Page 80 of Little Fury

“Seems reasonable,” I reply.

Thomas shakes Marcus’s hand, kisses me on the cheek, collects his men, and heads out.

“So that's what hearts in the eyes look like,”Caden muses.

“Haha. You're funny, Caden,”all the guys laugh at my expense.“Don’t you assholes have a fucking plane to catch?”

“Yes, Little Fury, we do,”Sebastian says.“All right, guys, lets go. The car is here to take us to the airport.”

We say goodbye, and the boys leave me and Marcus.

“Well, Ava, I think we should head to the hotel. My palmis itching to teach my woman a lesson about openly flirting with an older man in front of me.”

I look up at him and smile back at his smile. I reach up on my tiptoes and kiss him.“I will gladly accept my punishment.”

PRESENT

I’m so lost in my thoughts that I almost miss my turn-off. Thankfully, my navigation is set and I see the airport up ahead. It's small, used mostly for planes bringing in fishermen who takes boats from here to many of the surrounding islands.

I see the hanger Ben told me to go to, and drive right over, marveling at the lack of security. I pull into the hangar and see my plane, and I notice Matt standing, talking to the pilot. He looks in my direction as I pull in and park my truck beside his Charger. Once in park, I let my head fall back and breathe. One flight and a two-hour drive, and I’ll be able to collapse.

Matt opens my door and looks me over.“I’m fine, Matt. I need food, some painkillers and sleep.”His grumpy ass glares at me, then takes my hand and helps me out.

“Ava?”I hear Caden from behind Matt.

“I’m okay. I’m just exhausted.”Caden takes my hand and leads me to the plane. He helps me up the stairs and into a seat. Then brings me pills and a drink along with some snacks.“I love you, Caden. You always feed me, and it's like the best thing ever.”

“You’re welcome, Ava. Please eat and drink the sports drink as well. We will be taking off right away.”

“I didn’t see Ben.”

“He’s here loading his computer equipment, and you know he won’t let anyone else do it.”

I let out a little chuckle at that.“Ben needs to learn to relax more.”

“I think we all do.”

“Caden. You can stay. You don't have to come with me. None of you do. I’ll give you all the money you need to disappear.”

“Ava, my place is with you and those other two assholes. And look at it this way, Costa Rica will force us all to slow the fuck down.”

“Ha! I hope so. You and Matt should make babies.”He gives me a look, and I realize how that sounded.“I mean, find someone who makes you happy, settle down, and make some babies. Or, even, hey–settle down with Matt and adopt some babies. I would seriously love being an aunt to the babies you guys got.”

“Ava, honey, I’m going to just back away now. You should recline and get comfy and get ready to sleep.”I hear him chuckle as he heads out into the hangar.

“Whatever, he knows what I meant. But Matt and Caden would have cute babies if it worked like that.”

“Talking to yourself, boss lady?”

“Always, Ben, I have the best advice and stories.”I deadpan.

He gives me a huge smile, that dimple still there. He hasgrown into his height and looks, that's for sure. Ben has never had issues with the ladies. None of the guys do. Even older now, Matt is still a freaking smoke show, and that guy pulls men and women of any age. It's pretty impressive to watch. Caden is still Caden. He doesn’t do random hookups and never has. He dated a few women over the last five years, but once he decided to stay in my employ, he would never bring someone into this life. I hope he doesn’t stick with that promise; that man needs someone to come home to.

Matt and Caden enter the plane, as does Gus, the pilot.“Hey, Ava, we are ready to take off. It should take us about eight hours to get to Costa Rica.”

“Thanks, Gus.”

The guys find seats. Matt sits beside me while Caden goes into the cockpit with Gus. Ben sits further back so he has a table to set up his laptop.

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