Page 54 of The Billionaire Offer
“That’s a great idea,” I said. “There are still some people I want to pick up souvenirs for. Leah asked for a silver guitar charm for her bracelet and Shawn wants a T-shirt and some other stuff.”
He chuckled. “I’ve already got him a few things, but they’re mostly novelty gifts. I suppose we should get him something authentic as well.”
I sighed as we walked out the front doors of the hotel, my heart clenching as I took in the sights, the sounds, and even the heat that smacked me in the face as soon as we left the air-conditioning. “Do you think we can come back here someday? I think I’ve fallen in love with this country. I never want to leave.”
“I’d really like that,” he replied as he laced our fingers together. “I feel the same way. It’s been an unforgettable visit. If I’ve got any say in it, this place will definitely be seeing me again.”
“We said the same thing about Iceland, though. At this rate, we’ll just keep circling back to all the same places for the rest of our lives and never work again.”
“That sounds like a plan to me,” he joked. “After Hawaii, let’s just go back to Reykjavik and start all over again.”
“I wish,” I said wistfully. “Real life awaits, unfortunately. Let’s make a pact, though. As soon as I can afford it, we’ll come back here together.”
Something shuttered in his gaze when I mentioned the money, like some of the light behind those greens just extinguished. When he blinked, though, it was back and I thought I might’ve imagined it.
He grinned as he held up his free hand and extended his pinkie finger. “I swear we’ll come back here together some day.”
“A pinkie swear?” I laughed. “Oooh, this just got serious. I’m adding to it that we’ll also see the Northern Lights together again. That was where all this started, after all. We can’t just forget about it.”
“Definitely not,” he agreed, then smiled and waved at Arun when he came up the stairs to greet us with a big grin on his face. “Arun, my friend. How are you?”
“I am well. You had a good time in Egypt?”
We both nodded enthusiastically, and Bart shook his hand while I gave him a quick hug. He motioned toward the sidewalk in front of the hotel. “Today, we walk. Is that correct? Jimmy has the car available for us, if you prefer.”
“No, we’d like to walk,” Bart said. “If we get too hot or tired, we can always grab a cab. For now, we just wanted to spend our last day soaking it all in from the streets.”
“Excellent choice.” He grinned and slid his hands into his pockets as he led us back down the stairs and walked beside us. “I see you only have one backpack with you today. That was a good decision, but we must not get complacent. Tourists are prime targets for pickpocketing.”
“We thought it’d be easier to be on our guard for that if we only brought the one bag,” Bart said conversationally. “Thanks for the warning. We’ll be on the lookout.”
“There is a silver shop around the corner. Would you like to visit? Beautiful trinkets. Egyptian silver is the best.”
Bart glanced at me and nodded. “Yes, we’d love that. Serenity was just saying that she needs to buy something for a friend.”
We held hands as we walked down the street, Bart and Arun chatting about our experiences in the other places we’d visited between the trips to Cairo. I kept up with the conversation for a while, but then I got lost in my own head.
These days, it seemed that the wordsI love youwere on the tip of my tongue all the time, but I held off on saying it now for the same reason that I hadn’t said it so far. It felt like one of our tour guides was always right there, and at night, we seemed to get sidetracked before I managed to muster the courage to admit it.
I didn’t just want to blurt it out while we were having sex or after. If I did, he’d probably just think that I’d gotten caught up in the moment, and since that wasn’t true, I’d been waiting for a time when the confession couldn’t be blamed on the heat of the moment.
“I dare you to try that,” Bart said, his voice interrupting my thoughts. As I blinked myself out of my head, I realized he was pointing at a street-food stall. “Arun says it’s a sweet pastry. It sounds good.”
“I’ll try it if you try it,” I countered, surveying the tray of pastries under a plastic cover that’d been damaged by the sun. “They don’t have meat in them, though, right? I’d hate to spend our last night here hanging over a toilet.”
Arun chuckled. “No, there is no meat. This is good. This place is clean. See, no flies.”
At first, my eyes widened. “I hadn’t even thought about that.”
As Bart stepped forward and pointed at the pastries, asking for three by raising his fingers, I relaxed. Arun was right. At least there were no flies around the stall. I took the pastry from Bart after he paid the vendor, biting into the gooey, delicious center as a fruity taste filled my mouth. As promised, the pastry was surprisingly good, and we each got another one before we kept walking.
We visited the silver shop Arun had told us about, and the men wandered off while I picked out a charm for Leah. I’d sold some songs while we’d been here, and although I was by no means rich, I could afford to buy a few small gifts. I also selected a bracelet for my mom and a delicate silver chain for Shawn.
With my budget for gifts pretty much blown on those purchases, I paid and wondered where Bart and Arun had gone. Just as I started looking around the relatively big shop, they walked out from around the corner, heads bent together as they talked about something.
“Neither of you bought anything?” I asked, giving Bart a pointed look. “I thought Jeremiah and Tanner both put in orders for their women.”
He chuckled. “I’ve got them in the backpack. I didn’t forget, don’t worry. I just don’t really want anyone to see us leaving here with purchases in our hands. Pickpocketing and all. Want to give me those?”
