Page 147 of Locked in Wonderland

“Your stuff is still here.”

I grimaced. “I know.”

“I packed it all up. I just don’t know what to do with it now. I can keep the personal stuff for you, but everything else is kind of in the way.”

“Sell it,” I said. “Give it away. Do whatever you want with it.”

Hannah laughed. “Oh, how things change when your boyfriend is loaded.”

I wasn’t about to deny it. Nico’s assurances that he wouldn’t run out of money had turned out to be a massive understatement. He had millions stashed away, which made something of a mockery of his claim that he’d never intended to leave Wonderland. “You can bring my personal stuff when you come and visit.”

Hannah snorted. “Right. You never stay in one place long enough. Besides, I couldn’t afford it.”

“I’ll have you know we’ve been here for a couple of weeks, and we’re planning to stay at least a few more days. Besides, I can send you a first-class ticket.”

“And how would your boyfriend feel about you having a visitor?”

That was an interesting question. I went back to ogling Nico while I considered it. “Fine,” I said eventually. “As long as you don’t want to fuck me.”

Hannah made a retching sound. “I’d rather become a nun.”

I turned as Nico’s phone started ringing somewhere inside the hut. “One minute,” I said to her. “Nico! Your phone.”

He turned, treating me to a full-frontal view as he strode back toward the shore. When he walked past, I reached out and trailed my fingers down his tanned, muscular thigh, seawater cool against my fingertips.

Hannah and I chatted for a few more minutes, though I only gave her half my attention. The rest stayed fixed on the muted conversation taking place inside the hut. I couldn’t make out the words, but something in Nico’s tone told me it was a conversation that carried some weight.

He was already hanging up when I ended the call with Hannah and stepped inside. “Problem?” I asked.

“Get dressed,” he said. “We’re going for dinner.”

Nico did dinner the way he did everything else: in style. I’d be lying if I said it had taken long to get used to the finer things in life. I raised my champagne glass, refusing to lower it until Nico finally sighed and mirrored the gesture.

“What are we toasting?” he asked.

“Here’s to Wonderland…” I said.

His brows drew together, and I held up a hand before he could interrupt.

“Wait. The worst time of my life—and also the best.”

“The best?”

“And, of course,” I narrated to an invisible audience, “he’s going to make me say it.”

He tilted his head and waited.

I sighed, but said it anyway. “The best because I wouldn’t have met you if I hadn’t gone there.”

“Not quite true,” he said. “We met before that.”

I rolled my eyes. “Ah, yes. The warning, where you were all dark, brooding, and mysterious. You should’ve grown a mustache so you could twirl it menacingly.” I leaned forward, curiosity getting the better of me, when we rarely talked about anything to do with Wonderland. “Did you really think I’d listen? Be honest.”

Nico took a sip of his champagne. “I thought you might.” Before I could scoff, he added. “I didn’t know you then.”

“Anyway,” I said, “it doesn’t change the fact that if I hadn’t stumbled into that pit of vipers like a complete moron, we’d never have seen each other again. So my point still stands.”

Nico laughed. “Do you really believe that? Do you honestly think I wouldn’t have found a way for our paths to cross?”