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"Of course it belongs to you. Why am I not surprised?"
"You’re going to marry one of the richest and most powerful men on the continent," I remind her.
She locks her fingers together in her lap, the skin across her knuckles stretching white.
"Hey..." I place my hand over her joined-up ones. Her fingers are ice-cold. "You don’t have to be nervous about anything. I promise, everything is going to be okay."
She chuckles. "Only a billionaire who’s insulated from the day-to-day happenings on social media would say that."
"It’s a choice, LadyBird. Either I spend all my time obsessing over what others think about me, or I can focus on what I want and let the others eat dust in my wake."
She hunches her shoulders. "You sound like Zara, and why LadyBird?"
"Listen to her then, if not me. And LadyBird because you’re cute and always just out of my reach. Also, how can I alleviate your nervousness about this situation?"
She chuckles, then shoots me a sideways glance. "You could always kiss me again."
My pulse rate instantly shoots sky high. My blood pumps through my veins.
We hold each other’s gazes, and the air turns electric. My cock stiffens. I lean in toward her, and she clears her throat.
"Forget I said that. I don’t know what comes over me when we’re in close proximity. You short circuit all of my brain cells. And now, I’m shooting my mouth off like a complete nincompoop. Gah!" She squeezes her eyes shut. "I’m tired of making a fool of myself in front of you. Tired of stressing about what the reaction is going to be when we get married, tired of… being tired." She hunches her shoulders and lowers her chin to her chest. "What I wouldn’t give for one evening where I don’t have to think about the future. I just want to let go of my worries for a little while, you know?"
I take in the downturned curve of her lips, the dark circles under her eyes, the hollows under her cheekbones. My heart does a strange leap in my chest. My stomach muscles tie themselves up in knots. Of course, I knew she was stressed but I hadn’t noticed the toll it was taking on her. And I’m the cause of it. I push that thought away. This is the only way forward for both of us. Doesn’t mean we can’t live in the here and now and enjoy ourselves while we’re at it. It’s why I’ve worked so hard all my life, for Chrissakes.
I lean in close and place my mouth next to her ear. "Your wish is my command."
* * *
She insisted on taking the room down the corridor from mine. I didn’t push it. She needs her space for the moment, needs to sort things out in her head, and I understand that. For now.
I also told her to freshen up and meet me downstairs. My team deposited our bags in our rooms, and I changed into my work-out clothes and headed out for a run. Now, I jog up the beach that runs around the villa. My feet sink into the wet sand. The wind brushes my hair. The afternoon sun rays warm my skin. My pulse settles a little. An eagle circles lazily in the sky, riding the air current. I follow the bird’s trajectory, watch as it swoops down to hunt its prey, then rises in the air again with a fish caught in its beak. I thought I was the hunter in this relationship, but damn, if the net doesn’t seem to be closing around me instead.
I continue running when my cellphone vibrates. I pull it out and swipe; Hunter’s face fills the screen.
"Missing me already?" I smirk.
"Like I miss having my prostrate examined."
"Ouch." I decrease my speed. "What’s up?"
"A few of us were wondering where you’d vanished to."
"Just needed to get away before the big day."
"This have anything to do with the video that went up yesterday?"
"You saw it then?"
"Me, and three million others."
"Three million?" I come to a stop. Not that it matters to me, but it’s probably going to send Isla into a tizzy.
"In short, you two have gone viral. So, wherever you’ve escaped to, you may want to stay there until this blows over."
"It’s going to get worse—"
"With the wedding, yes." He narrows his gaze. "The attention is good for your impending IPO, even though it’s not the same bride you started out to marry. Still everyone loves a good wedding. The only way to trump that is if or when you announce the imminent birth of your heir."
