Page 125 of Love Unwritten
I’m not sure what to make of all this. I would have survived a forty-minute flight from Oahu to Kauai, but Rafael planning this instead makes me…
Angry? Happy? So damn sad, knowing he may be thoughtful but it will never extend beyond that?
All of the above seems like a fitting answer.
Rafael sends him a scathing look that sends his son rushing up the gangway with a giggle. “See you inside!”
“You can’t say what you did last night and then do things like this anymore,” I say in a hushed whisper, not to draw attention from the crew smiling down at us.
“Why not?”
“It’s giving me emotional whiplash.”
He seems to sit with my statement for a moment. “I’m sorry. I’ll try to be more…cognizant of that.”
Now, I feel like a major jerk, so I offer an olive branch. “I appreciate the thought, though. Thanks to you, I can officially scratch someone rented a two-hundred-foot yacht for me off my bucket list.”
I can’t see his eyes, but I can tell he is rolling them. “Elle?”
“I hate when you call me that.”
“Yet you haven’t asked me to stop.”
I frown.
“I’m sorry for the mixed signals, but just try to enjoy it. For me, please?” He walks onto the gangway like it’s his own personal billionaire runway.
I stare at it without responding.
He sighs. “If it makes you feel any better, Nico was the one who picked this boat out.”
I look up at him. “This isn’t a boat, Rafael. It’s a vessel.”
“Well, you did ask me to charter a yacht.”
“I was joking!”
He scratches his head obnoxiously. “Huh. You seemed serious.”
I shoot him a look from behind my sunglasses as I follow him onto the back platform.
“We’re ready when you are, sir.” The captain tips his hat in Rafael’s direction.
Twenty-four hours on a yacht with Rafael and Nico sounds like a fun expedition, so what could possibly go wrong?
If I had to guess, based on the way Rafael keeps looking at me when he thinks I am not paying attention, the answer is simple.
Everything.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
Ellie
It takes exactly thirty minutes after we left Oahu and the glittering shoreline of Honolulu for my heart to start acting up again. The little skip in my chest began as soon as Rafael sauntered out of his cabin in nothing but a bathing suit and that same pair of Ray-Bans.
I was supposed to remain strong, but one look at him applying sunscreen like a social media thirst trap sent my thoughts straight into the gutter, and I haven’t been able to find my way out since.
I fight to keep my tongue in my mouth as I check him out. His body is something most people wish to achieve when they hire a personal trainer and are blessed with the right genetics, so I can’t help marveling at it.