Page 146 of Locked in Wonderland

“I think I can live with that.”

“You’ll have to.”

I laughed when he said nothing more. “Is that everything?”

“For now.”

I nodded, a feeling of peace stealing over me. “I would say that I’d go home and pack the rest of my things, but I’m not sure I can trust you to stay where I left you.”

“We’ll buy you more things,” Nico said with a gleam in his eye.

“So… Denmark, hey?”

“Denmark,” Nico agreed.

“And after Denmark?”

He shrugged.

“How about somewhere hot?” I suggested. “Somewhere like The Maldives. Just the two of us in a beach hut.”

He considered it for a moment. “That,” he said at last, “can probably be arranged.”

Epilogue

Three months later

My phone started ringing just as Nico stepped out of his trunks and strode into the impossibly blue sea. I let it ring for a few seconds while I admired him. Three months together hadn’t made the sight of his naked body any less alluring. If anything, I’d only grown more addicted to it.

He glanced back over his shoulder, his expression knowing. “Your phone’s ringing.”

I scooped it off the towel and answered at the last second without bothering to check who was calling.

“So I guess you weren’t kidding when you said you weren’t coming home?” Hannah said instead of offering a greeting.

I looked around. White sand. Palm trees. A cloudless blue sky. Warm water lapping at the shore. A few feet to my left sat a luxurious private beach hut equipped with everything we could ever need. It was the Caribbean rather than the Maldives, but I certainly wasn’t complaining.

“I wasn’t kidding.”

“Not ever?” There was a hint of sadness in Hannah’s voice.

“I doubt it.”

She sighed. “If only I could meet my Prince Charming, but they seem in short supply at the hospital.”

“I wouldn’t describe Nico as Prince Charming. More like the Prince of Darkness. I basically went to Hell and ended up with Lucifer.” I couldn’t really blame Hannah for the silence that followed. “I’m joking.”

“Are you?”

“Mostly,” I admitted.

“Just reassure me that he treats you well.”

“He does.” I decided not to add that most of the treating well happened outside the bedroom. Unless she’d become surprisingly open-minded about kinky sex, I doubted she’d understand.

She sighed again. “I wasn’t sure it would last.”

“Neither was I,” I admitted. “But here we are.”