Passion Abroad: A BWWM Billionaire Holiday Romance Read online

  Erica shrugged.

  “I can’t think of that right now. Besides, the guys at Kirkland & Ellis owe me. I haven’t taken a day off in two years,” she said in an authoritative tone. “Besides, my bags are packed and I already bought my ticket. So there is no going back,” she added.

  Cassandra topped up her glass and smiled.

  “You’re right boo. This is to a new start,” she said as she raised her own glass.

  Erica smiled and raised her glass.

  “To a new start,” she said before taking a sip. She could already see herself in her new start with the wind blowing in her hair and the sand tickling her feet.

  Chapter 2

  When Erica landed in Acapulco International Airport, she was already thanking her lucky stars that she had chosen Mexico over Hawaii for her first destination. The weather was perfect and the people were all too friendly. For the first time in a long time, she was happy she was not on the receiving end of people’s pitiful stares. It had been months since she and Eli broke up, six months to be exact but people were still looking at her like she had come to the end of herself.

  When she checked in into her room, she took a long nap before hunger pains woke her up. She considered having room service but when she looked at the time, she realized that what was initially supposed to be a short nap had actually turned out to be a six hour rest. She got out of bed and sent a quick text to her sister to let her know that she got to Acapulco safely. After that, she took a long shower and then changed into a spaghetti strapped peacock maxi dress that showed off her perfect curves. She then straightened out her hair and put on some light makeup and some gold hooped earrings. A smile played on her lips when she saw her reflection. It had been a long time since she put on a maxi dress. Thanks to Vermont weather, she rarely ever got a chance to wear anything sleeveless without a coat. She put on some pink lip gloss and then picked up her purse before she walked out of her room. She could not help but notice just how perfectly tanned the hotel guests were.

  “Or are they locals and I just had a racist thought?” she wondered as she rode in the elevator. When she got to the first floor, she made her way to the restaurant and took a seat with a beautiful beach view. “So is it lunch or breakfast?” she wondered as she looked at her phone. Three in the afternoon. “A really, really late breakfast.” She was still looking at her menu when a waiter walked up to her carrying a glass of fresh pineapple juice. “I’m sorry…I didn’t order this,” she said as she looked at the waiter.

  “Complementary drink for all our guests, miss,” the waiter said with a smile. Erica looked up at him and smiled. She couldn’t help but notice the boyish telenovela star vibe. “The hotel also has a pineapple venture,” the waiter added.

  “Thanks,” Erica said as she held the cold glass and lifted it to her lips. “This is really good,” she said when she put the glass down. The waiter smiled in appreciation.

  “Three years serving that and I am yet to get a disappointed customer,” he said. Erica smiled and took another sip.

  “I’ll have the chicken fajita,” she said but she wasn’t sure that would be enough. She was famished. “Could I also have a side of salsa and chips?” she asked. The waiter scribbled something on his pad and nodded before he walked away. She took another long sip of her juice and looked up just in time to see a perfectly toned muscled man walking into the restaurant. “Damn,” she thought as she looked at him. He was in a pair of white linen pants and a light blue shirt. Even though the shirt was buttoned all the way down, she could see the perfect muscular structure, she could almost picture it in her head. The man had perfect dark wavy hair and Erica had to admit, he was the hottest man she had ever seen. When the man began walking towards her, she realized she had been staring and looked away. She took another sip of her juice and tried as much as she could not to make eye contact with him. “Oh come on,” she thought when the man took a seat right next to her. She thanked her lucky stars that she had a seat with a view otherwise she would have been stuck staring at an amazingly hot guy. She was still looking at the beautiful scenery below when the waiter came back with her order. “Thank you so much. Please charge this to my room,” she said as she inhaled the rich aroma. She was trying hard not to moan when she took her first bite. It was simply heavenly.

  “I am surprised I can’t hear pleasure sounds coming out of you right now,” the man seated at the table next to hers said. She turned around dabbing the sides of her mouth where the food was threatening to mess up.

  “I beg your pardon?” Erica asked.

  “That’s the fajita right? When I first had it, I was with a few board members and the whole restaurant thought we were having a sexual experience or something,” the man said. Erica smiled and then laughed.

  “Cute and funny,” she thought. “Well, maybe I was trying to make sure I don’t get branded a pervert on my first day in Acapulco,” she added.

  “First day, huh?” he looked at her and smiled. She nodded. “Mind if I join you?” he asked. Erica almost jumped up in joy.

  “Sure,” she said before taking another bite. “Sorry, my manners…Erica Hayes,” she said when she swallowed.

  “Daniel Reese,” he said. She looked at her hands and smiled.

  “I would shake your hand but…maybe we can do that in an hour or something?” she asked. He smiled and nodded. Erica took a tortilla chip and dipped it in salsa before she took a bite. “Would you like some?” she asked. Daniel frowned and Erica followed suit. “Come on, don’t be a baby,” she said. Daniel smiled and then reached for a chip before he dipped it in the salsa.

  “That’s good,” he said as he chewed. “Really good,” he said as he reached for another tortilla. “Three years I have been coming here and I have never thought of ordering this,” he said.

  Erica raised an eyebrow.

  “I have to ask, what nationality are you?” she asked.

  “American. Why?”

  “Are you trying to tell me that you’ve never had tortillas?” she asked in surprise.

  “Well, I don’t like admitting it in public but I have actually never had any,” Daniel shrugged. Erica’s eyes grew wide. “Given the look on your face right now, I can assume that you are genuinely surprised,” he said.

  She nodded and took a bite of her fajita.

  “I am,” she said before taking another bite.

  “Why? I don’t think it’s that weird,” he said.

  “Actually, it is just as strange as a Chinese man never having had rice in his life,” Erica looked at him and smiled.

  “Okay when you put it like that I sound like an absolute…snob,” Daniel said. The waiter who had served her earlier came carrying a tray and stopped at their table. “Thank you Emilio,” he said as the waiter put a plate in front of him coupled with a glass of pineapple juice. “I see you already had a taste of this glass of heaven,” he said before taking a long sip from his glass.

  Erica smiled and took a sip from her own glass.

  “It is perfect,” she said.

  “I have been having a glass every single day since I got here. I don’t know what I am going to do when I go back home. I mean you can never get something this good and authentic back at home,” he said.

  Erica looked at him and raised an eyebrow. “Just how long have you been here?”

  “Fourteen days and counting.”

  “Wow, any plans of going back time any time soon?”

  “Oh Erica, are you already bored with me? It’s only been a few minutes,” he teased.

  She smiled and shook her head.

  “No, no, no. Please don’t get me wrong. It’s nothing like that. It’s just that you look like a venture capitalist kind of person and such guys usually have a few weeks every fifty years to take a vacation,” she said. He took a bite of his paella rice before he looked up at her.

  “I’m sorry, venture capitalist? Whatever gave me away?” he asked as he looked at her.

  “Well, you might be i
n linen pants but I work with suits all day. I know exactly what an Armani shirt looks like,” she said. Daniel looked at her and nodded. He looked seemingly impressed.

  “Okay, now I have to ask what you do,” he said.

  Erica took another bite and shrugged.

  “I was a lawyer, two years,” she said before taking another bite.

  “Was? Did you change your mind about law or something?” he asked.

  Erica took a long deep breath and shook her head.

  “Honestly I don’t really know. I gave my resignation to my boss before I took this trip,” she said. “The trip is actually supposed to help me make up my mind about…a lot of things.” Daniel nodded and took another bite of his paella. “So, what about you? Was I right about you, Mr. Venture Capitalist?” she asked.

  “Actually I am what you can call an innovator…or at least my team is,” he smiled.

  “What is that supposed to mean?” she asked. Daniel reached for his wallet and pulled out a business card. He looked at it for a few minutes before he handed it to Erica. “Quicker Kitchen Me? The microwave guys?” she asked. Daniel smiled and nodded. “Wait, CEO? You run QKM?” she asked almost too surprised.

  “You know about the company?” he asked.

  “Are you kidding? If you saw my kitchen you would probably have me as your poster child,” she said with a smile.

  “Well you see, you were really wrong about me being a venture capitalist,” he said.

  “Actually, unless you do the actual groundwork in your company, I really don’t think you are anything other than a venture capitalist,” she said as she took one last bite of her food.

  Daniel was smiling, almost grinning.

  “How did you ever get your law degree if you can’t even know the right definition of venture capitalist?” he asked. She looked at him and shrugged before reaching for her glass.

  “How do you know that all this is not just an act?” she asked looking at him over the rim of her glass. Daniel looked at her perfectly round brown eyes and shook his head.

  “Yes, how do I know,” he said. She looked at him and took one last sip of her juice before putting the glass down.

  “I guess you will never know,” she said as she dabbed her mouth with her napkin.

  “Leaving already?” he asked as he looked at him.

  “Well, I am done with my lunch or really late breakfast,” she said as she looked at him.

  “I would really like to see you again,” he said. She looked at him and tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear.

  “Are you staying here? At this hotel?” she asked. Daniel nodded. “Good, then I’ll see you for breakfast tomorrow,” she said as she walked out of the restaurant. She could almost feel Daniel’s eyes on her as she made her way out.

  “You came here to get away from everything, not to start a fling,” that was the thought running in her mind but somehow, she pushed the thought to the back of her mind. When she got to her room, she could not wait to talk to her sister.

  *****

  When she finally turned the corner, Erica was practically running to the elevator. She had tried as hard as she could to maintain her femininity for as long as she thought Daniel was watching before she finally broke into her real self. She was breathing hard and deep as she waited for the elevator to stop at her floor. She was drumming her fingers against the side of her thigh as she hummed a familiar tune. She didn’t even realize that she was riding the elevator with two more people.

  “Oh God…I’m so sorry,” she said when she came to her senses. The man and woman in the elevator smiled and shrugged.

  “You sure do look happy,” the woman said.

  “I am. For the first time in a long time I really am,” Erica smile and then shrugged.

  “Well, that’s what life’s all about right?” the man pointed out as the elevator doors opened. Erica smiled at them politely before she walked out. She tried hard not to smile as she passed a few more hotel guests along the hallway. When she got inside her room, she tossed her purse somewhere as she headed for one of her bags. She pulled out her iPad and checked her connection as she sat on the bed. As soon as she established a connection, she smiled when she saw her sister was online. She dialed her and waited for her to pick up.

  “Hey you,” she said when Emily picked up.

  “Hey…what’s wrong with your connection?” Emily asked.

  “What do mean?” she frowned as she looked at her screen.

  “I can’t see you. That’s what’s wrong,” Emily said.

  “Wait…I think I know what’s going on…hold up,” she said in a low voice as she tapped on the ‘enable video’ icon. “There,” she said sitting back.

  “Better. And oh, someone looks excited,” Emily said with a smile.

  “I kind of am but I first want to hear about you. You look like you are still in the office,” she said.

  Emily looked around her office and shrugged. “Yeah, I guess the work is never really done,” she said.

  “Those guys don’t pay you enough,” Erica said.

  Emily smiled. “I know, right? Sometimes I think that maybe I should have gone into law like you did,” she added. Erica frowned and shook her head. “What, you don’t think I would crack it?”

  “Come on, Ems. You have always been the money guy. Accounts are like sex to you. You would never walk away if your life depended on it. You know, kind of what I did,” Erica said.

  “You know, I’ve been meaning to ask, are you sure that is what you really want? To just walk away from everything?” Emily looked at her and smiled.

  “Yeah. Maybe I will rethink everything in the long run but the truth is that right now, this is all I want. To just be away from everything,” Erica shrugged. “I’m fine, I promise you,” she added with a smile.

  Emily ran her fingers through her hair and sighed.

  “I’m happy if you’re happy, sweetie,” she said. Erica looked at her sister and smiled. If she could she would have reached right through the screen and kissed her sister. Sometimes Emily acted like she was the older one and Erica adored her for it. “So, why are you so happy anyway? I mean I know that you are on vacation and everything and that being happy is kind of part of the package but you are a little glowy,” Emily noted. Erica tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.

  “Okay, I’m not glowing but if you must know, I met a guy,” Erica grinned.

  “Wait, didn’t you just land today?” Emily asked. From the tone in her sister’s voice, she could tell that Emily was impressed.

  “Yes, I did and I blacked out…I was too tired but as it turns out, the decision not to have room service was what led to me meeting a fine gentleman in the restaurant,” Erica said excitedly.

  “I didn’t understand any of that,” Emily frowned.

  “Okay, I wanted to have room service, you know with the exhaustion and everything but I remembered that time we went to Puerta Vallarta and didn’t get out of the room for most of the vacation so long story short, I ended up going downstairs and bam! I met the guy. And get this, he is hot!” she said excitedly.

  Emily smiled at her sister.

  “So, what was this? Just a one-time meal or is there something else in the future?” she asked.

  Erica shrugged as she thought of the look Daniel had given her as she left the restaurant. She was not sure but years of working with other men making huge settlements had taught her that she could read men quite well and the way Daniel had looked at her spoke volumes.

  “We are definitely going to have something else,” Erica said just as she heard Emily’s office door open and close. “Are you busy?” she asked when she saw Emily look up from her computer.

  “Yeah, I just got this stack of paperwork. Something to do with last month’s financials. Talk tomorrow?”

  “Maybe but if I don’t I’ll get some time later this week,” she shrugged.

  “I have a good feeling of what you’ll be doing,” Emily said before sh
e hung up. Erica rolled her eyes. She didn’t get enough time to tell her sister not to mention anything to Cassandra. Emily had a thing for always exaggerating and given a choice, she would have loved to be the one to break the news to Cassandra. She shrugged and put away her iPad. Maybe she would take care of that later…much, much later.

  Chapter 3

  Needless to say, Erica was a little keener to detail when she dressed up the next morning. She had initially planned on wearing a sundress but she also wanted to check out the pool later…or maybe the beach.

  “Maybe I’ll just wear a swimsuit,” she thought as she picked out a lime green bikini from her suitcase. She oiled herself and put it on before putting on a striped black and white swimwear cover up. She held her hair in a high bun and put on a pair of silver dangling earrings and a pair of black flip flops before she looked at her reflection in the mirror. She put on some light makeup and then looked at her phone and sighed. It was nine o’clock. She didn’t want to look like she was just going there with the intention of bumping into Daniel but she also didn’t want to miss out on seeing him. She bit her lower lip and touched up on her blush and lipstick before she headed out. She didn’t know whether it was the adventurous pink lipstick or the fact that she was almost completely naked under her cover up but she felt a little more confident than usual. But her confidence suddenly vanished when the elevator doors opened and she came face to face with Daniel.

  “If I didn’t know any better I would think you are stalking me,” was what she initially wanted to say but when she opened her mouth, she could only mumble. She hated knowing that he could have such an effect on her. “Daniel…hi,” she said as she walked in. She was hoping that he didn’t notice how hot he looked in his neutral pants and dark blue t-shirt. His muscular chest was almost calling out to her. It was then that she knew it was official, the dry spell was getting to her.

  “Erica, fancy meeting you here,” Daniel said looking at her. “You look about ready to hit the pool,” he added as he looked at her up and down.

  “Maybe after breakfast,” she said with a smile.