Page 22 of Maid for My Billionaire Boss
“I don’t know what to say about that.”
“You can say we have a deal.”
Somehow, she had taken control of the conversation, and I was the one left stuttering, “Well, yeah. But—” My mind was a battle zone, with one side begging me to agree because that would mean she’d go, but the other side was vastly curious wanting to know more.
“But what?”
“But it’s weird.”
“You’re asking me to get on a plane—just the two of us.” She flattened a palm defensively on her chest. “Fly halfway across the world to some swamp land and you think I’m offering the weird deal?”
“I mean, when you put it that way . . . They are probably equal in weirdness.”
“This is your offer to lose.” She let the last word dangle on her tongue like she was about to rescind the offer.
I didn’t take the chance. “I’ll forward your info to my lawyers and have them get in touch with you.” I thought she’d respond with something sassy, but instead, she did a final eye sweep across my face before leaving with a serious expression.
Then I reflected on what had just happened.
I had convinced Atalie to go away with me for the weekend. I didn’t know why it felt like my heart was beating in random compartments of my chest faster than regular speed, but I knew I didn’t hate swamps.
Twelve
Atalie
Alongflightintothe capital city and several guided boat rides later, our guide left us standing on a deserted shoreline of the river to complete the final leg of the trip—alone.It shouldn’t have been hard, but it’s not like Google Maps worked here. I scanned the terrain, noting the palm trees and dense forestation which appeared exactly how it had looked when I searched online. That part didn’t bother me because it was very beautiful. The thing that made my gut squirm was seeing how deserted this part of Indonesia was. “Are you sure you have the directions memorized?” I asked Trey again as I watched our tour guide’s raft get smaller as he navigated back up stream, away from us.
“Yeah, I didn’t have any paper, so I wrote it on my arm. That way I can’t lose it.” As if to reassure me, he held up his arm, flashing the inside for me to see his neat boxy penmanship. Revealing a new wave of tan from the boat ride, he obviously had olive-toned skin which tanned easily and didn’t burn, unlike my fair skin that forced me to reapply sunscreen every hour. Surprisingly his arm was toned and sinewy, not what I would expect from a guy who coded for a living. My nervous eyes paced the directions, ensuring I didn’t see anything wrong with them.
I tugged at my backpack, adjusting the straps for the zillionth time with the quiver in my stomach starting to rumble. I had been doing mostlyokaybecause we had our guide, but this was different. This was eerie. Quiet. Well, not totally silent. I could hear the water sloshing along the shore in a relaxed pattern and some random hissing noises springing from the tall grasses.Grasshoppers.I told myself.
“Okay.” I turned to him, latching my eyes with his. There was a seriousness in his gaze telling me he was also alert, but not fearful. “What’s the plan?”
He motioned to the shoreline downstream to where a canoe rested. “We walk this way, grab the boat Robert left for us, and paddle downstream, around a bend, take the left fork, and stop at the village.”
Rolling my shoulders to get them to loosen up, I breathed measured breaths. “That shouldn’t be too bad.”
“Yeah”—he took a step forward leading the way— “we stay on this path and keep your eyes open.”
“It looks like the water is flowing enough for it to push us gently too,” I added, pretending I knew something about riding dilapidated boats in crocodile-infested water.
“It’s doing alright for now, but the guide said the tide will wash back in the next couple of hours, and we don’t have time to waste.”
“Such a lovely ray of sunshine with your good news all of the time,” I said sarcastically as we butted up next to the boat. Now that we were this close, it looked more like a giant piece of tree bark than anything that could pass for a boat. Another rumble of anxiety pumped through my veins. Casting my eyes downriver, I still couldn’t see any humans, so I nervously clenched Trey’s arm as he pulled the small boat into the water.
When he looked back at me with a stoic expression, my gut twisted in the same manner it did when I watched horror movies. His lips parted in pause, and when he didn’t strap a smile on his lips, I saw something was wrong. “What is it?” I winced through narrow eyes, afraid of the worst. Shoot, out here I was afraid of the best.
“There are no oars.”
“What!” I threw my gaze back to shore, scanning along the grass. “There has to be something.”
He scratched the back of his head, hinting at his own nervousness. “Maybe they washed away, or someone took them?”
“How do we get new ones?”
“I mean, we could totally try Cabela’s if you want.”
I gave him my best not-funny glare. “You’re hilarious.”
