Each time I felt more and more undressed.
I didn’t have many clothes and definitely nothing worthy of a resort, even one in the midst of construction. My jeans were clean and this morning I had chosen a light peasant blouse that was probably the dressiest thing I owned. At least my toes were still painted pink from last week’s pedicure and didn’t look bad in my strappy white sandals.
“Where is this resort? In the city?”
Madden looked up from his phone. “Off the coast of South Carolina. Its really an island that was turned into a resort about thirty years ago.”
He bought an island. In the Atlantic. I don’t know why I thought it was local. It never occurred to me that we might be traveling someplace. “You bought an entire island?”
“It’s what I do.” He glanced at his phone, sighed, then set it on the console next to his seat. Then he reached over to the bar and opened a cupboard I didn’t even notice was there. Ice clinked into a glass and then he poured something amber over the cubes. “Would you like something? Wine? Mimosa? Sparkling juice?”
“Water?”
The way my stomach flipped over every time he looked at me, it was probably the best idea. Keep it simple.
Madden reached into a small fridge, also concealed and made to look like part of the cabinets, and handed me a Pellegrino.
I flashed a nervous smile. “So you buy islands on a regular basis?”
“Real Estate. I thought everyone in the city knew what Cross Industries did? You work there and you had no idea?” He tipped back the glass and his throat moved as he swallowed. Even that was strong. He set the glass down and stared at me. Right. He’d asked a question.
“The agency that hired me only told me the company name. I just got to town a few days ago so I wasn’t familiar with you or your business. It’s not really forthcoming inside either. Nothing really identifies what you do.”
Madden smirked again. “The enormous pictures of high rises on every wall didn’t give it away?”
“You could be a computer nerd with a fetish for tall pointy things for all I know.” All my life I had lacked a filter on my thoughts. They sprang to mind and came out of my mouth. It was the cause of most of the problems I had with just about everyone growing up. Something I had not outgrown either apparently. The second I said it, I felt the heat in my cheeks. After last night I was pretty sure I already knew what his fetishes were.
He didn’t reply, just watched me, like a patient and only slightly hungry wolf.
I cleared my throat, looked out the window and then unscrewed the top of my water to take a large gulp. All the while Madden watched me. “That’s interesting,” I croaked. “Real estate I mean.”
He lifted one eyebrow and I nearly choked on my water.
Thankfully, the limo began to slow and when I glanced out the window, saw we were at an airport. “We’re flying?” I wasn’t a great flyer. Panic tended to crowd out any other emotion when I stepped onto a plane.
“The drive is kind of a bitch,” Madden said.
I could feel my pulse pounding in my ears already and we were still in the car. The limo slowed and then stopped, then a few seconds later, the door opened. Bright sunlight streamed into the backseat. Would a sixteen hour limo ride be that bad?
Fighting back the urge to throw myself into the corner of the seat and grab anything bolted down, I took the offered hand and stepped out onto the runway. Madden was right behind me and again, put his hand on my lower back. It helped ease a little of the tension gripping my body.
“I’ll bring the bags, Sir,” the man in the uniform said.
Madden nudged me and I stepped forward. A small jet sat on the runway waiting in front of us. The captain stood by a set of stairs and reached out to shake Madden’s hand when we got close enough.
“Good morning, Sir. We’re fueled and ready to go when you are. Beautiful weather all the way down the coast so it should be a good flight today.”
The captain smiled warmly at me and I smiled back. This was crazy. I’d only flown a handful of times in a crowded commercial aircraft and here I was about to get on a private jet. I half expected to wake up in my grubby hotel bed and find myself in the throes of an epic sickness and this was all just a conjuring of a fevered mind. But the warm hand at my back grounded me in this moment.
“Thank you Tony. As soon as Mark brings the bags, we can take off.”
Madden guided me up the steps and onto the airplane. As soon as I stepped on board, I froze. Holy shit. I thought the limo was fancy but it had nothing on this. This was a luxury penthouse with wings.
Two overstuffed chairs faced each other on one side of the plane. They were covered in soft buttery yellow leather that matched the fabric on a full sized sofa along the opposite side. There was another room just past this one, and I saw a dining table set up like a fancy restaurant.