Episode 4

I call him reluctantly.

“Caio?” I call out a little louder.

“Yes.”

“Can you come here?”

Without answering, he opens the door and walks in all at once, startling me. I'm wearing my panties and holding my bra in my hands. He looks me up and down and doesn't say anything.

“What do you need?”

“Can you tie this? I can’t.” I blush.

He stands behind me and looks at me through the mirror, and then ties the bikini. He puts his hands on my shoulders, gives them a light squeeze, and leaves. I try to control my breathing; this man is driving me crazy.

I put the beach dress over my bikini; it's long and ties at the front. It doesn't cover much, but it's very pretty, and the intention here is not to cover up.

Caio has already changed clothes. He’s wearing shorts of the same fabric as before, only a little shorter. He’s also wearing black. I think it was on purpose, so we would match.

“Shall we go?” He gives me his hand.

“Yes.”

Everyone is chatting animatedly; they've already lit the barbecue, and there are people serving drinks.

Caio grabs a beer for himself and a fruit cocktail for me. He hands me the glass, gives me a peck on the lips, and goes to the men's table.

I stand there drinking my cocktail, which by the way is delicious, until I feel someone approach and see that it's the redhead. I take a deep breath.

“I'm Barbara,” she says, extending her hand, and I shake it. “I already know who you are. Don't even think about staying with him because he's mine.”

“I thought you were married.”

“I am, but not for long. The worst mistake of my life was leaving Caio.” I smile at her.

“Let's see if he'll want you back after he’s tasted something much better.” She snorts in anger.

“Everything okay here?” Caio asks, hugging me.

“Everything’s fine,” she says. “I was just complimenting your girlfriend. You have good taste,” she says ironically and leaves.

“Everything okay?” He looks me in the eye questioningly.

“Yes, but she likes you.”

“Why do you say that?”

“She said she wants you back.”

“Really?” He looks at her.

With that look, I understand everything. He likes her too. That's why he wanted to show up with someone, to make her jealous.

“The incredible thing is that you like her too!” I say, turning my back and walking away.

“Hey!” He runs after me and grabs my arm. “Don't do this in front of people,” he says quietly.

“It’s part of the show,” I lie, not to show that this affects me. “I'm a jealous girlfriend.” He smiles.

“I get it, you're incredible.” I smile, but only I know how I feel inside.

Without waiting, he presses our lips together, only this time it's intense. His tongue asks for entrance to mine, and I give it to him. He intensifies the kiss even more, pressing me against his body. He breaks the kiss when everyone starts telling us to get a room, and we smile.

I look at him incredulously; I can't believe he kissed me like that in front of everyone.

“You don't need to be jealous; I don't want anything else with her. Don't worry,” he says, hugging me.

“You don't have to explain yourself.”

“I just want you to know.”

“That's fine. Don't embarrass me in front of people.”

“Never. The sun is hot. I'm going to put some sunscreen on you.”

“I can do it.”

“I'm your boyfriend, and that's not a request.” I roll my eyes.

He takes the sunscreen out of his shorts pocket, opens it, and starts putting it on me: First, on my face, neck, breasts, arms, belly, legs. Then, on my back, on my butt, and on the back of my legs.

I get very excited feeling his hands' touch, and he knows it; he realizes the effect he has on me.

Everyone is looking at us, and I blush. Caio Alencar is kind of an exhibitionist, or he's trying to piss Barbara off, and judging by her face, he's succeeding.

“You didn't need to do this in front of people.”

“It was just sunscreen.”

“I know what you're trying to do.”

“What? Turn you on? Because if that's it, I succeeded.” He says and smiles, and I roll my eyes.

“You're trying to make your ex jealous, that's it.”

“Of course not. I just want to show her that I'm happy and found someone much better than her.”

“Okay.”

“Son, can you lend her to me for a little bit?” His mother asks.

“Yes.” He kisses her cheek and walks away.

“Shall we sit down, dear?”

“Yes.”

She picks up two cocktails and gives me one, guides me to an empty table. We sit down, and she gives me that look that only mothers have.

“I wanted to thank you for making my son happy. I hadn't seen him like this in a long time.” Another one thanking me; I'm even embarrassed since we're just pretending.

“You don't need to thank me.”

“Yes, I do. You brought light back into his life, and he only gets like this when he’s in love.” Really? Could Caio be in love with me? No one knows him better than his mother.

“I really like him, too,” I say because it's true; I never realized it, but I've always liked this man. He just never paid any attention to me.

“I'm happy to hear that. I'd like you to spend a few days at our house when the holidays come. They all usually do that, but he never went again. Maybe with you he'll be encouraged to go.”

“I'll talk to Caio, see if we can go.” I know it will be impossible.

“Let me take care of that. Now you can go be with your boyfriend. Don't leave him alone too long. Take care of him,” she says and looks at Barbara, who takes advantage of her husband not being around and doesn't take her eyes off Caio.

“Yes, ma'am.”

“Can I give you a hug?”

“Of course.” She hugs me, and I feel bad for lying to such a kind woman.

Caio is back talking to his father, brothers, and brother-in-law. I decide not to interrupt. I put on my sunglasses, take off my beach dress, and lie down on the sun lounger to get some sun. I'm not going to talk to the girls because Barbara is there, and I can't stand being near her for another second.

Moments later, Caio sits on the lounger next to me and looks directly at my butt, which is up.

“Are you trying to make the men of the house fight with their wives?”

“Why?”

“I think you have a little more than the others.” He smiles. “It's hard not to look.”

“It’s not my fault.”

“I think everyone is sneaking a peek.” He smiles.

“They're your family, and theoretically, I'm your girlfriend. They shouldn’t be looking at me.”

“Yes, but they're not blind. You better cover yourself up a little.”

“Is this serious?”

“Of course not!” He laughs loudly.

“You’re so funny!” He stares at me.

He runs his hand from my foot, going up, and stopping before reaching my butt. I shudder, trying to concentrate on not moaning in front of people. His touch gives me goosebumps, he notices, and seems to like it. Worse, I'm enjoying being touched by him too.

I have no idea what it will be like on Monday, having to face him after all these looks and touches.

“What do you think you're doing?” I ask.

“Everyone is looking.”

“You don't need to keep touching me all the time. Everyone already knows we're dating; we don't need to prove anything to anyone.”

“Okay,” he says and walks away.

I close my eyes for a moment, and when I open them, Barbara is next to me. What an annoying and insistent little woman.

“You should cover yourself up a little,” she says.

“Hello? Last time I checked, we were in a pool, and women usually wear bikinis!”

“Yes, but not as vulgar as yours. It shows what kind of person you are, a vulgar one. How much is Caio paying you to put on this little show?” For a moment, I'm afraid she heard something, but I'm sure she didn't; she just wants to provoke me. “You have the biggest… ”

“Look here, you should respect me. I would never be with someone for money. I'm in love with Caio, and he’s in love with me. Accept it. You should respect your husband and stop chasing after my man.”

“Your man? Never, honey! What we had was too strong for him to forget me, especially with someone like you, who from afar, you can see is a gold digger. You must only be after his money.”

“Listen here, you imbecile. I may not be on the same level as you and may not have money, but if there's one thing I don't have, it's envy. I don't envy anything other people have, especially committed men, like you're doing. You can stay away from him. Don't think I'm going to make things easy for you. If you dare to even get close to him, I'll make a scene, and your husband will know!”

“It is really your style to do that.”

Caio approaches because ever since she sat down next to me, he’s been watching from afar, and when he realizes I'm getting upset, he comes over to us.

“Everything alright here?”

“Yes, I was just asking her to cover up a little. We're with family, and that bikini is very indecent.”

“Like hell! She looks amazing. What’s beautiful is meant to be shown. And besides, like you said, we're with family. No one in my family would disrespect my girlfriend.” I look at her and smile, raising an eyebrow. She stomps off angrily. “Sorry about that.”

“What’s wrong with that woman?”

“Spite, because you’re much prettier than her.”

“What’s the story between you two?”

“Let’s go for a swim with me, and I’ll tell you,” he says, giving me his hand to help me up.

He gets into the pool first, and then I go in too. The water is freezing, which makes me shiver.

We're facing each other; he looks at me as if asking permission to touch me, and I grant it with just a look.

He holds my waist and brings our bodies together. I feel his erection and realize I affect him too. I don't say anything; I just smile, and he smiles back.

“So?”

“Well, do you see that guy there with her?”

“Her husband?”

“Yes, he and I were very good friends. In fact, he was my best friend. I dated her for five years, and everything seemed to be going well. I dedicated myself a lot to her, did all that romantic crap that people in love do. I went on a business trip and decided to come back early to surprise her. I was going to propose. Both she and I had keys to each other's houses, and when I got to her house, I saw clothes scattered on the floor. I slowly went to the bedroom and caught them in the act. I hit him a lot and told her I didn’t want her anymore, and a few months later, they got married. I found out she'd been seeing both of us from the start, only I didn't know, otherwise, I would never have accepted it.” I listen in silence.

“Wow, what horrible people. She rubbed it in my face that I have no class or money. I may not, but my parents taught me to honor and respect people.”

“That's why I didn't want to show up here alone. Since I broke up with her, I haven't had a relationship with anyone else.” I look at him in surprise.

“I mean getting involved in serious relationships, especially since this is still recent, a little over a year ago. I just know they got married pretty quickly after we broke up. Showing up here alone would be like saying I'm not over her yet.”

“But the truth is, you... you're not over it.” He doesn’t say anything.

“I'm trying. I try every day, but I loved that woman so much, and she broke me.”

“Everything can be fixed,” I say.

“Yes, everything can be fixed,” he says, tucking a strand of my hair behind my ear.

Without asking permission or license, he kisses me, and this time I feel like it's because he wants to kiss me, not to impress people.

Our kiss is intense; I feel his erection grow even more. He lowers his hands to my butt and squeezes. I feel my intimacy moisten, and I let out a soft moan as we kiss. This makes him squeeze my butt even more. I forget that there are other people around us, and I just surrender to the kiss, because I feel that this one is real, that this one is for me, for real.

He stops kissing me a few minutes later, bites my lip, and gives me a peck to end the kiss. We are both completely breathless and aroused.

“That one was real,” he says. I remain silent, just trying to catch my breath.

“Lunch will be served in twenty minutes,” Cintia announces.

“Shall we go up and take a shower?”

“Let’s go,” I say.

He grabs two bathrobes, puts one on, and helps me into the other. We wait for the water to stop dripping a bit and go up to the room.

I'm a little embarrassed, avoiding eye contact with him. I don't want to get involved with my boss like this. I know I'm going to end up suffering because of it because everything will be back to normal on Monday.

“What happened?” he asks as I search my suitcase for clothes.

“Nothing.”

“You're acting strange. Was it the kiss?”

“Yes.”

“What's wrong? Didn’t you like it? Do you like someone else? If so, don't worry. As soon as we get home, everything will be back to normal.”

“Exactly, that's the problem. Everything will be back to normal. You'll go back to being my boss: rude, bossy, arrogant, who scares me and makes me feel nauseous every time you're around.” He looks at me kind of startled.

“Wow, thanks for saying I'm a lousy boss, but I know I am.” He smiles. “Seriously, do I make you nauseous?”

“Yes.”

“Then why did you accept my proposal?”

“Long story. You don’t need to know the details.”

“But I'd like to. You can trust me. I just confessed something to you that only my family knows.” He sits me down in the armchair and lowers himself down in front of me.

“Since my dad passed away, my mom hasn't been able to handle everything on her own, so she’s taken out a lot of loans with the bank, and the interest rates are very high, and the debt just keeps growing. She considered selling the house, but I grew up there, and I wouldn’t want anyone else to buy it. Well… that's why I'm here.”

“Why didn't you ask me for help? I would have lent you the money to pay off the debt.”

“Ask you for help? God forbid. I'm even afraid to say good morning to you.”

“I don’t bite. Well... it depends on the situation.” He smiles, and there I am, breathless again. “Am I really that bad of a boss?”

“You’re not bad. You're serious, bossy, and you scare me, but you're a great professional, an amazing teacher. I've learned a lot from you, I even passed the last few tests because of everything I learned working for you.”

“That’s good, I'm happy. But stop calling me sir, it makes me feel old.”

“I’ll try.”

“When we get back, let’s look at this whole debt issue with your mother. You don’t need to worry.”

“You don't need to bother with this, sir. What you’re going to pay me will be enough to cover part of the debt, and we'll see if we can pay the rest in installments.”

“I don’t take no for an answer, and that's not up for discussion. That's not a request.”

“You’re so bossy!”

“I am, but you already know that.” He looks deep into my eyes. His green eyes are dark with desire.

“I'm going to take a shower,” I say and practically run to the bathroom.

I close the door behind me but don't lock it. I trust him and know he would never come in here uninvited. My body is about to explode with desire for this man. If he tried a little harder, I'm sure we would have already had sex.

I know that getting sexually involved with him is like shooting myself in the foot, since it will be something temporary. I'm afraid to give myself to him and somehow this will interfere with my work. I can't lose this job.

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