Hired a Gigolo Got a Billionaire (Zoey and Christian) novel Chapter 360

Chapter 360

Madeline’s POV

I woke up to sunlight streaming through the bungalow’s massive glass windows. The sound of waves gently hitting the stilts blended with the distant call of birds, creating the perfect soundtrack for what felt like a dream.

r a moment, I just lay there, taking in the view-the turquoise-blue ocean stretching endlessly toward the horizon, so clear I could see the sandy bottom even from this height. It was impossible not to feel like I’d woken up inside a postcard.

When I finally got up and stepped onto the deck, I found Apollo already awake. He was wearing only swim trunks that highlighted his already unfair physique, sipping coffee at a table clearly set by room service. He looked completely at ease, reading something on his tablet and occasionally glancing at the scenery, as if waking up in a tropical paradise were just another ordinary morning.

‘Who is this man?’ I wondered as I watched him. He didn’t just look comfortable in all that luxury. He looked like he belonged there, as if he owned the place instead of being a guest like me.

“Good morning, Aphrodite,” he smiled when he noticed me, and that smile still completely disarmed me. “Did you sleep well after our… late-night clarification?”

“Better than I expected,” I admitted, pouring myself coffee into a delicate porcelain cup. “And you? Did you manage to fall back asleep?”

“Eventually,” he replied, though there was something in his eyes that suggested he’d been awake for a while.

We settled in for breakfast, and naturally, our game of assumptions resumed.

“I bet you always stay in places like this,” I said, gesturing at the scenery around us.

“I bet you’ve stayed in places like this before too,” he shot back without missing a beat.

“I bet you don’t even know the names of half the people you’ve shared a boardroom table with,” I countered.

He laughed, clearly entertained by the jab.

“I bet you went to an expensive school but hated math.”

“How did you-?” I started, then stopped myself. He’d hit the mark. “I bet you collect women the same way you collect expensive suits.”

I waited for him to deny it. To get offended. To say something. But he just smiled that enigmatic smile that was quickly becoming his signature, neither confirming nor denying anything.

“I bet you’re afraid you’re enjoying this game more than you should,” he said, his voice dropping, turning more intimate.

The comment landed perfectly, because he was right. I was enjoying it. Far too much.

“I bet your favorite dessert is raspberry cheesecake,” I fired back, trying to change the subject.

This time, he froze completely, his coffee cup suspended halfway to his mouth.

1/3

“What?” he asked, and for the first time since I’d met him, he looked genuinely surprised. “How did you-?”

“Because you’re looking at that cheesecake,” I pointed to the untouched slice on the dessert plate, “the exact same way you were looking at me in the shower yesterday.”

He let out a loud, genuine laugh that echoed across the water around us.

u’re impressive,” he admitted. “And dangerous.”

“Why?”

“Because you’re starting to know me better than you should.”

Something in the way he said that made my heart race. It wasn’t just flirting. It was recognition. Like we were really seeing each other for the first time.

After breakfast, he suggested we try some of the resort’s activities. We chose snorkeling, and that was when he discovered I wasn’t nearly as graceful in the water as I liked to pretend.

‘Are you sure you know how to use this?” Apollo asked, helping adjust my mask.

“Of course I do,” I lied shamelessly.

Five minutes later, I was choking on saltwater and wrestling with a mask that refused to stop fogging up. Apollo swam over, laughing, and patiently helped me fix everything again.

“First time snorkeling?” he asked. This time, it wasn’t an assumption.

“Maybe,” I admitted, feeling ridiculous.

“Relax,” he said softly. “Breathe slowly. Let your body float. I’m right here with you.”

And he stayed. The entire time. He swam beside me, guiding me, pointing out colorful fish, calming me whenever panic threatened to take over. There was something incredibly intimate about being cared for like that, about being vulnerable in front of someone and being met with patience instead of judgment.

At one point, when I finally managed to relax and truly take in the underwater view, our eyes met through our masks. Even distorted by water and glass, I could see the intensity in his gaze. It was one of those moments that felt suspended in time, where everything else disappeared and there was only you and the other person.

A sharp spike of panic hit me not because of the water, but because of what I was feeling. The game was getting dangerous. It was too dangerous for my heart.

We surfaced, and he suggested we swim toward a more secluded area, far from the other guests. The water there was even clearer, if that was possible, and we were completely alone.

“Better?” he asked, drifting closer to me.

“Much better,” I replied.

We floated there, facing each other, the tension between us almost tangible. The warm water, the sun on my face, the sense of total freedom felt like we were in our own private world.

“I bet you’ve never had sex in the ocean,” he said, his voice rough with desire.

2/3

The provocation hit me like a wave. My entire body flared to life, and when I answered, my voice came out lower

and more seductive than I intende

“I bet you’re about to change that.”

He didn’t answer with words. Instead, he moved closer through the water, his hands finding my waist, pulling me in. I could feel the heat of his body even through the cool water, see the desire in his eyes mirroring my own.

When our lips finally met, it was like every tease, every provocation, every ounce of tension we’d built since meeting detonated all at once. The kiss was hot, urgent, filled with a need that had been growing between us from the very beginning.

His hands slid up my back, pressing me firmly against him, while my arms wrapped around his neck. Kissing him there, in that crystal-clear water, with the sun warming our skin and the feeling that we were the only two people in the world, was so intense it made me tremble.

When we finally pulled apart to breathe, we were both breathless. He looked at me with an intensity that made it feel like he could see straight into my soul.

“Aphrodite…” he whispered, and there was something in his voice I couldn’t fully name. Desire, yes, but also something deeper. More dangerous.

“Apollo…” I replied, and in that moment, nothing else mattered but this man, this water, this perfect instant that felt like it had been pulled straight out of a dream.

P

Comments

Support

Share

+2

3/3