Chapter 93

CHAPTER 93 Selena regretted not bringing the bodyguards out to the beach with her. She had wanted to trouble Benjamin with the task of keeping fans away from her, but she never thought he would pick her daughter and run away. She dialed for her bodyguards before resuming the hunt for Benjamin who had kidnapped her daughter.

Not just Selena but the whole Sterling family madly roamed on the beach, looking for Rebecca and Benjamin everywhere. They found many pairs, but none of them were the people they were looking for.

There were some topless women bathing in the sun, and Roshan kept staring at them until he received a solid smack on the back of his head from his mother. “Where are they?” Veronica’s neck hurt from looking everywhere.

“Just where the hell did he take her?” Selena’s face was an ugly mixture of rage and resentment. “She isn’t fully healed yet. If something bad happens to her, I’ll kill him myself!” All of them kept looking for the youngest couple on the shore, but it hadn’t yet crossed their minds that they were perhaps looking in the wrong place. Miles from the shore, on top of a medium sized tour boat, surrounded by nothing but deep waters and silence, two souls just kept staring into each other’s eyes. Nobody had spoken a word in the past five or so minutes, and it seemed like they liked the silence that let their eyes talk to one another. As the breeze blew her hair into his face, he closed his eyes and relished her scent. He then opened his eyes and went back to staring at her.

Rebecca’s heart was beating fast enough for her to feel it. Those little skips in her chest. This feeling she never had before felt strangely comfortable for the most part. “How long are you going to keep looking at me like that?” “You are patently pretty, you know that?” He raised his hand and gently touched her chin.” This little chin,” he moved his fingers up her face, “these pulling lips, this straight nose that can make anyone envy, and these soft cheeks that make up your wonderful smile... Is there a woman more beautiful than you?”

Her heart thumped as his forefinger ran in little circles on her cheek before sliding down and moving along her jaw and stopping at her chin, where he first touched. She could feel the tips of his fingers so clearly. Was her chin ever so sensitive?

“No, I have never seen a face more mesmerizing,” he said, gazing at her like an artist praising the perfection of nature. “To get to touch this kind of beauty and warmth... am I not the luckiest man alive?”

Her chin quivered a little. She quickly caught his hand and said, “You are only describing my looks. What about my heart?”

He paused a second and looked at her chest. She was wearing a crop top, and the water drops off on her chest made it irresistible for him to look away. “I haven’t seen it yet, so it’s hard to describe”

“You naughty.” She tried pinching his cheek, but the beard made things difficult. “I want to describe you as well, but your beard is in the way. You are going to get it removed before the wedding reception, right?” “I’m planning to,” as he said, she lowered her head and kissed his hand long and hard enough, as though it contained many of her apologies. “Can you please cook some food for me?” she requested. There were only the two of them on the boat because Benjamin had paid off the boat’s owner using the platinum card. He didn’t have the riding license, of course, but he didn’t care. After she kissed his hand for probably the first time and asked him to cook for her, how could he refuse? Besides, he wanted this evening to be as romantic as possible, but if he were to spend an hour or two on cooking, then their romance meeting would be moved to that night, which he believed was better in its own way.

“Alright. I’ll see what ingredients they have on board,” Benjamin said, and she slowly released his hand, making him smile. He then went downstairs. “Come to think of it, she probably hasn’t eaten anything since the incident with Johnny,” he thought as he checked the trays to see what fish were there. “Mm, I should soften the meat and use as little spice as possible, so it’ll be easier to digest.” Generally, seafood required much more spice and salt to give the similar level of flavor as land meat, but Benjamin knew many techniques to use less salt and spice to bring out the best flavor.

After he started cooking, Rebecca also helped him at times, though she looked a little scared because they were alone in the middle of nowhere, and it was getting dark. In about two hours, the two dishes, fish and turtle meat, were done along with rice and other varieties. There were no candles, but only modern torches. However, they didn’t complain. They neatly arranged the food on the top deck and enjoyed the meals together with a pair of fulmars for company. Rebecca loved the taste and juiciness of the meatballs much more when eaten with rice. Because the fish were deboned, she didn’t need to worry about anything other than making the effort to put the food into her mouth. And even that burden was halved because Benjamin kept feeding her spoonfuls once every half minute while also sparing some for the tube-nosed fulmars.

She felt too embarrassed to feed him back in the same way, especially with the way his whole focus was on her and not on the food.

“Can we see whales now?” she looked around, feeling stupid, as she knew it was highly unlikely to see whales when they weren’t much far from the shore. But she had to say something to make Benjamin look somewhere other than at her.

“Whales? Probably not,” said Benjamin. “I once made designs of hammerhead sharks and whales for the Animal Welfare Board,”

she said, looking at the crescent moon in the sky. “They wanted me to integrate more designs of endangered species onto their clothes, but they were paying little, so I refused.” “Do you regret it?” “Not really. Endangered species or not, the sharks and whales are still dangerous beings that kill other creatures to survive, so I don’t really feel pity for them.” “Yeah. You are right.

They are indeed dangerous, though not half as dangerous as your mother. If she were to be on this boat, I’m sure even the sharks would keep their dist—” Rebecca gave a startled and squinted glance at him. “I-I mean,” Benjamin struggled to back his words fast, so he kept eating. “I must say the dishes are really tasty. Maybe, it’s because you gave me a hand. You have a lucky hand.” Rebecca ignored Benjamin’s remarks about her mother and smiled. “You are right about the food. It’s delicious indeed.

You deserve a kiss for that.”

WAMWAY Benjamin’s expression froze. Did she really say those words? He wanted to hear those words again if he could, just to make sure. However, her gaze told him a story all in itself. He put the food bowl aside and moved toward her, closing his eyes in the process. The smile on her face strengthened and formed a dent in her cheek. She pushed his chin to the side and planted a kiss on his cheek, pretty high up so her lips touched the skin and not the beard.

As she moved her head back, he turned his head, and both their lips touched, for a fraction of a second. She stopped moving backward; her eyes drew in more light as she processed just what had happened and also from the faint taste of his lips lingering on hers. And he looked just as surprised. As seconds sluggishly passed, their gazes glued to each other as their hearts yearned for the same thing. Benjamin closed his eyes and waited, as though he was suggesting to her to come to him. He wasn’t touching her, but she felt like he was pulling her with invisible force. She briefly glanced at his lips before looking at him again and moving forward as she closed her eyes, also.