Time to Leave

ZANE

I woke up early the next morning, my eyes landing on the beautiful woman sleeping beside me. She was my lifeline, the one thing that kept me going every day.

Watching her sleep, I couldn’t help but marvel at how perfectly she fit into my life, right down to the way she’d stolen my heart.

I couldn’t fathom how I’d managed to exist without her before we met. I didn’t understand how my heart had survived until the day our paths crossed, or rather, the day I first saw her in that club.

It was one of those moments where you feel a flutter in your chest, but I’d thought, ~How could anyone love a beast of a man like me?~

She had unlocked parts of my heart I didn’t even know existed, making me fall deeper in love with her every day.

“Why are you staring at me like a creep?” she mumbled, her voice still heavy with sleep.

I played with a strand of her hair, struggling to put my feelings into words.

“I’m not staring, love. Just thinking about how lucky I am to have you here, in my arms and my bed.

“Time to wake up—we need to leave for the plane in an hour. We have to be on the ship by eleven, so we need to be out of here by eight at the latest.”

She sat up and wrapped her arms around my neck. “So, you woke me up at seven to make sure I had time to get moving? Are you worried I’m going to make us late?”

I chuckled and shook my head. “No, love. I know all you need to do is get dressed and eat some breakfast to feed our little one.

“I was going to let you sleep a bit longer, but then I was going to wake you up my way.”

She raised an eyebrow at me. “And how exactly were you planning to wake me from my peaceful sleep?”

We didn’t have time for the things running through my mind right now, but damn, I would have loved to do them with her. “Just shower you with sloppy kisses until you woke up.”

A pillow hit me in the face, and I laughed. “Then we would have been late. I would have had to take another long shower to wash all that off,” she retorted.

Before I could react, she tackled me, pinning me under her tantalizing body. My body was screaming for me to take her as she kissed down my body, but we didn’t have time for this.

I pulled her back up as she elicited moan after moan from me.

“Shay, love,” I said, my voice husky. “We don’t have time for this right now. Please, don’t think I don’t want you. You turn me on like no other, but we really have to get up and leave soon.

“I can make you scream on the plane if needed, though.”

That stopped her in her tracks, and she quickly got off me.

“I am not having everyone on the plane hear us doing that. What we do in our room is one thing, but that will not be happening when we are confined to a small space.

“Now, when we are on the ship, that’s a different story.”

She was in the bathroom before I could blink. Sighing, I started to get up when the intercom beside the bed buzzed.

“Boss, are you up yet? We only have about forty-five minutes before we have to be in the air.”

I pressed the button to reply. “Yeah, we’re up. Getting dressed now and will be down shortly.

“Make sure all the luggage is loaded in the cars so they can be loaded on the plane before we get there.”

“It’s already done except for yours and Sunshine’s. If you put them outside your door we can grab them and make sure the cars can leave ahead of us.”

“Alright, I’m about to put them out the door. Come up in five minutes to get them.”

I released the button, stood up, and slipped on my boxers. I put the luggage outside the door, then got dressed to leave.

“Shay, come on, love. You need to get dressed so your breakfast doesn’t get cold. It should be ready by now.”

“In a minute, just making sure everything is in my overnight bag. Go on down, and I’ll meet you there shortly.”

I was trying not to rush her, but she needed a little push. “You have five minutes before I come back up here and carry you out over my shoulder. I’ll take you out in whatever state of dress you’re in.”

I heard a loud laugh from behind the door. “Yeah, right! I don’t think you’d carry me around the house in just my underwear.”

“Don’t test me,” I warned, my voice dropping to a low, sexy growl.

“Shit, you’re serious, aren’t you? Fine, I’ll be down in five.”

I chuckled as I left, heading down to the kitchen. Noah and Conner were there, stuffing their faces with waffles. They glanced at me, then back in the direction I’d come from.

“Angel’s not with you?” Noah asked.

“She’s running a bit late. I let her sleep a little too long, and now trying to rush her isn’t working out.”

“All the clothes are loaded, just checking if she has anything else that needs to go.” Conner nodded toward the front door.

“She was packing an overnight bag with the last few things she needed, but it should be here soon.”

A huge plate of steaming waffles was placed in front of me. I dug in, feeling a soft hand on my arm.

“Not going to save me any, huh?” she teased, rubbing her stomach lightly.

“You’ll have your own in just a minute, I promise.”

Just then, a plate was placed in front of her and she sat down. We finished our food and headed outside to board the plane. The SUVs took us to it; we boarded and took off for something we all needed very much.

The plane was ready to take off as soon as we arrived and settled into our seats. God, I hoped this trip would go off without any hitches.