Under Your Spell | A Mafia romance

Chapter XIX

Delilah

The sun on the horizon was already setting, I found myself trembling with nerves. I looked at Mattia's silhouette, he paddled non-stop, his arm muscles contracting as he pushed through the water. I looked at his strong hands gripping the oars, efficient, the muscles taut. He rowed without showing any great effort.

I looked around and there was nothing to look at but the deep blue of the sea and the cloudless sky, already orange from the twilight of the setting sun. Soon the night will arrive, and that prospect made me even more apprehensive. I couldn't believe I was on a lifeboat in the middle of a huge sea with the man who had hurt me in every way.

The boat was stabilized in the water, the calm sea only stirred with the waves made by the boat that cut the water. My chin was shivering with cold. My knuckles were aching from the effort it took to hold on. I noticed that Mattia stopped rowing and took the backpack off his back putting it on the ground, then opened a small compartment on the side of the boat and took out a blanket, came to my side and placed it on my shoulders.

"Lie down for a while to rest."

"What about you?"

"Don't worry about me, I'm fine."

Going back to the other end he grabbed the backpack and opened it, taking out a disposable bottle of water. He approached me again and held the bottle to my lips.

"Drink some, we only have a few bottles, we don't know how long we're going to be adrift, so we have to save water for now."

I drank the water and snuggled into the blanket. Mattia, went back to his side of the boat and got something out of his backpack, a device, he turned it on and started looking at the screen.

"No signal, only the compass is working."

"Are we lost?"

"A little, but don't worry your little head about it."

He seemed very calm about the situation, maybe he just wanted to make me confident and not share that we were completely in trouble. I couldn't relax anymore, I felt strange.

"Mattia, I'm scared."

He approached me and hugged me close to him, he spoke whispering in my ear.

"Don't be, I won't let anything happen to you, I'll take care of you."

Slowly, he kissed me on the lips, brushing. My body unintentionally reacted to his touch and everything we did on the boat came to mind. Mother of God! I don't want to feel these things, but his touch made my body shudder. He hugged me tighter and kissed my hair.

"Relax, try to sleep," he said softly into my ear.

I ended up lying on the floor of the boat, curled up, but I couldn't close my eyes. Mattia went back to his place and picked up his backpack, took out a pair of binoculars and looked around. He was on his feet and his muscular legs were eye level with me. I looked in awe, he is strong and makes me feel safe even after everything. I started to say a little prayer to God to get us out of that situation, but I also thanked him for not being alone, but with him.

Mattia sat back down and started paddling again, he looked like a robot, he didn't show fatigue, only a few droplets of sweat were visible on his forehead, nothing else made him look human. The boat was fast and a light wind began to blow. I heard some seagulls in the distance. Mattia stopped rowing and got up, looked at the sky and said:

"We have land nearby, the gulls will guide us there."

Hopeful, I stood up and I sat down, looked at the horizon and saw the birds flying. Mattia rowed another half hour, the wind and waves picked up. I could hear the waves crashing into something solid, my heart was beating fast with the hope that it was land. He paddled more vigorously until I could see in a short distance, the waves breaking on coral reefs and beyond, the outline of dry land appeared.