Page 16 of Chasing Paradise

“Hey, duchess,” he said in a casual way that said he’d already clocked me. Possibly even before I’d seen him.

But he hadn’t run.

Maybe I would be able to get something to eat before the flight then.

“You’re looking rough,” he said, his green eyes roaming over me.

“Thanks.”

“Hungry, huh?” he asked when my stomach let out a not-so-subtle objection to its emptiness. “Too bad you don’t have time to get anything before we board,” he said.

Sure enough, even as he got to his feet, the announcement went out for our flight.

Sure, I might get my skip.

Or I just might starve to death first.

Or, you know, murder him because I was all sorts of moody without any coffee in my system.

It was a shame those “wanted dead or alive” days were behind us. He’d be a lot easier to drag back to the U.S. if he was dead.

As he moved past, I smelled something sweet wafting out of his bag. A blueberry muffin, maybe?

My stomach growled again as I fell into step behind him, fighting back the adolescent urge to push or trip him.

If I was lucky, he would get stung or bitten by something on the island, incapacitating him, and making my job easier. This following him like a little lost puppy dog was getting old fast.

I dropped down in my aisle seat after scanning the plane, looking for Wick.

As the plane started to roll down the runway, I got this wobbly feeling in my gut, worried he’d somehow managed to sneak back off, despite boarding ahead of me.

I was about to get out of my seat when I saw the seatbelt light go off.

Until something dropped down on my lap.

I jolted as I looked down at the brown bag with the crunched-down top around something that smelled a hell of a lot like a blueberry muffin.

“Can practically hear your stomach growling several rows back,” Wick said, making me look over and up to see him looking down at me. “Eat up, duchess. You’re gonna need your strength if you’re gonna keep up with me.”

With that, he was gone.

I wanted to toss the food back to him out of spite. But, well, I was too hungry to turn down something to eat.

I unrolled the top of the bag, reached inside, and drew out the biggest muffin I’d ever seen in my life—all golden deliciousness, big blueberries, and that little crust of sugar on top.

I just barely managed not to moan out loud as I put the first bite into my mouth. I did close my eyes and press my head back into the rest, just savoring that perfect bite.

Though I totally devoured the rest of it in a half-starved fury.

After the muffin and a small bottle of water from the flight attendant, I felt halfway human again.

Unfortunately, the flight was a lot shorter than I’d anticipated, so a nap was completely out of the question.

Less than two hours from takeoff, we were landing on one of the Galápagos Islands.

Honestly, despite the whole situation, I was kind of excited to see the island.

When I’d been in elementary school, while the other girls were going through a dolphin or manatee obsession phase, I had to be weird and have that same level of interest in lizards.

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