Total pages in book: 51
Estimated words: 48412 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 242(@200wpm)___ 194(@250wpm)___ 161(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 48412 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 242(@200wpm)___ 194(@250wpm)___ 161(@300wpm)
“Angel,” he breathes down the line. “Where are you? I’m going crazy.”
My heart turns over. “I’m sorry, I know I’m late. I got held up.”
“Please tell me you’re still coming.”
“I am. I just need…” Please let my plan work. “Twenty minutes or so.”
“Twenty?” He drags a handful of fingers through his hair. “Can I come get you? Or send my driver? It’s getting too dark to ride your bike.”
“I’m fine, I promise. I’ll be there soon.”
I hang up and rush into the darkness, taking the stairs up to the resort two at a time. Relief assails me when I reach the boutique just before it closes, skidding inside and imploring my friend Amy to give me the Cinderella treatment.
“Is this about a boy?” she asks with a knowing smirk.
“Yes,” I admit, chewing my lip. “I need to look like I belong on a yacht.”
“Oh, honey.” She spreads her arms open to indicate the myriad of racks laden with designer brands. “That’s what we specialize in.”
Fifteen minutes later, after promising Amy that I’ll reattach the three-thousand-dollar price tag tomorrow, I speed walk through the lobby of the resort, where—thankfully—no one recognizes me, and make my way back down to the docks, my backpack dangling from my fingers.
I exercise caution when crossing the uneven planks of the dock because, this time, I’m wearing a pair of black Louboutin heels that customers in the boutique use to try on clothes. I was assured they pair perfectly with the smoky mauve corset dress I’m wearing. While I was zipping up the mini dress, Amy applied a lip stain to my mouth and pinned back some of my hair with a clip. I barely got a chance to look in the mirror before I left the shop, but what I saw looked good…I think.
Enough not to stand out like a sore thumb?
Tripp is still leaning on the edge of the yacht in the same place I left him, but he sees me now and straightens slowly, his jaw unhinging.
“Vida?”
“Hey,” I call up to him, suddenly self-conscious. “Do you have room for one more?”
He points at me. “Do not move. I’m coming down there to get you.”
“I know how to board a ship,” I laugh.
“We’re walking in together. I need everyone to know you’re with me. Don’t move.” He disappears from view while I stand grinning on the dock, appearing seconds later on the lowered walkway leading onto the yacht. And my goodness, in a loose pair of stone-colored chinos, a loose black button-down, and windblown hair, he’s the sexiest man alive. It’s no contest. “What are you doing to me in that dress?”
“You…like it?”
Hot eyes slide down the front of me, lingering on my legs, then breasts. “Words don’t fail me very often, but they’re failing me right now. You’re…resplendent.”
“Wow.” I duck my head to hide a blush. “Putting that Ivy League education to good use.”
He flashes a quick grin, but it dims in degrees as he reaches out to me, tracing the curve of my cheek with his index finger. “You know, you could have worn jeans and a T-shirt and you would have been perfect. You didn’t have to dress up.”
His sincerity makes the backs of my eyes sting a little.
“It’s going to be hard enough to make them accept me, even for the night. There’s no use making it harder. And…” I exhale some of my building nerves that are pinging around now that the time has arrived to attend the party. No more stalling. And no more pretending that this man isn’t becoming more important to me by the hour. “I guess I wanted you to be proud you invited me. Proud…of me.”
A lump slides up and down in Tripp’s throat. “You’re not going to worry about that ever again after tonight.” I’m skeptical, but I let him take my backpack and hold my hand out to him anyway, letting him guide me to the entrance of the boat. He doesn’t take his eyes off me the whole way, bringing my hand to his mouth and laying kisses on my knuckles, my fingers. “Will you stay here with me tonight?”
“On the boat?”
He nods. “We have eight bedrooms to choose from. It’ll just be us. And the staff.”
I brace myself to reveal the decision I made tonight while I was biking to the resort.
Tonight, I’m going to give myself to Tripp. I’m going to make him my first.
The realistic part of me knows he’s going to leave and break my heart at the end of the week, but I can’t act like something magical isn’t happening between us. I want our moments together to be special, even if the memories hurt later.
“If the staff is going to be here, then…maybe we should pick the bedroom with the most soundproof walls.”
Tripp stops walking. He turns toward me and nudges up my chin, scrutinizing me closely, hope and need clashing in his blue eyes.