The Playboy's Princess (25 page)

Drew ran a hand through his hair and gave her a profile view of his face. She giggled.

“All right, Fabio, tell me where this honeymoon location is.”

“Look in the bag.”

Jade dug around in the bag that her jeans had been in, handing Drew his own casual clothes, and found the itinerary for their flights along with their passports. Drew had really been prepared.

She flipped through the papers from a travel agent in Beverly Hills until she found the flight details. Los Angeles to Honolulu.

“Oh, we’re going to Hawaii? That’s fantastic.”

“Keep reading.” Drew looked smug, as if he was waiting for a pretty drastic reaction from her.

Jade turned the page over and saw that Honolulu was just a stopover. There was another flight from Honolulu to Cairns, Australia.

Drew got the response he was waiting for. Jade flung the seat belt off and threw herself across the car, crushing him in a hug as she settled beside him.

“Oh my God! We’re going to Cairns? Are you freaking serious?” she screamed.

Drew’s smile glowed at her response.

“I thought you might like that.”

“
Might like that?”
Jade gasped. “Drew, I’m speechless. You’re amazing!”

She hugged him again and stared at the paper, her hands shaking as she read the words again. She was going to swim on the Great Barrier Reef.

Chapter Fourteen

Passion

A
S
W
ELL
A
S
P
AYING
for the wedding, Drew’s parents had booked them first class tickets for their flight, and despite it being a twenty-hour ordeal, Jade never complained once. As soon as the plane landed and they were able to switch on their electronic devices, Drew was tapping frantically on his phone.

“Yes!” he hissed, so as not to alert anyone else.

“What?”

“My inheritance is in my account. I was hoping they’d transfer the money quickly. We can really enjoy the trip now.”

Jade laid her head back in the seat and looked out the window as the plane taxied on the runway. Cairns actually looked a lot like Hawaii. Palm trees, blue skies, and green mountains surrounded them.

“Check your bank account,” Drew said. “I arranged with my lawyer for your first payment to be put in as soon as my money came through. I want to make sure it’s arrived.”

“Thank you, Drew. I feel like I owe you something.”

She pulled her phone out and logged into her bank’s app. Sure enough, a large deposit had arrived while they’d been in the air. Jade had never seen that many zeros in her entire life.

“No. Thank
you
, Jade. I wouldn’t have anything if you hadn’t agreed to this. Let’s have the best time we can here, okay?”

“Deal.”

They disembarked and collected their luggage. Walking outside was a shock for Drew, who wasn’t used to humidity, but it was similar to Florida weather, so Jade felt at home.

They took a taxi to a beach called Palm Cove, and Jade practically hung her head out the open window like a dog the whole way. She loved the smells and the sounds of this place. It felt so relaxed but, at the same time, had such a vibrant energy.

The hotel was grand and right on its own private stretch of the beach. There was a strip of shops and restaurants just outside the hotel, and the concierge told them a shuttle would pick them up the following morning and take them to the Reef Fleet Terminal, where they could catch a boat out to one of the islands. He recommended Green Island as a great place for snorkeling.

The hotel room was lovely. There was a huge bed next to floor-to-ceiling glass doors that opened out onto a balcony which overlooked the beach. Jade only stayed in the room long enough to dump her suitcase, take a quick shower, and get changed. She then headed out to walk the beach and spend some of her newfound cash in the stores. Drew, who hadn’t been able to sleep on the plane, lay down for a nap.

Jade came back to the hotel laden with shopping bags and saw Drew was still asleep. She didn’t want to wake him, so she went to a café she’d seen a block up the strip for a quick dinner and a sunset walk along the beach, and then had an early night.

She awoke the following morning and saw that Drew was sitting up, typing on his laptop.

“Morning,” she said, hating her groggy morning voice.

He looked down at her and smiled. “I’ve just organized for the construction crews to start work on the house. By the time we get home, they should be almost finished. We can move in pretty soon after we get back.”

“That’s great.”

“Now that I’ve got the money to pay them, things will move quickly. Speaking of which, you better move your butt, or we’ll miss the shuttle.”

“Oh, right!” Jade jumped up and had the quickest shower of her life, excited about going out to the reef.

She dressed in a bikini with denim cut-offs and a loose T-shirt over the top. When she left the bathroom, Drew tossed her a bottle of sunscreen. “You’ll want that. Apparently the sun here burns worse than at home.”

“Thanks.” She dumped the bottle in her beach bag along with her towel, sunglasses, and a bottle of water.

The ride into the city was longer than she remembered coming from the airport, but the sights were so pretty that she didn’t care. Drew’s phone kept beeping with emails flooding in, and he was glued to his device the whole way.

The Reef Fleet Terminal was bustling. It was a melting pot of cultures and people of all ages, everyone wanting to see the reef. Drew booked them on a boat to Green Island that had the added benefit of a submarine tour.

Jade stood outside on the boat, watching the waves churn from the turbines as they headed out into open water. Cairns disappeared, and she walked to the front of the boat, breathing in the salty air and watching for dolphins.

Drew watched the wind blowing Jade’s hair as they walked down the long jetty that led to the island. The boat ride had been less than an hour, but he was glad they were back on solid ground. Any longer and he might have become sick. He’d never been good with boats.

Jade’s skin already looked golden from the sun, and along with her radiant smile, she was practically glowing. She had her snorkel and flippers under one arm and was pointing out things with the other.

“Look, Drew, there’s the reef!”

Drew couldn’t really see anything. Where she was pointing just looked like a brown smudge under the waves, but he trusted that she knew what she was talking about. They walked along the beach awhile and then put on their flippers and masks, wading out into the water.

“You ready?” he asked.

Jade already had the snorkel in her mouth, so she nodded her head and gave him a thumbs-up. They swam out to where others were already snorkeling and dove under the water. That brown smudge Drew had seen was actually a vibrant rainbow of colors. Corals in every hue imaginable were home to a diverse variety of fish. Drew didn’t know what any of them were, but it was pretty. He followed along after Jade, letting her lead the way.

One of the items Jade had bought the day before while he’d slept was a waterproof case for her digital camera. Drew watched as she pressed the camera against her mask and snapped dozens of pictures. She turned the camera on him, and he blew a bunch of bubbles, hoping to make a funny picture.

She swam over to him, put her arm around his shoulder, and pointed the camera at them both, taking an underwater selfie. She waved and swam away to take a picture of a turtle.

Even though they couldn’t speak with the snorkels in, Drew could tell Jade was enjoying herself. It warmed his heart to know he’d had a part in putting that smile on her face. He’d never felt that before with a girl, and it felt good.

He motioned that he was going to go back to the beach. His stomach wasn’t faring too well in the buoyant water, and he wanted to sit on solid ground for a while. He emerged from the water and pushed the mask off his face, breathing in deeply.

“That was amazing!” Jade said from behind him.

Drew turned to see her coming out of the water. Her bikini fit her body perfectly, hugging her hips and accenting her curves. He watched a few drops of water as they cascaded down her taut stomach.

“You didn’t have to leave. I’m happy to wait here for you.”

“Nah. Don’t get me wrong, I
loved
it, but I’m happy to explore the island with you for a while. I might snorkel again before we go back.”

Drew held out his hand, and she took it as they walked up the beach. The island was quite small, a tall forest of palm trees with a small resort in the center and a ring of beach all the way around. They followed the beach, walking the perimeter of the forest until they came across an old fallen tree. It wasn’t a palm tree, so Drew couldn’t imagine that it was from the island. He wondered if it had washed ashore.

However it had gotten there, it had been there a long time. The wood was white from salt and age and as smooth as stone. Jade climbed up and swung her leg over the log, looking out at the blue horizon.

“This really is paradise,” she said. “It’s the most beautiful place in the whole world.”

Drew followed her gaze. The water was crystal clear, sparkling under the sunlight. The sky was the bluest he’d ever seen, with small patches of fluffy white clouds. The breeze smelled like salt and flowers, and Jade looked glorious with the wind in her hair and the sun on her face.

He crawled up onto the tree as well and sat beside her. “I’m very happy to be here with you, Jade.”

She leaned into him and laid her head on his shoulder. He was glad she finally seemed comfortable with physical contact, even in private. They sat there together for a long time, sometimes in silence, sometimes talking, but the whole time happy and content.

When they finally boarded the boat to go back to Cairns, Drew leaned over and kissed her cheek. He’d wanted to kiss her properly on the log on the far side of the island but hadn’t wanted to make their time together awkward. This seemed like a safe option. He just didn’t want the experience to go by without showing her how much he enjoyed being there with her.

“Let’s send out a tweet,” Jade said. “Cassandra would want us to do that.”

“All right.”

He pulled out his phone and opened Twitter. He typed a tweet and showed it to Jade for her approval.

@TheRealMalikJr: Having a great time with @JadePratt89 on our honeymoon. #DrewAndJade #honeymoon #barrierreef

“Should we add a photo?” she asked.

“Sure.”

They leaned together and took a selfie, and Drew added it to the tweet before sending it off.

“Did our hashtag trend?” Jade asked, leaning over to look at the screen.

“I have no idea.”

He touched their tag and waited while the tweets loaded. They read through a few of them.

I can’t wait to see the wedding pictures! I’ve been in love with @TheRealMalikJr for years! #DrewAndJade

Congratulations to Drew. So happy he found
his soul mate. #DrewAndJade

I fkd @TheRealMalikJr a year ago in a club bthrm.
Jade is in for a wild honeymoon! #DrewAndJade
#hotsex #hunglikeahorse

Jade snorted out loud. “Hung like a horse?”

“I guess I impressed ‘at party girl nineteen eighty-nine’ with my skills.”

Jade snorted again and placed her hand on his arm. He tensed briefly at the contact and scolded himself. When had
he
ever been nervous around girls?

There were hundreds more tweets, all offering their congratulations. They scrolled through, laughing at some and replying to any that interested them. When they arrived back at port in Cairns, they put the phone away and caught a taxi back to their hotel.

“You must be starving. You barely ate anything today and slept through dinner last night,” Jade said after her shower.