Red Rider (Little Ruby Red Book 2), page 33
“Love you too mum,” I smile waving as she heads off in her car, Dante wraps his arms around my waist as I sigh sadly. It was a shame I wouldn’t get tonight with her but I was lucky she hadn’t been called in during the wedding.
“Come on sweet thing,” Dante takes my hand and leads me into the restaurant where we spot dad, Toby and Ollie sat at a huge table, holding a round of drinks already.
“Rubes!” Toby grins spotting us.
“Well you lot look comfortable,” I laugh kissing their cheeks in greeting before taking a seat beside my brother, opposite Dad.
“Harrison and Toby were just talking anything and everything medical, thank god you’re here,” Ollie smirks at Toby.
“Oh shut it you,” Toby says to Ollie playfully.
Dad gets up to grab us some drinks, unalcoholic for me… obviously.
One by one our friends and family turn up, crowding the small restaurant and probably annoying them with how loud we all were, but we were enjoying ourselves, we’d be sure to give them a large tip.
“So, where are you taking her?” Tasha asks Dante.
“I can’t tell you that, it would ruin the surprise,” Dante smirks as I roll my eyes, I was dying to know where we were going.
“Whisper it to me!” She grins gesturing him to come closer. He whispers into her ear as I groan.
“That’s not fair!” I say childishly.
“That’s so amazing!” Tasha squeals.
“Shh, she’ll find out later,” Dante puts a finger to his lips.
“I hate all of you, can’t you even give me a clue?” I ask.
“Nope,” Tasha giggles.
“Just be ready for the plane ride sweetie, you know how you get,” dad says as Dante frowns looking between us.
“Wait… How does she get?” He asks.
“Her and planes don’t mix well, she’s a nervous flyer,” Toby says.
“Shit… Maybe this was a bad idea,” Dante grumbles.
“I’ll be fine, the last time I went on a plane was when I was like, twelve, I’m sure I will be able to cope better,” I lay a hand on his hand, my thumb rubbing his gently as I smile reassuringly.
“Red will be just fine Dante,” Cain nods to him.
“Talking of which, you guys better get going or you will be late,” Shaun says looking at his watch.
“Shit, he’s right, it’s time to go,” Dante nods, heading to the bar to pay for our meals.
“Have a safe flight Ruby, enjoy your honeymoon and I want to see tonnes of photos when you get back,” Tess says hugging me as they all take turns hugging us goodbye.
“Bye guys, love you all,” I blow a kiss as we get into the car, driving towards the airport.
We’d nearly arrived at the airport and I could see the huge jumbo jets taking off, marvelling at their sheer size and how something so huge could fly, it must be so heavy! Science was never my thing so understanding the physics of it… not a chance… it is physics… right? Ah, nevermind, whatever it is I didn’t get it.
Dante parks in the valet bay grabbing our bags, his car is taken to be parked in a separate car park, which Benji no doubt paid for, it would seem that we were getting high-class treatment and in all honesty, it was a little too much sometimes.
“We could have parked the car ourselves,” I say grabbing my bag.
“Dad’s choice, not mine, he wanted to make sure the car was somewhere safe for our return, you know what he’s like,” Dante sighs taking my hand, kissing my lips softly.
“He’s paid for us in first class too hasn’t he?” I raise a brow.
“Yes, he wanted to make sure we went in comfort and if he hadn’t I would have baby, I want you to be as relaxed as possible on this trip, you’re pregnant, plus you deserve to be spoilt,” he replies.
“There’s being spoilt and then being extravagant.”
“I know, but I promise you’ll enjoy it, now come on or we’ll miss our flight,” he says pulling me along, looking at the huge signs above us he finds the information he’s looking for, but I’m still clueless as there was an abundance of flights leaving tonight.
“Ah, Mr Fox, we’ve been waiting for you, let me check your bags in for you first,” the attendant says at the desk.
“Thank you,” Dante nods as she checks our bags in, I can see her eyes gaze over Dante’s body as I scoff.
“Here you go, if you head to terminal three, waiting room forty-two B, they’ll get you straight onto your flight, have a very good flight to the Maldives Mr Fox,” she batts her lashes.
“To where?!” I say in shock.
“The details were supposed to be a surprise, what did we pay you for?! You’ve ruined it, fuck sake,” Dante bellows angrily.
“Oh, I’m so sorry sir,” she batts her lashes at him again before he groans turning away and I see her roll her eyes at me, looking down at me like I was scum.
“Keep looking at me like that sweetheart and I’ll knock your pretty white teeth out,” I snap at her as she scoffs.
“What’s your name?” Dante asks her.
“Tiffany,” she says with a sultry smile.
“Well, Tiffany, you’ll be hearing from your boss soon enough, my father and I paid a lot of money for this flight with you and paid extra to keep it a huge secret, you ruined that,” Dante growls before taking my hand and pulling me with him towards the terminal we were to go to.
“Dante,” I try and keep up with him.
“DANTE! Stop!” I pulling my hand from his as he whirls around, anger in his eyes as I cup his face.
“I’m going to destroy her,” he growls.
“Baby, it’s ok, listen, I love you were trying to keep it a secret, but it doesn’t matter, I’m going to love this honeymoon no matter what because YOU are the most important thing to me right now, we’re married, if we stayed in the same four walls for two weeks I wouldn’t care. I love you and I married you, not for what you can get me, what your status or family can do, I married you because I love you, every part of you, you make me laugh, smile and my heart race every day, don’t let this make you angry, don’t let this ruin it,” I kiss him as I feel him relax under my touch.
“I’m sorry, it’s just I wanted everything to be perfect,” he sighs resting his forehead against mine.
“It is, it still is, the destination is still the same and can I say…The Maldives holy shit!” I say excitedly as he chuckles kissing the tip of my nose.
“Only the best for you baby girl,” he says before we start walking to our terminal once again, I curled into his side with a smile, talking nonsense as we wait to board the plane, keeping his mind off of the fact that that bitch had ruined the surprise.
Eleven hours… the flight was an eleven-hour flight… plus the extra time in a tiny little seaplane! Those things are so cramped, Dante had trouble with his long legs, bumping his head when he got inside too.
But through the pain of the long flight, we were here, we were in the Maldives, the water was the clearest I had ever seen in my life, it was nothing like England’s dark and murky waters, I could see the fish swimming, a brilliant bright blue ocean. We were led to a beautiful little hut by the beach, surrounded by trees and the finest of sand, it was beautiful. It was like it was untouched by the outside world.
I couldn’t believe I was here. This was magical.
Chapter Thirty-One
Dante had whisked me into the hut, carrying me in his arms before laying me softly on the bed, kissing me like it would be our last, hands travelling up and down my body as my legs wrap around his waist.
Hours later we finally emerged from the bedroom so I could look around the hut in a mere bikini and sarong wrapped around my waist, it was so hot here I was sweltering and it was getting darker already.
“We should go and get something to eat sweet thing,” Dante wraps his arms around my waist, kissing my neck softly.
“We should,” I nod smiling as he takes my hand leading me out of the hut towards a building on the other end of the island.
The other end of the island… you could probably walk around the whole island in half an hour, it wasn’t a particularly large island.
“Wow,” I murmur at the sight before me.
Someone was outside cooking on some amazing looking grill, fresh pasta and fish being served, the whole building was open plan, sand covering the floor so we didn’t need shoes to go anywhere, I had been worried about not wearing something better but Dante had said it wouldn’t matter and he was right. Everyone was wearing outfits to keep them cool still.
There was a permanent buffet set up around the room, hundreds of serving dishes filled with such fine and scrumptious dishes. We couldn’t get enough of it, and I’d be damned if I hadn’t tried them all by the end of this trip.
There weren’t that many people on the island, there had to be more staff than visitors.
“Are you enjoying yourself, Miss?” An extremely tanned man walks up to us, I can see a huge scar across his chest just under his shirt, I wonder how he got that?
“I am, thank you, is this island not very busy?” I ask.
“Most people go to the larger islands, the ones with full resorts, we don’t get so many people as most with kids do not want to bring them here as there is nothing for them to do,” he answers.
“That’s a shame, it’s a beautiful place,” Dante replies.
“Yes, but it also gives our visitors a better time, people like yourself wanting time alone and after we have finally recovered from the last natural disaster, we are all just happy to be here,” he nods.
“Natural disaster?” I frown.
“Yes, we had a tsunami, wiped out many of the islands, I was here when it happened myself, got the scar to prove it,” he says pulling at his collar to show his scar.
“Oh my god, I’m sorry to hear that, it must have been devastating,” I gasp.
“Yes, but we recovered, now do enjoy your stay,” he bows slightly and leaves us to it once more.
“Holy shit, this place could have been wiped out completely,” I say as Dante and I were heading back to our hut.
“Just makes it that much more special that it survived, and so did its people,” Dante nods.
We went to bed, our bellies filled with amazing food, our minds on each other as we curled up together, kissing softly and whispering sweet nothings until we fell asleep.
A few days had gone by and I was missing home a little, though I loved every moment here, it was quiet, too quiet.
“I’m going to video call home babe!” I call out from the porch swing outside that I loved sitting in, watching the sun glint against the ocean.
“Be there in a second!” he booms back.
I grab my phone, I was lucky this place still had wifi, I could read my books on the beach here and enjoyed every moment, my tan was already showing from the hours I would spend outside.
The phone rings as I call my dad, hoping he would pick up.
“RUBY! There’s my beautiful daughter, my god look at you all tanned already, you look stunning! How are you?” he grins.
“I’m great, it’s absolutely amazing here, it’s so beautiful, wait I have to show you the view,” I smile as I turn the camera around to show him the view of the ocean.
“My god, how stunning,” he says before I turn it back around.
“How is everyone back home?” I ask.
“We’re all fine, hold on… EV! Everleigh! Our daughter is on the phone!” Dad bellows making me laugh as she rushes around the corner, clearly trying to get dressed for work, but not wanting to miss our call.
“Hi Harrison, hi Everleigh,” Dante smiles waving as he comes to stand behind me.
“You two should not be allowed to get so tanned, you are too gorgeous, stop it,” dad shakes his head with a cheeky smile.
“Hi, Ruby! Oh wow, you aren’t kidding Harrison, look at you two! Are you having a good trip so far?” Mum grins at me.
“It’s amazing mum and I’ve already taken a million photos and eaten most of everything I can get,” I grin.
“She’s not kidding, we had to back up her phone because she filled the memory up, and she’s definitely eating for four right now,” Dante says with a smirk as I smack his shoulder.
“Try not to eat for four Ruby, you don’t need to eat too much extra, even when pregnant,” mum says.
“I’m not, I’ve just tried a lot of new things,” I smile.
“Good, oh bloody hell, I have my shift in like… ten minutes, I’m so sorry darling but I’m going to have to love you and leave you, send me some photos though, your brother too, he misses you already,” mum says blowing me a kiss.
“Love you, mum, I promise I will. Have a safe shift,” I smile blowing a kiss back as she heads out of the room after kissing dad.
“Just to let you know before you ask, the club is fine, myself and Cameron are keeping an eye on it, obviously with Shaun too, but everything is going smoothly without you. Benji also called me yesterday and the boys and I will be getting together for another poker night without you Dante, I think he’s missing his son, give him a call won’t you Dante?” Dad says.
“Of course,” Dante nods.
“Thank you dad, how’s work?” I ask.
We continue to talk for about an hour before dad has to head to work himself, he’d been busy, apparently, there had been an influx of stupid kids doing some brand new stupid trend online and it was sending them to the emergency room to get their stomachs pumped of some sort of liquid that was almost burning them from the inside… Why are kids so stupid?
“Want to go for a walk?” Dante asks holding his hand out to me as I smile, taking it as we walk hand-in-hand across the beach.
“Holy shit, did you see that?” I grin looking out into the ocean.
“See what?” Dante frowns.
“That!” I point to where several dolphins were leaping out of the ocean in the distance.
“You know we could do one of the trips in a boat to see them up close if you wanted to,” Dante smiles.
“YES!” I squeal happily as he chuckles at me.
“God, you’re adorable,” he kisses me softly.
“Don’t you need to call your dad?” I ask as we continue walking.
“I will when we get back,” he nods.
After we walk around the island Dante video calls his dad who I could see from even across the room that he was exhausted.
I listened from the cute little loveseat in the corner as they talked, Benji was having many issues with a new startup business he had invested in and needed Dante’s help to work out what the best move for them was with him being the marketing genius.
“Baby, I’m so sorry this is going to take a little while,” Dante places a hand over the mic.
“It’s fine, he looks tired, we still have over a week here and I am capable of enjoying the sun and sand by myself, just don’t let it stress you both out too much ok? I’ll be out there,” I get up kissing his cheek and waving to Benji, giving him a quick hello before heading out to the beach to rest on a sunlounger while reading in the beauty of the sun.
“My father is a little impulsive when it comes to putting money into small businesses, he did not think this one through,” Dante slumps into the lounger next to me after a couple of hours, rubbing a hand through his hair.
“Good thing he has you then,” I hold his hand in mine with a smile.
“What’s going on over there?” He nods to the long, thin pier which the boats from the seaplanes docked at. Two boats were rushing off into the distance where I could see something lingering in the water, but couldn’t figure out what it was from here.
“I don’t know, should we go see?” I say sitting up.
“Come on then my curious wife,” he smirks pulling me up with him, heading towards them.
I could see the server, Abbas, that had the huge scar on his chest talking animatedly with a few other men in their native language before he saw us coming towards them.
“Hello Mr and Mrs Fox, can I help you?” He asks.
“Hi, we wanted to make sure everything was ok, what’s going on Abbas?” I ask.
“A large amount of debris has floated into our waters and is currently wrapped around a number of our sea life, we are working to save them and remove the debris from the waters,” he answers sadly.
“Can we help in any way?” I ask.
“We are taking another boat out shortly, but I do not want to ask you to do this as you are on your honeymoon, we can control the situation,” he nods.
