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I felt an overwhelming bubble of happiness and hope fill me. I hugged him tightly. “I don’t want to let go,” I whispered.
“Then don’t.”
He took my hand, and we walked back to the crowd. I was walking on air still disbelieving it all worked out. I still had my doubts that he would want this kind of lifestyle, but I planned on persuading any doubt he might have had in his mind. I slid my arm around his waist and fell into a pattern of walking together with him in the sand.
He leaned in and whispered, “Do you want to get out of here?”
I nodded and smiled up at him. I spotted Mia, who was grinning when she saw us. She raised her drink up to me, and I mouthed a thank you. I pointed to the parking lot to let her know I was leaving, and she swished her hands in that direction.
I smiled and let Devlin lead me off the beach to his motorcycle. He handed me his passenger helmet, and I put it on, buckling it under my chin. He helped me up onto the back of his bike and straddled the seat in front of me. I wrapped my arms around him and felt the vibration of the motor when he started it. We drove away from the beach and out of the parking lot. I threw my hands up into the air and let the wind surround me. I had never felt so free, so happy.
We followed the winding road until he pulled into a neighborhood with obvious money. The houses we passed were luxuriously gorgeous, and I enjoyed the scenery. I wondered what it would be like to not have to worry about money. When we slowed and pulled into a long driveway leading up to one of those luxury homes I gasped.
“Where are we?” I yelled.
He turned his head to me. “This is my place.”
“You live here?”
He nodded and pulled up to the front steps. He shut the bike off and helped me off the back. I looked up at the white brick walls as he unfastened my helmet and pulled it off my head.
“Come on,” he said, taking my hand.
We climbed up five marble stairs, and he punched a code into a keypad that opened the large wooden front door.
“After you,” he said.
I walked inside, my eyes open wide. Everything was stark white and sparkling clean. Green plants broke up the white with splashes of color in every corner. Each wall featured large windows overlooking the beach we were just at.
“Devlin,” I gasped. “This place—”
“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?”
“I thought you said you didn’t stick around in one place for long?”
“I don’t.”
“Then how do you live here?”
“I have the means to live fairly well.”
“Fairly well?” I scoffed. “Look at this place. Do you own it?”
“No, I’m just renting.”
“I can only imagine the cost of rent for a place like this.” I walked through the house, enjoying the view from the windows.
“It’s ridiculous, trust me. Highway robbery.”
“I had no idea.”
“What? That I had money?”
I felt guilt for being judgmental, and I didn’t like it.
“It’s okay. I don’t flaunt it and I know how you feel about me without my money,” Devlin reasoned.
I smiled when he walked up to me and put his arms around me. “It’s beautiful,” I said.
“You’re beautiful.”
My cheeks felt the heat of his compliment but dissipated when his lips touched mine.
I felt like I was living a dream. I still wasn’t completely convinced he was going to stay by my side, but I chose to take it one moment at a time.
He led me up a flight of stairs and out onto a balcony. A large pool stretched out into the open air past the balcony, and the walls of it were made of glass giving the appearance that the water was suspended in mid-air. I looked down through the water and saw the trees on the grounds below.
“This is incredible.”
“Do you want to take a swim with me?”
“I’d love to.”
We walked to the side of the pool, and he turned me to him. He lifted the cover-up I still wore and laid it across the back of a poolside lounge chair. He took my hands and lifted my arms out on either side, his eyes cascading down my body. He shook his head and smiled. “You are gorgeous.”
“Yeah, for now. Just wait a few months. I’ll be bigger than this house.”
“And just as beautiful, if not more so.”
He kissed my nose, his hands feeding around to the back of my neck. His lips pressed into mine and he deepened the kiss, inhaling as he did. He knew how to enrapture me. My stomach tingled with the anticipation of him so close to me. His kiss intensified before he broke away and plunged into the pool. The ripples he made moved through the water, causing the trees below to move like the wind was flowing through them. I was mesmerized until I felt the cool water splash on me. I looked down and saw Devlin standing there with a smile. He threw more water at me until I walked up to the side of the deep end and dove in. I kept my eyes open, getting the full effect of what it was like to swim in a glass box. I looked through the walls and saw the ocean and down at the trees below me. I popped up out of the water and shook my head. “This is so amazing.”
