Page 17 of Holiday Home 5

Dropping back to the resort that theywouldn’tbe staying at, they pilfered their suitcases and fresh produce from their rooms, then returned to where the day had started: Nadi International Airport. Soon after, they crowded into a seaplane, buckled in, and worked to combat the booming noise of the engines with the provided headsets, which also allowed their pilot to chatintermittently with them as they made their short trip. This was as much a part of the experience as the destination, after all.

Glancing to his left just before they left the runway, he saw Anna with a particularly clenched jaw. Extending his hand toward her, she gratefully took it. An amusingly tight death grip persisted right up until they landed.

Compared to what they’d flown in on this morning, their current mode of transportation lacked some of—read: all—the refinement of its more expensive predecessor. The flight wasn’t too choppy, but Liam noticed some turbulence once they were in the air. However, it was mostly smooth, and their pilot made sure to give them a scenic flight. At just over thirty minutes long, they each enjoyed the chance to see the distant gardens of nature both near and far. Some had a sign or two of civilization, but many more appeared wholly untouched.

When their plane hit lower altitudes, including one time when Avril egged the pilot on enough for him to buzz the ocean surface, they could see every hue of blue in existence. Shimmering, dancing, transforming. At the spots where small islands or shoresjustsat beneath the ocean, its vibrant color shifted along a gradient from sparkling blue to mesmerizing cyan—or maybe mint green. It was breathtaking, though the one among them with eyes to match those waters missed out on a few sights.

Annabelle Royce spent more time with eyes clenched shut than wide from the spectacle.

Most of the time, the water was an unfathomable blue, hiding beneath it a tropical ecosystem that was rare to find in this world. Liam knew about Fiji’s famous coral reefs; he was still expecting to eventually get an even closer look than the ones they got on this flight.

Around halfway through the trip, only about a minute before the pilot accidentally gave it away, he figured out wherethey were heading. He had to expect thateverypassenger aboard could see the sun on their left, then extrapolate which direction they were heading.

“Now, you can finally see the Yasawas,” their pilot said over the comms, pointing out the window toward a long, narrow chain of islands. “We’ll be going up almost the whole way before we come back down for landing.”

The Yasawa Island Group. From beginning to end, it consisted of luscious green interiors and pearly white sands. It was pretty much the most romantic getaway imaginable, world-famous as a honeymoon destination. It’d been one of the places he’d expected Avril to consider. Now, he no longer needed to guess. Now, he needed to start planning.

The rugged mountains rising at the center of the typically long and narrow island group looked as untouched today as the day they’d been formed. Really, there were only a handful of signs of civilization dotting the islands they passed. Most of these sat near the beach. A smattering of bures here, a tiny village there. He wondered if even a thousand people might have called the chain home.

For at least a day or two, that number would increase by five.

They didn’t need to come down in the water, which Liam had assumed would occur. But they didn’t exactly come down on a runway. Not a typical one, anyway.

When their plane’s wheels impacted the ground, it hit grass. They came down toward a narrow strip of smooth land, probably manmade, sitting between hills and forest. As far as private airstrips went, this one sufficed. They’d survived the trip. Anna finally let go of his hand, though he kept the marks her tight grip had left.

A few employees from the resort they’d be staying at were already waiting for them as they thanked the pilot and steppedoff. Sharing a look with Tess, they allowed their luggage to be loaded into a van. Meanwhile, Avril took the lead in chatting with the resort workers, clearly in her element. Once everything was packed, it was their turn to hop on for a short bit of transport along a dirt road to one of the most isolated resorts in the world.

Sitting between Victoria and Tess, the latter pulled out her phone and, now aware of the resort’s name, started her investigation. According to the resort’s website, which Liam peeked at over her shoulder, there were only eighteen bures in the resort. It promised an all-inclusive experience, room service, gourmet food and drink, and numerous desirable activities. Around the time they began to see some of those bures, thatched roof structures nestled among the palm trees, Tess glanced toward him. Their eyes met, and the woman of his dreams, here on an island fit for anyone’s dreams, smiled.

Upon reaching the resort, they went through the proper check-in. Again, Avril handled things. Liam and the others spent their time looking out at a crystalline pool, curiously flattened into the same plane as the ground on the side toward the side facing the ocean, which looked maybe twenty-five to thirty paces away from the incoming tide. The resort’s restaurant sat directly by the pool; everything was left open so that the smell of salt water and sights of the vast, endless blue were never forgotten.

Having finished checking in, Avril was in the process of receiving directions. Only then, after completely blanking on it when he’d first seen the style of bures, thatch rooves, Fijian architecture, but modern and clean on the inside, that they’d be staying in, did Liam wonder aloud.

“Where am I staying?”

The others looked at him, so at least he knew he hadn’t been alone in missing this glaring oversight: all but Avril Knight, eternally shameless schemer.

“Come on along, and I’ll show you.”

What else could any of them do? Well, they could have asked the check-in desk employees, but everyone forgot everything about that when Avril started marching toward the beach. She was the ship knifing through the ocean, and they were her wake.

After hitting the sand, Avril turned north. Moving with purpose, her suitcase left two small streaks with its wheels. Theirs did the same as they followed.

She led them to a bure, the second-to-last of them all, and stopped. Emerald eyes gleamed as she spun about.

“Would the following passengers please disembark? Annabelle Royce. Tess Williams. Annabelle Royce. And Tess Williams.”

They did not comply with Air Knight.

“So, it’ll be you and Victoria together, then Liam in his own bure?” Tess asked.

“Incorrect,” Avril immediately said.

When she didn’t specify, Tess pressed for more. “Who will be sleeping in the other bures, Avril?”

“Bure,” the redhead, having far too much fun at their expense.

Anna and Tess immediately narrowed their eyes.

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