Page 55 of The Billionaire Offer
He pointed at the small packet in my hand, and I nodded, passing it to him to secure in the inside zip pocket of the backpack. “Arun suggested putting anything of any real value in here. Even if they slice open the bottom of the bag, that won’t fall out this way, and since it’s sewn to the part that’s right against my body, I’ll definitely feel it if someone starts fiddling with it.”
“Wow. That’s a great tip. We’ll have to remember that for next time.” Bart nodded, then waited for me to join them as they left the store.
We dared each other to eat a few more things as the day progressed, and although Arun’s presence made it impossible for me to tell him how I felt every time he laughed or looked at me inthatway, we still had fun.
It wasn’t the most romantic environment anyway, but I wanted—no, needed really—to tell him the extent of my feelings. The only snag was that I still wasn’t sure if I should. When we’d started this journey, he’d said he wanted a platonic traveling companion.
Sure, we’d crossed that line a lot on a continuous basis, but I still wasn’t sure if he’d welcome a confession of love. I had a feeling he’d entered a new phase of his life with all these adventures, and I didn’t want to hold him back in any way.
He was still grieving for his father and it seemed like he was only starting to discover who he was without his dad in the world. Even if he did welcome my feelings, I didn’t know if he’d believe me if I told him while we were on the trip. Maybe I’d just had too much time to think about it and was now overthinking it as a result, but I wasn’t convinced any more that he’d think I was genuine in my feelings if I told him now.
Bart had just become a billionaire, after all, and I hadn’t come back into his life until after he’d offered to pay me for my time. That wasn’t exactly the most promising way to start a relationship, and sure, we’d come a long way since those reluctant, potentially awkward early days. But the facts were the facts. There was no way around them. I’d only agreed at first because of the money. At least, that was the way he saw it.
If I confessed my feelings to him now, he could see it as a ploy to try to get more money out of him. Our adventures together were coming to an end soon, after all. It was entirely possible he’d think, now that I’d seen for myself just how much money he really had, that I’d want more of it for myself.
While nothing could’ve been further from the truth, I really didn’t want him to think it was about that. Which meant I had to be more strategic about it. So I kept biting back theI love youthat so desperately wanted to come out.
At the end of the day, Arun saw us back to the hotel and I was a little tearful to say goodbye to him. Bart seemed less than excited about having to go upstairs to pack and prepare for the next leg of our journey as well, but as we rode up in the elevator, he rallied.
“So we snorkeled in the Red Sea,” he mused, smiling slightly. “Next stop, scuba diving in Hawaii. That’s nothing to be depressed about. Besides, I got Arun’s number. We’ll keep in touch and we’ll see him again.”
“For sure,” I agreed, trying to sound enthusiastic. He was right that scuba diving in Hawaii was nothing to be depressed about.
Maybe once we were there, I’d get some sign from the universe that it really was time to tell him, and then I’d grab my damn ovaries and do it. Until then, we still had plenty to look forward to together, and I was darn well going to enjoy it.
CHAPTER35
BART
Serenity and I were both exhausted by the time our plane landed in Hawaii, but I’d had a plan brewing since that night I’d woken up to her singing. I just needed some time and privacy to put it in motion.
I felt a bit sneaky for doing it, but as our cab arrived at our beachfront hotel, I turned to her and held out my credit card. “Do you mind going to check in for us? There’s something important I need to take care of and I’d better do it now before the jetlag catches up to me. If I wait any longer, I’m afraid my brain is going to go all hazy and I’ll screw it up.”
“Okay,” she said hesitantly, brow furrowed in confusion as she took my card and the printout of the reservation I handed over next. She glanced down at it. Then her gaze snapped back up to mine and her blue eyes went wide. “The honeymoon suite?”
I shrugged. “It’s the last leg of the trip. I figured we deserved something nice.”
“This place is already nice,” she said, waving at the main building of the hotel that we’d just pulled up to. “We drove through a tropical flower paradise on our way in, and we haven’t even climbed out of the car yet, but I can already hear the sea. You really didn’t have to get us the fanciest they’ve got on top of everything else.”
I rocked my head from side to side, smirking as I shrugged again. “It’s not the fanciest suite they’ve got. That’d be the presidential suite, but it was taken.”
Her eyebrows twitched up, but then she laughed and shook her head. “You go take care of your important business. I’ll get us checked in and our things delivered to our room. Where do you want to meet once you’re done?”
“The suite is probably the safest option,” I said. “We haven’t had a chance to look around yet and there are a few bars and restaurants in the resort, so it’s probably not the greatest idea to say we’ll meet at one of them if we might end up in different places.”
She nodded. “The suite it is, then. Do I get to know what this important business is?”
“Nothing exciting,” I lied, but it was for a good cause. I wanted this to be a surprise for her, and if I started talking, I’d give it away. “Just some stuff I have to take care of back home.”
“In that case, good luck,” she said, smiling softly at me before she took off with the porter and a trolley of our stuff following her.
As I watched her go, looking like a million bucks in a simple pair of denim shorts, a loose purple top, and her sunglasses perched on top of her head with her loose hair flowing down her back, I sighed. I knew I was going to be joining her in just a few minutes, and yet, I never wanted to see her walking away from me.
Our time in Egypt had intensified my feelings by about a hundred, and although we hadn’t talked about it yet, it certainly felt like we were back together. We were holding hands, kissing, and sharing beds everywhere we went. We were together all the time, mostly even when we had to shower, and we spent hours talking during the day and making love at night.
Which was why it was beyond time for me to get down to business. Since theright timeto tell her hadn’t seemed to have presented itself just yet, I’d decided to give it a little bit of help. If it wasn’t going to come naturally, I’d just bring it to us.
Unlocking my phone once she’d disappeared into the crowd in the lobby, I scrolled to the number Jeremiah had sent me. Maddox was a friend of his who had his own private beach not far from where we were staying, but he wasn’t on the island at the moment. According to Jeremiah, he was in London on business, but he’d told him he would be happy to let us use his house and the strip of private beach in front of it for a night or two.
