The rich man she almost married?
No, there wasn’t a strict conversation about who he was. But Ash had given her a certain impression of himself. One he’d done nothing to correct. Ash stared down at her as the airplane came rolling out of the garage, and somehow, she found her voice.
“I rushed into this,” she said.
“What?” Ash asked.
“I’d just broken up with my fiancé. I was supposed to be married a week ago, Ash. I was left at the altar by a man who—”
Kallie closed her eyes and drew in a deep breath. Ash didn’t feel the need to explain himself. That was the issue with rich men. They wanted to complain about how people always wanted their money, then got upset when their rich entitlement didn’t work the way they wanted it to. Ash never felt the need to explain himself when he misled her about who he was, so she wasn’t going to explain herself to him.
“This was a vacation romance,” Kallie said. “Nothing more. And my vacation is almost done. It’s better if we call things off now and I get a couple of days to detox from it before I go back home to my life.”
“Detox,” Ash said.
“Yes.”
Kallie watched his face tighten and his eyes grow guarded. She could see he wanted to say something, but the plane fired up behind them both. She watched Ash turn on his heel and walk toward the plane, and she followed suit.
But when they both boarded, she watched him walk into the cockpit.
Ash was the one flying the plane?
Was there anything he couldn't do?
After a short fifteen-minute plane ride, they were back at St. Barts. Ash held out his hand for her and helped her down the stairs, and for a quick second his touch lingered. His heat sank into her skin. His eyes danced around her face. For a brief moment of weakness, she wanted to take back everything she’d said to him. She wanted to be truthful with him and tell him how she was really feeling.
“Thank you for the ride,” Kallie said. “I’ll find my way back to the resort.”
Before she could double back, she lost herself in the crowd of St. Barts Airport. She could get a taxi back to her villa. She couldn't remember the car ride or paying the driver. She couldn't remember stumbling over to her villa with tears in her eyes. She couldn't even remember packing up her things.
She came to the second she pressed the purchase button on her laptop to buy her plane ticket home.
Kallie grabbed her things and quickly left the villa. She fumbled over the sand as tears streamed down her cheeks. She walked along the side of the road until a taxi pulled up next to her, offering her a ride. She sniffed and nodded her head, watching as the driver quickly got out. He tossed her stuff into the trunk and helped her in the car, and she told him to take her to the airport.
She had a flight home in the next hour and a half.
And she wanted to have plenty of time to dodge Ash and his private plane.
Chapter 27
Ash
Ash spent the night in his bungalow staring out the window. He didn’t sleep most of the night, and when the sun breached above the water he headed straight for the beachside cabana. He had every intention of drinking his evil thoughts away. Of washing the taste of Kallie from his lips before throwing himself at the waves and washing her body from him. Ash was angry. Confused. Humiliated. He really liked Kallie. Enjoyed her in ways he’d never enjoyed with another woman. She was warm and soft and down-to-earth. Intelligent and kind, she tapped into a part of him he’d locked away from the rest of the world. Yet the second she found out who he was, she deserted him as quickly as he’d ever seen.
Why?
Was what she’d said true?
“What’ll it be?” Johnny asked. “Looks like you might need that after-hookup-pickup.”
“Rum and Coke. Easy on the Coke,” Ash said.
“Yikes. Rough night?” Johnny asked.
“You've got not fucking clue.”
“Wanna talk?”