Page 63 of The Billionaire Offer
Even though I was looking forward to getting back into the competitive circuit, confirming my participation was a sad reminder that our trip would be over soon. In about a week at most, we’d be heading back home with no other travel plans in our immediate future.
I’d have to be at home until at least after the tournaments, and I had no idea how long it would take Serenity to record her album and then get it out there. After she did, I was pretty sure she wouldn’t be able to take more time off for a long time. If all her songs were as good as the one she’d played me the other day, then she’d definitely be too busy to take off again soon.
Hell, I didn’t even know if she’d record a whole album or if she’d just release that song, but either way, her dreams were within reaching distance now. It would probably be a sprint for the finish line once we got back, and while I’d be practicing and competing, she’d be doing her thing.
I sighed and responded to the first email, and then to the next, hoping that by the time these tournaments happened, she’d still want to spend time with me. They were only weeks away, but they would be a busy few weeks.
The thought lit a fire under my ass and I stripped down as soon as the second email was sent and raced to the bathroom to join her. Our trip wasn’t over yet, and after we were done in the shower, the next, final part of it would be starting.
Now wasn’t the time to get nostalgic or melodramatic. It was the time for action, and I’d be damned if I didn’t spend every one of these last days reminding her how good we were together and convincing her that we should stay that way.
CHAPTER40
SERENITY
After our shower, Bart surprised me when he walked over to the cupboard with our suitcases in it and took them all out. I frowned, watching him curiously as I dressed in a pair of shorts and shirt. “What are you doing?”
“We need to start packing,” he said without turning around, carrying the bags over to the bed instead and unzipping them. “Our car will be here soon, so how about we divide and conquer? I’ll get the clothes and you get the toiletries and the odds and ends?”
So confused that I couldn’t move at first, my frown deepened as I just stood there watching him, wondering what the heck was going on. “I thought we had a few more days here. Did something happen back home? Is that what the emails you had to check were about?”
“The emails were about my tournaments,” he said soothingly, glancing up at me. His eyes filled with shock as he saw whatever expression was on my face. “Oh, God. I didn’t mean to scare you, baby. Everything is fine back home. Nothing has happened. I just had to confirm my attendance within a specific timeframe. That’s all.”
“Then why are we packing?” I asked, taking a deep breath to calm my wildly beating heart. “We’re not supposed to be going home for a few more days.”
“We’re not going home,” he said, then smirked as he made his dark eyebrows dance for me. “I’ve got something planned, but I can’t tell you what it is.”
“Another surprise?” My heart start racing again, but for a whole different reason this time. “Are you serious? I really thought we were done with the surprises.”
“Well,surprise,” he said, shrugging as he wiggled his fingers in his best attempt at jazz hands. “You’re surprised, right? You didn’t see this coming?”
“Not at all.” I looked at him with big eyes. “Do I get any hints? You know you don’t need to keep doing this, don’t you? Being here with you is more than enough for me.”
“Sure, but where we’re going next is even better,” he said. “No planes, though. We’re staying on the island, so don’t worry about all the stuff we were still going to do.”
“I wasn’t worried,” I said. “You can take me anywhere and I’d be happy. Besides, we’ve done most of the big stuff.”
“Oh.” He cocked his head, bringing his hand up to scratch at his jaw while he pretended to think. “In that case, I suppose we could head home.”
“Nope. Not a chance. Not until I see what this next surprise is.”
He laughed. “Better get packing then, or we’ll miss our ride.”
We stuck to his plan of dividing and conquering, and before too long, we were leaving our honeymoon suite behind. While I was once again sad about leaving a place where we’d made so many incredible memories, I was excited to see what our next stop would be. I’d learned by now that every place we went was just as awesome as the one we’d just been at, and that together, we kept making sure that more amazing memories were made wherever we visited.
There was a car waiting for us when we walked out of the lobby, and the driver was as friendly as everyone else we’d encountered, telling us more about the island and the part of it we were on our way to as we drove. Both him and Bart neglected to mention exactly where it was we were heading, though.
After about an hour, we turned off the main road and headed back down to the coast. A few minutes later, the car slowed as we neared a secluded stretch of beach. There were a few other houses dotted along it, but they were far enough apart that once we’d driven past them, it was almost like they hadn’t been there at all.
The greenery here was lush, the trees huge, and the sand I caught glimpses of from time to time a pure, sparkling white. I turned to Bart when the car finally stopped outside what appeared to be a small but ridiculously nice house built just at the tree line. There was a fence around it with a keypad attached to an intercom, and I frowned.
“Where are we?”
“A friend of Jeremiah’s is letting us use his beach house for a few days,” he said. “I thought it’d make for a nice, last stop.”
“It sure is nice,” I said, even though we weren’t even inside yet. We thanked our driver and said goodbye. Bart rolled our bags to the gate and entered a code into the keypad.
The elaborate gates swung open, and he grinned as we caught our first full view of the place. “Trust Jeremiah to know someone with a place like this just sitting here.”
