“I do technically own a yacht,” I said casually.
Her eyebrows shot up. “Of course, you do. Why wouldn’t you?”
I shrugged. “I bought it a few years ago, but it turns out that the whole ‘models on a boat’ thing is highly overrated. If it’s your boat, you spend way too much time dealing with vomit and the Italian naval police tend to get really grumpy.”
She blinked hard. “You’re joking.”
“I wish,” I said. “Anyway, the yacht has just been collecting dust, but we’ve got some time and the idea of you on it?—”
“Alex,” she said, laughingly cutting me off before I could spiral fully into fantasy. “We can’t gonow.”
“Why not?”
“I don’t know,” she said, giving me a pointed look. “Maybe because this office is my life right now and I don’t even own a swimsuit.”
“That’s a solvable problem.”
“I haven’t worn one in years.”
I shrugged. “I’ll take you shopping when we get there.”
Her mouth curved into a smile that said she definitely wasn’t taking me seriously. “You cannot just drag me to another country and make me buy swimwear.”
“I absolutely can,” I said. “I’m very persuasive.”
She shook her head, but she was smiling wider now, warmth blooming across her cheeks. “We have responsibilities.”
“We do,” I agreed. “Soon, we’ll have a lot more responsibilities, which is why we’ll leave tonight, spend a week in the sun celebrating our marriage like normal people, then we’ll come back, conquer the world, and make a truly irresponsible amount of money this year.”
She laughed outright then, pushing off the couch and climbing into my lap, her arms sliding around my neck. “You make it sound so simple.”
I wrapped my fingers around her hips. “It kind of is. I own the jet and the yacht. Both came with people licensed to operate them and I’ve got their numbers. We’ve done all we can here. The only thing we’re doing now is waiting to actually be able to start.”
“With Thayer, yes, but you run a whole different company, remember?”
“Yeah, and I’ve got more brothers and cousins than sense,” I countered immediately. “One of them can step up for a change. It’s only a week.”
Finally, after staring at me for a few more seconds, her expression softened and her eyes started sparkling with what I hoped was excitement. “Okay. One week.”
“Just a week,” I echoed.
She leaned in to kiss me like there was nowhere else she needed to be and nothing else she’d rather be doing. When she finally pulled back, she rested her forehead against mine. “You know this means you’re going shopping.”
“I’m prepared to suffer,” I said solemnly. “For you, I’ll endure all the shopping necessary.”
She laughed against my lips, and as soon as she was off my lap, I booked the jet. Finally, our lives together no longer felt like one battle plan after another, and I couldn’t wait for us to have a week where the only thing we would be planning together was our future.
CHAPTER 49
JANE
Alex drove with one hand on the wheel and the other resting loosely on my knee. Late afternoon light slanted in golden streaks across the familiar streets. The airport waited at the other end of this drive, along with his jet, which was fueled and ready, and a honeymoon I still couldn’t quite believe I’d agreed to.
Before that, though, there was one more thing we had to do. Alex turned the final corner and my mother’s house came into view, some lights already on inside and spilling out onto the snow through the windows.
I waited for that knot of tension to form in my stomach or for my muscles to brace for what came next, but it didn’t happen. This was new, the lack of stress in my body when I saw their house, but Mom and I had made peace and Wyatt was finally talking to me again.
Our visit today wasn’t about fixing anything. Alex had simply asked if I’d like to pop in to say goodbye before we left, and I’d said yes. I’d promised Wyatt I’d be more open with him from now on, and taking off for a week abroad without telling him or saying goodbye felt like breaking that promise.
