The Billionaire Princess (19 page)

However, as much as he loved his sister, he'd much rather have another woman living with him. Unfortunately, even if she was open to the idea, logistically it wouldn't work. Sara's career required her presence in DC at least as long as David Healy remained in office. He figured there was a better chance of landing on the moon than of her leaving DC to live with him.  With his company's HQ here in California, he couldn't make a permanent move to the east coast either.

Christopher twirled a large amount of his sister’s homemade spaghetti and sauce around his fork. It tasted as good as their mom's sauce, which she'd learned to make from his grandmother. After marrying Angelina Hall's only son, she taught her daughter-in-law everything she knew about cooking. Although very different from his grandmother, Christopher could see his mom doing the same thing when he married.

As he ate he pictured Sara in a cooking lesson with his mom. What a sight that would be. So far the only culinary skills he'd seen Sara exhibit involved boiling water and pressing the button on the microwave. Not that he was much better, although he could at least add grilling to his list.

How would Sara react to his parents? One of these days they'd have to meet. So far she had only met Caroline.

His mind wandered back to the imaginary cooking lesson between Sara and his mom. A smile spread across his face at the mental image of Sara standing in his family kitchen making baklava, something his mom made every year for the holidays. She'd tried to teach him once and had given up halfway through the lesson.

Quickly the image shifted. Instead of Sara in his mom's kitchen, he envisioned him and her cooking together in his kitchen.  Now that was a picture he liked.

His ringing cell caused the picture to evaporate.

Pulling the phone from his pocket, Christopher glanced at the screen. “I was just thinking about you,” he said, answering the phone. “I thought you'd call last night.” He'd picked up his phone three different times the night before prepared to call her. She'd never said she would call, but he'd expected to hear from her after her meeting with Callie.  And he honestly wanted to know how it went.

“I intended too, but I got home later than expected.” She sounded as tired as he felt. She'd been hopping back and forth between time zones almost as much as him.

Christopher leaned back, prepared for a long conversation. Before Sara entered his life, he never did long phone calls. 
Short and to the point worked fine for him. Long in-depth talks were better conducted face to face. Unfortunately, that wasn't an option tonight.

“How did it go?”

“Okay, I think.” Sara's positive reply didn’t match her hesitant tone. 

“But?”

“Nothing. I explained everything and we agreed to put the past behind us. We'll see what happens.”

Sara tried to dismiss the importance of the situation, but he knew the truth. She'd taken a big emotional risk approaching Callie.  A risk he hoped would pay off. “That means you have nothing else to say on the matter, right?”

Her sweet laugh carried over the phone and he smiled himself.

“You're so smart.  Let’s talk about next weekend instead. I think it’s my turn to come out there.”

With the week stretched out before him, the weekend seemed like a lifetime away. He had so many obligations already scheduled for the week, half of them in Texas. “I'll come there again. I'll be in Texas until Thursday afternoon anyway.”

“You're sure about this?” Christopher asked.

Sara ground her teeth together.  He'd asked her the exact same question more times than she cared to count in the past few weeks, and already twice since he picked her up in DC earlier that day. "Positive. I want to try it, but if you want we can get a hotel room for the weekend. I'll try camping some other time. I think Jake and Charlie will come with me."

Christopher reached across the SUV and gave her hand a quick squeeze. "I never said I didn't want to do this with you. But I'm not sure you'll enjoy yourself."

In the end she might hate camping, but doing it was the only way to find out. No matter what Christopher said, she planned to go through with her plans for the weekend. If Christopher wanted to stay in a hotel along the beach, he could. Who knew? After one night of sleeping on the ground in a tent she might be booking a hotel room with a king-sized bed and room service.

"Why did you pick here?" she asked, changing the topic of the conversation. If he kept questioning her decision, her annoyance would only increase.

Christopher shook his head, resigned to the fact she wouldn't budge. "My grandparents lived here. We used to come every other year to visit in the summer. Sometimes we'd stay with them and sometimes we camped. I loved it, and when you said you wanted to try camping it was the first place that came to mind."

"If your grandparents lived in Virginia Beach how did your family end up in Wisconsin?" She'd heard of people moving from colder areas of the country to warmer ones, but it didn't usually happen the other way.

Christopher turned the Range Rover onto Atlantic Avenue. "They moved here after they retired. My grandfather was in the Navy and was stationed down here for a few years. After he left the Navy they moved back to his hometown in Wisconsin to be closer to family."

"Do they still live here?"

"They live in Florida now. They've been down there for three years.  They sold their house here to my aunt and uncle."

Sara studied the busy street out the window. Window signs and billboards welcomed visitors from all over. She'd never visited the area but a few of her college friends had. From what they had told her the area had gorgeous beaches and, while not as warm as areas farther south, it remained warmer than Wisconsin.

"Are you up for an excursion or two while we're here?" Sara asked. Across the street a large billboard stood advertising various area attractions including dolphin-watching trips and naval base cruises.

"I thought we could just relax this weekend, but if you have something in mind just name it." Christopher pulled the Range Rover into a parking garage. "Before we do any planning though, let’s eat and then head to the campground to set up before it gets dark. We can always come back here later tonight if we want."  Before Sara could respond, he got out of the SUV and came around to open her door.

“Sounds good.
  Lead the way.”  Sara accepted his outstretched hand and they walked out into the bright warm sunshine.

Buildings of various sizes and shapes lined both sides of Atlantic Avenue. As they walked, along Sara took it all in. People from all corners of life strolled up and down the street. Some were dressed in bathing suits with
bodyboards over their shoulders, while others grasped the hands of young children as they made their way to and from the beach with sand buckets and shovels. Mixed in among the city sounds, were crashing ocean waves and the frequent roar from military jets as they flew overhead.  The entire scene was as opposite from her last vacation in Paris as it could get. Oddly, she found herself instantly attracted to the area. While it may not have famous art museums or world-class fashion houses, there was something she liked about the area. Something that told her this wouldn't be her last trip here. She understood why Christopher's grandparents moved here after retiring.

"So what are you in the mood for?
Seafood, pasta, steak?" Christopher held her hand as they crossed the street toward the boardwalk.  “Make sure it's something you'll love.  This will be your last civilized meal before we start roughing it.”

His expression remained serious, but she thought she caught a gleam of mischief in his eye. He was kidding around again, wasn't he?  She hoped so. "We're at the ocean. I want seafood tonight." Farther down the way Sara caught a glimpse of several statues clustered together. "What's that down there?" Sara asked, pointing toward the area.

Christopher released her hand and placed his arm around her shoulders. "A memorial to the military. We can take a walk through tomorrow. We really don't have time now."

They walked a little more before Christopher stopped outside a hotel.  “The restaurant inside has the best seafood around, at least it used too.  I haven't been here in two or three years.”

Sara moved forward and the automatic glass doors into the lobby opened.  “It'll be fine.”

Two hours later Sara took in their surroundings as Christopher stopped at the campsite inside North
Bayshore Campground. Whether he'd requested a secluded spot or all the sites were like this one, there wasn't another tent or camper in sight. The only thing Sara saw were trees, trees, and more trees. Wouldn't it be safer around more people? If an emergency arose they were all alone except for the Secret Service agents that were with them.  She had considered asking them not to come, now she was glad they were there.

"Are all the sites like this one?" Sara struggled to keep her voice even.  If he picked up on her uneasiness, he'd start talking about getting a hotel room. No matter what, she wasn't going to give up without trying this first.

Christopher opened his door but remained seated inside the SUV. "Some are but not all. I asked for a more private one. I figured you wouldn't want to draw a lot of attention." Climbing out of the SUV, he closed the door and walked around to open her side. "You can explore if you want or give me a hand unloading. Up to you."

Sara planned on doing this right and experiencing every aspect of camping, which included setting up. "Just tell me what you need me to do."

"Let's get unloaded first. For now put everything on the picnic table." Christopher moved closer and dropped a quick kiss on her lips then opened the trunk.

Without complaint Sara accepted the dark purple sleeping bag he handed her. In the end she allowed him to do most of the shopping for their trip. One afternoon the week before she stopped in an outdoor recreation store, but gave up after an hour in the tent section. There were simply too many options. Tents seemed to come every size and shape imaginable depending on needs and environment. As much as she loved shopping, she asked Christopher to pick up everything they would need for their weekend trip. The only items she purchased were a new bikini and sandals.

"After we set up I need to put more ice in this," Christopher said as he pulled a large cooler from the trunk.

Sara reached for the second sleeping bag in the trunk. "What's that for?" she asked pointing to the cooler.

Christopher stopped and threw her a look that said exactly what he thought. "Umm... food."

Okay, she set herself up for that one. She knew what a cooler was for. "I meant why
do we need one. Can't we go out to eat?"

“We can, but that's not camping.  A true camping trip involves cooking hot dogs over an open fire. I brought some other food too like peanut butter for sandwiches, oatmeal, plus some marshmallows."

Okay, she could handle a hot dog or two as long as he didn't expect her to eat them at every meal and she did like peanut butter.

"There is also bottled water in here," he explained placing the cooler near the picnic table.

Once they emptied all the gear from the back of the Range Rover, Christopher worked on setting up the tent. With no knowledge of how to start, Sara sat on the picnic table content to watch him work. Christopher breezed through the process and before long he began pounding the stakes into the ground anchoring the tent down.

"Grab your sleeping bag and come on in." Christopher tossed the mallet down on the table. "Just make sure you take your shoes off before you go inside."  He grabbed his own bag and a rolled-up foam pad.

Sara reached for the sleeping bag behind her but didn't get any further; her butt remained glued to the bench. Thinking about this trip and seeing the tent set up in the store had been one thing, but now it dawned on her how little protection there would be between her and the wild creatures. She bit down on her lip. After all the fuss she'd made, she had to at least try this for one night.  Besides the Secret Service agents with their guns weren't that far away.

Christopher poked his head out of the tent. "We can still pack everything up and get a room somewhere."

Get up
. Sara forced herself into an upright position. "We're staying here tonight." Moving lead weights was probably easier than getting her feet to move toward the tent, but she managed. "Let's see how it goes. We can always move in the morning." Sara stopped just outside the tent and kicked off her sneakers. Then before she rethought her decision she ducked inside clutching her sleeping bag tightly.

Inside Christopher had opened his sleeping bag and spread it out making a makeshift bed. "I'm no expert but don't you usually sleep inside a sleeping bag?”

Christopher dropped onto the ground and reached up to pull her next to him. "There's no way I'm sleeping this close to you and not being able to touch you. We'll open your bag and cover up with it if we need it." While he spoke he leaned toward her. "But I can think of more enjoyable ways to stay warm if we get cold."

The seductive tone in his voice warmed her entire body and her surroundings disappeared.  She no longer felt the hard ground underneath her or heard the chirping birds outside the tent. "I think I'm going to enjoy camping," she managed to say just before his lips came down on hers.