We made it back to our suite past midnight and didn’t go to our separate rooms. Instead, she came to my bed with me, and I found out exactly how limber my yoga teacher was. Then, we fell asleep in each other’s arms.
It felt so good to lie with her. I hadn’t felt quite right since the trip to the Adirondacks and we had slept curled up in each other. It was like she had been the thing I was missing all this time. And having her again, breathing deeply against my shoulder, her body wrapped around mine . . . this was right.
The next morning when she stirred, I felt her try to slip away, and there was no way that was happening. I pulled her back into me, and she let out a little yelp.
“Where do you think you’re going?” I asked, but didn’t let her answer, because she wasn’t going anywhere. We made love again, and she came three times before I let myself go and released. We cuddled some more, and I ordered a traditional Caribbean breakfast for us because I wanted her to be able to experience the island, not just be a tourist. The attendant set up our grand meal on the deck, and I pulled her chair out for her to sit.
“Oh, callaloo!!” She reached for the dish before pulling back. “Is it vegetarian? It’s usually made with saltfish, but my mother makes a vegetarian version.”
I smiled. “Of course it is; do you think I don’t know what you need?”
She ducked and her hair, wild from our night in bed, hid her face. When she looked back up, her expression was coy. “No. You definitely know what I need.” She slid her bare foot up my thigh, teasingly, then laughed and dropped the sexy mask. She reached for a plate. “Ripe plantains, fry cakes, mango, guava and passionfruit salad, plantain hash and eggs, and . . . what’s this?” She took a sip of the bright, fruity drink.
“Mango bellini.”
“Yum.” She folded her legs in her chair and nibbled on a fry cake. “I love food. This is perfect, Jack. I can’t think of anything better. It’s like a holiday from the real world. We can do anything we want here.”
“Anything you want,” I echoed.
She drained her bellini and held it out for me to refill from the pitcher. “Whatever happens here is like its own world.” She looked out the window at the broad turquoise ocean and the horizon, avoiding my gaze. “Whatever happens in the Virgin Islands, stays in the Virgin Islands.”
I filled her glass again and handed it back to her. She held it up for a toast. “Cheers to the Virgin Islands.” What else was I to do but toast her? A sick dread filled me. I was toasting to this being over at the end of the weekend.
I lost my appetite. Not that Mona noticed. Or at least, she pretended not to notice as she tucked into the breakfast happily. For a slim girl, she ate a lot. But I ate nothing. I sipped on my coffee and swore to myself as she chattered on about how beautiful it was here, filling my silences with nothing.
I tried not to think about how soon this trip was going to be over, how we’d have to go back to the real world and what other challenges we’d have to our relationship when we got there. Mostly, I wasn’t sure she thought we had a relationship . . . or not one past being slightly antagonistic friends. Hell. Time was slipping by, and she was planning to leave this all behind. To leave me behind.
I swore and got up from the breakfast table.
“What’s the matter?” she asked, her face adorably worried.
I let out a frustrated sigh. “I have to deal with some business, and I’m going to have to leave you.”
“All right. No problem. I’m sure I can find something to do with myself while you’re gone. I can go swimming or walk around the town. And I haven’t done my yoga practice all weekend, although I definitely got my body workout in.” She laughed huskily.
“Yes, well, I’d rather be with you doing that than join this deadly dull meeting. I’ll be honest, I never enjoyed business. I went into law because,” I laughed, “I like to argue. But I made it business law for my father. Which was a bad idea, trying to be like him. I’m a failure in my family because I’d rather traipse around the world than settle down making money.”
“But when I met you, weren’t you a CEO for your father’s company?”
“When you met me, there were a lot of things I didn’t know about myself. What I wanted. What I liked. What was important. What was right and wrong . . .” I didn’t want to talk about this. I was already tied up in knots inside. Tonight’s event, this afternoon’s meeting, and the looming end to this weekend. “Listen, I’m going to have to leave you for a few hours, and I know you can do without me—that is abundantly clear.” Her eyebrows quirked as if she was hearing something more in those words than I meant to say. I rushed on. “But I don’t want to leave you. I’m not going to be available until the event tonight, and I’m dreading it all.”
She got up and came to stand very close to me, taking my hands and looking up into my face earnestly. “Is there anything I can do for you? Can I be your emotional support friend?”
A bitter laugh broke through me. Emotional support friend. That wasn’t what I wanted from her. I wanted so much more. But I couldn’t ask for more than she was offering. I couldn’t ask for more than she was ready to give. It wasn’t time yet. I pressed my forehead to hers. “That is very sweet, Mona, but all I want from you is for you to be happy and enjoy yourself.” And to fall in love with me, though, I wasn’t lying. “All you have to do is enjoy your afternoon and get dressed in something fabulous for the formal event tonight and that’s it.”
She pulled back. “Formal event. You didn’t tell me it was a formal event.”
“I didn’t?”
“No. I have nothing to wear to a formal event. You said tropical vacation. That black dress I wore last night was the fanciest thing I have.”
“I liked that dress. Mmm. I like your bare back.”
“Jack!” she said, laughing. “What am I supposed to do about a formal dress?”
I laughed too and swept her up into my arms, pressing a kiss to her mouth. “You go buy a dress. I’ll give you my black card. You get the most amazing dress you can find. Don’t worry about the expense. You know I’m a billionaire. I will spare no expense for you.”
“Jack, I don’t need—”
“But I do need. I need you to do this because then, I can think about you spending way too much money on something you don’t need, and the thought of the hippie girl being extravagant and glamorous will cheer me up throughout the long, deadly meetings I am about to endure. Promise me,” I said when she looked like she was about to refuse. “Promise me you’ll let me spoil you, just for this weekend, and pay for your dress. Remember, what happens here,” I swallowed, “isn’t real life.” She sighed and agreed. Too soon, we had to get dressed for the rest of the day, spent apart. Too soon, we separated. I got her a car and driver, so she’d be free and safe, and then handed her my black card and sent her on her way.
And it was true; all during the painfully dull meeting, whenever I thought of her, with her curly hair and hippie skirt in the stuffy resort boutiques spending gobs of money, I nearly laughed and was no longer quite so miserable.