Page 51 of Be My Traitor

“This is incredible,” Lucas breathed. “I don’t know how I’m ever going to repay you.”

“Just treat my daughter right.” Dad looked at him meaningfully.

“Don’t worry, Gabriel. I have every intention of doing that.”

“Glad to hear it. Well, I can’t stick around – I’ve got another meeting to get to. Perhaps the two of you and Amber would like to come over for dinner one night this week? I have a few business ideas I’d like to run past you.”

“That would be great,” Lucas said, getting up to escort my dad to the door.

“Excellent. I’ll have my secretary call to set up a time.”

My father left and Lucas shut the door behind him. He looked at me, delighted. “I’ve got my money back.”

“So I gathered.” I smiled. Lucas’s happiness was infectious.

“Now that I’m financially independent again, I can ask you something I’ve been thinking about for a while,” Lucas said.

“I’m intrigued.”

“Look, everyone knows we’re dating and that I’m Amber’s dad. So why don’t we be a real family? Why don’t you move in with me?”

“Move in with you? That’s a big step.”

“Bigger than having a child together?”

“I guess not.” I pretended to think about it, wanting to make Lucas sweat a little, although I’d arelady made up my mind. “All right. Let’s do it. Let’s move in together.”

“Yes!” Lucas came and swept me off my feet, picking me up and spinning me round before setting me down on his desk. “Now then. Let’s find out just how sturdy this desk is…”

Epilogue

One year later

“I’m glad we left Amber back at the hotel with Daisy. She’d never have coped with this hill.” I panted as I tried to keep up with Lucas while we walked through beautiful Sri Lankan woodlands. The scenery was stunning, but we were climbing quite a steep hill and Amber had reached that stage where she complained about everything. Listening to her whining would have ruined the mood and Lucas and I deserved a bit of romantic alone time.

Lucas pulled up. “Listen. Can you hear that?”

I stopped walking and tilted my head to one side. I heard a roaring, rumbling, thundering noise. “What is that?”

“It’s the reason why I wanted us to go for this walk. Come on!” He grabbed my hand and started running. Although I was tired, his enthusiasm was infectious, and I ran along with him until we reached a clearing at the top of the hill. The sight that greeted us was incredible.

“It’s beautiful!” A waterfall cascaded down a rocky cliff opposite us, ending up in a brilliant blue pool.

“You can swim in the water,” Lucas told me, as we started to walk down a path that went down the hill and to a clearing by the pool. “One of the hotel staff told me about this place. It’s one of those hidden local gems that tourists don’t tend to know about, so we should have it all to ourselves.”

“A swim would be perfect,” I said. “But I didn’t bring my costume.”

“Who says you’ll need it?” Lucas cocked an eyebrow at me, giving me a challenging look. “Last one in the water’s a rotten egg!” He ripped off his top and started racing towards the water.

“No fair!” I yelled chasing after him. “You cheated!”

When we reached the waterside, we stripped down to our underwear and dove into the water. It was just the right temperature, perfect to cool us down after that long walk in the sun. I flipped onto my back, floating in the water and gazing up at the sky. “This is bliss. We should have done this sooner. This break is just what I needed. It’s been a tough year.”

“That it has.”

The two of us floated next to each other, neither of us needing to talk as we relaxed in the pool. The only sounds were the noise of the waterfall and the birds calling to each other in the trees.

I lost track of time as we swam around, but eventually, I started to feel cold and I got out, wanting to stretch out and enjoy the sun.

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