She nearly flipped over again, but Adam stared right at her.
“Thanks for letting me come along. This is a lot of fun.”
“Thanks for rescuing me.”
“My pleasure. Sweet dreams, Snow.”
“You too,” she replied and allowed her eyes to close. She could still feel his eyes on her, and she tried not to think of how that warmed her. Tanner. She should be thinking about Tanner.
But the face in her dreams as she fell asleep was dark and handsome with a sexy crooked grin.
Chapter 6
Adam woke the next morning with Snow shaking him. “Wake up, we’re going to be late.”
He rubbed his eyes. “We’re camping. What on earth could we be late for?”
“We’re taking a train ride. If we don’t get out of here in less than forty-five minutes, we’ll be late.”
He blinked at her. “What train ride?”
“I’ll tell you later. I’m going to shower. I’ll be back in fifteen. If you have the air mattress and sleeping bags put away, I can take down the tent while you shower.”
She pulled her already rolled up sleeping bag out of the tent, and Adam lay there for a second. Fifteen minutes? What kind of a woman only took fifteen minutes to shower?
Snow beat on the tent. “I’m serious. We’ve got to go.” She stuck her head in the tent. “Why are you still lying there?”
“I thought you were showering?”
“I was afraid you fell back asleep.”
She fiddled with something on the air mattress, and he heard the hiss of air. The bed underneath sank quickly.
“Up,” she commanded and disappeared.
He grinned at Nona, who stuck her head out of the sleeping bag. “Guess we don’t get to sleep in, girl. What kind of vacation is this?”
The best kind. Even if it did cut into his sleep.
He let Nona out of the tent and took care of his sleeping bag and the air mattress. He was putting them in the back of the Range Rover when Snow came back. She had on a pair of jeans and a long sleeve t-shirt that was just sheer enough to see the edge of her black bra straps. He hadn’t pegged her as a black bra type of girl.
She’d put her thick hair back in a ponytail and had on the ever-present red lipstick. It suddenly became very hard to remember what he was supposed to do, his sole focus on those red lips.
Until they moved to scold him. Again.
“Fifteen minutes, pretty boy. Let’s go.”
He grabbed his clothes, towel, and toothbrush and headed to the camp bathrooms. Adam was determined to show her he wasn’t that high maintenance. He could camp, or at least he was trying. And he could damn well get ready in less than fifteen minutes.
Hopefully.
The shower went cold after three minutes, and he understood how Snow managed to finish up so quick. He rinsed off, dressed, brushed his teeth, and hurried back to the campsite with two minutes to spare.
The tent was down, and Snow was sitting on the picnic table watching Nona run on the beach. She looked up as he approached. “Good, you’re back. Let’s go.”
The pride he’d felt at getting ready in the quickest timeframe ever deflated a bit. He supposed it shouldn’t be that remarkable. He whistled for Nona, and she came running. He started the car and headed north. He wasn’t exactly sure where they were heading, but the only way to go was north.
“Why are we leaving so early?” Adam rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. He needed coffee.
“I told you we’re going on a train ride.”
Didn’t sound that exciting, but Snow seemed to think it was. Maybe she’d never been on a train before. Those in the U.S. were fine, but to really experience a train, Adam thought Japan was the best. Their trains were fast, comfortable, and spotless. He glanced Snow’s way, wondering if she’d ever been out of the country.
“What kind of train?” he asked.
“Amtrak. There is about a two-hour stretch where we can’t drive along the coast. We’re going to drive to the far train station, then take the train round-trip so that we wind up back by the car. This will be nice for you because you’ve driven the whole time so far. Now you can actually enjoy the scenery.”
Maybe it would be kind of neat. “You weren’t kidding about seeing the whole coast, were you?”
“I want to see every inch of it.”
Silence filled the air. He was impressed she’d planned this out so well. He’d never taken a trip like this. Usually he had a travel agent put together his itinerary. They’d ask a few general questions. Beach or city vacation? Which continent? Which countries? Was there a budget? A few weeks later a complete vacation was planned. It never disappointed. Though he’d never vacationed any other way. He also supposed he never cared that much either what he did or where he went. As long as he got away and saw new things every so often, he was set.
“Do you always know what you want?” he asked her.
“Usually. Don’t you?”
He frowned and thought about that. “No. Not really.”
She laughed. “That’s impossible. How could you not know what you want?”
“Well, I’ve always been helped, or told, what I want. I haven’t had many opportunities to make my own decisions.” Most of the time it didn’t bother him. He had a good life, why question it? Though, the thing with Kelly had him questioning all sorts of things he never did before.
She narrowed her eyes at him. “You’re kidding.”
“No. My father picked my college, my major, my job, and my ex-girlfriend. Hell, he practically handpicked my friends.”
“No way.”
“He helped me get into the right fraternity. Those guys became my best friends. Exactly as my father predicted. He’s pretty close with his frat brothers to this day as well.”
“Were they the ones on the beach? With all the dogs?”
“Yeah. Don’t get me wrong, they’re great, but just listening to you talk about how much you wanted to take this trip and even your insistence we get on this train—seriously, I’m jealous.”
She let out a laugh. “You. Mr. Hundreds of Thousands of Followers on Instagram.”
He shrugged. “Yeah. I mean, even this car. I didn’t buy it because I wanted a Range Rover. I bought it because I needed something that would fit our stuff.”
“What about your pretty Porsche?”
“Birthday present. I wouldn’t have picked yellow.”
“What would you have picked?”
He shrugged. “I have no idea.”
It was pathetic when Adam thought about it. But making decisions was a trait he needed to develop. He’d never been forced to, and he had a personality that was chill and go-with-the-flow anyway. Combine those two and you had a grown man who didn’t have any real goals or dreams.
“What about Nona? Surely you wanted her.”
He let out a sigh. “Group decision.”
She creased her eyebrows. “I don’t understand.”
“My frat buddies and I got the dogs after all of us made our first million.”
She whistled. “Wow. You must’ve been first.”
“No, I was nearly last. Nona means nine. There are ten of us.”
“How is that possible?”
“Because we had to do it without help from our family. It took me awhile to figure out how to do things on my own.”
Adam found himself missing the familiar waves beating on the sand next to him. He and Snow fell into a comfortable silence. There was no shoreline for her to look at anymore, so she’d taken to watching the scenery pass on her side of the car. Adam wondered what she was thinking about. She didn’t pull out a book, or pop headphones into her ears. Just leaned her head against the window and with a light smile on her face, watching the world go by.
Three hours later, they pulled into an empty parking lot. It was freezing as he stepped out of the car with Nona following. Snow opened the trunk and took out a hoodie. He hadn’t packed one.
“I don’t s
ee a train station,” Adam remarked as he wrapped his arms around himself while trying to make it look like he wasn’t cold. The tracks ran right next to the water and there was a small platform.
“We’ll buy tickets on the train.”
They waited at the location that was literally right on the beach. There were no buildings anywhere in sight. The wind blew off the water, pulling goosebumps out of his skin, and Nona chased birds on the beach. At least she wasn’t bothered by the cold.
Snow brushed away the stray black strands of hair from her face. “Where’s your jacket?”
“I don’t have one. When I came to California, I wasn’t planning on going any farther north than San Diego.”
“I thought you bought the whole REI store.”
For a second, Adam was offended. But when he glanced over and saw the smirk on Snow’s face, he couldn’t help the smile that split his lips. “Ha. Ha.” He pointed at her. “You appreciated those hot dog roasters. And you have to admit that mattress is pretty amazing.”
“All true.” She laughed. Then she cleared her throat and said, “We should be able to find something for you when we get to the other side of the train ride.”
A few minutes later the train came by the platform. He followed Liz onto the train, and a conductor stopped him. “No dogs allowed, sir.” Snow stopped and turned around.
“Go on, find us seats, I’ll be there soon.” She nodded and moved on down the car. He wasn’t normally ashamed of flashing money around, but Liz was sensitive to it and he didn’t want her to see what he was about to do.
Adam pulled out his wallet and handed the conductor a hundred. The conductor stared at the bill and then back at Nona, pain in his eyes. He gulped.
“I’m sorry. I really can’t allow her on the train.”
For a second Adam thought about doubling it, but he didn’t want to sit here and argue with the man. He pulled out another nine hundred and a business card.
“Please. If you lose your job, give me a call, and I’ll make it right. I promise.”
The man pocketed the bills and waved him aboard.
Snow had found seats where they could both have a window and sit across from each other. Nona hopped up next to her.
“Have you ever been on a train?” he asked after he sat down.
“No. But I researched this like crazy so I know exactly what to do.” The sentence faded away. “I can see how it was easy for you to pick up on the fact that I’m a girl who knows what she wants.”
He smiled as he looked out the window. “It’s a good trait to have.” He had no doubt the shop that she was about to open up would be successful. She was smart, ambitious, and persistent.
The ocean spread out underneath them. “Have you been on a train before?” she asked.
“Yes. It’s amazing how a mode of transportation feels different depending on where you are in the world though. I’ve gone on business trips to Japan, various countries in Europe, here, obviously. I’ve never been on a train for anything other than a way to get from A to B though.”
When he peeled his eyes away from the window, he found Snow studying him. That statement sound super pompous, didn’t it? He’d basically said, “I’ve been around the world with all my money.” He wanted to slam his head into the window. Snow wasn’t like all the other people he found himself with. She didn’t have an endless bank account or a private jet to take her to any country in the world.
“Sorry, that was pretty insensitive—”
“No, I think it’s fascinating.”
She was just being nice.
The train took off, and Adam was mesmerized. He’d never seen the ocean this way. The cliffs fell off below him, and jagged rocks jutted up near the coast. Waves beat upon them.
“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” Snow said, her voice a bit breathy.
He nodded. “It is. This is fun, too. I never would’ve thought to book a train on vacation.”
“Yeah.”
Snow didn’t appear offended. Maybe he hadn’t sounded as much like a stuck up rich guy as he’d thought. It was nice to be able to sit back and enjoy the view. Let someone else do the driving for a bit.
After some time had passed, he asked, “What else do you have planned for us?”
She stood for a second to watch a bay disappear as the train passed. “I thought maybe you could pick a few sights since this vacation is half yours. You should make sure you get to do some things you’ve always wanted to do.”
“I thought you had every minute already planned.”
“Nah. I have stuff I want to do, but then I also wanted to give myself time to enjoy the drive, and still have time to hit up roadside attractions and detour if I want.” She turned toward him. “What’s something you’ve always wanted to see or do in this area that you haven’t yet?”
Adam thought but couldn’t come up with anything. “That’s hard for me to say. I usually don’t know what those things are, unless they come up.”
“Well, if you think of something, let’s do it.”
“Deal. You still haven’t told me what else we’re doing.”
“After this, we’ll camp in San Simeon.”
“And after that?”
“Another beach.”
They fell into an easy silence, occasionally pointing out cliffs and boats. Who would have thought a train ride could be so perfect for a vacation? Judging by how full the train was, apparently, a lot of people. Maybe it was just Adam, and those in his social circle, that wouldn’t think of this.
The train stopped at its farthest point where they were supposed to get off and enjoy the sun, before heading back to where they came from. Just as they were about to get off the train, Adam stopped her in the doorway. “Let’s get another picture.”
She curled into his side and smiled wide while he took another selfie.
They jumped down from the train and followed the sea of people.
“What’s with you and the selfies?” Snow asked.
He shrugged and posted it on Instagram with a note about beautiful girls on trains.
“I mean, I understand that I am archaic when it comes to that stuff. I have a Facebook account, but it still has a profile picture from six years ago.”
Adam laughed, wondering what life would be like if he wasn’t so connected. “I’ve gotten used to documenting my life. It started a few years ago when my father was doing some publicity for his newest casino. I guess I got in the habit. I like going back and seeing things I’ve done. This is the most fun I’ve had in a long time, so of course I want to remember it. You mind if I send you a friend request on Facebook?”
“Not at all.” She pointed to the building. “I’m going to get return tickets.”
He handed her cash for his ticket, and only his. He had the suspicion that, other than him supplying the vehicle for the trip, she didn’t want anything else from him. “I’ll wait out here.”
Adam found a bench and shooed away the seagulls fighting over some leftover crumbs. After checking that the birds hadn’t left behind anything on the seat, he leaned back on the bench and pulled out his cell, relishing in the sun beating down on his skin.
A quick search on Facebook and he easily found Snow’s profile. Her picture might be from six years ago, but she still looked exactly the same. He chuckled as he looked closer at the picture of her kissing the air with those gorgeous red lips. Even though she already agreed to connecting on Facebook, his finger still shook as he hit the “send friend request” button. Literally seconds later, she accepted his request, and he saw her standing in line with her phone in hand.
He backed up to the pictures that were already in his feed and tagged her, amazed that her fiancé was okay with Adam tagging along.
Tanner probably felt guilty, and Adam supposed that if his fiancée had a dream vacation she’d been planning her whole life, and the only way to make sure she got to experience it was by pairing up with a guy she barely knew from high school, he’d agree to it
.
Though he couldn’t imagine being 100% comfortable. Not to mention that he would never abandon her like this, no matter the cause.
Snow walked over to him, pulling her long sleeve shirt off over her head to reveal a tank top underneath. He wondered how the dynamic between them would be different if she wasn’t engaged.
She arrived next to him with the tickets in hand. “We’ve got about an hour. You want to get a coffee?” She pointed to a shop across the street.
“That sounds perfect.”
Adam couldn’t remember a morning that hadn’t began with two to three cups of coffee. But as he walked side by side with Snow, he realized that with the right people, and doing the right things, he didn’t need coffee to wake himself up.
He’d never felt more alive.
Chapter 7
Liz was surprised every time she looked up and saw that she was with Adam Winslow. He was so damn good looking, and with him being the one guy in high school that she never uttered two words to, the whole thing was surreal. She ordered a caramel macchiato, and he got a black coffee.
“Watching your figure?” she asked. She licked some stray caramel off her finger.
He pointed to himself. “This takes work you know.”
She snorted, and his laugh followed.
They sat at a table outside and watched the small town come to life in the late morning. Only a few people meandered down the streets with tiny shops. A couple of moms pushed strollers on the sidewalk. Nona whined when she spotted a poodle being walked by a skinny woman on her phone.
Liz’s phone buzzed.
Just ran into him camping, huh? Looks more serious than that.
Liz groaned. This had to be killing Jenny. Liz couldn’t explain everything by text, but if she’d been home, Liz would’ve spilled the whole story.
We were heading to the same place.
Right. Is Tanner having a cow yet?
No. I’m telling you it’s not a big deal.
Her Facetime started dinging. Shit. Tanner.
Gotta go.
She looked up at Adam. “It’s Tanner. I’ve got to take this.”
Roadtrips and Romance (Omega Mu Alpha Brothers Book 5) Page 5
