Chapter 23
Lucy
“No, no, no,” I mutter, stepping over Pudding and tapping my phone screen furiously when the Uber re-routes again. For some reason, the driver that I just ordered is going in circles on the other side of the block, but not getting any closer to me. “This can’t be happening again.”
“Have you thought about getting a real alarm clock?” Aunt Ruby asks, as calm as ever. She’s at the table, several vials of scents and oils laid out in front of her, and she doesn’t look up when she speaks.
Admittedly, part of being late now has to do with the fact that I was up past midnight, tossing and turning, my mind filled with anxiety over this trip.
Well, not the trip itself, but the three men I’m accompanying.
Dane, whom I haven’t been alone with since we slept together in Amsterdam. Who I have active, repeating sex dreams about every night. The man who occasionally looks at me through the glass of his door with an intensity that takes my breath away.
Cole, who brings me little treats, silently setting them on my desk like a cat bringing in a mouse.
Who wordlessly carted over a box to my desk when I said I liked the sound of his keyboard, giving me several options and waiting patiently while I tried typing on each one.
With gentle, careful fingers that, grazing over my skin, made me feel crazed and trapped in my own body.
And Nico, who hauled me up onto his face and held onto my hips, urging me to do something brave. Who made me feel beautiful and reckless, younger and more mature at once.
I’ve kissed all three of them. Done more with Nico and Dane. Wanted more with Cole.
Today, I’m going to be trapped on a jet with them, wondering what they each know. Fretting over what might happen if they find out. Then we’ll land on the island, and it will be even more awkward.
Nico obviously knows about Dane. But he doesn’t know about Cole, and Cole and Dane have no idea about the other two.
It’s not like I’d ever get to choose, like I could ever have something real with any of them. But if someone said I had to pick one of them and stop thinking about the others, I don’t think I could.
So, thoughts like that kept me up last night, suspended somewhere between awake and sleeping, until eventually my alarm went off and I was too groggy to remember why I’d set it in the first place.
“I’ll order you one,” Aunt Ruby says, pulling me out of my thoughts and giving me a meaningful look as I yank on my shoes. “An alarm clock.”
“Thank you,” I breathe, shaking my head slightly. “I’ve got to run. I love you!”
“Text me when you get there!” she calls, and I stop, turning and holding my phone up.
“I can’t, remember? No service. But I’ll be careful.”
She frowns. “Watch out for quicksand.”
With that, I’m running down the hallway, onto the elevator, and calling my Uber to try and figure out what the hell is going on.
When I burst out the front door, suitcase bouncing along behind me, I stop at the sight of Julian idling in a No Parking zone, grinning at me and holding up an iced coffee.
“Oh my god,” I gasp, falling into the passenger seat after throwing my suitcase into the back seat. “Julian, you’re saving my life. I could kiss you!”
“Not my type, sweetheart,” Julian quips, before launching away from the sidewalk with a lead foot.
I blink my eyes against the g-force. A sarcastic question about my aunt teaching him to drive lingers in the back of my throat, but I think better of it.
He’s saving my ass, after all. “Plus—thank Aunt Ruby. She called me when you got up late.”
I make a mental note to thank her later and take a sip of the iced coffee. It’s sweet and creamy, and I need the caffeine in the worst way. “Thank you.”
“Where are you going, anyway?” Julian asks, glancing at me and raising an eyebrow.
“It’s their annual retreat,” I sink into the chair, happy that he’s not bringing up the kiss with Cole or prodding for more information.
If he did, I might end up telling him about Nico, and then I’d definitely be late.
“It’s a way to come up with new ideas for the company.
Bill Gates does something similar. Dane, Cole, and Nico do it every year, no question. ”
I read about it in one of Dane’s business books, No Question. That one was about the process of idea generation and thinking big, and I imagine there are MBA programs across the country that assign it as essential reading.
It might be unhealthy, but since I started working for them, I’ve been consuming everything I can find about the three of them.
That stretches from their own books—of which Dane has several, Cole has one, and Nico has co-authored one with Dane—to the sleazy, tabloid websites that fill my screen with advertisements and make it hard to scroll without accidentally redirecting to laser hair removal products.
So, despite the fact that I don’t care about business or biology, I was totally into reading their books, realizing I could sense their individual voices in their writing.
“Earth to Lucy.”
At the sound of Julian’s amused voice, I blink, looking up and realizing we’re outside the airfield. “Oh, shit.”
“Yeah, go, go, and don’t even bother tipping!” Julian calls, as I hop out of the seat and grab my bag from the back.
Turning around, I lean down and grin at him, “I’ll get your coffee next time we’re out.”
“Doesn’t count if you use Mr. Money Bag’s card,” he teases, and the reminder sends a zing right through me.
I still have Dane’s card, practically burning a hole in my wallet, but I haven’t used it aside from the shopping spree he demanded I go on. Even after Amsterdam, when he specifically told me to use it, I haven’t been able to bring myself to do it.
I turn and trot to the private security entrance leading to the jet.
The man waiting outside is anxious to take my bag, and when I climb aboard, flustered and sweating, I turn to find three sets of eyes landing directly on me.
Dane’s serious, brown eyes so dark they make him look almost demon-like.
Nico’s slightly amused, sparkling hazel eyes.
And Cole, glancing quickly, just two seconds of eye contact that’s enough to feel like a physical touch. He quickly looks back at his tablet, but the other two continue looking at me.
“Lucy,” Dane says with a quick nod, while Nico pats the seat next to him with a smile.
“Have a seat,” Nico says.
Tentatively, I cross over the plush carpet and sink down into the seat next to Nico, across from Cole and Dane.
Dane presses the button on his armrest, paging the pilot. “We’re ready to go.”
“Okay. Wheels up in five, boss.”
The microphone clicks off, Dane sits back in his seat, and the air between us all is thick with—what? Tension? Possibility?
Whatever it is, it floats in my body like a cloud, nebulous and sparking, not quite sure whether to rain or strike down with lightning, hot and fast.
I have no idea what’s about to happen, but I’m pretty sure it’s going to be intense.