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"Why are you single?" she asked, raising her eyebrows.
"I was almost married," I said finally. I didn’t really want to talk about my failed engagement but she should know. "Things didn’t work out."
"I'm sorry," she said and gave me a sympathetic look.
"Plus, I saw a bad marriage close up with my adoptive parents. Now with my sister's marriage to that slimy bastard of an Eric being in question, I've decided that relationships are not my thing. I like to have fun, but I have no plans for anything long-term."
She looked at me for a moment and shook her head. "It's sad that you've given up on a meaningful relationship. I think they're what really makes people happy. Not money or fame. Close personal relationships."
"If they make people happy, I haven’t seen it." I shrugged, not wanting to get into a big debate about it. "Maybe someday. You say you’ve been focused on school? I’ve been focused on building my business. Now that our deal looks like it'll go through, I'm planning a year off so I can sail around the world."
"You sail?" Her eyes widened in interest.
"I do," I said and held up my watch. "There's a reason I wear this. I did some diving and spent a few summers on a yacht. I'm having a catamaran built and John and I plan to sail to the South Pacific with a couple of college buddies. Go to the Galapagos and see the iguanas. Sail to Australia and then to Cape Town, South Africa and back. We'll see."
"You and John?"
I nodded. "The cat's almost done. We'll sail through the Panama Canal, and then make the crossing. When I come back, I want to start something new. Maybe join the space race."
"Wow," she said and took in a deep breath. "That's amazing. How wonderful to be able to take a year off and just sail around the world. Do anything you want."
"Money is freedom. I know a lot of men who work 12 hour days six days a week and have no life. They have big fancy apartments on Fifth Avenue but spend no time there or with their wives and children. They live at the office. I don't want that. I want a life and I want work to be part of that life. My dad died so young and never got to do what he really wanted, which was to sail around the world."
"That's sad," Alexa said. "My dad got to fly planes all his life. He loves it. He always told me that I should find my passion and pursue that and never settle for less. That I would eventually make a living doing it."
"So, your passion is politics?"
She nodded. "I want to get my PhD and teach somewhere in Europe. Maybe do some work for the UN. Who can say? Definitely in Europe, though."
"Not good old USA?"
"No." Then she laughed. "I was conceived in Alexandria and I think I have wanderlust. I want to go back there, and live outside of the US if I can. Life's too short not to go after what you want."
"I agree." I watched her face as she talked some more about her father and how he lived his dream, flying planes in the military. She was animated and really seemed passionate about what she was doing, envisioning a future teaching at a university somewhere in Europe or doing international relations.
I liked this woman. She wasn't your ordinary run-of-the-mill girl I would meet at a club dancing on Saturday night. She seemed smart and centered, despite doing something as crazy as agreeing to go out with me and masquerading as an escort.
I realized she did it first on a dare, never intending to follow through, but then when I had pleaded and begged, seemingly desperate, she agreed out of sympathy. She was the kind of woman that I would want to become involved with – if I was that kind of man.
But I wasn't.
Not anymore, at least. I had plans and they didn't include a woman – other than as a fuck buddy. Not for the next few years, at least, if ever.
Women, yes. I had my needs as much as any other red-blooded American guy. I liked sex, but with no strings.
Alexa was the type of woman men wanted to have to themselves. I could see that by the way other men at the club watched her when we were dancing and how they glanced her way now. She was beautiful. Voluptuous with a body that just wouldn't stop with all its curves.
"So, you want to be like all the other billionaires and go to Mars?"
I laughed. "Something like that. I want to do things with my money that will live after I'm gone. Chatter was just a way to make money. Mars? That's something real. It's the new frontier. The only thing big enough to satisfy me is a mission to Mars. Everything else will get swallowed up in history."
She rested her chin on a hand. "So, would you go?"
"To Mars?"
She nodded. "It would be a one-way trip, if I remember what I read about it."
"I'd go in a heartbeat."
