Worst Week Ever (A Long Road to Love) Read Free Page A

trip a vacation of some sort!”
    He settled his giant hands on her
shoulders. “I didn’t mean it like that. I only meant when you aren’t with me,
nothing seems to go right.”
    She couldn’t stay angry when he
humbled himself like that. Apologizing was contrary to his nature. Yet even
here, in a mass of people, he’d stepped back when she called him out for
crossing the line. Intending to reward his bravery, she attempted a smile, but
a giant yawn burst out instead.
    Turning her around, he hurried her to
customs. As they entered the long queue for a customs gate, an oddity crept
into her tired brain. “How did you happen to be at my gate?”
     “I didn’t happen to be at your
gate. I waited for you, for several hours, in fact. You were late.”
    He said this as if she had some say to
when her plane took off, and as annoying as she found his attitude, she really
wanted to stay on topic. “I meant how did you get to the gate? You can’t just
wander in and wait for planes anymore.”
    His brow furrowed. “So I discovered
when Security refused me entrance. You have to have a ticket to enter.”
    She waited for him to explain how he’d
managed to get around the rule then realized for a man with more money than he
knew what to do with, the solution was simple.
    “You bought a ticket?”
    He nodded once. “You once said I
should visit Peru. So I bought a one-way, first class ticket.”
    She grimaced at how much that must
have cost. “A round trip coach would have been cheaper.”
    His brow rose in what she called his
‘upper class disgust’ expression. “I would never fly coach.”
    “But you didn’t plan to fly. You
simply bought a loophole to get past the security gates. May I see your packet?”
    Trent reached into the vest of his custom
tailored suit, extracting a slender folder.
    She studied the ticket, sucking in a
breath when she got to the price tag. $5,131. She breathed out when she read
further. “Thank God. It’s refundable.”
    As Carrie returned the packet, she noticed
the pride in his eyes.
    He thwacked the ticket on her head,
playfully. “You see. Your cost-saving tirades have not been in vain. I
specifically asked for refundable.”
    She patted his muscular arm. “Good
boy.” For once, he’d managed to do something without creating more problems
than he solved.
    When they approached the Customs
officer together, she learned a few things about Customs agents: they don't
like people arriving together at their station if they haven’t flown on the
same flight and they are not amused when rich tycoons buy a ticket to skirt
security regulations.
    Instead of going home and getting some
sleep, Carrie spent the next three hours sitting on a hard plastic chair while
Trent’s lawyer negotiated their release.
    Having no control over the matter but
assured Trent’s lawyer, Mr. Sedita, was more than capable of taking on the
American government, Carrie closed her eyes and leaned her head against the
hard concrete wall.
    “Don’t do that. The wall is filthy,”
Trent complained and moved her head to his warm, comparatively soft chest. Way
too tired to object, she sighed with happiness at the change of pillows and
fell into the oblivion of sleep.
    ***
    Her forehead furrowed even in her
sleep. Trent pressed his lips to the tiny creases, worried he’d caused her
troubled dreams. He hadn’t meant to get them arrested. He’d just wanted to meet
her at the gate. How that turned into a security crisis, he still had no idea.
He’d followed their stupid rules and bought a damn ticket. Nowhere did it say
you actually had to leave the country. If they require such then they should post
a sign stating so.
    She murmured something in her sleep
that sounded like, “Margins need to be 30%.” He chuckled at his tenacious EA still
arguing with the Taiwan managers even in her sleep. At least she didn’t dream about
the playboy flight attendant.
    Thank God, he’d arrived in time to
save her. She had no