say" she turns back and starts the boat. I smile and go to sit beside her.
"Well, you steer and I'll keep on the lookout for sharks." I say facing her.
She rolls her eyes "Don't fucking kill me. There can't be sharks in this clear blue water, Ezra."
I smile at her "Well, you never know. Which is why I'm here."
She bites her lips smirking and God, I'm going to respect Ty forever for convincing me to go on this vacation. What a sight to behold.
I adjust my jacket and she starts driving at perfect speed and surprisingly, so easily. The way she's moving; you'd think she's been doing it forever. I stare shamelessly at how sexy it is.
She glances at me and catches me staring. She raises a brow "No sharks in the area?"
My eyes widen and I look away "Uhm, I think I saw one actually." I fake while looking at the clear blue sea.
She snorts and I smile. We ride in silence for some minutes and I go back to staring at her. When it looks like she's having trouble, I shoot up. "Any problem?"
She looks at me exasperatedly "Nothing." Okay, false alarm.
We drive again in silence while I stare. "What did you want to say, about your name?" she breaks the silence.
I furrow my brows, and then remember. "Oh, that. I just wanted to say that a lot of people use 'Roth' when they're addressing me, and it's not bad but, it's the family name. I prefer people to call MY name, makes me feel like people know me better." I tell her.
She glances at me "Oh. I see"
"Yeah, it's not a problem though." I clear up.
"Yeah, I know but I also understand where you're coming from. It makes you, you." I smile because she couldn't have said it better.
I bite my lip, wondering if I should ask the question that's been bothering me for a while now.
"You look like you want to say something" I turn to her and her hands of the steering and she's looking at me.
"How are you not driving?" I ask a bit worried.
"It's on autopilot" she shrugs .There's autopilot for boat skiis? I really need to start researching other things that are not work related.
"Oh"
"So… I asked a question. You can also ask one." She says and sits down.
I drag my hands through my hair because I don't want her to close up if I ask the question, but I'm as well curious. "The day you were crying, I'd like to know what happened. If you want to tell me."
She sighs and looks away. I mentally prepare myself for her to brush me off.
"It… was a family issue. I hadn't spoken to my mom in four years and I did yesterday. I was… emotional." She says and I can't choose between being happy she opened up to me or shocked as to why she hasn't spoken to her mom for that long. But I don't push. If she wants to tell me, she would.
Before I know it, my hands move on their own, again. I brush a stray hair from her face, the desire of wanting to make her pain go away so strong in me. "Are you okay now? And is she?" I ask
She looks at me, tensing slightly at my touch and I pull my hands away.
"I'm okay. And yeah, she's doing fine. It's just a lot of memories were unlocked."
I nod and we stare at each other. She's not crying anymore so I guess it's fine. I guess.
She stands up abruptly "We should start driving back"
"Yeah, of course." I say. Then, I do something stupid.
"Can you teach me?" I ask her standing as well. She looks at me shocked and almost like she can't believe it. She blinks a few times and after a beat, she nods.
I walk closer to her and touch the wheel staring at the vast water and the island not too far away.
"Okay. So, I'm not really good at teaching but let's try the basics. I'm going to switch off autopilot now and I need you to keep steering straight. Can you do that?"
I make the mistake of looking at her at this proximity and forget what she just asked me.
"What?" I mumble staring at the beauty mark in her eyelid and her pink lips.
She rolls her eyes and repeats herself, I nod and hold the wheel. She lets go and shifts away a little, then she turns off autopilot.
I was accidentally holding it a bit too tightly to the left, so we swerved a little and she bumped into me and grasped the wheel sharply.
I look at her and I think I might have just traumatized someone's child when she bursts into laughter.
"You have a billion dollar company but failed to mention your driving skills are sketchy?" She says in between laughs.
I scoff "I can drive just fine, Tamrin. It's the skii, not me." I tell her defensively.
"Yeah, sure. Maybe you should just stick to your company though." She says smirking and I'm about to counter that when she places her hands over mine and adjusts them while steering slightly. I shut up instantly and let her work.
Her palms are soft and gentle above mine and my heart feels like she just took a handful and squeezed. I stare at her as she stares ahead and wonder what it would feel like to not see her everyday after this vacation.
"You're obviously not interested in learning." She mutters and I snap back to reality. I think.
"I might be interested in other things. Is it a crime?" I whisper and she turns those honey gold almond eyes to me. We stare for a few seconds but she breaks and goes back to staring ahead, not saying anything. We're almost at the island.
I avert my eyes, after much effort, and we reach the area where our attendant is standing. There are others who are skiing as well but they go in different directions.
"Well done to the both of you. Hope you had a great time. Come again whenever you like." I'm too occupied to tell him that maybe he should have a great time in the middle of the Indian Ocean not knowing how to drive and check it out but he helps us out and ties the boat. We thank him and walk to the beach silently.
I walk behind Harlem and she seems to be in thought so I don't interrupt her and I think my last comment might have been a bit too forward.
After a beat she turns to me. "Thank you for today. I had fun actually and I'm actually so tired right now, you wouldn't believe it. But yeah, it was great. I think I'll just turn in for the day though. So, goodbye." Great.
"Harlem, wait. Please, don't think about what I said. I was in the moment and it was just a little tease and it didn't mean anything."
"Oh, I see." She blinks and clears her throat and avoids my eyes entirely. Fuck, did I make it worse?
"See you… whenever." She says and walks off a bit too hastily.
Yeah, definitely horrible at this.