Serenity (Inevitable #5)(89)

"I guess so." She grew silent for a few moments before reminding him, "But you're forgetting something here - your kids. If you lived here all the time, you wouldn't get to see them very often. And I'm just assuming Lindsey wouldn't agree to give you custody."

"You're right. But unfortunately not because she wants them with her. She'd actually love nothing better than to be footloose and fancy free, and to do whatever she wanted without having to be responsible for them. But she wouldn't agree to give me custody as a way to spite me. Besides, as much as Casey would love living here, Hayley wouldn't be able to survive for too long without being near a hair salon or Bloomingdale's."

Sasha placed her hand over his. "Well, no matter. After all, it's just a fantasy, isn't it? You've got a lot of other responsibilities besides your children. Responsibilities that you aren't supposed to be thinking about this week. Feel like a swim?"

He set aside their glasses before taking her by the hand, and then doing a slow jog through the sand until they reached the edge of the water. To Sasha, the biggest attraction of this suite wasn't the huge rock shower or the enormous king-sized bed or the round-the-clock private concierge service. Instead, it was the proximity to their own secluded stretch of beach, where they could swim and sun and relax to their hearts content without ever seeing another person. She had learned to swim as a small child during the times she spent with her father and his family in Brazil, and though she rarely had the opportunity to do so nowadays, Sasha still loved to spend time in the water. There were three different pools located here at the resort, but they had yet to make use of them, preferring instead to swim in the ocean.



       
         
       
        

Matthew was a strong swimmer, having spent so much of his youth vacationing on Lake Michigan, and was enjoying this opportunity as much as Sasha was. Given that this section of beach was located on a secluded inlet, the waves were considerably calmer. Sasha took advantage of the tranquil waters, flipping onto her back and simply floating for long minutes, closing her eyes against the glare of the sun.

It had been a long time since she'd had a real vacation, she thought. The quick visits she made to Katya in Los Angeles didn't really count, since they were so stressful and exhausting that she'd return home more worn out then when she'd left. And she had been so intent on building up her massage practice and increasing attendance at her yoga classes that she hadn't been to Brazil in almost five years. Of course, she had seen her father two or three times a year, but only when he visited her in San Francisco or accompanied her to L.A. And it had been even longer than five years since she'd been to Paris to see her aunt and uncle.

As she flipped over and began to swim slowly to shore, Sasha wondered if Matthew would be interested in accompanying her some day to visit her family in both Brazil and Paris, and decided she would find a way to pose the question during their stay here. Matthew seemed so eager to please her, to do things for her, that it was difficult to imagine him saying no, especially since she had yet to ask him for anything. That didn't seem to stop him, however, from buying her things anyway.

When he had initially made the arrangements for this trip to Hawaii, he'd offered to take her on a shopping spree so that she could select whatever she needed. And when she had refused, as usual, he had taken matters into his own hands.

She had met him for lunch at his office, something she'd only done a handful of times since they had started seeing each other. A couple of those times, when Matthew had been especially busy, they had eaten inside his office since he'd only been able to spare a few minutes.

Sasha had suspected something was up when she'd spied the huge smile on Elena's face. Matthew's PA had taken an instant liking to Sasha the first time they had met, especially when she discovered that Sasha spoke fluent Spanish. Elena would often speak to Sasha in Spanish, usually when she was expressing concern about how stressed Matthew was that day, or that he hadn't taken the time to eat breakfast. The two women had become good friends, with Elena cautioning Matthew repeatedly to "hold on tight to this one, boss, because you aren't ever going to get this lucky again."

This time, however, instead of sharing her latest concern about Matthew in Spanish, Elena had been grinning ear to ear, and almost fidgeting with barely concealed excitement. 

"Hey, chica," she'd greeted. "Wait until you see the surprise the boss has waiting for you. It was just delivered a few minutes ago, and I have to confess I peeked in one of the bags."