“It’s a house with wings,” I exclaim, finding Chase settling onto one of the couches.
“Do you like it?” He invites me to sit next to him and I snuggle into him. Maybe this weekend will be fun. Grant joins us and then disappears into the cockpit as we take off. Isnooze against Chase’s side, but I don’t think we’re in the air for long and are soon descending.
“Okay, can you tell me where we are now?” I look out the window. I can see mountains, a city, and a coastline with a beautiful blue sea beyond.
“Monaco,” he says simply.
“Monaco? You brought me to Monaco?” I look back out the window eagerly. A weekend in Monaco. Rubbing shoulders with the rich and famous. Then I remember Chase is rich and mostly famous and a laugh escapes.
The plane comes to a stop and Grant is first out, striding across the airfield. He returns a few minutes later with a car and we climb in, then he drives us into Monaco while I almost have my nose pressed to the glass looking at the sights. He pulls up at a marina, next to a yacht.
“Also yours?” I ask as Grant takes our bags up the ramp.
“It’s time to start relaxing, sweetheart.” Chase takes my hand and leads me onto the boat, where he’s greeted by who I assume is the captain and two crew members. I shake their hands and go to stand by the rail, then I look over to where Grant is poised to leave the boat.
“See you in a week,” Chase says and Grant nods, walking away while the engines start up.
A week?! No. No! I march over to Chase who turns towards me with a smile.
“I can’t be away for a week.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Chase
I bitemy lip to tamp down my amusement at Noah’s immediate outrage.
It’s not funny, not really.
But it is kind of ridiculous.
“Of course you can,” I tell him, doing my damndest to keep my voice even and calm.
“I really,reallycan’t,” he insists.
Right here on the deck of the yacht, I haven’t even had the pleasure of properly showing off and he looks like he’s ready to revolt.
Good thing the lines are dropped just now by the crew.
I smirk to myself and take one, very deliberate, step forward.
“You can, and you will. You need time off, sweetheart. You can’t keep going on like this.”
“You don’t get to decide that,” he hisses through clenched teeth. “I choose what I can or cannot do. What I can or cannot sustain.”
“You’re right,” I murmur, pausing to let that sink in. “But if I were the one who passed out from exhaustion in front of you, I wonder what you would do, what you’d think of me if I thought that’s the way I have to live my life.”
Though he tries to keep that righteous indignation in place, I know that hits home.
“I really am only doing this because I care about you,” I tell him plainly.
That seems to be a big mistake.
“If you cared about me, you’d understand how important my work is for me,” he says. Borderline shouts, actually.
“I do know that,” I throw back, unable to keep my tone level any longer. “Of course I know that, Noah.”
“I’m not like you, you know?” He throws his arms up.