“I know, it was hard to walk away….” I said. I could still feel the regret lingering, wanting him.
“So, what’s next? Did he book a second date?” said Lotte.
“Um, we booked a few dates. We’re going to his favorite dessert place after work Friday night, and if I can get my leave approved tomorrow then we’re also going to his private island for a couple of days, not next weekend but the following.”
Raven almost jumped out of her seat as Lotte leaned back from the table, her eyes wide as she crossed her arms in front of her chest.
“He has an island? A private fucking island!” Raven was really screaming now. She was expressing the exact reaction that I would have, if I wasn’t trying to act so poised when Henry told me about it. It was the last thing that he shared with me before I told him that I would accept his rose. And it was the part that I was still pinching myself over. In one single weekend I really did get everything that I wanted. And I got it without having to embarrass myself on reality television. Friends, a potential lover and a holiday.
“Molly, holy shit! You have got him whipped. Hook, line and sinker. If he not only told you about his island, but he is also taking you there. That is something very special. He’s never even taken me there. He reserves it for business and keeps it that way. Business and special occasions, and even on those occasions as one of his best friends. I have never been out there… in fact, I think that you’re the first girl he has ever taken there.”
Chapter Six
Icounted the different outfits that I had packed for the third time, trying not to mess up my neatly packed suitcase. Henry hadn’t told me much about what we would be doing on the island. He had just called it a getaway for us. A short holiday, so I planned the best possible outfits that were versatile enough for any event. Lavish dinners, casual dinners, pool hangs, snorkeling, and boat days.
Henry hadn’t given me many details about the island itself. All I knew was he said he had some nice property on it, but it was tiny, and you could walk around the whole thing in just over an hour. He also said that he had some workers, cooks, cleaners, that maintained the property when he wasn’t there. In his absence, he would rent it out to various businessmen from all over the world to run retreats.
I finally shut my suitcase when my phone buzzed. My heart stopped for a second as I saw Henry’s name light up my phone screen. This was it. I took a deep breath and opened the message which read:out front. My breath caught in my throat. Icouldn’t believe that I was really going to my man’s private island. Technically I didn’t know if I could call him my man yet, but it was close enough. The past week had really been incredible, taking long night walks around the city. Sitting in the corner of his favorite jazz bar, cuddled up and drinking gin, fully aware of the fact that everyone was watching us. Some were taking pictures. Lotte had even sent me the link to an article on a local gossip column that mentioned the strange woman that Mr. Henry Bentley was seen with. Who was she? I never told Henry about it, and most of the time when we were in public, he didn’t even mention the many eyes that I could feel on us. He was too lost inside the tight bubble that we had created.
The pounding in my chest began to feel uncomfortable. I took another couple of slow breaths as I pulled my suitcase down from the bed, standing in the doorway to my apartment.
I was meant to be here. I deserved this life! This had been everything that I wanted, everything that I had asked for. Even though the holiday was only going to be short, I couldn’t shake my head out of what a rollercoaster the past couple of weeks had been. It was less than two weeks ago that I had met the man who literally had given me everything that I had always wanted, and the way he spoke about me. It was if I gave him that same feeling. Lotte had said that he had never taken any girls to the island before. The two of us were moving so quickly, but at the same time I had never been moreready for this.
I walked through the front door from my building, a building and an area of town that was way too run down for a brand new Audi and a private driver in the street. We got a lot more looks than just the fact that I was with the infamous Mr. Bentley, I was still shaking my head because everyone else around us surely was, too. But even after two years in this city, I was still oblivious to gossip. My social feeds were more filled with inspirational videos on business and marketing, trying to grow my career than to keep up with the lives of other people.
The back door to the Audi opened and there he was, his bright blue eyes staring up at me, and I had never seen him look so effortless, casual and happy. He was wearing a plain white tee, with some denim shorts, and I couldn’t help but laugh at our near matching outfits.
We were meant to meet each other.
The infamous words he had said to Lotte ran through my head. The biggest smile that I had ever seen escaped his lips, took over his entire face, showing his perfect pearly whites and dimples on both sides. In a single blink he had jumped straight out of the car and was wrapping his arms around me. I breathed in the smell of him that I now distinctly knew so well, the smell of sweet musk and maybe a side of marshmallow. The smell that I now knew, no matter what, I would never forget.
“The day has come,” he whispered in my ear. And suddenly, wrapped up in his embrace, my beating heart felt calm again. “Let me take your bag,” he said. He grabbed hold of my suitcase handle placing a soft kiss on my forehead. Whata gentleman. He then placed my suitcase in the boot of the car before gesturing for me to take a seat, closing the door behind us as I said a quick hello to Aaron. Henry grabbed hold of my hand, and I gazed down at our interlocked fingers, his tanned skin against my pale. They looked good together, we looked good together.
“So where are we exactly going? And how are we getting there?” I said looking up and seeing how Henry had been watching me the whole time. He looked at me like I was a piece of art. I’d thought that a couple of times, in the first week that we began hanging out, but I brushed the thought away not wanting to get too carried away into stories that I did not know was true. But when Lotte caught up with us for a drink after dinner one night, she messaged me with the exact same thoughts. She said he looked at me like art. And one thing that I had gotten to know about Henry was that he loved art, treasured art.
Henry’s wide smile turned into my favorite smirk, this time biting the inside of his bottom lip. I wanted to pull my hand away from his, look away. I needed to know how long this drive was going to be because I didn’t know how long I could contain myself while he was touching me like this. I had tried so hard to keep onto the innocence between us. In the time that we had spent together, as hard as it was, I had always turned away and gone home. And even though we were always cuddled up close, even a tiny millimetre separated us alwayshelped. But now, we were interlocked and, in the nights, to come, there was nowhere for me to go home.
“I told you it’s just off the coast of the Hamptons, not far at all.” He winked.
“Okay… but how exactly are we getting there? How do you usually get over there?”
“We’re so close to the surprise, I really don’t want to give it all away now. I can promise you that I think you will like my favorite mode of transport, at least I hope you do.” My original guess was he had some lavish boat on the harbor, but if he said we were almost there, maybe we were too far away.
“There is something that I would love to chat about before we officially leave, if that’s okay?” he said.
“Of course,” I replied casually. My mind ran through the different things that he would be wanting to talk to me about before the two of us were isolated on a tiny island. But he came across too calm for it to be anything too serious.
“Do you think that we’re moving too quickly?” he said without blinking, keeping his eyes locked on me like he was watching every single slight movement of my body. Anything that would give away how I was feeling before I even spoke a word. But I kept myself still, pondering on his question. It had only been two weeks, and it was Lotte who had told me how serious it was that he was taking me to his island today. No one had been there, at least no girls and not even her. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
Although my body felt calm now my mind was running at a thousand miles an hour wondering what he particularly meant by that question. Did he think we were moving too fast? Was he having second thoughts about this? Maybe this was the moment that he wanted to make it official with me, completely exclusive.
In so many ways this had been moving quicker than anything else in my life, but it had also been moving the slowest ever. I had never felt so open, at ease and comfortable with someone so quickly. I have never spilled so many details about my past, the little things that had made me, me and yet still… we hadn’t had sex. God, the things that I would do to feel his tongue slowly move up and down my thigh. I almost moaned from the thought, and I swear my cheeks were bright red as I watched Henry’s head tilt ever so slightly, like he was trying to read my thoughts. Shit, now I had let the silence between us linger for too long.
“In some ways yes, and some ways no,” I said, but he kept ever so still waiting for me to elaborate as I watched us move fast through the city, in the window behind him. “How do you feel? Do you think that were moving too fast?” I said. Henry wrapped up my hand in both of his and placed it in his lap.
“I’ll tell you exactly how I’m feeling. I was just hoping to hear it from you first,” he said, leaning in closer to me, every single time he did that, without even thinking, I felt my body drift towards him. Just one more inch further and we would have been kissing.
“This has been moving faster than I have ever experienced before. But it’s not a bad thing. It doesn’t feel like a bad thing at all. In fact, it’s the most natural I’ve ever felt with anyone,” I said. His lips curved higher as I spoke.
