Beauty and the Billionaire

I didn't like the way she said the word, like I was just some rich boy playing at a job. "I prefer innovator. I spend most of my time on camping trips like this so I have firsthand knowledge of how my equipment works and what improvements can be made."

She tossed the vegetables in the frying pan with a slosh of olive oil. "Are you one of those people who doesn't think inspiration can strike in the office?"

I laughed and dropped down to sit beside her. "God, how do you always call me on everything? So I've built up the perfect excuse to stay out of the office. I've found a job I love."

Corsica nudged me in the shoulder. "I like seeing you at work, out here. Makes me feel like I'm actually starting to get to know you."

"We might not know each other yet, but we know this." I caught her smile in a kiss.

There was a hunger between us that was far more important than dinner. Our passion ignited faster than the campfire.

While the water heated and the vegetables began to sizzle, I laid Corsica down on the soft moss. She skimmed her hands up to my shoulders and drew me down. Our mouths tasted, then devoured, our bodies consuming each other.

The rest of the night was a velvet blur of happiness. The food tasted all the better for us working up an appetite and we were both so thirsty, the wine went down too easily. We laughed and lounged around the fire until late in the night, then tangled up together in the tent.

It was hard to unwind myself from Corsica in the morning. My mind kept diving back into dreams and fantasies of future camping trips. Corsica and I would explore all of Pinnacles, then adventure through Joshua Tree. We'd bring our children out before they could walk and sleep all snuggled together.

I slipped out of the tent, started the fire for coffee, and then got ready. I left Corsica a note telling her I was just over the crest. There was a rock face there where I needed to test out some new rock-climbing shoes.

Work was a good reality check, I told myself as I started up the sheer rock wall. It wasn't very high, but it jutted out and I needed to concentrate to keep my footing as I clung to it and inched higher. The trial run of the shoes and the exercise was supposed to knock Corsica out of my thoughts, but it only doubled the effect she was having on me.

I couldn't think about anything else, just her. Corsica flashed through my thoughts, a mix of passionate memories and moony daydreams. Since when did I waste time thinking about a happy relationship? And children? I must have gotten drunk off the wine. I shook my head and tried to keep concentrating.

It was just a passing phase. I had been so stressed at the thought of losing my mother that I had tried to find someone to take her place. It was all just a change of pace and soon my life would get back to normal. I scrambled to the top of the rock wall, snarling as I wished Corsica was there to see me.

I didn't want a wife or a family. I didn't even want a serious relationship. On the crest, I turned to the breeze and took a deep breath.

All I had ever wanted was freedom. First, it was to get away from my father and his volatile moods. Then, it was to crawl out from under my father's shadow and the oppression expectations of my inheritance. After that, I wanted to be my own man and not let anyone try to press me into the mold they thought I should fit.

If it was up to Corsica, I'd be dressed in linen sports coats and having brunch at a country club.

That thought fortified me, but it was lost when I got back to camp. Corsica had the fire stoked, the coffee made, and she was rolling up the tent.

"There you are," she smiled. "I'll make us some scrambled eggs."

The only response I had prepared was a ranting defense of where I had been and why I had left her alone. So, I grunted and nodded towards the stream. I sluiced off the sweat from my climb and came back to the campfire bare-chested just to annoy her. Corsica only licked her lips and smiled at me again.

My body erased all thoughts of freedom as all I could think about was getting closer to her.

"We should get going. I have to get back to my mother's encampment," I said.

Corsica took the eggs off the fire and looked up at me with a frown. "Why? Is everything all right?"

"These shoes are not going to work at all. I've got to get the design team my notes before they present it to the shareholders. We can't sell them like this."

I ripped open my pack and yanked on my dirty shirt from the day before. "So, you got lucky. Our camping trip is getting cut short."

"I don't think that's lucky. Do you really need to go back to call them?" Corsica dished out the eggs and stirred hers without eating them.

"I have to teleconference. I have to show them what's wrong with these pieces of garbage." I tossed the shoes into the bushes, despite the fact that they had performed great. Not that I had noticed; I was too busy mooning over Corsica like a moron.

I almost changed my mind a dozen times as we hiked back. Corsica kept her mood light, despite my grumblings. She pointed out other viable campsites and talked about coming back on another trip. In the early afternoon, she stopped in a sweet-smelling meadow and pointed out the grass was long enough to shade us.

"Are you sure you don't want to rest for a while," Corsica asked with a mischievous smile. "We could spread out a blanket here and no one would see us."

I shook my head and marched towards my mother's encampment as if a swarm of bees was behind me.

"Whoa, what are you doing back so soon?" The first person we saw when we arrived was my father. I almost didn't recognize him in wrinkled dress pants. His shirt was unbuttoned to his sternum and the sleeves rolled up.