Page 14 of The Flirtation
Chapter 5
Luke
The eternal flightwas ten times worse than I’d anticipated it would be. Buck Reynolds had graciously paid for a Business Class seat from London, which was spacious and comfortable and there wasn’t even another passenger next to me. My assistant had given me a pill to help me sleep, but it just made me doze off every now and then and I kept waking up from strange filthy dreams about Avery. I was able to work on some documents for our client debriefing when we were somewhere over the middle of the Atlantic, but the inability to distract myself by talking on the phone with anyone other than Avery or emailing anyone other than Avery had left me in a reclining seat with nothing but my thoughts of the client that I shared with Avery, the bed that I wanted to share with Avery, and all of the things that I secretly wanted to do to Avery’sbody.
I rang William’s mobile almost as soon as we’d landed at the airport in Freeport. I’d received so few emails since I’d last checked, I was worried there’d been some kind of natural disaster that prevented people from my homeland from getting in touch with me. It was after three in the afternoon here and five hours later in London. “I’m here, what’s going on, what have I missed—start with theemergencies.”
“How were theflights??”
“What? It was an eleven-hour anxiety dream. Tell me what’s goingon.”
“Nothing much, I’m having a bit of dinner in front of thetelly— ”
“What’s going on at theoffice?!”
“Things werefine.”
“What do you mean ‘things were fine?’ I’ve been off the grid for nearly ten hours. What happened when Roger called? Is helivid?”
“No, not at all. He laughed for about ten minutes when I told him you were on a plane to the Bahamas, and when I told him it wasn’t a joke he said ‘oh’ and werescheduled.”
“William, it really doesn’t benefit me if you aren’t telling me absolutelyeverything.”
“There’s not much to tell. I emailed you your telephone messages. So far not one person has jumped off a building or threatened to stop doing business with you when I told them you were out of town for business and had toreschedule.”
“Oh. Well that’s…good, I suppose.Thanks.”
“Have you met heryet?”
“No, I’m not off the planeyet.”
“Does it look niceoutside?”
“I don’t know, I haven’t reallylooked.”
There was a brief, and very English, polite but judgmental pause. “Sir, you’re in the Bahamas, things are fine and under control here, I really do hope that you enjoy yourself while you’rethere.”
“Yeah. Yep, will do, thanks. Talk tomorrow then goodnight.”
In the terminalI caught sight of a pleasant-looking cocoa-skinned man in an exotic flower print shirt, who was holding a sign that saidA. Davis & L. Mason. Admittedly, seeing our names together gave me a tiny thrill.Good God you’re like an adolescent girl, get agrip.
I nodded and waved at the man, whom I assumed was our driver. He looked to be somewhere between twenty and fifty years old, sturdily built, with a stunning smile. His voice was deep and his accent was vaguelyBritish.
“Mr. Mason, sir? Welcome to paradise! I am Samson, I will be driving you and Miss Davis to Chandra Villa. May I take yourbag?”
“No, I can carry it thank you. I didn’t realize Miss Davis and I were arriving at the sametime.”
“It worked out quite well, sir. How was yourflight?”
“Fine, thankyou.”
“Excellent, it is a beautiful dayhere.”
For some reason I wasn’t expecting to see Avery so soon, I thought I’d have the ride to the villa to settle my nerves. “Yes, it’s lovely. Lovely weather, is this normal for this time of year here?”Could you be more British? Talking about the weather. Try not to bore Avery to death when she getshere.
“Yes, very mild and pleasant this time of year, a good time tocome.”
“Wonderful, well it was cold and miserable when I left London,so…”
