Total pages in book: 31
Estimated words: 28458 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 142(@200wpm)___ 114(@250wpm)___ 95(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 28458 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 142(@200wpm)___ 114(@250wpm)___ 95(@300wpm)
“I’m trying.”
He sighed again. “What else do you want to know?”
“Umm...what’s your job?”
“Troubleshooting.”
“Oh...” When he didn’t say anything else, she didn’t press him, thinking that he might be one of those types who were self-conscious about their jobs for whatever reason.
Deciding it was his turn to ask, he returned the question to her.
“My job? I’m a troubleshooter, too, in a way. I do search engine optimization for websites and blogs.”
He was impressed. Nic had no doubt Ayah was a nice girl, but with how impressionable she seemed to be, he had assumed that she was not the type to have such a technical job. “You work for a company?”
“I freelance. It’s how I get to travel.”
They exchanged more questions and answers, her words becoming slurred and slurred, and in another few moments she was sleeping, her breathing becoming deep and regular.
Her face was a picture of innocence – and it would not stay that way if, after this flight, he maintained contact with her.
The hours passed.
He could not sleep, could not stop staring at her, and worst of all he could not find a way to convince himself that he did not feel anything for this woman he had known for less than a day.
She made him feel weak and powerful at the same time.
She made him...feel, bottom line, and Nic just couldn’t have that.
The overhead light for the seatbelt option lit up and the pilot’s voice boomed out of the speakers as he announced the plane’s imminent safe landing in Amsterdam. He secured her seatbelt for her, but she did not stir.
The plane landed and still she did not wake.
He was not the kind of man who believed in fate, but for this special girl whose trusting soul he had taken advantage of, Nic was willing to give it a try.
If she woke up, it meant...
The plane had touched down, and the passengers started to walk past them. He straightened in his seat and with a swift scan of his surroundings, Nic saw that they were the only ones left.
Still, she slept.
He couldn’t breathe. Wake up, Ayah. Wake up. Wake up.
A flight attendant paused next to their aisle. “Sir?”
He said hoarsely, “Let her sleep for a few more minutes. She’s exhausted.” The look on the other woman’s eyes made him want to snarl. It was clear she knew what they had been doing and it was just as clear what she thought was the cause of Ayah’s exhaustion.
Nic gazed at the woman with the kind of contempt that only someone born to a family whose lineage could be traced back for centuries and whose wealth had survived regimes and empires could pull off. She paled and scurried away at the sight.
Nic looked back at Ayah. Wake up, lieverd.
But her eyes remained closed to the possibility of the future that he wanted to share with her. His body taut with tension and ruthlessly suppressed emotions, Nic bent down and slowly pressed a kiss to her forehead.
He had gambled on fate, and he had lost.
Goodbye, Ayah.
And then he carefully extricated his arm from her. He walked away, not looking back.
~ Four ~
“Ma’am?” The flight attendant’s voice was cool, almost insultingly sharp. “You really need to go down now.”
She nodded. She should move now. She really should. But she couldn’t. She kept gazing at the vacant seat next to her. It was almost like everything that had happened was a dream, and there wasn’t a single clue left to prove that it wasn’t. That he had been real.
“Ma’am?”
Swallowing, Ayah forced her shaking limbs to move. She accepted the tote bag the flight attendant handed to her, mumbling her thanks.
She walked out of the plane without seeing anything. She passed through immigration successfully, going through the motions without being truly aware of her surroundings. Surely...surely he would be waiting for her?
Ayah stopped moving.
He had to be waiting for her.
He had to.
She looked up, tears slowly forming in her eyes. She could not believe it would end just like that between her and Luuk. The connection between them was special. She knew it, and she would bet everything she owned that he knew it, too.
She closed her eyes.
Her mom used to say that if she wished for something hard enough, that if she believed hard enough she would get her wish – she would.
She squeezed her eyes as tightly shut as possible.
Please.
Please.
Please don’t take him away from me, too.
NIC WATCHED HER FROM afar, the same way his own bodyguards watched him from a respectable distance. Move, lieverd. Leave me. Forget about me.
But she remained a still figure in the middle of the busy airport crowd, all of them indifferent to her silent pain – all of them but him, who was the cause of it. She stood there, a symbol of hope and innocent childhood dreams lost. He knew everything about her, and she knew nothing about him. He had all the cards. She had none.