Page 21 of Accidental Getaway

“Are you ready for your surprise?” Niko says, putting his hands over my eyes. My knees buckle ever so slightly at his breath on my ear. Does he have any clue what that does to me?

I grab his wrists and pull his hands down, twisting around to face him.

“You need to stop sneaking up behind me,” I say, giving him a hard time.

“Why? Are you going to stab me with those nails again?”

“Stop! That was an accident.” I take a step back, despite wishing he still had his arms wrapped around me.

I can’t handle this … this … thing between us.

At our meeting yesterday, he had acted so focused and professional.

But now, it feels like he’s flirting with me, and I don’t know what to do about it.

“It would help if you would tell me where we’re going,” I say, changing the subject. “I might need a few more things than just a bathing suit.”

“Like what?”

“I don’t know—walking shoes, binoculars, a grappling hook?” I make a face, so he knows I’m joking.

Niko laughs, and the sound fills my heart like a sunflower in bloom, turning toward his sun.

I don’t know if I could ever get used to hearing his laugh and knowing I was the one who made it happen.

I’m realizing I’m crushing so hard, it’s not even funny.

When I’m with Niko outside of the conference room, I forget that I’m terrified of this whole deal falling apart, or that I’m even supposed to be working.

He makes me feel light. He makes me want to have fun for the first time in a long time.

Even though I know I should be focusing on the board meeting.

We felt pretty confident after our meeting yesterday afternoon, but Amber sent me a text last night about not losing focus before Monday.

The board is our real test. Not Niko. I should be using all of the extra time I have at the hotel to make this the best pitch possible, not going off for a day of who knows what with Niko.

That’s what my brain says, anyway. My heart tells me this is exactly what I should be doing.

For the first time in years, I have been able to laugh and have fun.

And it feels so good. I just want to forget about Malcolm, and marketing, and the theoretical new job I’m dying to get. Today should be about being present.

I want to have another adventure. I’ll prepare for the meeting later. I still have plenty of time.

“All I’m going to say is that there are no heights involved this time,” he says, putting his hands together in front of him, pleading with me not to ask any more questions.

“Okay, fine,” I say, shrugging in mock defeat. “Are you sure there isn’t anything else I need?”

Niko stands back and looks me up and down, stroking his chin as if trying hard to decide. My stomach flutters under the weight of his attention. I’m wearing a dusty mauve romper over a basic white tank and my hiking sandals .

In my bag, I have a bathing suit and everything else I would need for a day in the sun.

“Nope, you’ve got everything you need. Don’t you trust me yet?”

He seems a little too happy about not having to reveal anything else about our day. I roll my eyes. “Yes, I trust you. But can’t you just give me a hint? Please!”

He thinks about it for a moment and then puts his arm on my shoulder as we make our way outside. “One word: dragons.”

Dragons? What am I supposed to do with that? I can’t think of what that could possibly mean for our day out in Greece. “You’re no help,” I say, nudging him with my shoulder.

If he’s going to flirt with me, I’m going to throw it right back. It obviously doesn’t mean anything, aside from two people having fun.

Niko’s smile melts any last apprehension as he takes my bag from my hand and points the way to the car.

When we climb into the back of the SUV, I’m happy to see that someone replaced the water bottles from a few days ago with iced coffees. “Thanks for picking up the coffee, Sophia,” Niko says as we fasten our seatbelts. “You’re an angel.”

“No problem, boss,” she says with a wink in the rearview mirror. I can’t put my finger on the full reason, but I adore this woman. She reminds me a bit of Mrs. Harper—always there, watching quietly with a twinkle in her eye, as if she is orchestrating everything from the sidelines.

Niko picks up a coffee and offers it to me.

“Vanilla latte? I remember you said you usually drink iced coffee,” he says sheepishly.

“That’s perfect. Thank you for remembering.” I’m touched. That’s something my own family doesn’t seem to care to remember. And Niko has barely met me .

After a short drive, we pull up at another marina. Unlike when we went parasailing, this marina is fancy—like Monaco fancy—with yachts, sailing ships and private security at the entrance.

I’m trying to keep my eyes from bulging out of their sockets as we walk past boats that must cost double the value of my parents’ house.

Surely, we’re not going to party on a yacht, right?

There are only two of us after all. We pass an entire crew of people cleaning a sleek, black yacht.

A stark reminder that this isn’t my world.

As much as I’m having fun, I have to keep reminding myself that that’s all it is.

I can’t expect any of this to extend past the next week.

Niko and I are from different worlds, and after this week, all I’ll be is a member of his marketing team. All of this fun doesn’t mean anything.

“Now that we’re here, I can tell you. We’re going to the island of Tragonisi,” Niko tells me. “I’ve hired a private boat to take us there. You’re going to love it.”

A private boat? One of these private boats? It’s getting harder and harder to be in the moment when I feel so out of place. Nothing in my life has prepared me for this. I feel a bit lightheaded.

“Don’t look so scared,” Niko says. “It’s not far.”

“I’m not scared.” Not scared of the boat, at least. Niko has just put so much thought into this, and it feels overwhelming. What if Niko grows bored of me when it’s just the two of us all day? What if I don’t actually love the island, and he doesn’t like the way I react?

Malcolm used to do that to me. He loved to watch me squirm while he unveiled some sort of surprise, and if I didn’t react exactly the way he wanted, it would send him into a rage.

One time he got last-minute concert tickets.

He had never mentioned the band before, but apparently he loved them.

The concert was the same date as a game night I was hosting at my apartment with some of the girls from work.

I had been planning it for weeks. He told me about the tickets one night when we were eating at a restaurant.

I suggested he find a friend to go with since I didn’t know the band and already had plans. I thought it was perfectly reasonable.

But out of nowhere, he slammed his hands on the table.

“ I got the tickets for us, Jenni. Don’t you understand that?

” He threw his napkin into his pasta and stormed off.

I expected him to come back after a few minutes outside.

He just needed to calm down, right? He never did, though.

Eventually, I paid for the meal and took a cab home.

The next day, when I saw him at work, he asked if I had canceled game night yet.

No greeting. No apology. No checking if I was okay.

He wouldn’t talk to me until I rescheduled my event and agreed to go to the concert with him.

He made me hate surprises.

Niko stops walking when we reach a small catamaran. It’s just as luxurious as the rest of the boats, but smaller and more intimate. A captain emerges from the small cabin to greet us. He bows as he welcomes us to the ship.

Meanwhile, Niko offers his hand to help me step down into the boat. As soon as I get my balance, he drops my hand, and I try not to notice the way my fingers ache at the absence, as if they are missing his already.

“Take your things inside, and make yourself comfortable,” Niko tells me. “I’m just going to chat with the captain for a second.”

I find my way inside. My jaw drops as I climb down four or five steps into an open cabin.

It feels so spacious in here despite the room not being much bigger than my parents’ kitchen.

I half expected to feel claustrophobic, but the ceilings are tall with clear windows around three of the walls, letting in a lot of natural light.

There is a sleek modern couch, a giant flatscreen TV, and a fully stocked bar.

A vase of gorgeous fuchsia-pink bougainvillea flowers sits atop an aqua-colored, frosted-glass bar top.

The flowers have come to signify Greece for me, as they adorn every alleyway and building I’ve seen on my morning walks.

I step closer to take in the scent and notice an ice bucket with a bottle of champagne behind the flowers. Next to it, a placard rests between two glasses, saying “Welcome Aboard, Niko and Jenni” in fancy script.

My heart is in my throat. Champagne and flowers mean romance, dating, love. Not friendship and business.

This has to go. The boat company must have misunderstood the situation.

I look around for a place to hide it. Because if Niko comes down those steps and sees flowers and champagne, he might think he has to let me down easily. I might expire on the spot. I’d rather jump off the boat and swim back to Colorado.

Behind the bar stands a wall of cabinets, so I rush around to see if any of them are empty. I open cabinet after cabinet, and they are all full of glasses of every shape and size. So many glasses.

Finally, I find champagne glasses on the very top shelf. Okay, I’ll just put those away and hide the champagne under the sink. That works, right?

I grab the first champagne flute and stand on my very tippy-toes to get it up to the shelf?—

“Need some help?”

I’m so startled by Niko’s voice that I lose my balance.

The glass hits the shelf and drops out of my hand as I stumble backward into the bar.

If this space wasn’t so tight, I’m pretty sure I would be on my butt on the floor, surrounded by broken glass.

But as it stands, I’m slumped against the bar and the errant champagne flute has landed in my lap where I catch it between my thighs.

Niko rushes to the bar and reaches over to steady me. “Are you okay? I didn’t mean to surprise you.”

“I’m fine,” I say, pulling the champagne flute from between my legs and setting it on the bar behind me. “I was just …” I trail off because I can’t come up with a convincing enough story to explain why I was going through cabinets I had no business going through.

“Hiding the champagne flutes?”

One of Niko’s eyebrows is cocked, and he looks as if he is holding back a smirk. Yeah, I’m not fooling him one bit.

“You caught me,” I say, wanting to hide. “I think they misunderstood the situation, maybe, and I just didn’t want it to be awkward when you came down to champagne on ice. But now it’s even more awkward because … well, I wasn’t tall enough to hide them before you came in.”

Niko raises an eyebrow and smiles. “Champagne comes standard with these boats. I don’t care if we drink it or not, but if you don’t want to, let me put the glasses away.”

“Thank you,” I say, holding out the glass to him. He comes around the bar and squeezes past me to take the glass. As he reaches up to the cabinet and easily sets the champagne flute down, I catch a whiff of his scent—sea salt, pine and warm earth, like Colorado with a bit of the ocean mixed in.

Niko turns around and we are facing each other, about four inches apart in this small space between the bar and the cabinets.

I can feel his breath on me, his chest rising and falling gently while my breathing is spiraling out of control. “I’m sorry. I tend to overthink things.”

Niko takes a second to look into my eyes, a tiny smile on his perfect lips.

“I’m starting to quite enjoy it,” he says. Excuse me? Did he just say what I think he said?

“You enjoy watching me make a fool of myself?” I ask, putting my hand on my hip.

“That’s not what I said,” he says, tapping my nose. “You’re just cute when you get nervous. Even though you have no reason to be.”

A prickle shoots up my neck. “Well, you have a strange idea of what cute means, then.”

“Do I? I don’t think so.” He steps to the side. “Now, can I get you a nonalcoholic drink?”

“Sounds good,” I say with a small laugh, feeling all of the nerves from the champagne disappearing. I grab two glasses from the cabinet and hand them over to Niko. He pulls a bottle of sparkling water out of the fridge and pours. He adds a lemon wedge to both and gestures toward the couch.

Out the window behind it, I can see that we’re making our way out to sea.