Page 108 of Rules Don't Apply in Paradise
“He just copied that line from my mail.”
“He sure did,” she says with a chuckle.“‘Jem and I have been talking, and she’d like to do some managerial training at our head office in Paris and at our hotels in London. Mike will join her, and although we can source staff to manage the activities at Ne’emba, finding an excellent and passionate resort manager, who has fresh ideas and who has worked at Ne’emba and knows the drill, is hard.’”
Lexi lowers her phone. Her voice cracked a little on those last words.
“Babes?”Oof. She’s got tears in her eyes. “Hey, hey…babes… That’syou. Excellent and passionate. Fresh ideas. Knows the drill.” I kiss her on the forehead and then her temple and lower, catching her tears.
“Why must he be so freaking nice?” she murmurs as she turns in to my arms. I hug her close.
Here at last is someone from the industry who gives Lexi what she wants and needs to hear. “Nathan’s one of the good ones. You called it first.”
Now she’s laughing in my neck, and God help me, this woman. She’s my everything. “Come on, read on. That wasn’t all of it.”
“No, it wasn’t.” She sits straight again and reads from her phone screen. “‘As we haven’t received your resignation’—God, I didn’t officially resign, I just thought it was a given—‘I’m assuming you’ll be back once you’ve had time to recoverfrom recent events, which include being falsely accused of drug trafficking. My sincerest apologies for that. We hope you’ll reconsider and return to Ne’emba. We, the Beaumont team, would love to have you (as soon as possible, preferably with Tristan in tow). Let’s schedule a call to discuss. Nathan.’”
Lexi tosses her phone on the sofa, and it skids over the edge to drop to the floor. She’s on me in a second, straddling my lap. “What’s happening?” she says, her eyes wide as she grips my shoulders and gives me a little shake. “Babes?” she says. “What is this crazy?” Her fingers run over my shoulders to caress my neck. She cups my face, and I have my hands on her ass, tugging her closer.
“I don’t know. Left-field type of crazy stuff. It’s been crazy from the start… Maybe they’re just tapping into… I dunno? Our crazy?”
She kisses me, and when she pulls away, she whispers, “Imagine going there with a clear conscience, living and working as we want to, without anything hanging over us…”
No unresolved tension between us, no fake engagement…no Jem. I can’t wait to watch my girl shine. “So, are we doing it?” I ask. I know what I want. I can only hope?—
“Doing it?” she murmurs, her lips cruising down my neck. “Of course we’re doing it.”
I chuckle as I maneuver her onto her back, the sofa a very receptive surface for what we’ve been doing most recently.
“Of course we’re doing it,” I mumble as I run a string of kisses to her lips. “We’redoing itright now, and afterwards, we’ll schedule that call.”
And just for the record? I plan to never stop doing this with her by my side.
