by Anthology
I sat there, staring at the ticket, running the possibilities through my mind. Finally, I got out my phone and dialed the number. I sat there, thumb hovering over the call button.
What did I have to lose? Either someone answered and explained the prank, or it would turn out to be a fake number and I’d get nobody. Calling was the only way to solve this mystery once and for all.
I hit the green button, held the phone up to my ear, and waited while it rang.
It never occurred to me that there was another possibility, and I nearly freaked out when he answered the phone.
Chapter 2
You Sound Like A Perfect Gentleman
“I was wondering when you’d finally call.”
His voice was deep and smooth, with a hint of amusement in his tone. I took a sharp breath, surprised that I didn’t recognize him immediately. I was assuming that whoever was playing this joke on me would be someone I knew, but maybe it was just one of those random game show things. Maybe now I was going to have to answer some trivia questions or something.
“Who is this?” I asked him.
“Langdon,” he replied. “Like the note said.”
“Not possible. Is this some kind of joke?”
“Joke?” He laughed. “It’s not a joke at all.”
“This is crazy,” I said, staring across the room.
“It’s not so crazy, really,” he said. “You won a contest. That’s all.”
“How did you get my name on the ticket?” I asked him. “There are tons of candy bars in that shop.”
“I’m very good at what I do.”
I clenched my jaw at his non-answer. “Look, you either give me an explanation or I hang up this phone right now.”
“Hold on,” he said quickly. “Don’t hang up, Anna. I know this might seem confusing for you, but believe me, there’s nothing weird going on here. You really did win a contest, and it really is an all-expenses-paid trip to Aruba. There’s no catch.”
I shook my head, unable to believe him. I was still convinced that someone was going to jump out from behind my refrigerator and yell “Surprise!” or something like that. I was just waiting for the prank to unfold.
“I don’t believe you,” I said. “I think I’m getting pranked. Maybe by someone I know, or maybe I’m on some prank TV show or something. Either way, this isn’t real, so I’m hanging up.”
“Hold on,” he said hastily. “How can I prove it?”
I glanced at the clock near my TV. “Meet me at Dirty Frank’s in twenty minutes. If you show up, I’ll believe you.”
I hung up the phone without another word.
This was so stupid and weird. I didn’t know why I even gave him that opportunity at all. I should just forget about all this and make some dinner. I was tired from my annoying commute and just wanted to unwind.
Instead, I got up and changed. I was out the door in ten minutes, hurrying over to the bar. I was hungry, but that didn’t matter. I got to Dirty Frank’s with five minutes to spare and sat down at the bar.
The place was an old dive, a Philly institution really. It had gotten a little more touristy over the years, but it was still pretty grungy and local. It was small and tightly packed when it was busy, but fortunately it wasn’t too crowded. I managed a spot at the bar down toward the end, with another stool open next to me just in case this guy really did show.
I ordered a Philly special to calm my nerves. The bartender returned with a shot of cheap whiskey and a pony bottle of Rolling Rock, which I sipped after I knocked back the whiskey. I wasn’t in the habit of drinking alone, but I figured this was a special occasion.
I could have won a special trip to Aruba, after all.
I smiled ruefully to myself. Things like that didn’t happen to me. Everything I had in my life I earned on my own through hard work. My parents split when I was young, leaving me to be raised by my grandmother. She taught me the value of hard work and how to be self-reliant, because she was afraid she wouldn’t always be there for me.
She passed away two years ago. I was still dealing with that loss, suddenly alone in the world, but I was managing. She had taught me everything I needed to know and then some.
I looked at my phone, ignoring the crowd around me. Langdon had two minutes to show up before I finished my drink and went back home. I felt a little silly for even showing up like this, but I was too curious not to. If it was a hidden camera thing, maybe they’d at least explain how they got the ticket in my chocolate bar.
I was nearly finished with my tiny beer when I felt someone come up behind me. I nearly jumped when I heard my name, and turned around slowly.
I recognized him right away from the pictures online. It was Langdon Rob without a doubt. He smirked at me, this gorgeous smile, his deep blue eyes piercing into mine. He wore a dark coat over top an expensive-looking suit, and he seemed totally out of place in the dive bar that was Dirty Frank’s.
“You’re real,” I said stupidly.
He laughed. “I hope so.”
“I just . . . wasn’t expecting you.”
“Who did you expect? Candid Camera?”
“Yeah. Maybe Punk’d. Ashton Kutcher in a trucker hat.”
“Lucky you, then. I’m neither of those things.”
I was at a total loss for words. I had no clue what a man like Langdon Rob was actually doing here. Even if the whole trip thing was real, I couldn’t believe he would actually come to this bar and meet with me at the total last minute like this.
“May I?” he asked.
“Uh, sure.”
He sat down on the stool next to me and ordered a whiskey from the bartender. She returned with his drink and he knocked it back, ordering another.
“You’re probably wondering what the fuck I’m doing here,” he said finally.
“Pretty much.”
“You didn’t believe me.”
“Can you blame me?”
“No, I can’t. But I figured actually coming would be the easiest thing in this situation.”
“There are a million other ways to prove that this is real.”
“Probably. That didn’t occur to me until I was halfway here, and at that point I wasn’t turning back.”
I looked at him closely for what felt like the first time. He seemed earnest, if a little crude, and he was staring at me with this cocky expression on his face like he was sizing me up. I felt both exposed and a little excited to be stared at like that, but it did annoy me.
“So, this trip thing. It’s not a joke?”
“Not a joke,” he confirmed.
“I really won some contest?”
“You did.”
“So then how is my name actually on that ticket?”
He grinned at me. “You’re really obsessed with that, aren’t you?”
“It’s driving me crazy,” I admitted.
“The solution is simpler than you think.”
“So tell me.”
His grin got bigger. “No.”
I gaped at him. “What? Are you kidding?”
“No, I won’t tell you. Not until you come with me to Aruba.”
I stared at him, caught off guard. “Go with you?”
“That’s right. I’ll be there, too.”
“Why?” I blurted out.
He laughed. “Is having me around so bad?”
“I mean, I just, I don’t know you.”
“That’s okay, I understand. It’s the company retreat, so a lot of us will be there.”
“So I’m crashing your retreat?”
“Not at all. You’ll just be staying at the same hotel as we are. You can do your own thing.”
“I don’t know,” I said, shaking my head.
“Why are you so hesitant? I’m offering you a free trip to Aruba. Doesn’t that sound better than cold, snowy Philadelphia in December?”
I had to admit, he had a good point. It wasn’t like he was asking me for money or trying to get me to do some weird commercial or so
mething for them. He was just offering me a trip, and it really did make sense. The ticket with my name on it aside, none of this was impossible to believe. Companies gave away this sort of trip all the time, it just never happened to me before.
Still, there was something strange about all of this. If it was just another normal corporate event, why not tell me through the mail or over the phone? The fact that he came to the bar means something is a little different about this, but I couldn’t exactly say what.
“Have another drink and think about it,” he said, ordering another whiskey for himself.
“White wine, please,” I said to the bartender.
She came back a second later with our drinks.
“Why me?” I asked Langdon.
“Why not you?” He shrugged. “You signed up for our newsletter on our website, and that automatically entered you into the drawing.”
“So it was random?”
“Exactly.”
“And you’re still not going to tell me how you did the ticket?”
“Still not.” His smirk was maddening.
But he was handsome. Very handsome. And he was sitting very close to me.
“There are no strings attached?” I asked. “You’re not going to, I don’t know, try and get me to buy something?”
“No strings,” he confirmed. “What are you so afraid of, Anna? This is the real deal. Come to Aruba, sit in the sun. We can hang out and get some drinks, if you want.”
I did want that. It was stupid and this guy was a stranger, but he was so handsome and charming. We’d barely been talking for ten minutes and I already wanted to know more about him just from the way he looked at me and smiled when I spoke.
“Okay,” I said finally. “I’ll do it. When do we leave?”
“Two days,” he said, his smile huge.
“That’s not a lot of time,” I said, frowning.
He leaned back in his chair and looked at me with that appraising smile again.
“Better get packing.”
Chapter 3
The Thing About Flying Is
I was nervous as hell when I got to the airport two days later. I didn’t know what I was doing and felt like a crazy person, but I went through security like everyone else, my boarding pass clutched between my fingers.
Langdon sent me the itinerary that night I met him at the bar. He explained that the contest was last minute because space at the hotel had opened up last minute. My flight was already booked, my room was all ready, so all I had to do was print out the flight information and show up. Everything was already taken care of for me.
I wasn’t used to that sort of treatment, Over those two days, I kept wondering what I was doing, why I was going to drop everything and go on a last-minute free vacation. I didn’t do impulsive things like this, and I definitely didn’t go on vacation in December.
But there I was, filing onto the plane a half hour before departure with everyone else. My seat was a first-class window spot, and the seat next to me remained empty almost the entire time.
Until he showed up. The very last person to stop onto the plane before they shut the door was Langdon Rob, and he flashed me a huge grin when he saw me.
“Langdon,” I said as he sat down next to me. “I didn’t know you were on this flight.”
“How else was I getting out there?”
“Don’t you have a private jet?”
He laughed. “I do, but it’s in the shop.”
“Poor you.”
“Life is hard, you know.”
He leaned back in his seat and I felt my heart beating fast in my chest. He looked over at me, smiling. “Have you flown first class before?” he asked.
I shook my head. “No, never.”
“It’s like coach, but with more room and more alcohol.”
I laughed. “They offered me a drink already.”
“You have to drink it before takeoff. I usually skip the early drink.”
“Thanks for the tip.”
“I’m full of great information. Stick with me, you’ll learn a lot.”
I laughed as the plane began to taxi out onto the runway. I watched out the window, fascinated by the plane taking off, and for a second I forgot about the handsome man next to me.
Soon, the ground dropped away, and we were airborne. I watched as the city became tiny and we passed through the clouds. There was a little turbulence, but nothing bad as the plane banked to the right, heading south and toward our destination.
I glanced at Langdon, but his eyes were closed. I couldn’t tell if he was asleep or not, but I didn’t want to bother him. I felt so strange sitting next to this man. He seemed like he was taking a personal interest in me, but I genuinely couldn’t tell why. This was the second time he’d shown up when I didn’t really expect him to, and both times he surprised me with how attractive and charismatic he was.
I didn’t have a lot of experience with men like him. He was rich and the head of his own company, and I grew up poor in a bad neighborhood. The guys I went to high school with mostly ended up as car mechanics or car thieves, although usually both. My grandmother made sure that I didn’t get sucked into that world, and eventually I got into college at Drexel University, but things weren’t always so certain. I never really thought I’d move up in the world, but I knew my grandmother was proud of me.
Langdon, meanwhile, inherited his business. He was from a long line of candy men. He didn’t really know much about me, or at least I didn’t think he did. He was from an entirely different world from me at least, and so I had a hard time really understanding what this was all about.
Soon, though, I managed to get lost in a book. The flight was about three hours, which wasn’t so bad. Langdon slept for the first two, which I was pretty happy about. While I wanted to talk to him and get to know him better, I was a little nervous about conversing with him. I wasn’t great at small talk, and we were sitting so close to each other.
During the last hour, Langdon finally opened his eyes and got a whiskey from the flight attendant. It was somewhat early in the afternoon, but I didn’t say anything to him. He looked over at me once he got his drink and grinned. “Got to take advantage,” he said.
“A bit early for me.”
“For me, too. But it’s vacation time.”
“I guess so.”
“You don’t cut loose on vacation?”
“I don’t know. I’ve never been on one.’
He raised his eyebrows. “Really?”
“Really.”
“Not even when you were younger?”
“Not even then. I was raised by my grandmother, and we didn’t have much.”
He nodded. “Good. We chose the right person, then.”
“What do you mean?”
“It would be a shame if we chose someone that goes on vacations all the time. It’s more special this way.”
“Oh, I see.”
He looked at me, sipping his drink. “What else haven’t you done?”
“Never left the country before.”
“Ah. You have your passport, right?”
I stared at him for a second. “I need a passport?”
He paused. “Seriously?”
I laughed. “Of course I have it.”
He grinned, shaking his head. “Great joke. I was getting ready to kick you off this flight myself.”
“Over the ocean?”
“Sure. You’re lucky it’s water. Might break your fall.”
“I doubt it.”
“I’ll give you a parachute then.”
“What a gentleman.”
“What can I say? I’m a class act.” I laughed, and he leaned toward me. “What else haven’t you done?”
“I don’t know,” I said. “What else is there to do?”
“I can think of one thing that I’ve never done.”
“What’s that?”
“The mile-high club.”
I stared at him, surprised. He grinned at me. �
��What?” he asked.
“I mean, uh, I haven’t, either.”
“I’m not surprised.”
“What do you mean, you’re not surprised? Most people haven’t had sex on a plane.”
He smirked at me. “Sure, that’s true. But just look at you. There’s no way you would have done it.”
“Just look at me?” I asked, indignant.
“You’re too nice-looking.”
“Nice?” I wanted to strangle him.
“You know what I’m saying.” He shrugged, leaning back in his chair. “I’m going back to sleep. Wake me up if you decide you want to join the club.”
He shut his eyes without another word.
I sat back in my chair, totally stunned. What the hell just happened? Did Langdon just proposition me? It sure seemed that way, but I felt like I was going nuts. One second he was sweet and charming, and the next he wanted to fuck me in the bathroom.
I felt a thrill run up my spine at the thought. Getting fucked by Langdon wouldn’t be so bad, actually. He was very, very good-looking after all. But no, that was so arrogant and cocky and totally inappropriate. Just because he was rich and hot didn’t mean he could just ask me if I wanted to sleep with him in an airplane bathroom. I thought he was classy and kind, but maybe he was just a crude asshole after all.
I leaned back in my own chair and shut my eyes, determined not to talk to him for the rest of the flight.
Chapter 4
At Least It Can’t Get Weirder
The resort was absolutely gorgeous.
I shared a cab over from the airport with Langdon, making small talk on the way. He seemed distracted by his phone, though, and that was fine with me. I was too busy looking around Aruba, since I had never been out of the country before.
I was surprised at how different it felt, but also at how familiar it all was. I thought going to a different place would be like going to a whole different world, but it was more or less the same. It was poorer, of course, but it was also warmer and beautiful. The plants were different, and sand seemed like it was everywhere, but Aruba was beautiful in its own way.
