Page 35 of Chasing Paradise

“I had the nut-punch coming,” he agreed as he moved in behind me.

His friend, for some reason, stayed outside.

The house was every bit as luxurious as the exterior suggested.

It had an open-concept design with faux dark wood tile across the whole space. It should have made the space feel dark, but thanks to the windows all around, it felt warm and inviting.

The kitchen sat to the right and featured state-of-the-art appliances. But not, I noticed, a coffee machine. Who had an air fryer but no coffee maker?

There was a small dining area to the right, then toward the back of the house was a sprawling section in front of a large TV, just begging me to climb on and get some sleep that didn’t involve aches and pains from the hard ground.

Outside of the floor-to-ceiling back windows was a view. But not of the forest. It was of the opposite shore.

And there… there was a dock.

Attached to that dock?

Two speedboats.

“How…”

“You sleep like the dead,” Wick told me. “Turned that thing over, and all you did was roll to your other side.”

“You moved the boat? To make me think we were stranded?”

“Yeah.”

“Why? Why would you do that?” I wasn’t about to tell him, but I’d been panicking, dammit.

“To be fair, you weren’t supposed to jump on that boat.”

“You knew I was there.”

“Not until we almost made it to shore. Get a little seasick, do you?” His lips were twitching, but the slit-eyed look I sent him had him tamping down his amusement.

“You could have turned around and brought me back.”

“I could have.”

“But?”

“Why don’t you go and take a shower, wash away some of that bad mood? I’ll make you something to eat.”

Some part of me wanted to snark at him, to say I didn’t need his hospitality.

But I really, really wanted a shower.

“Fine.”

“Upstairs. Help yourself to anything you want.”

I didn’t need more of an invitation than that.

I had to keep myself from running up the steps.

The upstairs was just as snazzy as the lower level, featuring three bedrooms and two full baths. It had the same dark floor, the same massive surrounding windows, and amazing views no matter which way you looked.

I stepped into the primary bedroom, figuring it would be the best stocked and the nicest. And he owed me that.

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