Alarm

I did have vacation time to use. Though I’d gone to visit my mom and usually took off a few days around the holidays, I hadn’t been on a real vacation in years. The project team had plenty of work to keep them busy for the next week, and the idea of having yet another marathon meeting with my asshole boss was stomach-churning.

I gripped the phone in my hand, hard enough to make my knuckles go white. My finger shook slightly over the send button on the display as I bit into my lower lip and felt my chest tighten.

Even if the trip was a disaster, it couldn’t be worse than a week of meetings with Kevin. Nothing was worse than that.

I hit the send key.

“Oh, crap. What did I just do?”

A response came immediately.

Awesome! Can you be here in 30 min? I’ll meet you at the Delta ticket counter.

The airport was twenty minutes away. I’d have ten minutes to pack.

Sure. See you then.

I hit send again. There was no turning back now. I sent Kevin my email notice of vacation and jumped up to pack a bag.

And with that, I decided I had lost my mind.

FIVE

“I’m really glad you decided to come,” Aiden said as he handed me a boarding pass. “Do you want to check your bag?”

“No, it’s okay,” I replied. “It should fit in the bins. I didn’t have a lot of time to pack.”

“Decided at the last minute, didn’t you?”

“Yeah, pretty much.” I was sure my face reddened as I glanced at him. He was dressed in a grey T-shirt and camo shorts that reached his knees, showing off the tattoos on his calves. I was starting to wonder if there was any part of him unmarked. The same red cap was on his head—backward, of course.

“If you end up missing something, we can get it there,” he said. He took my hand, grinned down at me with that incredible smile, and pulled me toward the escalators.

People kept looking over at us and then quickly looking away when I met their eyes. The first time it happened, I could only wonder if they knew I was doing something completely rash and borderline insane. Suddenly self-conscious, I looked down to see what I was wearing. There was nothing unusual about my outfit and my shoes matched, so I didn’t think they were looking at me.

As it continued to happen, I realized they were actually staring at Aiden and his tattoos. I began to pay more attention to the passersby. Most people just gave him a subtle sideways glance, but several stared outright.

I had been in the midst of a near panic attack since I sent the text message, and being in the airport with him as people stared wasn’t making it any better. I was excited to be going, but all my focus was on the feeling of his fingers interlaced with mine and the looks other passengers were giving us. I couldn’t concentrate on the actual trip ahead.

“You’re going to love it,” Aiden said. “I live right on the beach. It’s not overly fancy or anything, but the view is incredible.”

“Do you have roommates?” I asked.

“Nope. Just me.”

My heart began to pound again. I had to have lost my mind to be doing this. Yes, it was exciting, but it was also terrifying. I was going to spend a week alone with this man. What if his beach house only had one bed in it, like the apartment he stayed in here? I hadn’t even considered what the sleeping arrangements might be, and now I was too embarrassed to ask.

I wasn’t even sure how Aiden was viewing this little adventure. He said he’d like it to be a date, but we hadn’t said for sure one way or the other. This was completely uncharted territory for me, and I had no idea what he was expecting. I’d let him pay for the plane ticket, and I was going to be staying at his house. What was he going to want in return?

“So, is this a date?” I asked. “I mean, a long date?”

“Do you want it to be?” His fingers tightened around mine.

“I…I’m not sure.”

“How about we just play it by ear, then?”

“All right.” I had to move fast to keep up with his long strides as we headed toward the gate.