Shattered: A Salvation Society Novel Bella Emy (best ebook reader for laptop .TXT) 📖

Maybe.

Chapter Twenty-Five

I bat my eyes slowly at first, and as I come to, I bat them faster.

For a second, I don’t remember where I am, and then, it dawns on me: on the sea with Kalen, in his queen-sized bed, on his ship.

I place my palms onto the bed and push myself up. Quickly remembering that Kalen was lying just a few feet from me last night, I snap my head around to look over at him.

But he’s not there and I’m alone. Where is he? Bathroom, maybe? I wonder what time it even is.

I peer over at the clock on the wall and holy shit. It’s already after ten in the morning. Damn, I didn’t want to sleep this late.

I spin myself around and rub my eyes. I slept so incredibly well, and I don’t for one second doubt that it’s this incredible mattress’s responsibility.

I look toward the foot of the bed and notice a pink envelope with my name written on it. I grab and open it, then pull out a note.

Happy Birthday, Lexi!

It’s your special day so I want to make sure I do all that I can to show you just how special you are… to me.

When you get up (and please, take all the time in the world, we have nowhere to go… we’re just going to celebrate you today), head into the bathroom where you’ll find a box. Open it and change. Once you’re ready, meet me upstairs on the deck.

I’ll be patiently waiting for you, gorgeous.

Love,

Kalen

My heart races. His words. His thoughts. The time he took to put it together. I can’t. I just can’t believe it. Rising up, I dart to the bathroom, and sure enough, there is a box there waiting for me. I open it up and inside are two outfits in bags labeled “Morning Wear” and “Evening Wear.” Then, in the middle of a box, there’s a note that says, “No outfit needed for the afternoon ;)” A million inappropriate thoughts start running wild in my head but decide that’s probably not what that means.

Shaking my head, I notice that on the floor are matching shoes to go with both outfits.

How? Just how is he capable of doing all of this? I guess it helps when you’re a billionaire, but still. How did he have this planned out in such a short amount of time? He had no idea I was going to accept his invite until just two days ago. This is crazy.

Regardless of it all, I stash everything back in its box and prepare the water in the shower. I shouldn’t keep him waiting any longer, should I?

“Wow…” Kalen’s voice takes me by surprise as I walk onto the deck from the ship’s downstairs portion. I should have known he’d be there like he had mentioned he was going to be in the note he left for me, but for some reason, the only thing on my mind was to make sure I didn’t trip and make a fool out of myself going up the stairs.

I’m not in heels, but being the klutz that I am, it’s not as if it would be a difficult thing for me to do. My morning attire, which he carefully picked out for me, is a comfortable pair of denim shorts and a fitted blue shirt, and some open-toe sandals. I have to say Kalen does have some nice taste because these items together look really cute.

Lifting my eyes to meet his, I smile nervously and begin to walk over to where he’s standing, but he meets me halfway. I push a strand of hair behind my ear as we finally reach one another.

He comes even closer, and taking me by surprise, places a kiss on my cheek. “Happy Birthday, Beautiful.” He pulls away.

Beautiful? Beautiful who? Beautiful me? Oh, dear God… he’s going to make my panties dripping wet. I feel my cheeks turning every shade of red imaginable.

He smiles. “Don’t be so surprised. Did you sleep well?”

Yeah, surprised is one way of putting it. “Thank you. Better than I have in a long time.”

He motions for us to take a seat. I follow him, taking my place across from him and looking out onto the sea. It appears like it’s going to be another beautiful sunny day. It seems as though that storm really did take another route and is going to miss us. This is just amazing.

God, can I just stay out here forever and forget all my freaking problems back home?

Shit, that’s one thing I am not looking forward to. Picking up the pieces of something that took me so long to build is really going to suck, and I know for a fact that I’m going to be devastated when I witness what’s left of my lounge.

“So, Lexi. Are you hungry? I’ve got a whole day planned for us, but you know, food first.”

I would love to know what exactly it is that he’s got planned for us to do today, but as I’m about to respond, my cell phone goes off. How the hell am I getting reception in the middle of nowhere? I furrow my brows and dart my eyes in his direction.

He flashes me a wide opened grin. “Yeah, I know. Interruptions aren’t cool while we’re supposed to be sailing in paradise, but when you’ve got the option, you take advantage.” Chuckling, he says, “I knew you’d want to hear from your friends today.”

I look down at my phone, and sure enough, it’s Erin.

“Go on, answer it.”

“Hey, Erin.”

“Happy Birthday! Happy Birthday! Happy Birthday to you!” she announces in song.

I giggle. “Thanks, girl.”

“So, I wanna know, how was your first day with Kalen? Details! I want details! Did you kiss? Ooh, tell me he kissed you as the sun was setting!”

I cover my mouth for a second, gasping at her comments. “Girl, you are crazy.” I eye Kalen, who’s looking at me, still with that beautiful smile