But I wasn’t going to say that out loud, that would sound stupid. Don’t get me wrong, I wanted him to think I was good looking, but I didn’t want to make it sound like my looked depended on his approval. And if I were him, that’s what I would think was happening if I said it out loud. So I smiled, and we headed for the door.
I grabbed my purse along the way and waited for Garth to close the door behind us before taking his hand.
“I’ve got a cab on the way to pick us up.”
I raised an eyebrow. “You do? I didn’t hear you call one?”
“I set it up online.” He shrugged like it was no big deal. I raised an eyebrow.
“Oh.”
Well, don’t you just have your shit together. I squeezed his hand as we stepped into the elevator. I’m not going to lie, it felt nice to be with a man who had everything all planned out and ready to go.
More than anything, it was nice not having to do the planning every now and then. I liked that Garth seemed to enjoy planning dates. But I’ll have to do something special for him when we get home. As a thank you for all the hard work he put into this trip. I knew he was excited to take me traveling, but I hadn’t expected him to have everything figured out already. We made our way out of the hotel and onto the street just as a taxi pulled up. Garth guided me over to it, opened the door for me, and motioned for me to slide in.
Ever so carefully not to show too much—what with wearing a skirt and all—I slipped to the far side of the taxi. Garth joined me in the back seat and said something in Japanese.
“So, what are we doing today?”
“I thought it might be fun to get outside of the big town. A couple small villages.”
My heart skipped a beat. I’d always wanted to go to small villages in Japan. If they were half as gorgeous as they were in the movies, I was going to be thrilled.
I was beyond thrilled. The movies didn’t do them justice.
I stared in awe as we got out of the taxi and was left looking around. “This is amazing,” I whispered. “I can’t even begin to believe I’m actually here.”
I heard the click of a camera behind me and spun to see Garth grinning, his phone in hand. I’d been taking crazy amounts of pictures, but none of myself since I got here. I closed the distance between us and took the phone from his hand. Hmm, our first couples picture will be in Japan.
I held the phone out and switched it to front facing mode. Garth’s arms wrapped around me. The background was perfect. It looked like it should be out of a movie and looked like how someone would picture Japan. I smiled broadly and took the picture.
His lips touched my cheek as I took the second picture. My heart skipped a beat. Okay, I wasn’t one for social media, but that was going to be my profile picture.
Garth pulled away, his eyes sparkling. “Come on, let’s get going.”
Without another word, he headed off without me, taking his phone back. I rushed off after him to catch up. My heart racing.
“So, what are we doing here?”
“Lunch.”
“Lunch? You brought me all the way out here for lunch?”
“Yes.”
He said it like it totally didn’t matter, but his grin widened.
“Why?”
“Because ...” He shrugged.
“That doesn’t answer my question,” I said, taking long strides to keep up with him.
He headed down a pathway towards a hill.
“So, what are we having for lunch?” I asked, trying to pry more.
“It’s a surprise.”
“Did you pack it?”
“No.”
“So it’s at a restaurant?”
“No.”
My brow furrowed. What the hell did he mean by that?
Without any more time to try and figure it out, we came to the top of the hill.
“Oh, my God,” I whispered, staring down at the scene below me. I turned to him. Garth’s grin widened as those grey-green eyes locked on mine. “This … this is amazing.” I turned back to the scene in front of me. I couldn’t believe it. This looked like something out of a movie.
There was no one around. However, there was a blue blanket laid out on the ground, with a small wicker basket on it. I turned to him. “How …”
He had been with me all day, how had he managed to do this?
He shrugged. “I pulled in a few favors from a friend of mine who lives here.”
“You have friends here?”
“Yea, I spent a couple years here when I was younger. The nice thing about being your own boss is you can travel whenever you want—assuming you can afford it.”
I shook my head, unable to believe what I was seeing. There were pink flowers surrounding the blanket.
Garth took my hand and led me down to it.
My heart raced, trying to take everything in. How was this possible? I didn’t see any flowers around, except those that were cut and carefully placed around the blanket. I stepped over some of them and onto the blanket. Looking around, I tried to absorb it all. There was a little river a few feet away from us, and lilly pads floated in it. I shook my head. I felt like I was in the middle of some romantic movie and turned to Garth.
Without realizing it, I moved. My arms wrapped around him; my head nuzzled into his chest.
His arms tightened around my hips, pulling me closer to him.
“I’m glad you like it.” He chuckled.
“I … I can’t even begin to put into words how amazing this is.” I pulled away and shook my head. I would never be able to describe to everyone how perfect this was. How perfect this whole trip was.
“Come sit ...” Garth looked me over. “We didn’t drink that Sake last night; I thought we could make up for it today.”
I let out a loud laugh and dropped down across from him.
“Okay really, you need to spill the details on this. How did you do it?” My smile spread from ear to ear, and even if I wanted to, I wouldn’t be able to stop it. My eyes sparkled as I looked around, again trying to take everything in. I want to remember every second of this, I thought and made a mental note to take pictures. I didn’t want to ever lose this memory. Even when I’m old and have gone crazy, I want to remember this.
I grinned. There was no way I was going to tell her about everything.
In truth, it hadn’t been all that hard to plan. A little pricey—but not hard. I’d called in a couple favors and offered the right price. It was that simple.
I reached for the picnic basket and pulled out a bottle of Sake and two glasses. I glanced inside, taking a quick look at everything that was in there. Perfect. It had been hard getting one item to him, but it had been worth it. I handed her a glass, and we toasted before I drank mine back in a fraction of a second. She watched me, a grin spreading over her face.
“So, if I get you drunk, will you tell me?”
“Nope.”
I have to admit, it was kinda fun to keep her guessing. I pulled out a small bento box in the shape of a heart and handed it to her. I’d seen how she perked up for the one I had yesterday at the Cat Cafe and thought this would be suiting for her today.
She laughed softly, taking it from me.
“This is perfect.” Her smile widened as she opened it. “Oh my goodness, it’s amazing.”
I peaked over, unwilling to admit that I had no clue what it looked like inside. My friend had done a good job deciding what to get us. I pulled my own bento box out and found it was pretty much the same. There was heart outside and inside there were several X’s and O’s carefully placed, as well as the character for love.
She glanced up at me, a small piece of paper in her hands. “You know this is something someone gives to someone they love—right?”
“Yes,” I lied. Alright, so I didn’t know that part, but I’d been planning to tell her this trip anyways. I had mentioned that I was looking for a dramatic way to tell her I loved her. I guess Yosh had taken it into his own hands to do it for me.
I saw the color on her cheeks darken and couldn’t help the smile that spread over my lips. Reaching into the basket, I pulled out another box, this time much smaller. It could pass for a cupcake maybe, or something closer to a brownie. But that’s not what was inside that box.
“Here,” I said handing it to her.
I took the second box, raising my eyebrow.
Why was he blushing? My hands shook as I stared down at the box. Had he just told me he loved me? I mean, I knew he cared about me … but love? Deep breath, I told myself as I opened the box.
I gasped, staring down at it. My heart raced. I wasn’t willing to admit it and felt my jaw drop before I could try to control my reaction.
“I know it’s just really simple,” he said. “And don’t get me wrong, I’m not asking you to marry me or anything.” I looked up just in time to see him smile. “I just … saw it and wanted to get it for you.”
I stared back down at the small diamond ring. It was small. Simple. I liked that. I liked it.
“It’s …” I trailed off as I reached into the box and took the ring. “Everything … is just … perfect.”
Garth took the ring and the box from me. He held the ring out, and I held my hand out. He slipped it onto my finger, and his eyes locked on mine. “I’m glad you think so. Because I think you’re pretty damn perfect.”
My heart did a double take. So … he is trying to tell me he loves me, right? I didn’t dare ask. But I looked down at the paper I’d found in the bento box. It was written in English—well, it had an English side to it.
The Japanese symbol for love. A perfect gift to the one you love, or to receive. A perfect way to say, “I love you,” to anyone in your life.
He was saying that, right? I wasn’t jumping to crazy things here? I looked down at my hand. The ring sat on my index finger of my right hand. It was far from an engagement ring but that didn’t matter to me. It was still a way for me to always remember that the man I was with loved me.
It was hard waiting for them to get back. At least, while they were here, I could keep myself busy by contacting them. I could keep an eye on them, figure them out more. It’s amazing what people will tell you without even opening their mouth. The way they sit around you, the way they dress. It tells a lot about a person. I’ve studied it extensively. You have no idea how much it has helped me get to where I am in life right now.
No one realized that while they were just putting around, I was learning about all of them. I was taking everything into account. I didn’t quite expect a few things that had happened so far but was working around them. I was adapting. I’d learnt that.
This was my goal, and I was going to accomplish it.
Ruining Garth was what I needed to do. I was going to accomplish it.
As soon as they got back from their trip, I’d be able to do it. I’d be able to finish this, and I’d be able to get rid of any hint of evidence that I still had lying around. It would be easy really. As soon as I was on a flight, all the chances of me getting charged for those murders would go down to almost zero. No one thought someone would go to this extent. That’s why I was doing it.
That was how all the greats didn’t get caught.
There was a knock at my door.
I stood and padded to it—she was just in time. Good. I liked someone who would be on time.
My fingers curled around the handle, and I pulled it open. “Alyssa.”
“Hi.” She sounded far too chipper for what we were about to do.
“So, you’ve got everything set up?” She sounded worried. “How exactly do you plan to deal with her?”
“Just come when I call you. That’s all you need to know.” Her brow furrowed. I could tell she didn’t like that. I reached out and touched her arm gently. “You do want him, don’t you?”
“Yes …” she admitted. “I mean, she’s not going to get hurt is she? I don’t like the bitch, but I don’t want her to die or anything.”
“Of course we won’t hurt her.” It was a lie.
I grinned like a 14-year-old girl with their first boyfriend as I stared down at the ring. We still sat outside on the blanket; by now, we were almost through that small bottle of Sake he’d brought for us. After all, there was hardly any in it. I have to admit, I think I was getting a bit of a taste for it.
“Should we go exploring a little?” he asked, a grin spreading over his face.
“Sure.” I stood taking a deep breath. In and out, I told myself. I looked down at my feet as I took a couple steps. I’m not drunk, right? I wondered and managed to walk a straight line without any effort. I took it as a sign I wasn’t drunk and looked up at Garth. He held his hand out to me.
“Shouldn’t we clean up or something?”
“Na, I’ll have someone get it.” His eyes sparkled as he pulled me towards the river. We walked along it, and I took everything in.
“I can’t believe I’m here,” I admitted, pulling him closer to me. “I mean, it’s just so amazing. I never thought I would actually be able to go to Japan, and now here I am … like … like it’s out of a fairy tale or something.”
Garth glanced down at me. “Is that what you think this is?” He grinned.
“No. Well, I mean it’s a little bit dirtier—our relationship I mean,” I added quickly.
Garth laughed. “A naughty fairy tale. sounds like my kinda thing.” His eyes shone as he pointed towards a group of people.
I gasped. A Geisha performance. I’d seen a few on TV, but again, never in person.
“I can’t believe it.” I shook my head. “Any of this. I mean … it’s just so amazing.” A once in a lifetime experience.
“We’ll go somewhere else next.” His eyes sparkled as he turned back to me. “We do have some vacation time to use up this year, even after this trip.”
“We could go to Canada,” I suggested.
“In the winter?” His nose wrinkled. I laughed.
“We can go in the summer. We’ll stay somewhere warm for the winter.”
“Hawaii.”
“Yes.” I’d always wanted to go there. Of course, there was a long list of places I wanted to go. And I’m going to start crossing places off that list, I promised myself. Even if Garth and I broke up and I had to pay for everything on my own, I’d make sure I traveled more after this.
Garth pulled me close, placing a kiss on top of my head. I looked up to see those grey-green eyes sparkling. I wish we had a little bit longer, I thought.
It was going to suck to get on that plane home. I couldn’t begin to put into words how much I was going to hate this. I didn’t want to leave and didn’t want to go back to our normal day-to-day life. I wanted to stay here.
We could, I thought for a split second. When we got the new business going, we could travel as much as we wanted—as long as we were still making enough to pay for ourselves to do it.
It will be amazing.
Some girls dreamt of a big house and kids and a nice car—me, it was traveling … and well, a nice car wouldn’t be a bad idea.
We made our way back to the hotel room; Garth unlocked the door and pushed it open. We stepped inside looking around. It felt nice to be back; like I could sit down and relax.
Garth padded over to the mini fridge where he had put the Sake back last night. He pulled it out again, grabbed the two shot glasses and sauntered over to the bed, kicking off his shoes.
I slipped out of my flats and my skirt. I made my way over to the bed, wearing a blue shirt and my panties.
Not because I wanted to be sexy but because I wanted to be comfy. I grabbed the phone book off the nightstand and placed it down before Garth put the shot glasses on them. Carefully, I climbed onto the bed. Garth poured us each a shot. I took mine and tipped my head back, letting the clear liquid slide down my throat. The liquor burned my throat as it made its way down but that didn’t stop me from reaching for the bottle.
Garth grinned.
“What, you’re going
to try to out drink me?”
I had a feeling I didn’t have to try. But I didn’t say it. I just gave him a smile as he put his shot glass down, and I poured us each another shot. Our eyes locked as we took it. Neither of us willing to admit that we’d just entered a drinking contest.
Chapter Seventeen
I grinned broadly as I took the next shot. Then Garth poured the next.
“Tell me something,” he said after downing his shot.
I tipped the shot glass to my lips, swallowing down the Sake.
“Okay, what?”
“No, just something. I want to know something about you. Tell me something about you. Please.”
My brow furrowed. “What could I possibly tell him? I was boring compared to normal people—compared to him, I was a downright drag.
“Uh, I used to collected Care Bears,” I blurted out.
He looked at me for a couple seconds before letting out a loud laugh. “Really? That’s what you’re going to tell me?”
I shrugged. “What do you want to know?”
He bit his lip. “Tell me about why you applied for a job at the office.”
I shrugged. “I needed money,” I admitted. “I’d been told I was pretty good at staging places, so I thought maybe, just maybe, I could get a job there and move up in it. I liked redecorating when I was little. So, I decided to give it a shot.”
“Why did you stay?”
“Because I needed money.” I wasn’t going to lie.
He laughed softly. “I guess that’s understandable.”
I paused, thinking about something interesting I could tell him.
“When I was six years old, I saved a dog I’d found on the street. He was a stray and had been around for a couple weeks. I used to sneak food out to him, so he’d hang around the house a lot. My parents never understood why until one night when there was a really bad storm. I begged my parents to let him into the house. I begged and begged and begged until they said yes. And you have to understand, I was never the type to beg ... so when I wouldn’t let up… I don’t know, it freaked my parents out, and they just said yes almost right away. I let him in, soaking wet and everything, and I didn’t care. I lay out a blanket for him on the kitchen floor, gave him a little food and then lay down on the ground with him. He ate, and then he just lay down.” I paused thinking about my childhood dog. “I convinced my parents to let me keep him, providing I took care of him when I wasn’t at school. He … we got him all fixed up, and I trained him. He was the most well-behaved dog I ever met. Well, for me at least,” I laughed softly. “He hardly listened to anyone else. My dad hated it.”
The Billionaire's Fake Marriage: A Single Dad Next Door Romance Page 65
