Page 21

R ay braced a palm on the back of her neck in an attempt to get it to stop hurting as she held her phone with the other. Her eyes were trained on the screen, narrowed with the thought of answering it or not as she lounged in her chair. It vibrated in her hand again and Ray let out an insufferable groan but picked up nonetheless,

“What?” she snapped, a bit irritated as she looked ahead, “What part of vacation do you not understand?”

A sigh reverberated from the other end, “I wasn’t looking forward to this call either, but some investors had some questions–”

“Get them to Neera, she’ll handle it.”

She could swear she could see Akash’s glare from the other side, “I tried her already. She isn’t answering her phone.” He grumbled as Ray swore silently, “I don’t understand why you all get to go on vacation and I’m stuck here fucking babysitting – ”

“Hey!”

Ray grinned at the sound of Ira’s voice, “Hi Ira! Hi Micah!” she called out and heard a muffled response. She heard Akash’s tired sigh again and nodded, a smile on her face as she looked ahead at the sunset,

“Alright, alright, what do they want to know?”

“Company history. Why the CEO isn’t present here. Shit like that.”

Ray looked over her shoulder in an attempt to catch a glimpse of a certain CEO when she was rewarded with a beautiful view of his bare back. A grin tugged at her lips as she saw him pour the drinks, his eyes trained on th e

glasses with extreme focus. Ray turned back ahead before he caught her staring and moved to stare ahead again,

“CEO’s busy. Get Sorin in touch with them,” Ray responded as she leaned down in her seat, “He owns some shares, ask him to seduce them.”

It’d been a year since everything.

A year of building back a life they hadn’t managed to build up until now.

Most of them, all except Kyle and Sorin were continuing their education. Ray was enrolled in a German University while Angel had taken to online studies from a university in Spain. It’d been the perfect way for them to be together everywhere and start a whole new way of earning .

Turns out, inheriting family money and a shitload of it, was a great way to start a business.

So she and Sorin had joined hands, Kyle wielding his last name as a way to whiten some of the black money while they started a whole new thing. Neera was busy all around the world, pursuing her pre-med like she wanted to and volunteering wherever she could.

After months of pestering, Myra had taken up ice skating once again. Irene, being absolutely useless in that field, had come with Ray and Sorin as the CTO of the company.

And Akash, he was her shadow. Handled everything when she wasn’t there.

Noah had gone back to the family business and was doing everything in his power to protect children like Micah and Ira. It’d been a surprising development, but one that had somehow won his father over.

“Okay, good idea,” Akash murmured from the other end, “Also, you get back next weekend right? For Angel’s thing? ”

Ray hummed her agreement. While Ray had gotten into the world of technology and digitizing businesses, Angel and Luke had done the next best thing.

With Christina’s growing knowledge while she pursued her law degree, and Jack’s interest in sustainable solutions in today’s world, Angel and Luke had taken their expertise in either field and opened up a green law firm. Not only that, but Angel had spent the last months investing in stocks, in real estate, and her.

She’d left her investments to Akash, who handled them expertly, but Angel’s interest in the area was deeply encouraging.

Next weekend, their firm was finally going to be opened to the public.

“Great,” Akash responded, “While you do that, I’m going to be out for the entirety of next week, so don’t even think about dropping the babysitting bomb on me again.”

Ray laughed silently, her eyes fixated on the splash of the waves up ahead, “Don’t worry. You’re free next week.”

She heard his sigh of relief but was drawn out of the conversation when she saw a shadow pass on her right. Ray’s head leaned back lazily, a grin growing on her face as she saw Angel De Santos with two drinks in his hands.

He stood at the foot of her chair, his amber eyes narrowed at the phone pressed against her ear as he blindly handed her the drink. She watched him now, his body haloed by the golden glow of the setting sun as the wind blew past his hair gently. He’d put on a button-up on his pants, the shirt open to reveal the expanse of his lean body.

Ray watched him place his drink on the cart beside her and saw him go down on his knees on the foot of her chair. Her brows arched when his head lifted, a mischievous smile curving his lips now .

A faint shiver passed through her bones when his fingers landed on her ankles, and seeing the impact it had on her, Angel’s grin only widened.

“Ray?”

She hummed but wasn’t really listening when Angel slowly climbed over the chair and moved until he was hovering above her. His amber eyes were calm, his touch soft against her wrist as he kissed the side of her neck softly.

“Let’s go.” He whispered in her ear and leaned back again, his eyes shining as confusion morphed on her face.

“Oh for fuck’s sake.” Akash’s voice was barely audible. Angel only responded by grabbing the phone out of her hands and hanging up. Ray moved to place her drink beside his and peered up at him.

“Go where?”

Angel leaned back, his movement soft as he climbed off the chair. She watched him with interest as he rose to his full height and placed a hand behind his back professionally while he extended the other in her direction. Ray’s hair spilled over her back when she tipped her chin up to look up at him. His eyes glittered with mischief, a small smile playing on his lips.

“Are you sober?” he asked, and Ray nodded, having an acute sense of where this was going.

His eyes softened, the beauty of his expression shining with the sunset playing at his back as he lowered his voice,

“Ever danced in the sand, Raylene Walker?”

Ray couldn’t help it, she went up on her knees and moved until she was face to face with him. After so long, after so much she still couldn’t believe she could do this.

“No.” she whispered, “Ask me anyway. ”

Angel’s smile was borderline dangerous for her heart when he wrapped a hand around her waist and pulled her flush against him,

“Will you dance with me on the beach?”

As if on cue, soft piano music began behind them. Ray let out a soft laugh, placing her forehead against her chest as she breathed out,

“I’ll think about it.”

His laugh was loud enough to draw out his dimples.

“Good,” he whispered, “Be aware though.”

Ray looked back up at him and saw his eyes crinkle.

Saw Angel De Santos look like an absolute beauty as he leaned down and kissed her softly as if he couldn’t help himself.

Ray didn’t blame him. Not when she’d been close to pleading with him to do the same. When he pulled back, the mischievous glint in his eyes was back.

“I twirl now.”

She grinned, “Finally.” And his gaze narrowed,

“Smartass.”

He murmured as he hauled her to her feet.

Made her forget the entire world in the process.