Enchanted (The Accidental Billionaires #4)(30)

I guess it was just different for me to be consenting to something that only a week ago would have made no sense to me.

I didn’t do things for fun. I did things because it was my responsibility.

I pulled on a T-shirt that matched my board shorts.

She pulled on a calf-length coverup over her modest one-piece swimsuit.

My chest hurt as I watched her getting strapped into her seat first. Her gorgeous blonde hair got caught by the wind, and the wayward strands were tossed by the breeze.

Andie was beautiful in a way that I couldn’t explain. Conventionally, she was pretty, and I shook my head every time she bitched about the extra pounds she carried.

Whether she loved her curves or not, I sure as hell loved them, but it wasn’t just her physical appearance that drew me.

It was her spirit, her willingness to accept whatever came her way and turn it into a positive, that really drew me to her.

I was beckoned by a radiance in her that I couldn’t even explain, but I didn’t try to rationalize the attraction.

It was there, and my gut ached every damn time I looked at her.

Mine!

I didn’t try to push away my instinctive reactions or my possessiveness when it came to Andie.

Not anymore.

None of it would ever make sense, but it was starting to feel natural, normal, to want to protect Andie, even if she didn’t need to be sheltered.

We were shoulder to shoulder as the cable was extended and the parachute picked up the wind.

I wrapped my arm around Andie as we rose, dangling high over the water in a matter of seconds.

She squealed happily, and I let out a bark of rusty laughter as the water stretched out in the distance below us.

“Oh, my God,” Andie said loudly. “This is amazing. I feel like I’m flying, Noah.”

There was a sense of freedom as we hung high above the water, but the weird thing that struck me once we were all the way up was the silence.

I wasn’t sure exactly what I’d expected, but it hadn’t been the feeling I was actually experiencing as we hung suspended, riding the wind.

“It’s a long way down,” I said with a grin.

She turned a happy smile my way. “I’m not afraid. We’re together.”

She leaned into me, and I was completely wrecked.

There was no hesitation in her actions anymore.

She’s starting to trust me.

I realized that having Andie’s trust meant everything to me. I wanted her to feel completely comfortable when we were together.

“Is this what you expected to be doing on your vacation?” she asked as she laughed from the exhilaration of floating through the sky.

Hell, no, it wasn’t.

I hadn’t expected to have fun.

I hadn’t expected to be amused.

I hadn’t expected to learn so much about Mexico.

I hadn’t expected to spend every single moment wanting a female so bad that it was almost painful.

I hadn’t expected to enjoy the food so damn much.

And I sure as hell hadn’t expected . . . her.

Maybe in the beginning, I hadn’t wanted my world to be upended, and I hadn’t wanted my regimented life to be forever changed.

But now . . . I was grateful for all those things I’d never expected or wanted. Especially . . . her.

I’d desperately needed Andie Lawrence. I just hadn’t recognized it in the very beginning of this vacation.

“No,” I answered honestly. “None of this is what I thought it would be at all.”

“Please don’t say you’re sorry that it’s not a working vacation,” she pleaded.

How did I tell her that this whole period of vacation time had been like an awakening of some kind?

How did I tell her that I wouldn’t change a damn thing?

How did I tell her exactly how much I’d needed her to crash into my life and change it?

In the end, I didn’t even answer her question. I didn’t say anything at all because I had no idea how to put what I felt into words.

She wrapped an arm around my neck and kissed me.

Andie must have been convinced that I wasn’t sorry, because she didn’t bring the subject up again.





CHAPTER 12

ANDIE



I sighed from my seat at the end of the couch and posted what I’d written that day to my blog.

We only had three more days in Cancún, so I wouldn’t be writing anything else until I got back to Citrus Beach. I could write about the last few days here when we got back to California. My article for the travel magazine was well underway, so it wouldn’t take a lot of work to finish it up.

Work was going well. I just wished I could be as happy about the progression of my relationship with Noah.

I sensed that he didn’t want to push too hard. After all, we’d only had an adult relationship for a total of eleven days.

But I knew what I wanted.

I’d known, probably from the first time I’d laid eyes on him, that I wanted to get him naked, and that need had only grown stronger every moment we were together.

Yeah, maybe I had traveled the world, but I had no idea how to let him know that I was ready to throw caution to the wind.

I was done with the cuddling, kissing, and intimate touches that just made me want him with an ache so deep I could feel him in my bones.