Steven (6 page)

He led the way onto his private jet setting the car seat down in one of the
seats.  “Would you mind buckling her in?  I’m not sure I’d do it right.”

Bailey
immediately went to the baby to buckle her and looked around at the jet.  It was huge, and seemed to have every amenity they could possibly ask for.  A stewardess came out as soon as they were seated, asking if they’d like a drink. 
Bailey
asked for a Pepsi while
Steven
ordered
bourbon
. 

Bailey
chose a window seat, because she’d never flown before and wanted to be able to see out.  “How long is our flight?”
She figured if she asked often enough, he’d finally tell her. 

Steven
just smiled at her, refusing to answer just as he had the last time she’d asked.  She sighed.  If he wanted to hide the destination of his business trip, that was up to him.

He worked on his laptop for the first part of the trip.  He kept glancing out the window to see if they were near the ocean, but would quickly glance back to his computer if she spotted him.  When the ocean did come in
to
sight, she breathed in quickly.  “Oh, the ocean!  It’s so beautiful!”  She turned to him excitedly.  “Will we be near the beach?  I could take the baby.”

He smiled.  “Wait and see.”  He watched her as they flew
to
the coastline and over the ocean.  Her eyes were as wide as saucers as she stared out. 

He knew she’d soon grow tired of staring out the window during the twelve hour flight, but he wasn’t going to burst her bubble. 
He’d deliberately scheduled their flight for the evening hours, so they could sleep if they chose to.  Each chair on the plane was able to convert to a sleeping position.

She had to get up to tend the baby a few times, but obviously Faith liked flying, because she slept soundly most of the trip. 

Finally around midnight, after they’d been served a light snack,
Bailey
laid her chair back to sleep.  He watched her sleep for a few minutes, before sliding his own chair back and joining her. 
Without thinking about it, he reached his hand out to hold hers while he slept. 

He didn’t wake up until the wheels of the plane touched down on Bora Bora.  He’d arranged for a charter boat to take them to the private island of Motu Tane.
  He couldn’t wait to see her face as she walked along the
beach
for the first time.

He shook her gently to wake her, and then unfastened the baby’s car seat.  She sat up rubbing her eyes bemusedly.  “Are we here?” 
Her voice was husky from sleep and he loved it.  She’d never sounded sexier to him.

“Yeah, we need to take a boat to our destination now.  There’s no airport on the island.”

Her eyes lit up at the word island, but she didn’t say anything.  She grabbed the diaper bag, and he gave instructions for the luggage to be put onto the boat.  He carried Faith off the plane, stretching his muscles as he walked.  The seats on the plane were as comfortable as money could buy, but no
matt
er how comfortable, it still made you stiff to sit for twelve hours.

He led her to the waiting boat, watching as she took her seat.  He’d tried to time the flight perfectly so they could watch the sunrise across the water as they sped on the boat to the private island.  He could see by her face, he’d accomplished what he’d set out to do.

Her eyes were glued to the sunrise.  The sky, as well as the water, were painted a lovely shade of pink.  “It’s so beautiful!”  She turned to him with a grin.  “Thank you for bringing me with you.”

She didn’t give him a chance to reply, just turned back to watch the water.  The salty spray hit their faces, and she quickly reached out to tuck Faith’s blanket around her face.  “She would not be happy waking up with salt water in her face.”

He laughed, thankful she knew to think of things like that, because he never would
have
. 

The island was just as he remembered it.  There was a huge resort he’d rent
ed just for
their small group
. 
The other two men had indicated they were each bringing someone, which had both surprised and pleased him.  It would be nice for Bailey to have someone to be with while they were in their meeting. 
There were no people other than the staff who would serve them.  After the boat stopped, he helped her onto the dock, watching her obvious delight in the island.

“I can’t wait to build a sand castle!”  She raced toward the resort, leaving him to carry the baby. 

“I think she likes it here, Faith.”
It was the first time he’d talked to the baby, and was surprised at how natural
ly
it came to him.
He gave instructions for the luggage and followed
Bailey
up the path.

She was spinning around looking at everything when he walked in behind her.  “This place is amazing!” 
The excitement in her voice had him smiling.  It was so much more fun to do things he took for granted with someone who had never done anything
remotely similar
.

He grinned, putting the car seat on the floor, and walking up behind her, his hands gently rubbing her shoulders.  “Do you want to stay here in the main building?  Or do you want to stay in one of the smaller bungalows along the beach?”
  He didn’t care which she chose as long as he could stay with her.

“Where will you be?”
  She wanted to stay here, but if he would prefer a bungalow, then she would choose a bungalow.

“Wherever you and Faith are.”

“Then I want to stay here.  It’s so beautiful!”
 
She turned to him and threw her arms around him.  “Thank you for bringing us.  I can’t wait to start exploring!”

She picked one of the big suites for herself and the baby, immediately unpacking for them.  When she was done, she wandered into the living area.  “When will your business associates get here?”
  It felt weird to be there without them, but she hoped it would be a while before she didn’t have him all to herself.

He shrugged, choosing not to answer, staring out the window instead.  She walked over and stood next to him, looking out at the beach.  “I’ve never seen anything as amazing as the sunrise over the water this morning.”

He smiled.  “I thought you’d enjoy that.”  He looked down at her blond head wondering when he should tell her
the others wouldn’t be there
until the following day
.  Maybe he should wait for a while before breaking that little piece of news to her.  Now they were actually here, he wondered how
they would relate to each other
. 

“I’m so glad you brought Faith and me.  We’re going to have so much fun on the beach.  Are there boats we can rent?” 
As soon as she said the words, she regretted them.  She didn’t want him to have to spend another dime on her.
 
She bit her lip as she thought about the things she wanted to do while they were there.

She wanted to get dozens of photos of Faith on the beach.  Although the baby wouldn’t remember her first trip there, she wanted to be able to show her what it had been like, and how wonderful her daddy had been to take her there.

“We have a boat at our disposal.  The resort includes everything you could possibly imagine to do here.  We can even arrange to have a Polynesian dance show on the beach if you’d like.”

“Where
are
we anyway?  You still haven’t told me!”
  She sounded both lost and annoyed at the same time. 

He chuckled softly.  “We’re in paradise.”

She slapped his shoulder.  “What’s the name of our paradise?”
 
She couldn’t argue about it being paradise, though.  It was truly amazing there.  Her eyes couldn’t quit dashing in every direction taking in everything about the place.

“We’re just off the island of Bora Bora.  This is a private island called Matu Tane
in
the country of Tahiti if that helps you.”

“So we’re somewhere in the South Pacific?”
  Wow.  She’d never before seen an ocean or been on a plane, and she was somewhere in the South Pacific.  Would her life ever return to normal?  Would she ever want it to?

“Pretty much.”
 

“Wow!  Am I allowed to start singing songs from the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical?”

He eyed her skeptically.  “I don’t know.  Can you sing?”

“Church choir all my life!”
  She didn’t add she’d only been in it because her father had insisted and the choirmaster had always been careful to ask her to sing softly.  She loved to sing, but she knew she sounded terrible.

“I’ll have to think about it.”  He grabbed her hand and pulled her toward the kitchen.  “Are you hungry?”

She shook her head.  “Not really.  I’m not much of a breakfast eater.  I just want to go play on the beach.”
  She looked out the window at it wistfully.  She wished she could have a day or two there with absolutely no responsibilities.  Of course, then she wouldn’t have Faith, and she was so much more important than the beach.

“Go change into your bathing suit then.  I’ll wait.”
  He looked down at the baby, certain he could take care of her for the few minutes it would take her aunt to change.

“I can’t.  Faith will be waking up for her bottle any minute.” 
Her voice
made it clear she wished
she could do what she wanted
for once
instead of what she should.

“Fix her bottle and we’ll take her down to the beach and put her on a blanket there.  When she gets hungry, you can feed her.”

She frowned at him.  “Have you ever fed her?”
 
She crossed her arms over her chest, letting him know she thought he should take a more active role in his daughter’s life.

He shook his head.  “I’m not planning on it either.”

“How can you bond with your daughter if you never spend time with her?  I’ll fix the bottle, but you feed her.”
  He really needed to learn to do simple things for the baby.

“What do you think I pay you for?”

She laughed and ran to change into a bathing suit.  She had two suits with her.  She looked at them trying to decide.  One was a perfectly modest one piece swim suit.  She’d never worn anything else.  For some reason, she’d bought a two piece for her honeymoon, but had never worn it.  She looked at the skimpy bikini and
contemplated. 

The good girl in her told her she should wear the practical one piece.  The
bad
girl
,
who wanted nothing more than to spend the night in her boss’s arms
,
told her the one piece was boring.  After a moment of debate, she changed into the pink bikini.  She was tired of being a good girl.  She was in a tropical paradise with the first man who had ever made her blood sing.  She was going to ride this wave as far as it would take her.

She grabbed the terrycloth robe from the back of the door and slipped it on before she left the room. 
Even though she was brave enough to wear the bikini, she wasn’t brave enough to just walk out of the room in it.

She fixed the bottle, grabbed a blanket and the diaper bag, and left him to carry his daughter out to the beach.  She spread the blanket carefully, making sure there was no sand, and gestured for him to put Faith on it.  She smeared sunscreen liberally over the baby’s face before facing the water. 

She waded in it up to her ankles for a few minutes, feeling
Steven
’s eyes on her.  Finally, he called, “I’ve got the baby.  Go on in.”

She walked a few feet out of the water, and dropped her
robe
onto the sand.  She
jumped into the waves, surprised at how cold the ocean felt even though the temperature here was so nice.

Steven
’s eyes widened as he saw her suit.  He’d pegged her for one of those girls who would wear a suit that covered everything he’d ever want to see.  The suit she wore left nothing to the imagination.  She wasn’t as skinny as he’d originally thought.  Her curves were perfect. 

He was so busy watching
Bailey
he almost didn’t hear Faith cry.  He picked her up carefully sure he’d drop her. 
Taking
the bottle of formula
Bailey
had made,
he
popped it into her mouth.  He knew
Bailey
usually changed her as soon as she woke up, but he’d save that milestone of fatherhood for someone else.  Changing diapers was not something billionaires did.

When
Bailey
came out of the water, she found
Steven
sitting with the baby on his lap as he fed her the bottle of formula.  Faith’s eyes were wide open and she was staring at her daddy.