“I saw what’s been happening at your company.” The man shook his head, brandishing his phone in one hand. “It’s a real shame. I know you were involved — or you knew about it. You must have. No one could have stolen hundreds of thousands of dollars from a company without the CEO knowing about it.”
Lucas’s stomach sank further. “Excuse me, but I’m on vacation. I’d rather not discuss this right now. You can contact the Omegron hotline?—”
“I have money invested in your company,” the man continued as if he hadn’t heard Lucas. “I’m planning to retire, you know. If Omegron stock crashes, it’ll ruin everything.”
“I’m sorry to hear that, but I am on vacation, and I’d prefer not to discuss this.”
“Well, I was supposed to be on vacation, too.” The man glared. “But thanks to you, I’ll spend the whole time worrying. I don’t even know if I can afford this trip now!”
“We’d now like to invite all priority and first-class passengers to begin boarding,” the young bald man announced over the intercom. Relief flooded Lucas as he stepped away from the older man.
“I need to board,” he said.
“First class.” The man scoffed. “Of course. Enjoy your high life while the rest of us suffer.”
Lucas’s hands balled into fists, but he managed to extricate himself from the conversation and make his way to the boarding line. His heart was pounding, and he felt sick. Even though he’d had nothing to do with Jim’s fraud, he still felt awful about it. And his encounter with this man was a reminder of why he needed to disappear.
Lucas made it to the front of the line, where he scanned his boarding pass and stepped onto the gangway. A few minutes later, he was on the plane. He found his seat, 3C, stowed his small suitcase in the overhead compartment, and sat in the window seat. Grabbing the in-flight magazine, he pretended to be deeply involved in an article about how a chain of vineyards in Napa Valley was revolutionizing the tourism industry. Really, he just wanted to avoid eye contact with the people who were boarding, especially if the man who’d accosted him was also on this flight.
“That’s my seat.”
Lucas looked up from the magazine to see the auburn-haired woman standing in the aisle, her hands on her hips, her green eyes narrowed.
“I don’t think so.” Lucas turned back to the magazine.
“Yes, it is. You’re sitting in 3D.” She held out her ticket. “That’s my seat.”
Grudgingly, Lucas realized that he’d made a mistake. It had been a while since he’d flown commercial, and he’d automatically assumed that he had a window seat. He wasn’t about to apologize to this woman, though, not after she’d been nothing but rude to him during their two brief encounters.
“Fine.” He got up, and she stepped back to let him squeeze by. She was about a head shorter than him, and she smelled faintly of something flowery. Roses, maybe. His arm brushed hers as he squeezed past, and he tried to ignore the warmth that bloomed from that spot.
The woman took the seat he’d just vacated, stowing her purse underneath the seat and fastening her seat belt. Lucas took the aisle seat next to her. Since they were in first class, the seats were only in rows of two, and they were wide enough that they didn’t touch. If they’d been in economy, they would have been squashed together with their arms pressed against each other.
It was a good thing they weren’t in economy.
The woman took her headphones out of the purse. They were the kind with a strap that went over the top of her head, as opposed to the small earbuds that Lucas preferred. She put them on and turned to look out the window.
Lucas reached for his magazine. Luckily, the flight to Cabo wasn’t long. He could ignore her until they landed. At least she didn’t seem eager to chat.
The older man who’d cornered him boarded after a while, sending Lucas a glare on the way to the back of the plane. Lucas tried to ignore him. Still, with the rude woman beside himand the even ruder man somewhere in the back of the plane, it was hard to put aside how awful today had been. Lucas was practically fuming. What he really wanted was to get off this plane, take a cab straight back to the Omegron offices, and try to put this right. His palms itched with the desire to work, not to go on some vacation that felt more like exile than relaxation.
Lucas turned the page a little too hard, causing the magazine to tear slightly. Sighing, he smoothed the page and flipped to a double spread on how to spend twenty-four perfect hours in Dubai. It wasn’t going to be easy to distract himself, but he had to try.
CHAPTER 6
KENDRA
Kendra could hardly believe her bad luck. Out of all the people to sit next to, she was trapped beside the man who’d been so rude to her at the check-in counter. She glanced at him. From this close, she could see the strong line of his jaw and a dusting of stubble across his cheeks, as though he’d forgotten to shave that morning. His tailored suit looked too formal to fly in. Perhaps he was on some kind of business trip — although what business he might have in Cabo, she wasn’t sure.
It didn’t matter. She had plenty to worry about without thinking about her seatmate. She put on her motivational playlist, a mix of upbeat classical songs that always put her in a good mood. Except for today. Then she grabbed her phone, connected to the plane’s Wi-Fi, and stared at the now forty messages that were waiting for her. Taking a deep breath, she tapped on the first message from her mom and typed a quick reply.
I’m going on the honeymoon by myself. I’m fine, but I need a little time. I’ll text you soon.
Copying the message, she sent the same one to her dad and each of the friends and family members who’d texted her. She just couldn’t deal with their sympathy — or their blame — right now.
Hoping to find something a little more relaxing to read than the frantic and worried messages from her loved ones, Kendra opened her email and scrolled to the resort’s booking confirmation. Images of palm trees and infinity pools overlooking the ocean flooded her screen, along with pictures of beautifully cooked food and luxurious suites. Kendra scrolled past a detailed description of the activities she had booked for herself and Aaron. She’d sit those out now that she was on her own. A couple’s kayaking trip or a day at Lover’s Beach wouldn’t be much fun by herself.
At the bottom of the email, her eyes fell on another paragraph.
