Page 26 of Billionaire's Surprise

Fuck, that sounded so good.

Thirteen

Emerson

I couldn’t believe this was our last day together. Our time on the cruise had flown by so quickly, and tomorrow, we’d disembark in Florida and go our separate ways.

Merry Christmas.

Not.

As we sat out on deck, one of the shelters keeping it from being too windy for diners, I listlessly stirred the creamer in my coffee and thought about my day tomorrow. Since I’d known I’d be away for the holiday, I hadn’t decorated. I’d be going back to my bare apartment, with no festive adornments and no Fray. And the latter had weighed heavily on my mind all morning.

I needed to talk about the future with him, what our plans were. Here and there, he’d thrown out words like “future” and “kids” and “forever,” but I wasn’t sure what it all meant. We lived half a country apart from each other, and I wasn’t really versed enough in relationships to know if it was just sex talk. If Fray really wanted us to be together, we needed to discuss the logistics.

“It’s going to be a gorgeous day,” Fray observed, looking out at the shoreline as the ship grew close for docking.

“It is. We should go to the beach.”

His gaze jerked toward me. “What?”

“You haven’t been able to swim or go in the water the whole cruise. It’s our last day. We should go to the beach.”

“I don’t care about that. I just want to be with you—for you to be happy.”

“I’ll be happy getting some sun on the sand. Soaking up some rays before going back to gloomy Chicago.”

He frowned. “But—”

“So we’re going to the beach, then?” I interrupted, not wanting him to remind me of my fear of water. It hadn’t disappeared by any means, but I was feeling more confident with him at my side.

“Are you sure you don’t want to go into town. You haven’t done shopping for souvenirs the whole trip.”

“I don’t need anything beyond the pictures I have with you. There’s no one to take little gifts back to. Or anything. It’s the memories that are important, not stuff.” I sipped my coffee. “I just want to spend the day relaxing in our bathing suits and watching the waves. I think the ocean is pretty even if I don’t want to be in it.”

“Okay. If you’re sure…?”

“I’m sure. It’s selfish of me to make you do all non-water activities. Obviously, you like the water since you booked a cruise.”

“I do, but it was more about getting you alone where you wouldn’t run off on me.”

I snorted. “I wouldn’t have run off. I’d thought of you every day since those few minutes we had at that club. I can’t even tell you how often I regretted I had to rush off with my friends, how many times I wondered if I should have just ditched them and stayed with you a bit longer.” I shrugged. “I wondered what might have happened.”

His hand caressed my forearm before he squeezed my fingers and leaned in to kiss me. “This,” he said. “Only a lot sooner.”

* * * *

The waves really were pretty, and the sound was almost soothing as I closed my eyes and leaned back against the lounger while Fray was monkeying around on a boogie board, along with a group of other people from the ship.

I tried not to be tense as I watched him play in the gorgeous aquamarine water as it lapped up on the sandy shore. Nothing would happen. The water was practically clear, and the waves weren’t too rough. A gentle breeze blew around us, and if not for my fears, it would be paradise.

Of course, Fray being Fray kept his attention on me, making eye-contact every few minutes. I’d smile and wave, lifting my drink or my book and silently assuring him I was fine. I hadn’t turned a single page in the novel. It was a romance, and a good one too, but at the moment, it just couldn’t hold my attention.

Maybe, I should just go walk along the water’s edge. I wasn’t hot, but it would give me something to do and take me closer to Fray. It wasn’t as if I couldn’t swim—not that I’d go deep enough to need to. My aunt had assured I’d taken swim lessons for years. I think she’d hoped if I swam well, my aversion to water would go away. Nope.

Having made my decision, I headed for the foam-edged, ebbing water. I was halfway there when the screaming and yelling started. I froze, pure terror filling me. My gaze frantically searched the water, looking back and forth for Fray. Where was he? Where the hell was he? I couldn’t breathe, even though my chest rose and fell in panic. No.

No. Don’t do this.

---