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"Sometimes, I wish I could run off and live in a cottage in the middle of the forest somewhere. Or a small town where no one knows me. Somewhere I could just be me."
"Why don't you?" she asked.
"Because I can't change the world if I'm living in a forest," I said. "Unless said forest has really good internet. Since that's unlikely, then I guess I'm stuck living in the city."
"It sounds like you need a vacation," she said. "When was the last time you got away? Apart from today."
"We have a yearly vacation every winter," I said. "My mother organises a trip somewhere warm." After a moment I added, "Somewhere she wants to expand our business interests."
"So cocktails on the beach while talking business?" Lexie guessed.
"More like cocktails by the pool while my mother flirts with the cabana boys and my father pretends not to look." While I sat in the shade with my laptop, mostly working.
"No offence, but that doesn't sound like much of a vacation," she said. "Do you ever go anywhere by yourself? A deserted island? A cruise? A weekend of skiing?"
I opened my mouth to speak, but the words were elusive for a few moments. "Work is?—"
"Something you can delegate to someone else, or it'll be waiting for you when you get back," she said. "Everyone deserves a break. You know when a computer stops working and you have to unplug it to get it to start working again? People are the same. Sometimes you just have to unplug yourself and step away."
"You're right," I admitted. I wondered if I could tempt her to run away with me for a week or two. We could fuel up the jet and go anywhere she wanted to. After my brother's party. I'd never hear the end of it if I missed that.
"Of course I am, people with pink polkadots in their hair are always wise." She grinned.
Her smiles weren't good for my heart rate, or my balls, but I couldn't look away.
Yeah, I had it bad.
CHAPTER 7
LEXIE
Ilooked at myself in the mirror. Gabe called me real, but right then I didn't feel very real.
My reflection looked like me, but a put together version of me. My hair was in a neat updo, kept in place by approximately thirteen thousand hairpins and a bottle of hairspray.
My make-up was subtle, but on point. The ridiculously expensive dress and equally ridiculously expensive shoes were perfection. I looked like someone out of a magazine.
"I feel like I should pull out all the pins and mess my hair up."
My best friend and roommate, Darcy, laughed. "You can do that after the party. When you and him get down and dirty."
"Who says we're doing that?" I asked over my shoulder.
“I don't know," she said slowly. "Maybe the fact you haven't stopped talking about him for the last three days."
"Hey, I haven't talked about him that much," I protested. "Have I?"
She cocked her head and popped out her hip while looking at me in teasing disbelief. "Yes, you have, but I don't mind a bit. It's nice to see you find someone you like. The fact he's a billionaire doesn't hurt either."
"I don't care if he's a billionaire," I said. "Gabe is sweet. He's a decent guy. And he's hot. I'd bet you anything he doesn't know how hot he is."
He was so busy working, he probably had little time to look in the mirror. He wore expensive clothes because that was expected of him, not because he was vain. At least, not as far as I could tell. He was reserved, but he didn't seem to take himself as seriously as I first thought.
"If you get tired of him, can I have him?" Darcy asked. "The way you keep talking about him, I'm going to fall for him myself."
"What happened to Greg? Or was it Kyle?" I couldn't keep up with her love life. She seemed to have a different guy every week.
She grinned. "It's both. I couldn't decide, so I'm seeing both of them."
