‘Darcie, trust me,’ he said. ‘You’re good at everything.’
‘No oneis good at everything,’ she countered realistically. ‘Not even you.’
‘What? You wound me!’ He chuckled and rolled, pinning her beneath him as he laughingly interrogated her. ‘At what do I fail?’
For a moment she stared up at him, basically seduced into brainlessness again already. But then she thought of something.
His gaze narrowed and she felt him brace as she started to laugh. ‘You’re worse than I am at taking holidays.’
CHAPTER TEN
‘HOLIDAYS?’ELIASECHOED, assuming a perplexed air. ‘What are these “holidays” you speak of?’
She giggled again and he couldn’t resist kissing her. But when he lifted his head and gazed down at her he realised she was right. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d bothered to take a sustained break from work. But why would he? Work was energy and excitement. He liked moving from one project to the next without time to take a breath—itwasbreath to him. But Darcie thought that he wasworsethan she was, which meant she’d take a break if shecould. He’d been so very blind when it came to her. And in so many ways.
‘In all this time working for me you’ve not taken any time off,’ he mused. ‘I probably should have been sued by an employee’s federation or something. I’m pretty sure it’s been illegal.’
‘It was a privately negotiated contract,’ she said valiantly. ‘I wanted to work.’
Wanted to orhadto? Because there was a difference. And he didn’t like thinking of herhavingto. Nor did he like her trying to make him feel better about it. ‘Doesn’t make it okay, though. When did you last have a holiday?’
She dropped her gaze. ‘School holidays.’
Well, that was a while ago. And also not true. ‘You worked all of them,’ he said. ‘From your mid-teens you took whatever job you could—fast-food outlets, then data entry. Once you got your first job you never had a break. I rechecked your agency CV on the flight to Vegas.’
Her gaze shot back to his. ‘You did? Why?’
‘Because I realised that despite working alongside you for almost three years, I barely know anything substantial about you.’
She swallowed. ‘You could’ve just asked me.’
‘And you’d answer properly?’ He watched her with wry amusement, feeling an odd ache in his chest at the same time. ‘You’re reticent about anything personal.’ And now he just wondered all the more about her background. He had the horrible feeling she’d been very lonely. ‘That was understandable in our working relationship, but now we’re married...’
Her blue eyes turned intense. ‘Well, you don’t exactly offer up much personal, either.’
True. ‘Perhaps it’s a “work on” for us both. Let’s trade.’ He leaned back. ‘You go first. Tell me, have you ever really travelled?’
‘Frequently.’ She shot him an impish grin. ‘I’m very used to your private jet and still appreciate it, every time. Thanks to you I’ve seen the Eiffel Tower, the Colosseum in Rome, even the Hollywood sign in LA.’
‘Those were literally fly-bys and not for recreational purposes.’ He fiddled with the edge of the sheet, wary about asking too much too soon and uncertain as to why he suddenly wanted to know so badly. ‘You never went on holiday with your foster family?’
Her expression instantly shuttered. ‘It wasn’t something many of them could afford.’
How many foster families had she been placed with?
‘But youcanafford it, yet you don’t go on holiday either.’ She deflected the focus back to him.
And yes, she had him there. ‘I take long weekends.’
‘Not often.’ She looked back up at him. ‘And not recently.’
Also true, and it was because he usually only took a long weekend on the request of a lover and there hadn’t been one those in a while. His exes liked yachts, clubs, glamorous events—easily achieved in the short time format. Brief flings that didn’t go emotionally deep. But Elias’s expansion plans had kept him busy recently, and every weekend for the last four months he’d been working alongside Darcie. They were together once more, but this weekend could be very different.
‘We could stay here an extra day,’ he suggested huskily.
‘Wow.’ Dry amusement sparked in her eyes. ‘A whole extra day?’
‘Yeah.’ He refused to let her soft snark slay him, because something was better than nothing. ‘It’s a good offer, Darcie.’