Page 91 of Vacation with the Ice Queen

Serena nodded, accepting this without defensiveness. "That's fair. What else?"

"I want..." Lila hesitated, then decided to embrace the same candor she was requesting. "I want to know parts of you that New York doesn't see. The woman behind the CEO mask."

Something vulnerable flickered in Serena's eyes. "Some days I'm not sure who that is anymore."

"I've seen glimpses," Lila said softly. "In the lagoon, when we were snorkeling. On the beach during morning yoga. When youlaugh—really laugh, not the polite version you use at business functions."

The observation drew a genuine smile from Serena, tinged with something like wonder. "You've been paying attention."

"It's what I do," Lila shrugged. "And you're worth paying attention to."

Another thunderclap shook the villa, rain now driving horizontally against the windows. The storm had engulfed the island completely, creating a cocoon of sound and sensation that enveloped their private moment.

"What else do you want?" Serena asked, voice dropping to match the intimacy created by the storm's symphony.

Lila met her gaze directly. "I want memories worth keeping. Not just physical ones, though those too, but moments that matter. Conversations that change us. Experiences that leave marks."

Serena's eyes darkened at the admission, desire and something deeper mingling in their blue depths. "Not asking for much, are you?"

"Five days isn't much time," Lila countered with a small smile. "I'm not wasting a minute of it on anything less than meaningful."

The directness of her answer seemed to catch Serena by surprise. She set down her wine glass, turning more fully toward Lila on the couch.

"And what about after?" she asked, the question hanging between them like the charged air before lightning strikes. "When I go back to New York and you stay here?"

It was the question they'd been circling since the beginning, the inevitable separation that colored everything between them with bittersweetness. Lila had considered it from every angle, searching for the answer that felt most truthful.

"I think," she said carefully, "that we take whatever we've built in these five days and carry it with us. Not as a burden or a regret, but as proof that connection is possible, even between two people who never should have met."

Lightning flashed again, catching the gleam of moisture in Serena's eyes, though whether from emotion or a trick of light, Lila couldn't tell. But something in her expression softened, vulnerability replacing the careful control she typically maintained.

"I'd like that," Serena whispered.

Their fingers found each other on the couch between them, intertwining with natural ease. Outside, the storm continued, but in the villa, a different kind of energy was building—the quiet certainty of two people choosing each other, however briefly, with full awareness of what lay ahead.

The storm intensified, wind driving rain against the windows in rhythmic pulses. Inside, the charged silence between them grew until Lila could almost feel it on her skin, like electricity before lightning strikes.

"More wine?" Serena asked, her voice slightly rough at the edges.

Lila shook her head, setting her half-empty glass on the coffee table. "I think I've had enough."

The double meaning hung between them, unacknowledged but understood. Serena's eyes darkened as she leaned closer, the careful distance they'd maintained gradually dissolving.

"Lila," she said softly, just her name, but weighted with question and intent.

Instead of answering with words, Lila closed the space between them, bringing their lips together in a kiss that started gentle but quickly deepened. Unlike their heated pool or their desperate beach encounters, this felt deliberate—a conscious choice rather than overwhelming impulse.

Serena's hands came up to frame her face, fingers threading through her hair with reverent attention. The tenderness in her touch was almost startling, so different from the commanding CEO the world knew.

When they finally separated, both slightly breathless, Lila found herself studying the small details on Serena's face—the subtle flush across her cheekbones, the unusual softness in her typically sharp eyes, the slight tremor in her hand as she tucked a strand of hair behind Lila's ear.

"I've been wanting to do that since you showed up at my door," Serena admitted.

"What stopped you?"

"I wasn't sure I had the right anymore. After this morning."

The admission—humble and honest—touched Lila deeply. This wasn't Sophie's entitled assumptions or casual disregard for boundaries. This was something else entirely.

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