by Dee Lagasse
Catching Clementine’s attention, I shoot her a look of confusion and her eyes dart to Bodie getting settled next to me. Wiggling her eyebrows, I fight a laugh instead, acknowledging what she’s trying to do by blowing her a kiss. There’s no conversation needed. They’re trying to give us space. Not because I’m a princess and Bodie is a professional baseball player, but because we have something, whatever that something is, and we haven’t seen each other in a month.
Catching our interaction, Luke raises his eyebrows and shakes his head while he begins to walk toward where Bodie and I are standing. Luke McHugh has been working for my family for twenty years. Starting as an assistant to my mother’s secretary at twenty-two, he was offered the job as my secretary ten years later when I was twenty-two myself. Though he’s been a part of my team for eight years, he’s worked very closely with my family since I was twelve. He stopped trying to understand Clementine and my friendship years ago.
“Mr. Cambridge,” Luke extends his hand for Bodie to take. “I’ve heard a great deal about you. It’s nice to be able to put a face to the name.”
“Don’t believe all she tells you,” Bodie chuckles. “And you must be the infamous Luke.”
“I am, but don’t believe all she tells you,” he smiles, repeating Bodie’s words back to him as I playfully roll my eyes at their interaction. “On a more serious note, as a guest of Sutton, if there’s anything you need, just let me know.”
“Thanks, man, I appreciate it,” Bodie says as he shakes Luke’s hand with the same heartful respect he used while shaking Jameson’s hand a little while ago.
Walking back to the front of the plane, Luke unties the flap of cloth used as a wall divider between the front and the back of the plane, offering me a big, toothy smile as he does. Distracted by the curtain being down for the first time on any of my solo trips, I’d almost forgotten how nervous I was about Bodie being here. My pause in jitters only lasts until the curtain falls all the way down and Bodie closes the space between us. Brushing the wisps of hair that have fallen over my face while I got my things settled, he grins.
“Oh, hi,” he chuckles lowly.
“Hi yourself,” I offer in response, hoping my voice isn’t as shaky as my legs.
After a month of back and forth over the phone, he’s here. He’s right in front of me, and my God, does he smell good. A combination of cedar, orange and basil creates a masculine magnet that pulls me to him. Not that I need any additional help being drawn to him.
“I know we’ve talked every day, but I didn’t realize how much I missed you until now.” His voice is still low, like everything he’s saying is a secret just for me. “I’m going to kiss you now, okay?”
Nodding, I’m unable to form words. As his fingers rake through the loose strands of my hair, they settle just below my ears on my neck. The pads of his thumbs land just above my jaw on my cheeks. Hyper-aware of every move he makes, I pull my top lip into my teeth. As he pulls my face closer to his, I grab onto the back of his sweater, unsure if I’m doing it to gain my balance or be closer to him.
Taking that as his cue, he lowers his lips to mine. Soft and warm, they delicately and very deliberately brush against mine. A series of small pecks are left on my lips, but it doesn’t take long for him to come back for more. With each one he stays a bit longer, letting his lips linger on mine.
Opening my mouth slightly in invitation, I can feel his smile against me briefly before his tongue slowly starts to dance with mine. Traces of mint and coffee hit me as the kiss deepens. Even with the intensity of the moment, Bodie hasn’t lost his tenderness. His fingers gently pressing into the back of my neck keep my head tilted up to meet his.
“Hello Princess Sutton and guests of Her Royal Highness. This is Captain Young speaking. I ask that you please take your seats and fasten your belts. The door has been closed and we will be starting our departure in just another minute or so. I’ll come back as soon as we’ve reached a point that you will be safe to move around the cabin.”
Sure, no big deal, Captain. We’re just having a perfect moment here.
Pulling himself away with such reluctance, Bodie’s shoulders slump and he takes a step back accepting his defeat against time.
“I’ve wanted to do that from the moment I met you,” Bodie grins as we take our seats.
Once we’ve both buckled our seatbelts, Bodie’s hand finds mine and our fingers lock together just as the airplane begins to pick up speed. Over the course of the next few hours, with intertwined fingers, we somehow manage to find something to talk about, even having talked every single day since I left Boston. As he’s showing me the floor plan for the renovations his dad is planning for the café, Clementine’s voice drifts through the closed curtain.
“Hey birthday girl, you decent?”
Laughter erupts from Bodie when he sees the dumbfounded expression on my face turn to one of shock when I realize what she’s implying.
“Yes, Clementine,” I say as I join Bodie in laughing.
Tying back the curtain, Clementine is followed by the two attendants pushing two trays. Covered dishes of food, glasses, and three bottles of champagne are placed on a table built into the plane a little farther down from where Bodie and I are sitting.
“How about some birthday dinner?” she asks. “It looks like your mum thought of everything.”
Standing up for the first time since we took off, I stretch my legs and walk over to where Clementine and Luke are standing. Looking at me with a slight smirk, I know what she’s doing. And if I know anything about my best friend, I know that right now, it’s killing her to act like I’m her boss and not her best friend.
“Will you two just sit down, please?” I chide. “It’s just us. You don’t need to act like this is some formal dinner.”
Sighing with relief, Clementine plops herself into the seat and Luke laughs.
“You know, you’ve ruined me for anyone else,” he starts. “If your family transfers me to—”
“No one, ever?” I offer. “I would fall apart without both of you. Seriously. I’m so thankful for everything you do for me.”
Feeling his gaze on me, I look over to Bodie. Sitting in the seat next to me, his eyes are full of admiration. Knowing he’s been caught staring, he mouths “you’re amazing” before unfolding his napkin and placing it on his lap.
Once we’re all settled, the attendants take the silver dome covers off our plates and the smells of all my favorites infiltrate the plane cabin. The fact that my mother managed to get roasted chicken herbed with basil, sautéed zucchinis, and mix of green beans onto the plane and have them keep it so it would taste perfect three hours into our flight is incredible, but not all that surprising. Sometimes, I swear that woman is made of magic.
As we’re wrapping up dinner, laughing over champagne as Bodie explains to us the “duck boat” he rode on during the World Series Parade isn’t an actual duck, the younger, peppier of the two flight attendants comes back with yet another tray.
“Dessert anyone?” she asks in a sing-song voice.
“Dessert?” I ask, glancing over at Clementine, who I know is thinking the same thing that I am.
There’s no way.
But sure enough, she pulls a white box with a sticker of my parents’ seal on the top. Opening the lid, she bends down and shows it to us. Sure enough, it’s the strawberry icebox cake my mom has made for me every single birthday I’ve had. There are even pictures of her baking it the night before my first birthday in my baby album. I can’t believe even in the air my mother still made it happen.
Wiping a lone tear that’s fallen down my cheek, I’m so overwhelmed with love. Not missing a moment, Bodie’s hand finds mine under the table and gives it a little squeeze.
Best birthday, ever.
Chapter 6
Bodie
I’ve been to red carpet events, movie premieres, and participated in multiple championship parades throughout the city of Boston, but none of that compared to the we
lcome we got when we stepped off the plane at O. R. Tambo International Airport in South Africa. Or the lack thereof, I should say.
After landing, we grabbed our things and were immediately greeted by members of the military. With an entourage of guards, we were led to two black SUVs waiting for us. Our luggage had already been transported and we left as soon as we were settled in the vehicles. About twenty minutes into the hour and a half drive, Sutton fell asleep on my shoulder. I’m not too sure when I drifted off to sleep myself, but Sutton’s gentle shaking stirs me from my sleep.
“Hey sleepyhead, we’re here.” `
Groggy and jet-lagged, I force myself to open my eyes. I hadn’t slept much on the flight to London, my nerves getting the best of me. Once I got to Sutton, I got a second wind of energy, thriving on her attention. Jumping a couple of time zones is finally starting to catch up with me.
Leaving at 8:20 at night on Friday, after only a six hour and twenty-minute flight I got to London at 7:40 in the morning on Saturday. Another flight and an hour later, I landed somewhere in Windham, I honestly don’t remember where exactly. At this point, all the places are starting to blend together.
After meeting up with Sutton around nine for an eleven-hour flight, we finally made it to South Africa. Which is still two more hours later than London time. If I’m doing my math right, it should be somewhere around midnight on Sunday local time, which means, I think, it’s only five o’clock on Saturday night at home. Whatever time it is, I’m ready for a bed.
“Oh, so,” Sutton starts as we pull up to the house we’re staying at. “I kind of assumed we’d share a room. But if you’re not okay with that, I can room with Clem. All of the beds are big enough for two people.”
“You’re out of your mind if you think I traveled halfway across the globe to spend the week anywhere but with you,” I chuckle when the SUV comes to a stop.
Luke and I send the ladies in while we carry all the luggage in. Why a woman needs six suitcases to spend seven days away from home is something I will never understand. Once we’ve gotten all the luggage into the house, the two drivers get into one vehicle, leaving one of the black SUVs in the small parking area in front of the house.
By the time Luke and I are ready to settle in, Sutton and Clementine have already changed into pajamas and are sitting at the kitchen table.
“First thing tomorrow, we need to go to the market,” Sutton says, sighing. “I bloody forgot to send a list and money to have them stock everything up before we got here.”
“No biggie,” I tell her. “I honestly just want to go to bed right now.”
“Do you want anything specific?” Luke asks. “I’m sure I’ll be up before everyone. I’ll grab a few things for breakfast, but if anyone wants something specific, I just need to know ahead of time.”
“I trust you,” Sutton smiles, rubbing her eyes sleepily.
“If Sutton trusts you, I trust you,” I add before turning to Sutton. “What do you say? Ready to head to bed?”
With that, she stands up and pushes in her chair, tossing her hand in the air and doing something that I think is supposed to resemble a wave. Following her into a room, I push the door closed behind us. Once the door clicks shut, I tug the cashmere sweater I’ve been wearing since I landed in Windham over my head. Not taking the climate change into mind when I got dressed this morning, I was already hot just standing here.
It couldn’t be more than seventy degrees, but coming from below freezing temperatures, I feel like I might as well be in a sauna with all the layers I have on. Opening my large suitcase, I grab the pair of thin, gray jersey-knit pajama bottoms I bought just for this trip. At home, I sleep in boxer briefs, but I wasn’t sure how comfortable Sutton would feel with me sleeping in only my underwear.
Like a magician, with one hand she unhooks and takes her bra off, pulling it through her arms and flinging it across the room.
“You look scared,” she giggles as she pulls the covers down and climbs into the bed.
“To be honest, I’m equal parts scared and impressed,” I admit before pulling down the covers on my side and climbing in next to her. “Hey Sutton?”
“Hey Bodie?” she says, mimicking my tone.
“What are your thoughts on snuggling?” I ask, turning my body so that I’m facing her completely. “I can’t believe it, but in all of our five-hour phone calls, I think we forgot to cover something.”
“With you?” she asks sleepily. “Yes, please.”
Flipping over to my back, no sooner do I stretch out my arm, she scooches into the space, settling her head on my chest and haphazardly tossing her arm over my torso. The lingering coconut scent of her shampoo gives me a sense of comfort and security I wasn’t expecting.
I almost canceled the trip a dozen times over the last few weeks. Leaving the country with a woman I had spent one night with was crazy. It was one of the best nights of my life, and we’d talked every single day since then, but it was still crazy. And I think Sutton knew it too. After a phone call when she asked me a few times if I was sure I wanted to go with her, I started second guessing my decision. So I did what I always do when I don’t know what to do. I went and saw Nora.
There are nine years between me and my older sister, but she’s been my biggest fan and supporter since the day I was born. For as long as I can remember, Nora’s been right there...for everything. Even when she was a teenager and there were a million different, cooler things she could be doing, she never missed a baseball game, a school event…she stayed home every night to help with homework and to make sure Oliver and I had a hot dinner every night when my dad was getting the cafe off the ground.
When I first started getting recruiters coming to see me in high school, so many people came to me and my dad about managing me and my upcoming career. Even at only eighteen years old, I knew the only person I trusted to always do what was in my best interest was my big sister. When I brought the idea to her, she agreed without hesitation, putting her two weeks’ notice in at the real estate company she had been working at since she was a seventeen-year-old copy girl. Everyone thought she was crazy, including members of our own family, but there was never any other option for her.
And two years later, my brother went to college getting his degree in sports management. Six years into my professional career, Oliver and Nora started what would become the most sought-after sports management firm on the east coast. They’ve since added ten more people to their company and have some of the biggest names in professional baseball as their clients. Despite having the option to personally represent a whole slew of players, both my brother and sister always make sure to put me first, never letting fame or the opportunity to build their brand become more important than being my siblings.
Nora manages things like my money, negotiating contracts, accepting endorsement deals. Oliver handles my schedule. He chooses what events to RSVP to, which interviews to grant. Neither one of them ever needs to confirm with me what I would and wouldn’t want to do, because they just know.
Sometimes, I swear they know more about what’s going on in my life than I do. Which is why even if I wanted to, there was no way I could have kept something like going to Africa with Sutton a secret.
Oliver immediately cleared my schedule. His only business concern was being kept in the loop if Sutton and I were photographed together so he could handle the press aspect of it. Other than that, he looked at the entire thing like my brother, wanting all the details I could give him on the first girl that had gotten my attention for longer than ten minutes in five years. Much like our brother, Nora’s only concern business-wise was needing the details of the trip so she could book the trip…and then Sutton went ahead and took care of everything. But they both knew putting myself out there like this is a huge deal for me.
Just like in my career, Nora only wants what is best for me in my personal life. So when I showed up at her apartment at seven in the morning on a Sunday to ask her advice, she opened the door righ
t away and began making us both mugs of our dad’s infamous peppermint hot cocoa. After twenty minutes of me rambling on about all the what ifs, she put down her mug of cocoa and thought for a minute before coming up with her response to my teeter-totter of emotions.
“The chances of you and Sutton meeting in your lifetime are, like what, one in four billion? Then for you both to be at the same fundraiser in Boston? And the fact that she was wearing your jersey? Your first gut reaction when she asked you was to say yes. You didn’t think with your head, you thought with your heart. Baby brother, some things just make too much sense to be considered coincidences. It’s kismet.”
My sister had explained it like it was the easiest thing in the world.
“Kismet?” I had asked, unfamiliar with the term.
“Your fate, destiny, you’re meant to be…”
And honestly, what chance did I have against kismet?
Chapter 7
Sutton
As the warm rays of sun peek through the blinds, I slowly inch out of the bed. Tiptoeing to my suitcases, I slowly start to unzip it, trying my hardest to make as little noise as possible. After traveling all day yesterday and going ahead a few time zones, Bodie was almost certain to be feeling the effects of jetlag. Knowing that today was probably going to be a rough one for him, I purposely planned for our volunteer work to start tomorrow.
Sifting through my clothes, I find my bathrobe, putting it on before reaching for the oversized bag I had used as my carry-on while traveling. Having every intent of working on the plane, I brought my laptop to work on the “highly anticipated” follow up to Roxy the Royal Reading Retriever. I didn’t open my laptop once on the flight.
