‘Oh, no, there’s no need. We’re not going away after all.’
‘Miss Hepburn, Mr Carmichael called me twenty minutes ago and asked me to collect you and your bags and take you to the airport. So if you could just buzz me in?’
Twenty minutes ago? Zoey leant against the buzzer as she checked her phone. One message.
Zoey, get in the car. We need to talk. A
Well. She had no idea what was going on, but Ash was right about one thing. They definitely needed to talk.
‘Guess I’d better get changed then,’ she said.
Apparently adulting started today, after all.
* * *
Ash paced the main open-plan living space of the villa, from the wide glass bifold doors that led out to the sea and back to the floor-to-ceiling windows on the other side, looking out over the beach. And then he did it again. And again.
When would she get there?
At least he knew she was coming; he’d had confirmation of take-off and, having made it all the way out to the Indian Ocean, he couldn’t imagine her turning back again.
But she wasn’t there yet. Hence the pacing.
He’d known that if they’d flown out there together, they’d have argued. As much as he wanted to fix things, Ash knew himself well enough to know he needed time to think his way through everything rationally—and Zoey probably did too. So he’d taken a commercial flight out, and asked his father to arrange the charter for Zoey and their bags.
Which meant now he had to wait.
The villa was almost unrecognisable from the place they’d stayed that fateful night. The renovations had been completed at last, and the whole place was the pinnacle of the luxury travel experience Carmichael’s sought to provide. From the designer seating to the carefully selected palette of colours, everything screamed expensive—and, more importantly, the best.
Ash just hoped Zoey would understand what he was trying to do by bringing her here.
He wanted to start again. To give them a fresh chance to get this right. Whatever this turned out to be.
Ash knew what he wanted, what dreams kept him awake at night. But he also knew that the decision had to be Zoey’s. If she wanted to run still, he wouldn’t try to keep her.
But if there was a chance she really could want the same life together that he did...well, he had to take it.
As his pacing reached the glass doors again, he saw something in the distance, kicking up spray from the waves. A small motor boat, racing closer through the surf.
And there, right at the front, looking out towards him, was Zoey—her hair streaming back from her face, her sundress blown tight against her by the air current.
Ash opened the doors and headed out onto the jetty to greet her, his eyes greedily drinking in every sight of her, even as the boat bobbed closer.
Was that a small bump, shown off by the thin fabric of her sundress? He thought it might be, and the realisation filled him with a warmth and excitement he barely recognised.
He was going to be a father. Whatever else happened between them, whatever the future held, that much was still true.
And yes, he was terrified of it being torn away from him again—and, given Zoey’s history, he’d be an idiot not to acknowledge the flight risk.
But she’d said ‘I love you’ and he believed her.
Which was why he had to give this his best shot.
The motor boat slowed and docked alongside the jetty, the driver hopping out to tie it up securely. Ash stepped forward and offered Zoey his hand to help her off the boat. She looked at him for a moment before taking it, and he wished more than anything that he could read her mind right then.
‘You came,’ he said.
She gave him a funny half smile. ‘Seemed rude not to, really. Besides, I have a new rule. I came up with it on the plane. No more running away from things, however scary they are.’
Something tightened in Ash’s chest. ‘Good. Because I think we have a lot to talk about.’
* * *
It felt so strange, sitting inside such a high-end luxury villa—which was somehow also the shell of a building they’d spent the night in together.
‘How was your journey?’ Ash asked as he fussed around her—taking her bags, fetching her a drink of juice, finding more cushions for the sofa.