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“I guess it’s bigger than I gave it credit for,” I admitted.
Pierce nodded. “That’s all any guy wants to hear.”
“Something tells me most men aren’t self-conscious about the size of their yacht.”
“I can’t believe you would accuse me of such a thing.” Pierce clicked his tongue at me. “On an unrelated note, did you know the Bellerophon is two feet longer than Mark Zuckerberg’s yacht?”
“Definitely not a competition,” I muttered.
It was a wonderful eighteen days at sea. We ate, drank, relaxed, and had incredible sex. With the three of them coming inside me multiple times per day, I decided that I was definitely going to get pregnant this time around. If I put positive vibes out in the universe, I would be rewarded.
And if not, then all this sex was reward enough.
Carly texted me on the third day of the journey to apologize for blowing things out of proportion. On the fifth day, she excitedly described a toucan that had perched on the terrace while they drank coffee one morning. By the time they flew home on day twelve, Carly was back to treating me like nothing was wrong.
I called my mom every day. Now she was complaining about how we hadn’t invited her and Dad down to the island before it was converted into a research facility. I told her that we would make it up to them with another trip around the world somewhere.
“Anywhere but Thailand,” she replied instantly. “I saw a report on Dateline about the food they eat. I want to go to Italy, or France.”
“I’ll see what I can do,” I promised.
It was almost a shame to eventually reach Rhode Island. When we arrived, I packed up my things and carried them up to the helicopter pad.
“Are you sure you don’t want to stay here?” Pierce asked. “It’s going to take months for me to settle all my assets, and I’m keeping the Bellerophon here in New England as a base of operations.”
“Tempting, but I need my own space without any distractions. Besides, moving in with you is a big commitment.”
“So you’ll have my baby and commit to raising a family together,” Pierce said, “but moving in is a step too far?”
“We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. In the meantime, I have a lot of work to do setting up my business. We’ll still see each other almost every day. It takes twenty minutes to get to my place.”
“Yeah, but it’s a whole big thing. We have to land the helicopter at the pad north of the docks, then take a car to your place. It’d be a lot easier if you moved into an apartment with a helicopter pad on the roof.”
“I don’t think they have any of those in Providence,” I said dryly.
He wrapped his arms around me. “Then I’ll build you one. Offices on the first ten floors, and luxury apartments on the top.”
“You want to go into commercial real estate now?” I asked, raising an eyebrow. “What happened to putting business aside and starting a family?”
“You make me want to try all sorts of new things. Besides, I need a pet project. I’m bored, Melinda.”
“Focus on liquidating your estate. Then we can find hobbies for you. Maybe we could join a co-ed soccer league. I was supposed to join one this year, but dropped out after signing your contract.”
He brushed back a lock of my hair. “I’d like that.”
I said my goodbyes to Pierce, then Andrew and Tristan. The flight into Providence was quick, as was the short drive after that to my apartment. It was just as empty as it seemed the last time I came here, but I didn’t mind. I didn’t feel alone this time.
The next few weeks were busy from start to finish. After months of screwing around—literally—on the Bellerophon, it actually felt good to put my head down and work. I finished my business proposal with the help of Tristan, then went to banks to get a small business loan. Of course, I could have borrowed the money from Pierce, but that still felt like cheating.
He did help me get a competitive interest rate, though.
There were a million little tasks that needed doing: renting server space from Amazon Web Services, submitting the forms for my LLC, applying for business licenses in Rhode Island and Massachusetts. It was easy because it was the kind of work I had already done at New England Digital Marketing. And it was even more satisfying than before since I knew it was my own company this time.
I did see my three men frequently enough to keep us all satisfied. Sometimes they visited me at my apartment, individually and together, and other times I flew out to the Bellerophon. It was like having a real relationship, alternating whose place we stayed at. It felt silly to do that after we had already spent months essentially living together, but it was a nice way to ground my relationship with them. And it gave me enough independence to keep me satisfied.
Pierce continued selling off his assets and donating to charities. He made a sizable donation to Dartmouth, which would be spent on a new building with his name on it. That kept him in the media’s spotlight for a little while, but soon they did grow bored of him. Each contribution merited a news article or two, but it wasn’t the kind of juicy reporting that meant reporters would follow him around everywhere he went. And on my side of things, I hadn’t seen any reporters or paparazzi since my first week back in Providence.
The world went on without us. Which was just fine by me.
