Page 68 of Fighting With Light

The driver seems to accept how I got it in and gets back in the car. I sit in the passenger seat and pat my lap.

“Your throne,” I say, grinning.

She grumbles and plops down harder than she needed to. I grunt as she wiggles herself so her legs sit across mine. I grab the door, slamming it shut. “La Villa del Mar en La Libertad, por favor.”

“Es un viaje de cuarenta y un minutos,” he says.

“Si, claro que si.”

He shrugs and we drive off.

“How long is this trip?” Aelia asks.

“About forty minutes,” I say, wrapping my arms around her ribs.

She puffs out a breath, relaxing into my chest, and I rest my chin on her shoulder. With the windows down sans AC, we get all the smells and wind in our hair as we watch the city pass us by.

Aelia pulls her long sleeve off and hands it to me before leaning half out of the window, looking at the landscape. I watch her as she takes it all in. I’ve been here once before; I haven’t seen it all, but I’d rather watch her see a new place.Her cherry scent blows into my nose and I take a deep breath, kissing her cheek. She smiles at me and returns to looking out the window.

It’s pretty warm and sweat glistens off her back. I use her shirt to dab it away then swipe at my forehead under my hat. After she seems to get her fill of watching the landscape, she rests her head on my shoulder. The trip goes by slowly and I’m glad for it. I get to hold her and time feels like it’s standing still because of it. If time stopped right here, I would be happy with that. Maybe except for the taxi driver, he could go.

We pull up to the resort’s main entrance, and I help Aelia off my sticky lap and out of the car. We get our stuff, I pay the driver well, and we get checked in.

They give us our cards and I lead us in the direction of our villa. When I booked it there weren’t any two bedrooms available. I didn’t want to assume anything, which is why I looked, but since they were unavailable, I think it was meant to be even though I didn’t want it in the first place. I want her as close as possible.

Aelia slides the card into the reader and cool air blows in my face as she opens the door, holding it for me with our bags and my surfboard. I’m a little paranoid because I had to ditch the guns in Portugal, so I lock the door behind us before putting her suitcase up on one of the holders, and I kick mine into a closet.

She pulls the curtains back, revealing the beautiful ocean right in front of us.

“Why is there a motorcycle parked on the patio?” Aelia asks.

I grin, realizing I forgot to ask the front desk about it. Looks like they brought it all the way here, I’ll have to thank them again for that. Brushing past Aelia, I flip the slider lock and push it open. I didn’t have a ton of options, but I ordered a little Yamaha V Star 250. It has two seats, so Aelia can ride, and it was in stock. I also picked it because it was one of the few options with two seats, and a crotch rocket doesn’t work well with a surfboard or on sand.

Aelia stands beside me and I stoop down, looking at the shiny finishes. Perfect. “Do you know why this is here?” she asks.

I grin excitedly. “Yeah, princess, I bought it and had it delivered.”

“You bought a motorcycle while we’re here for less than two weeks?”

I shrug. “Yeah, why not? Come on, it’ll be fun.”

She smiles and shakes her head. “You have so much money you don’t even know what to do with it.”

I pull her into my side and look at the bike again. I’m itching to get on it, but I know I need to focus on my schedule that way, I’m ready in a few days. “Okay, Aelia, then what should I do with it?” I ask her.

I earn a lot from sponsorships, investments, and business. My brothers and I were never stupid with our money; our mom taught us at a young age to be smart with it. Our grandpa Astor was loaded and we were his only grandkids, so when he died, most went to Mom, and then the rest went to me and my brothers. We all have trust funds and business ventures with the Astor name on them, and at this point, we all have around ten digits. It used to be nine, but we invested well.

“I think you should open a home for abused women.” I startle at her words and look at her. Her head is tilted up at me and she studies me.

I nod. “It would definitely be a good use of money.”

She dips her head once and goes back to looking at the bike.

“So what are you going to do with it?” she asks.

“We’re going to go on a ride, princess.” I smirk and kiss her cheek. “But right now, I need food and sleep.”

“Nowthatsounds like a dream.” I smile and we go back into the villa, locking the door behind us. We order room service, shower, and our heads hit the pillow before midnight. Well, Aelia’s hit my chest, but I like being her pillow.