Page 96 of Friend Zoned

“Fine, but you’re carrying the picnic basket.” I hold my pinky up and she wraps hers around it. “And I want a weekend at the Jersey Shore.”

When I roll my eyes, she pinches me, but I wrap my arms around her wrists. “The Jersey Shore? Really?”

“I love it there,” she says. “And I can get us a nice hotel room for free.”

“We’ll go, but no hotel room. I stay away from hotels as much as I can when I travel for fun. I’ll find us a house for the weekend, or we can just fly down to Miami.”

“We can do that too, but I love The Shore. We’re going.” She tries to sound stern.

“Fine, but those are short trips. How about a vacation?” I slide my hand up and down her back before I grab her hips and hold her in place. I can feel her wet pussy on my stomach, and my dick is starting to wake up even though it hasn’t been that long since I’ve been inside.

“Where? The Bahamas?” Her eyes widen, and she whispers, “Puerto Rico?” She rubs her hands together. “Maybe a cruise and we can hit up a bunch of different islands. Plus the food would be included.”

A cruise? With hundreds, if not thousands, of people. I cringe at the thought, but I keep that to myself. If she wants to get on a boat, we can charter a yacht.

“Uh-uh. I was thinking of someplace a little further away. Like Marrakesh.” Her mouth flies open, and she lets out a gasp.

“Morocco?” she whispers as if it’s a sordid secret.

“We can stay at La Mamounia Hotel just like inInventing Anna, only with a working credit card.” She stays still and stares at me. I can tell she’s stopped breathing. “We can go for a week and maybe go somewhere else for another week.” She doesn’t say a word. She just stares until I say, “You have any ideas?”

“Athens?” she says quickly. “Rome?”

“We’ll do both. If you want, we can charter a yacht, but no to the cruise ship. We can get our own chef.” Her hands fly to her mouth and she makes a loud croaking sound.

“Why are you being so dramatic right now?” I ask.

She holds both hands up. “Let me get this straight. You want to take me to Marrakesh and stay at one of the best hotels in the world. Then you want to go to RomeandAthens. With me? And charter a yacht? With our own private chef? Do I have that right?”

“Who else would I go with? Especially since I happen to love you.” She drops herself on top of me and peppers my face with kisses. “The only thing,” I say between kisses, “is that we have to be back in time to go to Chastain’s big church wedding in Alabama. It’s the third weekend of August.”

She makes a face, and I laugh. “Is this how the other half lives? You’re acting like this isn’t a big deal, Aid.” The kissing resumes.

“This is how you live now,” I tell her.

I flip us over and end up on top of her. Her legs spread open, and I slowly slide inside of her.

“What are you looking at?” I try to take the iPad from her, but she moves it away. I reach across and take her slice of cake.

“Hey! Don’t eat all of it. You didn’t share yours with me.” I cut off about half of it and shove it in my mouth before she can reach for the bowl. She grabs it and puts it away. “I was looking at airplane tickets to Morocco, and they are expensive. I’m talking about thousands of dollars just for coach. The tickets from Morocco to Athens are expensive too, but tickets to Miami, I can afford, so—”

I manage to take the iPad from her and toss it to the chair across the room. Everything in the room is new, including the bigger and sturdier bed.

“First off, no. Second, we’re not flying commercially.” I grab her hands and put them to my lips. “I have a confession to make, baby. I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve gotten on a commercial flight. I didn’t like it. You only fly private from now on. Deal with it.” I kiss her hands, and she stares at me, probably unsure if I’m serious or not. “You fly private when you’re not with me too. Just let Jimmy know and he’ll make all the arrangements. Full disclosure about Marrakesh. If we use the Walsh Group plane, there’s always a chance Katherine and Linc will be on the plane waiting for us.”

“Like Ethan Bradford’s plane?”

“Yup, or we can charter one if it’s not available.”

She raises both eyebrows and says, “Well, I won’t argue with that, but I want to do something for you.”

“You love me. That’s all I want.”

She climbs over me and hops out of the bed to retrieve the iPad. She waves it in the air.

“Why are you wearing clothes?” I ask. She’s in pajama pants and one of my Mischief tees. She climbs over me and straddles me. “That’s what I’m talking about.” I grab her hips.

“I’m going to order a picnic basket. What do you think of this one?” She shoves the iPad in my face.

---