He stared back with a tentative grin. “Apparently not as well as I’ve taught you, Abby-san.” He spread his arms, gesturing at the vastness of the deserted South American beach. “Peru, Abigail? Really?”
I blushed and stared down at my toes that were still buried in the sand. “It was the first flight out of town,” I defended with a shrug, then flashed him a look of sudden curiosity. “Hey, that begs a question.”
“Shoot.”
“Fancy running into you here.”
“James let me borrow his plane.”
I shook my head. Amazed, but not surprised all at the same time. Of course he did. Because like every kid who grows up in a privileged sandbox, you silver spooners learn to share your eight million-dollar toys. Your daddies can always buy you new ones if you break ‘em, right?
I covered my face in an effort to disguise a groan that suddenly sprang up within me, and I felt a red heat in my cheeks. “Nick, I ruined everything. We finally got out from under your father’s thumb, and—”
“Hey, I don’t care about any of that.” He pulled my hands away from my face, forcing me to look in his eyes. “You’re going to get on that plane with me. You hear me? More than that, I want you to want to get on that plane. I want you to...come home.”
Home? I pondered, another first for the two of us, as the shared penthouse had been little more than a mailing address before.
“I’ll do whatever it takes to get you there.” His eyes shone with sincerity, burning deep into my own. “But only if it’s what you want. I hope you know I’ll do anything in the world for you. I’d never make you stay or go someplace you don’t want to be.” He pulled in a shaky breath as he offered me one final out. “Don’t worry about sparing my feelings. Just tell me what you really want. You’re not obligated to go back. If you want, I’ll get back on the plane and fly back by myself, and you can, uh...” His eyes roved manically out toward the water. “You can stick around here and become a beach bum or some sort of oyster fisherman or—”
I cut him off with a kiss, the most freeing kiss we’d ever experienced, like coming up for air. It went on for what felt like an eternity, as passionate as it was tender, so long that before we allowed our lips to part, the sun dipped beneath the water. Before we knew it, we were under a blanket of stars. It wasn’t until the moon glittered its silvery whiteness upon the little beach that we finally pulled away.
Our eyes sparkled as we shared a long, silent look, but then Nick cocked his head toward the parking lot and offered a little grin. Together, we walked through the sand, with his arm wrapped around my waist, my sandals dangling from my wrist, and a pair of beaming smiles lighting our faces.
“So,” I asked as we climbed into the sports car he’d rented at the airstrip, “how did you find me anyway? I could have been anywhere in the world.”
He pulled on his seatbelt before reaching over to pull mine across my body and click it. “The second we decided to get serious, I had my people install a tracking device in one of your teeth.”
I grinned, froze temporarily, then nervously grinned again. “DPS, huh?”
“What?”
“Dental positioning system?”
He gave me a wink. “You’ll never know which one. I think we’ll patent them, call ‘em, uh...Inspysors.”
I suppressed a little giggle as the engine revved to life.
“But seriously, it wasn’t hard. I tracked you down with a few phone calls. And for the life of me I couldn’t figure out why you went to Peru, so I had to come. I just wanted to make sure you were okay.”
“I should’ve known I could never hide.”
Nick didn’t pull out of the parking lot. Instead, he glanced down at his hands before giving me a thoughtful look. “I know I said I understood, but... Well, now I’m confused. What exactly made you decide to leave?”
I paused for a moment, trying to come up with a plausible excuse, and I found my perfect answer in an echo of the words he’d said to me on the beach. “It made sense at the time.”
Our eyes met, and his face softened with a pensive smile. Then he threw the car into gear, stepped down on the gas, and we shot off into the night.
Chapter 3
I slept the entire way back to New York. The emotional and physical exhaustion of the day finally caught up with me. By the time I woke up, we were circling above Manhattan like a chrome-plated eagle, searching for the best place to land.
I glanced around for Nick and, much to my surprise, found him sitting in the cockpit with the pilot, a pair of giant headphones nestled within his golden-brown hair. Their heads were bent together, and it was hard to hear much of what they were saying, but I disti
nctly heard someone say “Your father...” before Nick gave a sharp shake of his head. A few seconds later, the plane curved off in the opposite direction, to an airstrip on the far side of the island.
As Nick clapped the pilot on the back and slid off the headphones, I quickly scrambled back to my seat; I certainly didn’t want him to realize I’d been eavesdropping, and to be honest, I wasn’t completely sure what I’d heard anyway. By the time he reemerged through the cabin door, I was already putting on a good act, spreading my arms open and letting out a wide yawn.
“Morning, sleepyhead.” He flashed an affectionate grin and settled down beside me, wrapping his long fingers around my shoulders in a sweet massage. “Sweet dreams?”