Page 44 of Modern Romance September 2026 Books 1-4

She noticed that Axel’s gaze dropped to her chest where she was wearing a plain black bikini. ‘Eyes up.’

He looked up.

‘What do you mean go onto my back? I’ll drown.’

‘You won’t drown, you’ll float.’ He came close and put his hands on her waist and manoeuvred her onto her back before she had time to think about it. Before she could panic she felt his hands under her. One strategically near her bottom.

She squinted at him. ‘I’m not sure that’s entirely appropriate for a swimming instructor.’

‘Stop thinking and concentrate on floating. Just relax.’

Hope finally let herself trust that Axel was holding her and she relaxed her limbs.

‘Now take a deep breath and make small motions with your hands and feet.’

She did. She noticed she was moving around in a lazy circle. It felt nice. Peaceful. She saw Axel and she was momentarily distracted by his bare chest before she realised he wasn’t beside her any more and he was holding his hands up.

‘You’re floating, Hope.’

She realised she was. A sense of joy filled her. She thought of something. ‘Hope floats! That’s one of my favourite movies!’

But then she also realised that she was on a body of water with no support and she panicked a little and went to find the bottom but it wasn’t there because she’d floated into the deep end and she started to sink, but almost immediately Axel was there, lifting her up again, and she spluttered a little but grinned at the same time.

She put her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist. ‘I’m almost able to swim!’

His mouth quirked. ‘Not quite but you will be, soon.’

He brought her back up to the shallow end and Hope couldn’t get over the lush beauty of the garden around them, nothing but birdcall and the faint sound of waves crashing on the shore.

‘I can’t believe you just bought this sight unseen and now we’re here. You live on another planet, you do realise that?’

Axel looked at her seriously. ‘Yes, I do. And I realise something else.’

‘What’s that?’

‘That I’ve never made love to a woman in a pool.’

Hope gasped even as electricity shot through her. ‘We can’t. What about Dale and Candice?’ The housekeeper and her husband.

‘I told them they could go for the evening. That we can look after ourselves.’

Hope raised a brow. ‘Are you expecting me to cook for you?’

‘Well, you might have to, because I haven’t got a clue how to cook.’ Of course, he didn’t. He’d grown up with nannies and chefs.

‘I can swap you, cooking lessons for swimming lessons.’

The whole time they were talking, Axel was busy undoing Hope’s bikini top and now he leant back and peeled the triangles from her breasts and threw the scraps of material aside. He put his hands on her bottom, caressing her flesh. Hope was overcome with such a sense of joy—the kind of joy she’d never known before, the kind that scared her—she put her mouth to Axel’s and kissed him, desperately, terrified words might fall out of her mouth. Words she hadn’t even fully articulated to herself yet.

Chapter Nine

The next morning when Hope woke up, the sun was high in the sky. It was warm. She could feel the breeze on her bare skin. Smell and hear the sea. And the birds. And Axel’s deep voice, somewhere on the floor below.

Hope turned over in the bed and pulled the sheet up to cover her body. She blushed when she thought of being naked in the pool and how the only reason they hadn’t made love there was because Axel had had to go inside for protection and so he’d just carried her up to the bedroom.

Then they hadn’t had to worry about actually cooking from scratch because Candice had left a delicious stew in the fridge.

And after eating and drinking wine they’d gone back to the bedroom and made love again. Hope’s body felt heavy with a deep sense of satisfaction.