Page 119 of Bottles & Blades

Probably.

But she’s sad about me leaving.

I like that.

“I’m flying out in two hours.”

“Oh.”

More disappointment. More of me enjoying it.

But only for a couple of seconds. Then I shove aside my inner asshole and turn to her. “You know,” I say softly. “You could always come with me.”

She has a passport—I know because she told me that she has one, when we shared secrets and hopes and dreams and I first learned she wanted to travel.

She also has a ticket—or rather, a seat on my jet. SomethingIknow because I had Marie arrange it.

“I—” She blinks. Once. Twice. “I mean, I feel like this is the point I would normally be saying no, I couldn’t possibly, but…maybe…” She nibbles at her bottom lip. “I don’t have a ticket or a place to stay?—”

“I’m taking the company jet,” I tell her. “You don’t need a ticket. And we can stay in my apartment in Paris.”

“Paris?” she says softly, her tone dreamy.

“Paris,” I confirm.

“I have homework and my parents?—”

“Bring the homework,” I tell her. “Work on it while I’m working.”

“But my parents,” she says. “I couldn’t?—”

“Haley has them covered,” I remind her. “And if anything she can’t take care of comes up in the next couple of days, the jet can be ready in a couple of hours to bring you home.”

“You realize how ridiculous that sounds, right?”

“Maybe.” I touch her cheek. “But you don’t have school Monday and you told me that Stefan and Brit don’t need you till Wednesday. How often do you string together this many free daysanda free trip to Paris on top of them?”

“Um...never?”

“Exactly.” I nod toward her dresser. “So…wanna pack a bag?”

She nibbles on her bottom lip.

Then she smiles and it’s so fucking beautiful, it takes my breath away.

“Squee!” It’s an adorable sound.

And it’s paired with an even more adorable dance before she dashes over to her dresser and starts pulling out clothes.

“I’m going to Paris! I’m going to Paris!”

“You do realizethat you’ve ruined me for all normal travel experiences now, don’t you?”

I smirk as I nudge the door closed, shutting us in the back of the plane.

Early on in my building business days, I traveled so much that I had this space retrofitted into a bedroom. Now, I do less of the heavy-duty traveling, leaving that to the team I’ve built below me, but having an actual bed to sleep in while flying around the world is a perk that I’m not willing to give up.

And it’s an even bigger perk now, cruising at thirty-thousand feet, holding my woman’s hand as I draw her toward the bathroom.

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