“I still can’t believe I’m on the Paradise Isles. Like tons of rich and famous people come here, and now I’m here too. Crazy!”
I looked around the waterfront bar and across the candlelit dining tables spread throughout the beach, looking for any famous faces I recognized. “Think we’ll see any celebrities while we’re here?”
“I can’t imagine we won’t.” Jimmy followed my gaze, then pointed. “Look! Jason Momoa!”
I nearly fell off my stool whipping toward his pointing finger, and only found several couples eating. I looked harder but then caught his sly grin out of the corner of my eye.
“Jerk.” I smacked his arm. “You know I would pretty much die to see him in person.”
“I know. That’s why I said it.” He chuckled and took a sip of his drink.
I looked up into the inky black sky and admired the countless canvas of stars twinkling against it.
Beautiful. Absolutely beautiful.
“Think we could move the company here and work out of a beach cabana?”
He laughed as I waggled my eyebrows. “Wouldn’t that be nice, but I don’t think corporate would go for it. Sorry, dear.”
I looked around at the tropical paradise surrounding me, which was even more beautiful than the online photos. The little cluster of islands that connected to each other and the mainland by bridges each had their own little personality. We were on the largest of the bunch, and I hoped we’d have time to take a drive over all the bridges and visit them all before flying home.
“Honestly. I love it here. I know it’s only been a few days since we arrived, but I swear I could send for my things and never return. Everyone is so nice, and it’s so beautiful. It really is paradise.”
“It is.” He paused, then tipped his head with a soft smile. “I think you and I should make this trip an annual affair. What do you think?”
My heart palpated inside my chest.
An annual affair?
That simple statement held so many meanings, but the one that raced to the front of my brain was that he saw a future with us together ... a future filled with yearly vacations to paradise.
I couldn’t stop my mind from stretching further to the home in the suburbs with the wrap-around porch, the beautiful garden, and the playset our future children would swing on. At least that was the future I’d always envisioned for myself, and all I needed was to find the perfect man to play the part of the husband—a part I started picturing Jimmy in. As if he were a paper doll, I placed images of him around my fairytale home, wondering if he would be the one to complete the dream. He certainly had all the qualities I wanted in a spouse: handsome, smart, successful, stable, honest. Prime husband material, which meant that the risks I’d calculated about dating a new divorcee and a manager at my company faded away on the warm tropical breeze.
“That would be incredible, Jimmy!” I leaned forward to kiss him, but just before my lips met his, two men walked into the bar area, and he sat back and dropped my hand.
I furrowed my brow. “What’s wrong?”
He rubbed a hand across the back of his neck. “It’s nothing. It’s just that those people are business associates from New York, and they’re here for the conference. I don’t want them to see us together and get the wrong idea.”
My furrow deepened. “The wrong idea? I thought we only had to hide our relationship from our coworkers. Do we really care if some business associates from New York see us?”
Jimmy dropped his glance to his drink, then took a swig. “I just think it’s better if we keep this to ourselves. Just for a little while longer. Is that okay?”
My heart sank at his words. I’d thought here on the Paradise Isles, we’d finally be free to hold hands and kiss at will, but it seemed our relationship would remain hidden in the shadows even here under the hot tropical sun.
“Oh. I guess that’s fine,” I answered, then furrowed my brow. “It’s just that I’m a little confused. Yesterday we were kissing on the beach, and you held my hand all day while we were shopping. I just thought that meant down here, we wouldn’t have to worry as much.”
“We don’t,” he answered quickly. “We can still relax much more than around Chicago, but I just don’t want to flaunt it when I know other business associates are around. Okay?”
“Yeah, I guess I understand,” I responded, though I didn’t. My stomach twisted into a knot that nagged at me—a knot that nudged me to acknowledge something wasn’t right. As a person whose job was to always calculate every potential problem before it happened, the little alarm inside my head started beeping that I was missing something ... an uncalculated risk I’d overlooked.
Before I could give the little voice inside my head any attention, the two men walked over and struck up a conversation. Jimmy introduced me as his colleague, and the words stung more than they should. Iwashis colleague, so it shouldn’t bother me, but I was so much more than that. I was the woman he was planning annual vacations with, yet he still hid our relationship from the world. Now that things were getting serious with us, I decided it was time to talk with Jimmy about coming out in public. I made a mental note to set aside some time tonight when we got back to our room.
After a drink with our new friends and some casual conversation, they bid us goodnight and headed off to their rooms.
“Nice to meet you,” I called to them as they waved and walked away.
“Nice guys.” Jimmy flagged the bartender. “Thanks for playing along.”