The Heiress

The Heiress-5

Two days passed before Arian saw Sophia again. He crawled to the back door of the house before the servant told him to stand. He was permitted to walk on the paths outside, he turned his face to the sun, which was showing for the first time that day just after lunch. The servant led him to motorized kart that he drove out to a lake on the back of the family property.

Sophia was on the water in a kayak. She waved as soon as she saw him.

"Ari!" She called from the middle of the lake. He waved to her.

"I have a nickname now," he spoke softly to himself.

"I'll be leaving the rover, I trust I can leave you with the keys to being Miss Rothschild back?"

"Of course, sir," Arian addressed the servant properly, even though the man was likely younger than him. He took the keys and turned back to Sophia, who was paddling to shore. Arian bent down and removed his workout sneakers before stepping into the shallow water to pull her boat in.

She was barefoot too, with a bikini top over her daisy dukes. Her hair fell loose around her shoulders and her makeup was done far less extravagantly than it had been the night of the party. Even so, Arian had to pull his gaze away before he stared for a second too long.

He looked out over the water, it really was a beautiful sight.

"You ready to go out?" Sophia asked, her question startled Arian as he equivocated her meaning. He stuttered a response, something about not being allowed to leave the estate.

"Boating, I have another kayak in the boathouse, I thought you might have fun with it."

"Oh, yes. I would love to!"

"Great," Sophia smiled, "I'll go get the boat."

"No," Arian held her arm to stop her, "I'll go get the boat."

"Okay."

Sophia waited outside while Arian made his way to the boathouse and returned a moment later with the boat hoisted overhead, muscle tank showcasing his arm and abdominal muscles. He set it backwards in the water next to Sophia's and removed the paddle from the seat.

"Get in, I'll push you off," he said. Sophia did as he asked and waited in the deeper water as he got in and used the paddle to push the boat off of the sandy shore.

They spent three hours or so on the water, sometimes paddling, sometimes just sitting and talking. Sophia showed him one of her childhood hideous on the opposite side of the lake, it was a well built tree house that was still maintained. They'd paddled back onto the lake a ways before Arian thought it would be fun to splash her with his paddle. She splashed back, they got into a water fight that eventually ended at the beach, Sophia laughing and soaking wet. She retrieved towels from the boathouse and they sat on the beach, trying to dry off.

When their laughter died down, Sophia stood and pulled her phone from an airtight pocket on the kayak before sitting back next to Arian.

"Smile," she said as she held the phone up with her left hand to take a picture. Arian smiled and wished he had some way to get the photo from her.

"Hey," he said after she had been looking at her phone for a minute, likely editing the photo. She glanced up at him.

"Thanks for this."

"It's no problem, I like having someone to boat with."

"Not just that. Thanks for, I don't know," he stuttered, completely losing his social graces. "Being my friend and being interested in me, as like, a person."