She heard the door to the bedroom open and close with a resounding click.
“I’m not going anywhere,” she murmured to the large, empty bedroom.
Are you sure about that?, a little voice in her head challenged. Is this what happy ever after looks like? Sex between phone calls?
“He’s the unicorn. I can’t walk away from him.” She clutched at the bedspread. “It’s just one phone call.”
She closed her eyes. Lying wouldn’t help. She knew this was disaster territory. And it had nothing to do with gators. They could escape the predators lurking in canals. But she couldn’t ask him to walk away from his career. He’d worked too hard and come too far. Plus, he’d told her earlier that he would never ask her to leave her business.
But where does that leave us?
Chapter 23
“I will be back on Monday.” Jared held his cell to his ear. His laptop was precariously balanced on his thighs. In a few minutes, the first-class flight attendant would ask him to store all of his electronic devices for take off. “Tico’s new product launches in two weeks. I need to hold the management teams’ hands through the last-minute preparations, but then I’m back.”
“We’re throwing three deluxe princess parties this weekend,” Lucy said lightly. “I’ll be spending the rest of the week ironing gowns and baking cookies. We agreed to provide fifty frosted castle treats for one of the parties.”
“So you won’t have time to miss me?” he teased.
“Oh, I will. My weekend would be so much better if you were here to help me out of my gown at the end of the day,” she said in a light voice.
“Mine too.” The flight attendant approached his row. She wore a friendly, but firm, smile. “I need to go, Lucy. But I’ll have Internet access once we’re in the air.”
“I’ll see you Monday,” she said. “This time, I’m planning the date. I don’t want to run the risk a thunderstorm or another alligator will interrupt.”
“Sounds great.” The flight attendant was no longer smiling at him. He’d never regretted choosing a commercial flight over his private plane before. But damn, he didn’t want to hang up on Lucy. “I’ll call you when I land. I—” He coughed. “Bye, Lucy.”
Under the flight attendant’s watchful eyes, he turned off his cell and slipped his laptop in to the seat pocket in front of him. Then he turned to the window.
I love you.
He’d nearly blurted out the words. But he knew that before takeoff, with a stern flight attendant staring him down, wasn’t the time or place to casually toss out that declaration. He couldn’t set off the fireworks and then walk away.
He stared at the clouds through the narrow window. The plane slipped into the dense, fluffy layer of sky, and then flew back out. A familiar tone resonated in the cabin. An official announcement followed, granting him permission to use his electronic devices.
He pulled out his computer and opened his email. New messages flooded his inbox. His fingers hovered over the keyboard.
Am I falling in love with Lucy Linden?
He shook his head. He couldn’t answer that question now. He needed more time.
Three more emails appeared in his inbox. The subject line of the last one read: We have a problem. All three were from Tico Software upper management. Jared clicked on the first message. His personal life needed to take a backseat until Monday. Right now, his company needed
him.
He’d built The Mitchell Fund on his reputation for success. Tico Software was the cornerstone. He couldn’t afford a misstep. Not with this product launch. And not after the mess with the sugar deal. Rumors could sink his fund just as fast as reality. If investors and potential companies looked to other private equity firms—and logically, they would if his recent track record showed a list of failures—the company he’d built from nothing would sink beyond the point of repair.
What if Lucy slips away while I’m in New York?
His fingers froze over the keyboard, and he looked up. He couldn’t lose her. It had nothing to do with her brother, or how closely their lives were entwined. Lucy had shocked some part of him to life.
But Lucy knew what it took to build a business. She would understand. Still, she wouldn’t wait for him to solve Tico’s latest crisis unless she believed he was coming back.
Somehow he had to show Lucy that he was committed to her. He would give her everything she wanted. He’d deliver every wild, risky fantasy she’d ever imagined, and he’d offer the security that her ex had stolen.
“I’m going to deliver the fairy tale, Lucy,” he murmured. “Everything your sweet princess alter ego wanted after the prince turned out the lights.”
That’s where her dates—and all of the drunken dads—had gone wrong in the past. They thought the Cinderella illusion was for them. But Lucy deserved the fantasy. And it went so much deeper than a sweet girl in a pretty dress. The man who dropped everything to find the woman who’d captured his heart—that was the fantasy, the unicorn, and the dream that seemed so damn elusive. The so-called prince who saw every facet of the woman he loved.