Page 118 of The Heartbreaker

Ridge

Stop it. I love you. It’s going to be fine.

The only thing I could do to get my brain off Ridge’s upcoming chat with Jana was to bury myself in him. To concentrate on the moment, which would hopefully stop my mind from drifting every time it started. So, that was what I did over dinner when he took me to the most delicious Indian restaurant and in his car during the drive to his house and when we stripped off our clothes in his bedroom and walked naked across his patio to get into the hot tub.

We sat on the same side, but where he faced the view of the Hollywood Hills, I positioned my body toward him, draping my legs across his lap, the jet blowing water against my side, my hands keeping me grounded so I wouldn’t sink.

“I’m so relaxed,” I moaned.

He brushed his fingers over the top of my hair. “That’s all I wanted, baby.”

“You never told me how last night went with the guys.” I smiled. “Did Rhett behave?”

“Behave? I’m not sure he knows how to do that. But his mood seemed to be slightly better, although the constant booze that we fed him helped.”

“Did you have a good time?”

He was leaning his head against the edge of the stone and lifted it to nod. “Half business, half bullshit. That’s how it is whenever we hang with the Westons. Aside from me and Brady—because he’s working in Bangkok—all the partners are looking for new properties to either develop or renovate. We’re expanding so fast, but the need is there, therefore, it has to happen. That’s the discussion that took up a lot of the night since the Westons want to put restaurants in all our future hotels.”

“With your partners working on-site, that’s got to be tough to be away from home for so long.”

He rubbed the bottoms of my feet. “If Jana didn’t spend a majority of her time on the road, I’d have to do it too.”

“I can’t even imagine you being away from Daisy.”

He exhaled. “I can’t either.” He stole a glance at the view and gradually looked back at me. “Rowan and Cooper are traveling together, bringing Rayner with them. But when she starts school, it’s going to be an entirely different story. One of them will have to stay back with her, and, hell, I don’t know how that’s going to go.” He massaged his palm across my thigh. “Enough about work. Let’s talk about you.”

I laughed. “What about me?”

“I want to hear how school was today.”

I lifted my hand out of the water and waved it at him. “Enough about work.”

He chuckled. “Fair.” He was now holding the bottom of my chin. “What am I going to do with you this summer?”

“This summer?”

“You’re off, aren’t you?”

“Yes.”

“It would be a crime if we didn’t go somewhere during your downtime.”

I hadn’t put much thought into my summer plans. I was just already really looking forward to the break. As much as I lovedmy job, by the end of the school year, I needed the summer to rejuvenate.

“The only thing I have on the schedule,” I said, “is to go visit my sister for a week—although she’ll probably have to work the whole time I’m there.”

“Dallas isn’t the beach.”

“No,” I huffed. “It’s certainly not. And in the summer, it’s extra hot, extra spicy, and extra miserable. Sigh.”

“Tell me somewhere you want to go. Somewhere you’ve always wanted to go.”

“Hmm.” I rested my cheek on the stone that edged the tub, inches from Ridge’s head. “Hawaii?”

“Done.”

“Done?” My eyebrows were so high. “You say that like it’s the easiest thing in the world.”