Total pages in book: 35
Estimated words: 33209 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 166(@200wpm)___ 133(@250wpm)___ 111(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 33209 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 166(@200wpm)___ 133(@250wpm)___ 111(@300wpm)
My eyes nearly popped out of my head. “Twenty?”
“Yes. We needed to decide if we should renovate the home top to bottom or build out a new structure with more rooms.”
Immediately, questions popped into my head. “How big is the island? What else is on it?”
He pointed at me. “See, you’re already thinking. There’s nothing else on the island but the home. The island is only a few miles wide.”
“You’ve answered your questions. More rooms would mean not only more guests, but more workers. And if the island isn’t big, it may not support add-ons like restaurants and other activities for so many people.”
“This,” he said.
“I can’t believe you couldn’t hire people to tell you the same thing.”
“I did. I hired you.”
I didn’t want to giggle, but I did. The man made me giddy in every way. Too bad he was following my lead and taking things slow, only too slow. I stood and excused myself to the bathroom.
Talk about fancy. Like everything else, the bathroom was fit for a king. The bathroom fixtures were gold and looked convincing enough to be twenty-four carats. I stared in the mirror at my mousy brown hair and wondered what Agan saw in me. I paused at my wayward hair and forced myself to push away my doubts. If nothing else, Agan had become a great friend and you couldn’t have too many of those.
I opened the door, and Agan was leaning against the wall.
“Hi,” I said, surprised to see him there.
“I realized I’ve made a grave error,” he said. I glanced around. “I need you to know how much I like you.”
Still not getting it, I said, “I like you, too.”
“I like you as more than a friend, Haley. I have since the moment I met you. Just because I haven’t done more than kiss you yet doesn’t mean I didn’t want to. I’m being respectful and still am. But I need you to know that once we finish this thing for my dad, I’m going to kiss you and all the rest, assuming you let me.”
My heart fluttered, and I put a hand to my chest. “Why wait?”
“Because I don’t want you to ever think that this job I’m paying for is any less than that. I value your mind as much as I want more.”
He held out his hand, and I took it. He drew me to him. I waited with bated breath as he leaned down and kissed my cheek. “You’re in the driver’s seat,” he said before letting me go. He followed me back to our seats.
The flight attendant came back and offered us food. We ate and he told me more about Fiji and the private island. At some point, I closed my eyes. When I opened them again, we were told we were landing soon.
“You should change. It will be pretty hot when we get outside.” They had loaded our luggage on the plane. Agan grabbed my bag and led me to the bedroom. “I’ll leave you to it.”
After the door was closed, I surveyed the spacious room with a king-size bed covered in pristine white linen. Unable to bear messing it up, I opened my bag on the floor. I hadn’t brought a lot. I took out jean shorts and a tee shirt that I’d had for the last couple of years.
As I stood in front of a large mirror in the attached bathroom, my insecurities crept up again. I stood straighter, knowing Agan needed to see all my flaws so I wouldn’t be hurt by them in the distant future. If he didn’t like what he saw now, I could save a world of hurt for my future self.
Dressed, I found him in the front part of the plane wearing tan board shorts and a white short-sleeved button-down. He looked every bit the rich guy he was. “Are you ready?” he asked with his hand held out.
Was I ready? There was no turning back now. I took his hand, and we headed out, where we were met by someone who reviewed our passports. Agan had helped me expedite mine since I hadn’t had one before.
He’d been right about the heat. We weren’t in Montana anymore. It had been spring, and the weather had just gotten warmer, but nothing like this. It was full-blown summer here in Fiji. I pulled a floppy hat from my tote and put it on. It was Avery’s contribution for my trip. She’d surprised me with it. Thinking about it made me smile.
Once the guy handed us back our passports, I followed Agan to an awaiting car. “Where to?” I asked him.
The driver pulled off when Agan said, “I thought we’d see a little of Fiji before we go.”
We ended up at the Maui Bay Shopping Center, walking hand in hand, which I didn’t mind one bit. I stopped to admire a swimsuit cover-up. Just as I was about to move on, Agan encouraged me to go inside and try it on.