Yep.
The last word Ash would ever speak to her before he walked out of her room and closed the door behind him.
“Yep,” Kallie said breathlessly.
Then she flopped down into a chair and stared at the wall until she fell asleep.
Chapter 23
Ash
“Taxi!”
Ash ran with his shit in his arms as he slammed himself into the cab. He rattled off the address for the tarmac and told him to step on it. He had to catch that damn plane before it took off. He needed to get back to the city. After a fitful night of sleeplessness and a shit-ton of tossing and turning, he knew he couldn't let Kallie go.
He didn’t know what the hell he was going to do, but he knew he couldn't let her take off.
The cab pulled up to the tarmac just as the stairs were going up. He threw some money at the driver and strode toward his plane as the stairs quickly came back down to receive him. He shoved the last of his things into his bag and zipped it up as he took the stairs two at a time. And when he dumped into the cabin of the plane, he was met with a very confused Kallie.
“I thought you were staying in Bali?” she asked.
“I’ll be back,” Ash said breathlessly. “But something’s come up in the city and I’m needed.”
He watc
hed Kallie nod, but she didn’t respond. He stuffed his things into an overhead compartment before he flopped himself into a seat. His mind was racing. He was frustrated. His eyes looked out the window as the plane ascended into the air and he didn’t even bother to put on his seat belt. He was in over his head. Never had something he wanted so badly been denied to him time and time again. But never in his life had he wanted something so much. Never in his life had he been willing to risk everything just to have someone near him. He knew his reputation would be on the line if he did it. The reputation of his family. The reputation of his heritage. He knew all of this could backfire in a fucking heartbeat.
But she was worth it.
Kallie was worth destroying himself over.
As he stared out the window, he recounted his evening. How he’d paced his hotel suite and fought with himself as the sun rose. He told himself not to come. To give her up like Kallie had asked of him. He begged himself to move on. To stay in Bali and find someone else and live the life he’d procured for himself. It wouldn’t be perfect, but he’d still be happy.
At least, he could convince himself he was happy.
But he didn’t want to have to convince himself. He simply wanted the happiness to exist. And it did when Kallie was at his side. Yes, they had a history. So did every other great couple on the planet. And in history. Antony and Cleopatra. Romeo and Juliet. Churchill and Clementine. Granted, the first two couples weren’t an ending to aspire to, but their strength and their perseverance to be with each other, even through hard times, was astounding.
Ash knew he and Kallie could be like one of those historical couples. The ones who weathered storms beyond their wildest imagination and came out stronger and closer for it. But those who weathered storms are those who fought the most.
Just like him and Kallie.
And after convincing himself that he couldn’t stay in Bali without her, he decided to pack up his shit and meet the plane. Ash loved her. He loved his Pretty Kallie. And he refused to let her go without the biggest possible fight he could put up. So he had one more gambit he was going to try. One more trick up his sleeve.
And he prayed the entire flight back that it would work.
The flight back to the city was long and quiet. Kallie stayed immersed within her work, typing away on her laptop and taking videoconferences with her earbuds in her ears. When she wasn’t working, she slept, and her soft snores tugged at Ash’s heart. But he couldn't sleep. When she slept, it was the only time he could steal glances of her. The only time he could look over at her and risk her not being angry with him.
He was too worried about losing her to sleep.
The plane finally landed after twenty-two grueling, sleepless hours of flight. Ash gathered his things and waited for Kallie to disembark. They stood there, at the bottom of the plane’s stairs, and it took all the strength he had not to drop his shit, crush her into his chest, and beg her to stay. Her bright-green eyes. Her soft copper locks. The beach waves that still kinked her hair from the Bali coast. All of it, beautiful to him.
“Thanks for the ride,” Kallie said.
“Anytime,” Ash said.
He restrained himself enough to watch her go, then he rushed over to a car and booked it to his apartment. He didn’t even get his things dropped into his bedroom before he was making cell phone calls. Placing multiple calls to multiple people in an attempt to swing his plan into action. It was dangerous. It was massive. It had all the makings of the death of a reputation. Ash’s plan was dangerous, and it had a bigger chance of backfiring than working.
But if he was going to convince Kallie that he was the right man for her, then he would have to do something big. Something that screamed above the voices of her mind the undoubted truth he knew within his heart.