Passion Overseas: A Billionaire BWWM Holiday Romance (10 page)

“
We
miss you and Skyping you at night is kind of the only time we have,”
Cassandra shrugged.

“
Yeah,
especially since the entirety of your time is mostly spent naked with
Daniel,” Emily said. Erica felt her cheeks flush. She silently
thanked her stars that they were talking at night and not during the
day or in a well lit room. But what she didn’t know was that
the night lights around the hotel were enough to illuminate her face.
“And there it is,” Emily said.

“
There
is what? What the hell are you talking about?” Erica asked.

“
You
are blushing,” Emily said with a smile.

“
No,
I’m not.” Erica was now pushing her hair from her face,
the way she usually did when she blushed.

“
Oh
yes you are,” Cassandra said. “But I don’t really
think we want to hear about that. At least I don’t,” she
said quickly. She looked at Emily and shrugged. “Right?”
she asked.

Emily nodded. “Right.
I just wanted to know how you guys are doing.”

“
And
also, have you heard from your stupid ex? After all, he did say
something about coming to find you,” Cassandra said.

“
Yeah,
but that’s a little silly, right?” Emily started.

Erica raised an
eyebrow and shrugged. “What is?”

“
The
fact that he would travel all the way to Greece just to find you. I
mean, it’s not like you can just get off the plane and start
asking random people if they know the woman in the photo or
something. He is not Interpol,” Emily explained.

Erica smiled and
nodded.

“
Well,
guess what?” she started. Cassandra and Emily pressed their
faces together. Erica appreciated the wide angle camera at that
moment.

“
Well,
don’t keep us waiting,” Cassandra pressed.

“
Eli
did actually come all the way to Greece,” Erica said.

“
What?”
Erica and Cassandra said in unison.

“
I
know, right?” Erica was shaking her head.

“
So,
he came all the way to Athens? Where was he expected to start
looking? I mean…” Emily was just confused. She looked at
her sister and Emily shrugged.

“
I
really don’t know what was on his mind but he did it. And as
luck would have it, he ran into me at the airport,” Erica said.

“
Seriously,
what is with this guy and airports? It’s like some kind of…I
don’t want to say luck,” Cassandra said. “Didn’t
he conveniently run into you at the airport too?” she asked as
she looked at Emily.

“
Yeah
he did. What the hell were you doing at the airport anyway? I mean,
you’re still in Greece, right?” Emily asked.

“
Daniel
had some kind of work crisis. He was supposed to go down to
Seattle…Eli was at the airport. I think he had just arrived or
something, that’s not important,” Erica said shaking her
head.

“
So,
he found you? That motherfucker!” Cassandra exclaimed. “And
here I was thinking that he wouldn’t be that twisted to
actually leave for a city in a foreign country with a population of
seven hundred and eighty nine thousand, one hundred and sixty six,”
she added. There was a smile on Erica’s lips.

“
Did
you just Google that?” she asked.

“
Yeah,
and that is according to a 2001 census,” Cassandra confirmed.
Erica let out a laugh.

“
Enough
with the census, what happened? With Eli, I mean? What did he want?”
Emily cut in.

“
Long
version or short version?” Erica asked.

“
Okay,
let’s make it short version because I am dying to hear about
everything?” Cassandra said.

“
Well,
he came to me and tried to talk and then Daniel kicked his ass,”
Erica said. Cassandra and Emily looked at each other for a long
minute before they turned their attention back to Erica.

“
I’m
sorry, what?” Emily asked. She was more shocked than surprised.

“
Did
she say something about that bag of cuteness kicking someone’s
ass or did I hear my own things?” Cassandra asked.

Erica laughed.

“
You
did not imagine anything or hear your own things. I said exactly
that. Daniel kicked Eli’s ass,” she said.

“
So,
I think now I really want the long version. Don’t you Cassie?”
Emily said as she looked at Cassandra who was grinning widely. “And
also, there is that little fact about you taking Daniel to the
airport, the very same Daniel who later kicked Eli’s ass?
What’s up with that?” Emily asked.

“
He
was supposed to go to Seattle for business but he later changed his
mind and came back to the hotel to surprise me,” Erica said.
“And boy, was I surprised?” she asked under her breath.

“
Please
give us the long version,” Cassandra was begging. Erica ran her
fingers through her hair.

“
So,
I had just taken Daniel to the airport and I was about to head back
to the hotel and there he was. It was like waking up in the middle of
a really bad nightmare only to find that it is not a dream but a
reality,” she started. “He wanted to talk to me, have
dinner or something…I don’t really know. All I cared was
that I needed to get out of there. It was just a whole…it was
just a shit storm,” she finally said.

“
Shit
storm,” Emily echoed.

“
Shit
storm,” Erica said again. “I was just not…it was
weird, that’s all I can say. He followed me back to the hotel
and…” she didn’t know how to say it. She had not
brought herself to talking about it. Seeing it, watching it…was
one thing. Talking about it was a whole new different thing, one that
she was not prepared for. She looked at her computer screen and
shrugged.

“
Do
you not want to talk about this, sweetie?” Cassandra asked.

It was like she had
read Erica’s mind. The truth of the matter was that she didn’t
want to talk about anything Eli related. But it was like her body and
mind were not in sync because all she did was shrug. And her answer
surprised her even more.

“
No
it’s fine,” she said. “I don’t really
remember what he was saying, all I know was that one minute he was
talking and the next minute he was having his ass handed to him.
Apparently Daniel has been an MMA fanatic for a while. It was like
watching some fat security guard trying to take down Beatrix Kiddo
from Kill Bill,” Erica said.

“
Ouch,”
Emily said looking clearly impressed.

“
So,
he likes to beat up people for fun?” Cassandra asked. “This
guy gets more attractive by the minute,” she said shaking her
head.

“
He
doesn’t like beating up people for fun. MMA is more than that,”
Emily said as she looked at Cassandra.

“
Is
that what they tell you at your Taekwondo classes?” Cassandra
asked rolling her eyes at Emily.

“
It’s
a hobby but if someone decides to get in your way, it can come in
handy. I’m sure Daniel would agree,” Emily said. She
looked at a smiling Erica.

“
Maybe
you’re right,” she said matter of factly.

“
And
maybe, you should have joined me when I first started the classes,”
Emily said. Erica shook her head and smiled.

“
So,
what’s the way forward? I mean, he is there. Right where you
are and he knows the hotel you’re staying in,” Cassandra
said. Erica took a long deep breath.

“
We
are leaving Athens,” she said in a cool voice.

“
What?
But you haven’t even stayed there for long,” Emily
started.

“
Yeah,
I know. We were supposed to stay longer but I just can’t. Every
time I think of going out for a glass of wine, I run the risk of
meeting Eli and it goes without saying that, that is not how I want
to spend my vacation,” Erica said. “Plus I think we have
seen it all…the Parthenon, Poseidon’s temple, the
Acropolis…” her voice trailed off. “There is
nothing more for us here. It’s just all done,” she added
with a sad smile.

“
So
are you going to take out a restraining order or something against
Eli?” Cassandra asked. Erica paused and looked out into the
starry sky. She could get a restraining order or something but that
would just be giving Eli the airtime he wanted. She looked down at
the screen and shook her head.

“
No,
we are just going to leave. It’s not like he will follow me
around the world,” she said.

“
He’s
done it once sweetie. What’s to say he won’t do it
again?” Cassandra asked.

“
She’s
got a point there,” Emily said.

“
Well,
he wouldn’t have known where to follow me to if someone hadn’t
told him now, would he?” Erica asked. Emily took a long deep
breath.

“
You
are never going to let me live that down, are you?” she asked.
Erica smiled and shook her head. “I did say I was sorry, didn’t
I?” she asked.

“
Relax,
I’m just pulling your leg,” Erica said with a smile.

“
So,
what’s the new destination?” Cassandra asked excitedly.
Erica shrugged.

“
Let’s
just say that it is somewhere in Central America,” she said.
Cassandra looked at Emily and shook her head.

“
See,
what you did? We can’t even get the real scoop now,”
Cassandra was trying to whisper but Erica heard her. She smiled as
she watched them argue. It was like being back at home all over
again. She was still watching them when she saw Daniel from the
corner of her eye. He was leaning against the doorpost. She turned
around just as Emily and Cassandra turned their attention to her.
“Damn, he looks even better without a shirt on,”
Cassandra ‘whispered’ again. A smile played on Daniel’s
lips.

“
Thank
you,” he said leaning over Erica’s shoulder so that
Cassandra and Emily could see him.

“
Damn
it, he heard that?” Cassandra ‘whispered’ again.

“
Cassie,
we have always told you that you are terrible at whispering. Matter
of fact, you shouldn’t ever try it,” Emily said.

“
Well,
it’s not like I’m trying to get into Langley or
anything,” Cassandra said rolling her eyes.

“
Daniel,
you remember Cassandra, Emily,” Erica said with a smile. Daniel
smiled and nodded. “Did I wake you up?” she asked. Daniel
smiled and leaned down to kiss her. The ohs and ahs from Cassandra
and Emily made them pull apart. “Okay guys, we have to go,”
Erica said touching the top corner of her laptop ready to bring the
top down. Actually, she was already bringing the top down.

“
Wait,
wait, wait!” Emily yelled making Erica stop the lowering
process.

“
What?”
Erica asked as she raised the screen and looked at her sister.

“
You
need to call mom. She is very upset because you left without telling
her and I might have let it slip that calling off the wedding was
your idea,” Emily said frowning. Erica sighed and Daniel
cleared his throat.

“
You
have been letting a lot of things slip lately, haven’t you?”
Erica said.

“
You
know what, I’ll just be over there,” Daniel said as he
headed back into the suite. Erica looked at the screen and shook her
head.

“
So,
she wants to talk? But I don’t want to talk. She’ll get
all sad and…” Erica started.

“
Hey,
I had my fair share of parental drama. Now it’s your turn, damn
it,” Emily said as she looked at her. Erica shook her head.

“
Fine.
I’ll call her once we land. Okay maybe a week after we land,”
Erica said in a soft voice.

“
Should
I maybe send you a bottle of wine to get your courage built up?”
Emily asked.

“
Yeah,
we’re taking a trip to Napa this weekend,” Cassandra said
excitedly.

“
You
know what, if you do remember to actually send the bottle, just send
it over to my place. Right now, I have to go. I did mention the
midnight thing, right?” Erica said as she ran her fingers
through her hair.

“
Alright,
sleepy head. Go to bed,” Emily said as she looked at her
sister.

“
Good
night guys,” Erica said smiling.

“
We
love you,” Cassandra and Emily said in unison.

“
Love
you too,” Erica said before she finally hung up. She threw her
head back and took a long deep breath. She got up and walked back
into the suite where Daniel was waiting for her dressed in nothing
but his pajama bottoms. He was seated with one leg over his lap,
lazily sipping on a hot beverage. Tea, Erica gazed. He had a weird
thing for tea, almost like a British guy.

“
All
done with your family call?” he asked as she walked back in.
She nodded and sat next to him. He draped an arm around her shoulders
as she nodded. “Want me to make you some tea?” he asked.

“
You
know, I don’t really get your weird obsession for tea. Why
can’t you just have coffee like a normal American?” she
asked as she looked up at him.

“
You
really have no idea, do you?” he asked.

“
No
idea about what?” she asked. He smiled and nodded before he
grabbed the phone. “What are you doing? Who are you calling?”
she asked as he put the cup down and dialed the reception.