Page 252 of Daddy, Take Me Away
“Fine, them too.”
She laughs and I shake my head, smiling wide. “Get in the helicopter,” I say, holding open the door. And then just for fun, I buckle her in like a control-freak billionaire.
Taking a quick photo of her smiling face, haloed by the headset, I start the chopper.
Her excitement is palpable as I give her a tour of the island and its beautiful mountains, rivers, and coastline.
When we’re over the ocean, I point out a superpod of dolphins and a small group of pilot whales. She points out the shadows of several great hammerheads less than a hundred meters from the shore.
She looks at me wide-eyed and I put my hand on her knee, giving it a squeeze.
“Want to see our cliff?”
“Our cliff?”
I nod. “Yeah, I’m changing the name next week. Zomadeo’s Cliff.”
She rolls her eyes, but her smile is wide. I swing the chopper around and she points, wiggling in her seat.
“Is that it?”
“It is.”
She makes a gesture of wiping her brow. “No sharks.”
I point. “And that’s our beach.”
She frowns now. “Why are there people on it?”
“Because your great-grandmother likes to wear a thong and some of my guests are prudish assholes.”
She looks closer. “That’s my Gran-Gran!” I glance down where she’s pointing, but quickly avert my eyes. Yup, that’s her great-grandmother, topless on a lounger someone must have dragged over there for her.
“It is. Too bad she’s hanging out with some of those land sharks.”
With a mischievous glint in her eye, she replies, “If only we had some water balloons in here.”
“Speaking of your Gran. I’m going to be staying off-site while she’s here.”
“Did she proposition you? I swear she doesn’t mean it. She’s just feisty.” She chews her lip, a smirk playing at the corner of her lips.
“Other than to grab my ass in front of one of the other guests she thinks is hot, no. But I gave her my villa as part of our deal. She keeps all of her ‘fabulous’ appropriately covered at the resort pool and she has the run of my villa and private beach.”
“Good plan.” She suddenly seems quiet, so I squeeze her knee again.
“What’s wrong?”
She turns in her seat, as much as it allows and bites her lip. “You didn’t want to stay with me?”
Now I swallow.
“It’s okay. I know you’re just my vacation Daddy.” Her eyes shift to the ocean beneath us. “I just got out of a relationship and you’re still dealing with your ex. It’s not like I’m proposing to you.”
She glances at me shyly, before looking at an inlet near the island harbor where hundreds of people dot the piers and sandy beach.
“You’ll get no entanglements from me.”
I should feel relief with her statement, only I don’t. And suddenly swimming with those hammerheads we saw seems less dangerous than thinking about why I don’t.
