Chapter 292 Bait and Switch
Meanwhile, Nancy’s phone buzzed with a text from Yardley.
[Just booked your ticket. We’re heading to Miami this week.]
[Orion’s been asking about it. Figured we’d make it happen.]
Nancy paused mid-bite of her sandwich, read the message twice, then typed back.
[Okay.]
She didn’t overthink it. She immediately called the elementary school’s main office.
“Hi, this is Nancy Wolfe, Orion’s mom. Could you please have his teacher give him a message? Tell him Mom called and we’re going to Miami this weekend.”
“Of course, Mrs. Wolfe. I’ll send someone to his classroom right now.”
Ten minutes later in the classroom, chaos erupted.
“REALLY?!” Orion practically shrieked, making his teacher jump. “We’re REALLY going to Miami?!”
His teacher smiled. “That’s what your mom said, sweetie. But you need to focus on math time now, okay?”
Fat chance. Orion spent the rest of the day bouncing in his seat. He drew palm trees on his worksheets and told everyone about his beach trip.
When the final bell rang at three, Orion didn’t waste a second. He climbed into the black SUV with huge excitement. The car would take him back to the Wolfe estate.
The moment they drove through the iron gates, Orion burst through their front door. He ran upstairs and dragged out his little suitcase. It was the navy blue one with NASA patches he’d begged for at Target last summer.
“Swim trunks! Check! Action figures! Check!” He started packing the important stuff. His favorite Transformer went in first. Then he found a half-eaten bag of Goldfish crackers under his bed. He packed three pairs of the same superhero underwear.
“I need this. And this. And my sunglasses! And my beach bucket!”
He packed with pure joy. Only a seven-year-old could be this excited about everything.
He had no idea his dad had already made other plans.
—
At five sharp, Yardley’s black Mercedes pulled up outside Nancy’s office building. She grabbed her leather tote and slid into the passenger seat, expecting the familiar route back to the Wolfe estate.
But after ten minutes of city traffic, she realized they were heading in the completely wrong direction.
She frowned. “Aren’t we going home so I can pack?”
Yardley kept his eyes on the road, one hand casually draped over the steering wheel. His Ray-Bans reflected the late afternoon sun streaming through the windshield. “Already handled. Your suitcase is in the trunk.”
Nancy’s eyebrows shot up. “You packed for me?”
“I know what you like to wear.” He glanced at her briefly, that cocky smirk playing at the corner of his mouth.
That response was so typically him, but she let it slide for now. She was too busy processing the fact that he’d apparently gone through her closet and picked out an entire vacation wardrobe without asking.
Twenty minutes later, they were pulling into the airport’s departure zone. Nancy assumed Orion would be waiting with Alpha Hunter at the curb, probably bouncing off the walls with excitement about his first real vacation.
But when they checked in at the airline counter and she still hadn’t spotted their son anywhere, alarm bells started going off in her head. The desk agent was processing their first-class tickets with practiced efficiency, but there was no sign of a seven-year-old anywhere in the bustling terminal.
“Where’s Orion?” she asked, scanning the busy terminal filled with families dragging rolling suitcases and business travelers checking their phones. “Is Alpha Hunter meeting us at the gate?”
Yardley nodded toward security. “He’ll catch up. Let’s get through first.”
Nancy followed him through the priority security line, but that weird feeling in her gut kept getting stronger. Something felt off about this whole situation. Yardley was being too casual, too evasive about their son’s whereabouts.
It wasn’t until they were settled in the airline lounge, boarding passes in hand, that Yardley finally dropped the bomb. He’d ordered himself a bourbon and was scrolling through his phone like this was just another business trip.
“Orion’s staying home,” he said, taking a sip of his drink like he’d just mentioned the weather. “It’s just us this trip.”
Nancy stared at him in complete disbelief. Her coffee cup froze halfway to her lips. “Are you fucking kidding me right now? We promised him, Yardley. He’s been packing all afternoon!”
Yardley’s mouth curved into that infuriating half-smile. He set down his glass and finally looked at her directly, his eyes holding that familiar predatory gleam. “Kids are… distracting. He can join us tomorrow if he wants.”
Distracting. Right.
Nancy felt her cheeks flush hot as the memory hit her.
Two nights ago in their master bedroom.
Yardley’s hands tangled in her hair, his mouth trailing fire down her neck.
The heat building between them on their king-size bed until Orion had burst through the door in his dinosaur pajamas,interrupting at the absolute worst possible moment.
The way Yardley had groaned in frustration and she’d scrambled to fix her disheveled clothes.
So this was payback. This whole Miami trip was Yardley’s calculated solution to their constantly interrupted alone time. He’d orchestrated this entire scenario just to get her alone.
She wanted to tear him apart. She wanted to storm out of this overpriced airport lounge and catch the next Uber back home to their son.
But the gate agent’s voice crackled over the intercom, calling for first-class passengers to begin boarding.
And Yardley wasn’t giving her any opportunity to escape. His hand found her lower back, warm and possessive through her silk blouse.
His arm slid around her waist, confident and unapologetic, guiding her toward the boarding gate. Other passengers were already lining up with their designer carry-ons and boarding passes ready.
“Come on, sweetheart. Our plane’s leaving in twenty minutes.”