I’m giddy with anticipation as I walk down the dock to the plane that’s floating in the turquoise ocean. It’s a Cessna 185 fitted with floating pontoons that will let us take-off and land in water. I’ve never been in a float plane before even though it’s been on my bucket list since I was six-years-old.

Dex slaps the ass of the plane that’s bouncing up and down in the water and grins at me. “I like my girls bouncy and wet before I slip inside of them.”

My bucket list is quickly turning into a fuck-it list. All I want to do is fill the bucket with wine when I’m around this guy.

He opens the door of the four-seater plane and slips inside without doing the necessary outside checks.

“Excuse me,” I say, knocking on his window as I stand on the dock. “You didn’t do the walk-around!”

He sighs before opening the window and looks at me as he slides his Ray Ban aviator sunglasses on. Fuck, he looks hot in those. I think about taking a quick dip in the ocean to cool off before getting inside.

“What?” he asks, huffing out a breath.

“You didn’t do the walk-around,” I say, staring at my reflection in his mirrored sunglasses. Do I really look that uptight?

“The plane is floating in water,” he says, dipping his sunglasses down so he can see me uninterrupted. “I don’t do swim-arounds.”

Thankfully, Marv and Kara are walking up the dock behind me. Marv is pounding something onto his phone with his thick fingers as Kara scowls at me. She has the beauty of a mermaid with the personality of a pirate. I just wish I could strand her out to sea where she belongs.

“Mr. Gladstone,” I say in my high pitched someone’s-not-following-the-rules voice. “I regret to inform you that Dex hasn’t performed all of the necessary checks before starting the airplane.”

He barrels past me. “And I regret to inform you that I don’t care.” He rips open the back door of the plane as he stuffs his phone into his pocket. “Can you swim?”

“Yes,” I say meekly as Kara flashes me a dirty look while she struts past me.

“Then don’t worry so much,” Marv says as he gets in the plane. “Dex is a skilled pilot.”

“Why are you so afraid of dying?” Kara asks, grinning at me behind her designer sunglasses. “It’s not like anyone is going to be that upset if you do. Lighten up.”

My hands are clenched into fists as I grind my teeth, watching her climb into the backseat after Marv. She grins at me as she shuts the door.

The engine sputters as Dex starts the plane. I’m still seething at Kara’s words as the propeller on the nose of the plane starts spinning, sending my brown hair flying into my face.

If he’s not going to do the walk-around, then I will.

He’s grinning at me through the window as I carefully look the plane up and down, running my fingertips over every bolt to make sure they’re nice and tight. I run my hands over the flaps to make sure they’re not obstructed by anything like a bird who decided to nest in there. The pilot’s side of the aircraft is parked against the dock but there’s no way I can get to the other side without a bathing suit.

Dex pops his head out of the window with a shit-eating grin on his face. “What about the other side of the airplane?”

“Shut up,” I say, looking away from his smug face.

He doesn’t shut up. He just rubs it in deeper. “Performing a walk-around is an FAA regulation,” he says in an official-sounding voice. “Better get your arm floaties on.”

I fold my arms across my chest as I turn away, avoiding having to look at the frustrating pilot. “Fine,” I say in a sharp tone. “Let me in.”

Dex opens his door and grins. He looks gorgeous with his thick, toned legs sticking out of his shorts, his inked-up muscular arms, the aviator sunglasses, and headset resting around his neck. His wicked mouth is grinning at me, making my insides turn as fast as the propeller. He’s just my type-until he opens his goddamn mouth.

“Climb over,” he says, patting his lap.

“No!” I say, trying to melt him with my stare. “You get out first.”

He shrugs with a knowing smile on his lips. “You know as well as I do that once the engine is running, the pilot is forbidden to leave the Captain’s seat.”

“Since when do you follow the rules?”

He bites his bottom lip as he looks me up and down. “Since it benefits me.”

I take a deep breath as I look around, wondering what to do. He’ll just refuse to get out, but I don’t want to crawl over him like he’s about to give me a spanking.

Marv makes my decision easier. “Get in the plane or you can walk back to LA!” he yells, sticking his big head between the seats.

This goes against everything I stand for, but I really need that money, so I swallow my pride and climb up. Dex smiles, laughing at me as I place my hand on his hard thigh and crawl over him. There’s not a lot of room between him and the yoke, so my body crushes against his as I hurry over.

He tries to help me over by putting a hand on my ass so I slam a knee into his groin as a thank you.

“Oompf,” he grunts, swallowing hard as I crawl into the passenger’s seat with my heart racing. “I always knew you were a ball buster but fuck.”

“Good to see you two looking like a married couple,” Marv says, sticking his head between us. “With all of the fighting up there, it feels like I’m a kid again watching my parents on a road trip. But we agreed on happy couple, not miserable-I-made-a-mistake-in-marrying-you couple.”

“You’re asking for an Oscar performance,” I mumble. Do I look like Meryl Streep?

Dex slips on his headset, and I slip on mine as well. It’s loud in the plane with the engine on, and the headsets allow the pilot to speak with the air traffic controllers watching over the airspace, and it also allows everyone inside the plane to talk to each other.

Marv doesn’t bother putting his set on. He’s too interested in his phone, and Kara has her iPhone buds in her ears.

I have no interest in speaking with Dex after what he just pulled, but I want to make sure he doesn’t mess anything up with the air traffic controllers, so I put mine on. I have to keep this mongrel on a short leash.

“Where are the maps?” I ask through the microphone when I don’t see them anywhere.

Dex pulls out his phone and thumbs through it. “In here.” His deep voice crackles in my ear.

“The physical maps,” I say, holding my breath as I wait for his answer, which I’m sure I’m not going to like.

“I don’t use any of that shit,” he says, opening an app. “I have a GPS on here.”

I grind my teeth as I try to control my anger. The Global Navigation Satellite System is a very practical and useful tool, but it’s not sufficient in navigating an aircraft. The GPS, or Global Positioning System, is owned and operated by the US Government. They make it freely available to anyone with a GPS receiver, but they can shut it down at any time, which they’ve done once to the Indian military in 1999 during the Kargil War. Physical maps must be onboard the aircraft.

“What if your phone dies or the GPS system is shut off?” I ask, waving my hands around as I talk. “What if the app fails or a storm system interrupts our—”

Something gets interrupted all right, but it’s not our navigational system, it’s me. Dex shuts off my microphone. The switch is on the left side of the instrument panel. It’s out of my reach.

Whatever. It’s not like he was listening to me anyway.

A worker jogs over and unties the rope that’s keeping us secured to the dock. He pushes the plane away and waves as we bounce up and down on our way toward the open water.

My eyes are locked on Dex’s hands as he flicks switches and pushes buttons. I’ve done this a million times on my flight simulator game, and even though Dex seems like he wouldn’t be able to fly a kite in a hurricane, he doesn’t miss a step.

“Welcome aboard, Dex Airlines,” he says as the plane picks up speed. He looks down at my legs and grins. “Where our passengers always come first.” He drawls out the word come, making the tiny hairs on my arms raise.

It’s weird hearing him through the headset. It’s like he’s in my head, penetrating my thoughts, taking over my brain, invading my mind. I couldn’t get him out of my head this morning, but this is much worse. It’s physical now.

My heart starts hammering in my chest as the plane shoots across the flat water like a rocket. Dex is distracted with the take-off, so I lean back and carefully look at him with a sideways glance.

He’s such a cocky asshole, but watching him so relaxed and in control as he pilots the plane, slowly lowering the yoke until the pontoons leave the water, has me breathless. He does it with such ease, such grace.

He’s in total control the entire time, and it’s making my body tremble.

“Control yourself, Riley,” I whisper to myself as the plane flies off the water and climbs through the sky. Don’t get distracted by this guy. Just get your money and run.

Dex is flying me into the sky now, but if I’m not careful, he’s going to take me crashing down with him.

* * *

An hour and a half later, we’re circling the most spectacular island that I’ve ever seen. In between the cover of a tropical forest is an enormous villa that snakes across the private island. I count seven white sand beaches around the island, nine inground swimming pools, and only four people.

With all of the yachts and jet skis parked on the beach, the helicopter on the roof, and the numerous tennis courts, it looks like a Disney World for adults.

I’m shocked, really. I don’t know what I was expecting from a man about to buy sixty yachts, but this is incredible. It’s hard to imagine that one person can have so much wealth when all I have to compare is my mom’s little two-bedroom apartment that I grew up in.

“Whoa,” Dex says as he looks down at the island. “This guy makes you look like you’re on food stamps, Marv.”

Marv and Kara had put on the headsets about ten minutes ago when Dex announced that we were close. He also flicked my microphone back on with a warning that he would turn it off if I doubted his genius one more time.

He didn’t say anything against giving him the finger, so I did that instead.

Marv snorts out a laugh from the back seat. “Please,” he says through the headsets. “That’s all royalty money. I clawed my way up from the inner city.”

“Yeah,” Kara says, the annoyance clear in her voice. “The inner city of Bel Air.”

My hands are glued to the window as I stare down at the island. “Oh, my gosh!” My mouth flies open when I see a crazy fuck surfing in the tsunami-sized waves on the north side of the island. He looks like an ant who’s getting flushed down the toilet but is somehow still in control as he surfs the crests of the waves.

“That must be the prince,” Marv says, chuckling as he watches. “I heard he’s quite the surfer.”

That’s an understatement. He stands up tall on his board when he spots us and waves. I can’t look. He’s on the crest of a liquid skyscraper, and he’s waving to us like any wrong move won’t mean his immediate death and the immediate death of my six hundred thousand dollars.

Dex dips the wing of the plane, an aerial wave back to him, and circles around to the south side of the island to land on the smooth water.

Again, I’m on full alert as I watch Dex’s every move on the way down. I hate to admit it, but he is a skilled pilot. He lands the plane as softly as a leaf landing on a lake in autumn.

He turns to grin at me, but I’m not about to give him any satisfaction. I turn away, marveling at the mini mall-sized villa as Dex steers the plane toward the beach.

The villa staff rushes out of the front door as Dex beaches our plane on the white sand. As soon as the engine is off, Marv grabs me and Dex by the arms. He gives our arms a hard squeeze to let us know he’s serious.

“If you two fuck this up for me with your bickering,” he says, his tight voice making me gulp, “I will use all of my wealth and influence to destroy you, your future kids, your future grandkids, even your fucking pets. Got that?”

We both gulp out a ‘yes sir’ at the same time.

“I mean it,” he warns. “Even the birds and squirrels living in your backyards will be drowned in debt and litigation when I’m done with you two.”

Marv storms out of the plane and I quickly follow. “Sir,” I say, giving him my best smile. “I promise I will do everything I can to make this deal go through.”

“Everything?” he asks, raising his eyebrow. “With Prince Kalib, your faithfulness to the company may be tested.”

“What do you mean?” I ask, taking a worried step back.

He shrugs as he takes off toward the villa, kicking up the white powdery sand as he goes. “Don’t worry. You’ll be fine. Probably.”

I’m wanting to crawl back into the plane and hide under the seat when Kara taps me on the shoulder.

“Yes, Mrs. Gladstone?” I say. My smile is so tight that I’m worried my lips are going to snap.

“What did I tell you about flirting with my husband?” she asks, flexing her CrossFit arms as she folds them across her chest.

“Not to do it,” I say in a flat voice. “And I still haven’t.”

She reaches out, grabs my nipple, and squeezes it hard, turning her hand until I scream out in pain.

“I don’t like you,” she hisses before spinning on her heels and marching up the sand, trying to stay upright in her long heels.

What is wrong with these people?

It’s like I’m stranded on an island with no escape. Like I’m on Jurassic Park, but instead of man-eating dinosaurs, I’m trapped with way more vicious beasts.

“Ready?” Dex asks, grinning as he holds out his arm. “Wifey.”

I glance over at the rainforest, hoping for a T-Rex to come rushing out and end this torture quickly, but I’m not that lucky.

So, I go with the caveman instead.