Page 137 of Billion Dollar Revenge

“Exactly.” I take the luggage from him and move it near the closet, and Evan whispers in my ear, “Does it squeak?”

I swallow the giggle trying to escape. “Probably.”

“What do you mean, probably?”

I bite the side of my lip. “I haven’t...” I don’t want to say the words out loud. I don’t need my family to know those things about me.

His eyebrows rise to his forehead. “We will be changing that tonight.”

My bottom lip drops as I see the fire burning in his eyes.

My body temperature rises.The tour…

“Let’s get back to the tour.” I take his hand and walk him out. He and I in my bedroom is a very dangerous thing.

“You have so much room here,” he says, his voice is full of disbelief as I take him out the back door. I know what he means. The lots here are much bigger and so is the square footage. Here houses are more affordable for privacy, yards, and gardens.

It’s vastly different from New York. Connecticut is more colonial, capes, salt boxes, whereas New York is apartments, brownstones, townhouses, and high-rise buildings. Neither is better, just different.

We walk toward the white oak tree. Suddenly, he stops mid-step, and I turn to check on him to see him staring at it. After a good minute, he turns to me.

An expression I can’t read sits on his face.

It’s the tree. His favorite tree.

“Crazy, isn’t it,” I murmur.

“Not crazy…just unbelievable.”

“I assume in a good way?”

“Yeah.” He clears his throat. “You were meant to be.”

I rock back and forth on my heels, knowing exactly what he means.

His hands slip into mine, and he pulls me toward the tree. “Does the tire still work?”

Tilting my head, I stare into his eyes. His eyes suddenly fill with mischief.

With his youthful face, I couldn’t turn it down because the tire is at least twenty-eight years old.

“Let’s see.” I jog toward it, pulling him along.

A light laugh bubbles from my chest. The pure joy and freedom of sharing this special place with him.

I jump in, but it’s awkward. “This isn’t as comfortable as when you’re younger and shorter.”

His eyes drop slowly over my legs. “I’m not complaining about your long legs.”

That one hungry, admiring look sends goosebumps scattering over my body.

We stay out here for a while before we decide to have a coffee with my family.

Entering the house, I amble to the wooden table where Dad has the paper out and the front page catches my eye. He’s not here, so I move the paper toward me, and read the front where there is the current whereabouts of the princess. The paper’s been keeping up with the princess’s whereabouts.

The picture of her holding hands and looking up at her bodyguard on an island makes me smile.

The way the wind has picked up her dress and her dark blonde hair looks effortless in beach waves, makes me reflect on my happiness with Evan.

---