Page 161 of Reverie

“I wasn’t concerned about that until just now,” she says, her voice flat. I grab her hand.

“I’ve got you, Sunbeam,” I say, enunciating the words so they’re heard clearly over the hum of the rotary wings.

She squeezes my hand in return. “I know, Hunter. And I’ve got you. Always.”

With one final kiss to the back of her wrist, I lift the skids and point us due west.

The helipad for the island is several yards from the main house by design. So when I circle the cay in preparation forlanding, I take a few extra moments to fly around the shore of the island. It’s ten miles wide, so not the biggest land mass, but the structures comprising my island estate are the only buildings here.

Well.Ourisland estate. Really, it’s Winter’s land.

“Wow,” Winter says on a breath. Her awe is plain in her words. “This place is stunning, Hunter.”

I smile and say, “Welcome to Winter Island.”

She snaps her head toward me. “Winter Island? Did I hear you correctly?” Her jaw drops and she looks from me down to the palm trees below and back to me.

I smile. “Yes. What other name would fit better?”

She gapes for a moment before saying, “You bought an island? When did you purchase it?”

I start my final pass around the land before tilting us toward the landing zone.

“I bought it five years ago,” he says. “I was looking for an island that I could use to get away from everyone. I was feeling particularly moody when I got it. But then, a little over a year ago, I met this wonderful, amazing, beautiful woman, and I knew she would love this place. So I named it after her and got it fixed up.”

She doesn’t say anything to that. In fact, she’s silent until we’re skids down on the pad and the rotary blades have stopped spinning.

“You named an island after me,” she says as if in disbelief.

“Yes, I did,” I say. “This will be my first time staying here too.”

She gives me a soft look that’s full of love, and it makes me want to pull my heart out and place it in her hands.

It makes me want to fight off every demon that dares to try to touch her.

It makes me want to weep.

“So I get one of your first times, then?” Winter asks, brightening.

I nod slowly. “Wanna check out our new home away from home?”

“You bet your sweet dick I do,” she says, and we both let out robust laughs.

On one side of the main home on the island, there are at least a hundred steps leading from the house to the shore. It’s a lot of fucking steps, but this was the best vantage point to build the structure. There are 360-degree views of the ocean once you’re inside. Winter Island is a beautiful place.

The architect and designer I hired presented a few ideas for the primary dwelling that looked exactly like what one would expect from a billion-dollar estate and entirely too similar to Isla Cara. All of the prominent elements they suggested—the veranda, the close jaunt to the beach, the massive entertaining space and ballroom—were axed without thought.

The only other direction I gave the architectural team was that I wanted glass everywhere, as many clear sightlines as possible.

It would be hot if I didn’t have the right UV coating on the windows and appropriate air conditioning, but money can buy anything.

I wanted a house where anyone could see in. No places to hide any secrets.

“Wow, this is wild, Hunter,” Winter says when we crest the path from the helicopter to the home. “Do you have staff here?”

“Not full-time in the house itself. I do have staff that maintain the island and an environmentalist who does quarterly checks to make sure we’re taking good care of the natural vegetation, but other than that, the island just sits.”

I turn to her, blocking her view of the inside and say, “But this is all yours. So you can come here whenever you like.”