Page 55 of The Heiress Bride
She shoots me a soft smile. So knowing, my Princess. It’s like she can read my mind.
She probably can. I’m full of naughty thoughts about her.
King takes her left hand, holding it between his, absently drawing patterns across her skin. They don’t even have to touch me to make me want them.
“You guys good?” Alex asks from the doorway.
Our protector. My heart stumbles but picks itself up, glancing over at my two lovers before returning my attention to him. “We’re good.”
He nods, ducks out again, and a moment later, climbs inside, taking the seat opposite me. The soft leather hugs his big body, and he looks every inch the successful CEO.
But for the next month, we’re successful CEOs on our first real vacation in years. This trip is about getting away to decompress. There are no work meetings scheduled. No beachfront networking to do. This is all about the four of us.
And I can’t wait.
It’s not long before the helicopter is swooping through the brilliant blue sky, then descending toward an even bluer sea.
“Is that—” Katherine leans across King’s lap, getting as close to the window as possible.
“What do you think?” he asks, his voice an interesting mixture of pride and hope.
He’d talked about buying a yacht all thosemonths ago when we stood on my back porch, staring out at the ocean. And every day that passed made him want it more. He’s firmed up a lot of plans these past two months.
The gleaming white yacht below is perhaps the biggest of those plans. And a complete secret from Katherine.
And boy was that hard. Honestly, I was sure one of us was going to spill the news prematurely. Or that King would leave his sketches out where she’d see them.
“It’s incredible,” Katherine gushes, practically in his lap now.
Of course, he didn’t buy new. That’s too wasteful for Kingston Saint. But man-oh-man did he luck out when the ex-wife of a Silicon Valley darling got the superyacht in the divorce and decided to sell.
To say he had crews working double time to renovate is an understatement.
The helicopter lands on the bow and, for a brief moment, I’m tossed back in time. Quickly, I remind myself that that was a different day. A different continent. Katherine is safe. Lucinda is behind bars.
As soon as we land, he reaches for the clasp on her seatbelt. When the pilot opens the door, King takes her hand. “Let me show you around.”
“How doyouknow your way around?” she asks, a curious note in her voice.
Like the imp he is, he shoots her a golden boy smile that saysTrust me.
With the pilot and crew handling our luggage, we follow King past sparkling windows, through a side door and down an opulent spiral staircase. The cool air smells fresh, clean, a bit like cucumber and sea salt.
“This is so pretty. You guys…” She glances over her shoulder at me, her eyes a little wide.
“It’s got everything. You won’t want to leave,” he teases as he leads us through an oval-shaped dining room that could seat a board meeting. Then we make our way down a hallway to a lounge that’s surrounded on all sides with windows that show off the blue water beyond.
My brain can’t catalog all the gorgeous details fast enough. Polished floors. Sumptuous fabrics. Thoughtfully selected art.
He really outdid himself. Those designers earned the hefty bonus he gave them to put his project at the top of their priority list.
King glances at Alex, then me, with a question in his eyes.What now? What next?
We planned a little downtime for the afternoon, just in case there were travel delays. At the time,padding made sense. But now that we’re here, I’m eager to get the show on the road.
“Is there a pool?” I ask, giving him a lifeline to latch on to.
He juts his chin toward the sky. “Top deck. But there’s a hot tub back here.”
