Bought by The Mafia Boss

Chapter 31

Nathan and I high fived as the last of our stops finally had access to the internet. We had made it ahead of schedule, finishing by the end of July instead of late September. I felt excited and satisfied. "We did it. I can't believe we did it!" He said, his brown hair a little unkempt as he looked at me with a large smile.

I furrowed my brows as I looked at him. He had quite a nice smile. It was simple and normal, causing me to grin widely back. "Ready to go home?" I asked him and he nodded before pulling me into a hug. Stiffening at his touch with surprise he quickly released me and shook his head.

"I'm sorry, I don't know-" He started but I smiled and swung my arms back around him.

We stayed embraced for a moment and I waited for the sparks. They never really came, but I didn't think about it as we broke the embrace and slowly made our way towards the Jeep that we had used to drive us around the island. Climbing into the passenger seat, Nate started the vehicle and began driving us back to the tiny airstrip that would take us home.

Glancing over at him, for a moment I saw dark hair pulled back into a bun and a single eyebrow raised in amusement. I shook my head, shoving out the memory. The first memory in over a month and a half and I smiled. Honestly, I was doing ok. I had accomplished exactly what I had set out to do, exactly what I had wanted to do and was now headed back to an apartment with two roommates who were a little immature but quite kind and good friends now.

Luckily, no one talked about what had happened, which was especially nice since I didn't really know what I would say to them. They never once asked about the dress again, or the necklace that for some reason I still wore around my neck. I couldn't find the strength to take it off, not yet.

The airstrip was coming into view as Nate spoke beside me. "Aedlin, look I know we've been just friends for a while. But we are done with business and I would like to take you to dinner if that's something you'd fancy? As more than just friends." He nervously gripped the steering wheel, his knuckles turning a little white.

I smiled and placed a hand on his leg, hoping for sparks at the touch. There wasn't any but maybe that meant he was the right choice, the safe choice. "I would like that." I said with a soft smile. His brown eyes lit up beside me and he nodded as he pulled the jeep to a stop.

We both climbed down and he grabbed our two duffel bags out of the back. We had packed the few belongings we had come with this morning in anticipation of finishing. Slowly, I walked towards the hanger that sat at the end of the way with a small plane ready to go. Our pilot Jess was waiting with her sunglasses on, looking a little pale and warm. I on the other hand was extremely tan, having spent the entire time in shorts and a tank since we began our humanitarian project excursion

She smiled as she saw us approach and my mind wandered back towards just a few months ago. We had just started out on this crazy adventure, having enough money to fund several teams to go out and finish the project. Now here I was, climbing back into the small airplane as Jess brought it to life. I didn't really know what I was going to do next, but I also didn't really care. I was just excited to be to the point that I could say I had accomplished this goal.

"Are you going to go visit Lily when you get back? How much more wedding planning does she have left?" Nate asked me, pulling me from my thoughts and the deep hum of the plane. He sat across from me with a black headset on, matching the one I was wearing.

I smiled at him and shrugged. "Yeah, I'll be visiting her but I have no idea what she's got left. Last I heard, she was trying to pick a destination since having one near home was no longer the cool thing to do." He chuckled in response and watched me. I waited, hoping to feel any sort of excitement or empowerment from him. Nothing.