He finishes his plate before I’ve even had half my coffee. He stands and looks at me with his hands on his hips. I look up at him and cock my head. He’s wearing just a pair of boxer briefs and a button-down shirt open at the front, so there’s not much left to my imagination. I feel something stirring inside of me, but I have to ignore that feeling.
“Let’s take a drive,” he says.
“What?” I ask.
“A drive,” he repeats. “You do that in America, right?”
“I mean, yeah, of course,” I say.
“I want to show you a little of my country. And your country now. What do you think?”
I frown at him. “I have a language tutoring session in a couple of hours.”
“We’ll cancel. It’s our honeymoon, after all.”
I can’t help but smile at him. “Okay,” I say, even though I’m not sure. I’m afraid of spending too much time with him, I realize. I’m afraid of getting attached.
If I get attached, I can get hurt. And I don’t want to get hurt, although I can tell this man could hurt me so easily.
“Get dressed,” he says, heading over to the door that connects our rooms. “I’ll be back in ten.”
“That’s not enough time!” I call after him as he disappears into his apartment.
I sigh and shake my head. I take a few more bites, finish my coffee, and hurry into the bedroom to get ready.
I can’t stop thinking about the future and what it means if I’m pregnant. He’s being so kind to me right now, and seems like he actually wants to be around me, but it’s so new. Who knows what he’s going to think in a week.
I’m plagued by these doubts when Nolan finally comes to my room about twenty minutes later. He’s wearing a button-down linen shirt, a pair of perfectly fitting dark jeans, and dark sunglasses.
“Ready, princess?” he asks.
I nod and try to smile. I’m in a simple sundress, since it’s warm in Polovia right now. “Ready,” I say.
“Let’s go.” He takes my hand and we leave the room, walking quickly through the halls.
Usually there are stewards following us around, but nobody is there as we walk. I don’t know the route we’re taking, and soon we step into a very large garage. Parked directly in front of us, with the engine running and Thomas standing by the driver’s side door, is a gorgeous Tesla model S in a deep midnight black.
“Your car,” Thomas says, droll as ever.
“Thank you,” Nolan says, climbing in behind the wheel. “You just going to stare, or are you getting in?” He winks at me.
I laugh and walk around to the other side, climbing in. The Tesla is beautiful and modern, not at all what I was expecting. “I figured you’d drive some cool classic car,” I say to him.
“This is cool,” he says. “And much better for the environment than those old gas guzzlers.” He smirks at me before pulling out.
The car rides smooth and soon we’re out on the city streets. Nolan drives fast through the mostly empty traffic, buzzing past everyone, and I can’t help but smile to myself. I’ve never seen the city like this, much less ridden in a car this nice before.
We leave the city limits and pass on into the country. I know Polovia is mainly a rural place, with only a few big cities. Maldin is the biggest by far, though there are a couple other larger ones as well. The countryside is exactly that, a countryside, and not at all the suburbs that I’m used to. There are farms and more farms, and it’s like we’re in a whole new world.
“We mostly grow wheat,” Nolan says as we zip past another field. “Also corn and a few other exports. But we’re known for our wheat and bread products, so the farmers invest in that.”
“You’re the breadbasket of central Europe,” I comment.
He shrugs a little bit. “That’s right. Except I want to modernize, you know? I don’t want to be a bread country anymore. I want to be a tech country.”
“That’s a hard thing to do, isn’t it?”
He nods his head slowly. “Yes, but it’s possible. Other countries like us have done it. Like Bellestan, for example.”
“I haven’t even heard of that country.”
He gives me a little grin. “Not many people have, but it’s a good example to follow.” He suddenly points out the left window. “Check that out.”
I turn my head and watch as a field full of horses and cows appears next to a corn field. I can’t help but laugh at the big lazy brown cows and the beautiful, sleek horses. They’re so different from what I’m used to in Maldin.