Saltwater Kisses (The Kisses 1)

“Thanks,” I said with a flustered grin as I put the now dry pink suit in with the black one. Jack sat on the bed, watching me bounce around the bedroom picking things up and putting them in my suitcase. “When does your flight leave again?”

Jack sighed and shifted his weight on the foot of the bed. “It technically leaves whenever I am ready, but, I have to be back in New York by the close of business, so I need to leave in about fifteen minutes.”

“I wish you didn’t have to go until evening,” I said quietly as I put the last couple of items in my main suitcase. What I really meant was, I wish you didn’t have to leave me at all.

“Me too, but planes can only fly so fast,” Jack answered. He shifted his weight again.

“Anxious to be off?” I asked, nodding at his tapping toes. He couldn’t seem to sit still. He looked down at his feet and saw his toes tapping against his sandals.

“It’s a good thing I wear covered toe shoes at work,” he murmured glaring at the offending foot. The toes stopped tapping. “I need to tell you something.”

I played with the zipper on my suitcase for a moment before standing. I had a feeling something like this was going to happen. We had been far too happy, this vacation too perfect for it to not have some hidden secret. I had been watching him all morning and knew he was fighting with a decision. I could tell from the way his jaw clenched tight or the fact he ordered plain black coffee that he was nervous about something. We had only been together for less than a week, but I could read his subtle tells like I had known him my whole life.

“The secretary you came with... she’s actually your wife, right?” I said straightening up to face him. I had been running scenarios of what he was going to say all morning. That was the most plausible one I could come up with. There were others, but asking him if he was a spy for the American government seemed a bit much.

Jack barked a short laugh. “No, not by a long-shot.” His face darkened, and he stood up and took my hands in his. “I haven’t been completely honest with you about what I do. I’m the new CEO of DS Oil and Gas.”

I snorted. That was not one of the many scenarios I had concocted. “I knew you had money, Jack, but a billionaire? Be serious.”

“I am serious. My father is the founder and owner of DS Oil and Gas. This is my last vacation before going back to take over the company. When my father steps down, I’ll be in charge of the company.?

?? His eyes were dark and pleading. I could feel my brow furrowing as I shook my head and took my hands out of his.

“DS Oil and Gas? What are you talking about Jack?”

“I love that you don’t know that. Here,” he said pulling out his phone and pulling up a video. He placed it in my hands as the screen loaded. It was a commercial I had seen a thousand times, played on all the TV shows my parent’s watched. The jingle was one of those stupid songs that had the instant ability to stay stuck in my head for days. DS Oil and Gas... It’s a blast! On the last frame an attractive teenage boy came and stood by a distinguished older gentleman looking at an oil well. It was very obviously the teenage version of Jack with a man who could only be his father.

Jack gingerly took the phone from my shaking fingers when the video ended. “The video is a little old, but it’s the one everyone knows. DS stands for Daniel Saunders, my father.”

I looked up at him, confused. He reached out and gently pushed my chin closed; I hadn’t realized it was hanging open. “I don’t know what to say. I had no idea that was you.”

“I think that's why I like you so much. You never saw me as a meal ticket or anything other than another human being. You didn’t see a billionaire playboy, you saw a normal person. I can’t tell you how much that means to me.”

My hand went to my throat, feeling the cool silver dolphin charm. “That’s why you didn’t hesitate to buy this, and why you didn’t want any pictures at the wedding. If you’re a billionaire, then you’re famous too, right?”

“I never meant to lie to you Emma. I loved the way you looked at me. I loved your honesty and how genuinely wonderful you were without knowing who I was. I’m surrounded by fake people who only want my money every moment of every day, but you, you were different. I wanted to tell you, but I was terrified you would look at me like they do.”

“So you’re a billionaire who spent his last vacation with a dirt-poor girl in a free hotel room,” I said slowly. I moved away from him and sat down on the foot of the bed. My thoughts were racing, and every time I thought I caught one, it would slip through my fingers and speed off before I had time to process it.

“This was more than I could ever ask for,” he said quietly. Jack knelt before me on the floor, his hands resting on my knees. His dark eyebrows bunched together, his face full of worry and regret.

“So what happens now?”

Jack took a deep breath. “Nothing has changed. We both knew we were going to go our separate ways. We both said we would never tell anyone about this. It’s our secret, something that no one can ever take away from us. I didn’t want you to pick up a magazine and find out who I was that way.”

I nodded and bit my lip. I could feel tears forming and I struggled to make them stay behind my eyes. I wanted to ask him if I was merely a good time for him, or if he ached for me the way I ached for him. I was afraid it was a fling. That’s all it could ever be. “I still don’t want you to go, money or no money. I think I would have preferred the 'secretary is your wife' scenario. At least that way I would have known I could never have you again.”

Jack smiled softly and brushed my lips with his. “I want to do something for you. If there is ever anything I can do for you, I want you to let me know. A new car perhaps?” He held a finger against my lips as I started to shake my head. “It will cost me almost nothing, but it will help you enormously. I want to see you happy Emma, and if I can help, I want to.”

“I’ll think about it.”

“Please do. It would make me very happy to see you succeed,” Jack said softly. He placed a card in my hand with a number scrawled in black ink on the back. I stuffed it into my pocket and tried to blink tears out of my eyes. I wanted to pull him into me, to make this moment not our last. I was far more attached to him than I had hoped to be.

A loud knock came at the door and Jack closed his eyes for a moment before standing. He turned silently as a second knock rapped louder. The tears escaped my eyes and trickled down my face as I stood up to follow him, grabbing his hand as he headed towards the door.

Outside a man in a black tuxedo stood waiting on the porch. Jack opened the door and nodded to him before turning back to me. His eyes were wet as his thumbs smeared the tears off my cheek. He then traced his thumb across my lower lip before taking my chin in his hand and pulling me into a kiss. I could taste the salt of my tears—salty like the ocean—as I kissed him one last time.

“This was the best vacation I’ll ever have. Thank you Emma,” he said softly, his eyes full of a sadness I understood too well. He started to say something more, but stopped, swallowing his words. I knew what he wanted to say because I wanted to say it out loud too—I love you—but it hurt too much even to think about saying it. If spoken, the pain of leaving would only be worse. This was a fling. A vacation from our lives, nothing more.