“Gotta love the girl that sprays Mace at ya.”
He chuckled. “I should’ve called your name out there in the dark so you didn’t think I was a mugger.”
“That would’ve definitely helped. But I get it now. I now know why you hunted me down. You needed me, and only me. Because I had already announced myself as your girlfriend. In order to save your client, you needed me to look like the woman who had tamed you and settled you down. It would help fix your image problem. Because Mr. Takahari wasn’t going to do business with a playboy any longer.”
“That about sums it up.”
“I just wish you would’ve really wanted to date me for real,” I muttered.
“What?”
My stomach rumbled. Oh, gosh! Please no!
“I think I’m going to throw up,” I said. “I can’t make it to the bathroom.”
The stewardess handed me a plastic bag and I threw up.
“Okay, you’re okay.” Cool hands stroked back my hair, and a wet cloth was placed on the base of my neck. “You’re okay, sweetie. I think we all saw that coming.”
“Sweetie? Are you practicing or are we trying to fool the stewardess too?”
He chuckled.
With a low groan, I leaned back against the chair. In a flash, the bag vanished and Marcus was sitting across from me, smiling affectionately as he absentmindedly rubbed my knees.
“You saw that coming?” I quoted weakly.
“You licked the seatbelt.”
My face contorted in pathetic anger. “For luck, Marcus. Haven’t you ever heard of licking the seatbelt for luck?”
“No.” He was making a valiant effort not to laugh. “That’s not real.”
Too weak to argue, I brought my fingers up to my temples with another groan. My eyes fell on his hands, still rubbing my knees, and the hands instantly disappeared.
“Here,” he murmured, rummaging around in back of a seat, “take a water.”
I sipped it silently and cast a wary glance out the window. The towering skyscrapers of the city were quickly vanishing, blanketed beneath a fine layer of clouds. My fingers shook, and I drew in a quiet gasp, offering up a silent prayer for deliverance.
“Sri Lanka.”
I pried my eyes away from the window long enough to look at him. “What?”
“That’s where I got Eduardo. Sri Lanka.”
“Sri Lanka?”
“Yes.”
“You went all the way to Sri Lanka to pick up a peacock?”
“Eduardo was at my hotel and we kind of bonded. I’d feed him bread and he’d follow me around. When he got attacked by a dog, the vet was going to put the bird down. The staff said the peacock was testy and not worth saving. But I found something special about him. I thought he was very much worth saving. Doesn’t everyone deserve a second chance?” He looked into my eyes for a moment, and then continued. “I brought him home and saved his life.”
I couldn’t help but notice the symbolism. Marcus was beautiful, and so was the bird. All they needed was that second chance. The bird had gotten his. Would Markus get his?
“Does he like you?” I asked. “Because he hates me.”
“He loves me. And he’ll love you too.”