[This chapter is dedicated to the current top 3 fans of this book; Amber17, Mischon_Harrington, and Madhurilonikar. Thank you so much, guys!]

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There were some delays, which led them to arrive quite late at San Lucas. The hotel service that picked them up was accompanied by Jin and two other men. Noah asked Jin to come to San Lucas for some additional security to watch Lucille while they are on vacation.

If he is going to be honest, he wanted additional security than Soraya for Lucille because he wanted to spend time with Jess without worrying about his daughter's safety.

He was sitting on the passenger seat with Lucille on his lap and Soraya next to him. Antonio was sitting on the passenger.

The passenger of the other hotel car service was his airplane crew. He is giving them a vacation too. Since they are all already here they could just enjoy themselves.

The car in front was Jin with his two men. They were cruising the dark street of San Lucas going to their hotel when he felt their car swerved to the other lane. Antonio glanced at their driver because he was in the passenger seat.

"Sorry." the driver mumbled an apology. He glanced at Noah who was glaring at him in the rearview mirror. "Sorry," he murmured another apology.

Soraya shifted in her seat and in a hushed voice, "Do you want me to carry Miss Lucille?"

"Notify Jin."

He held Lucille closer to his chest. He might be being paranoid but when it comes to his daughter's security he doesn't want to take any chances.

He watched the black SUV in front of them slow down, which forced their driver to slow down as well, for the rest of the drive to the hotel. After they checked into the hotel, their staff whisked away their luggage and he requested to be taken to their room as soon as possible so Lucille could sleep in a bed.

They got on a golf cart to their own villa, when they alighted from the golf cart, Antonio nodded to the villa in front of them on the right.

"That's where Miss Zimmerman and her friends were staying."

"Her friends? Isn't she on vacation with just Luke?"

"That was what I knew too. But when Jin arrived this morning he found out that there is another friend. She has been with Miss Zimmerman and Mr. Ravenport since day one."

"Soraya, get me some pajamas for Lucille."

He nodded to Antonio goodnight as they entered their villa carrying Lucille to the room that she was going to share with Soraya. He quickly and gently changed Lucille's clothes to her cotton pajamas without waking her up.

When he was done, he said goodnight to her and went to his room to the left side of the small villa. He got himself a glass of whiskey and stepped out of the balcony of his room. He had the glass in his hand, inhaling the scent of alcohol but didn't drink it.

He stared at the villa diagonally across from where his room is. He smiled softly thinking which side was Jess staying on. He glanced at his wristwatch, seeing that it was already fifteen minutes past three, he went back to his room leaving the untouched glass of whiskey on his balcony.

The tiredness of the long flight took a toll on his body that he thought he wouldn't be able to fall asleep, but his body fell into a deep slumber once his body hit the massive bed.

He woke up groggily with Lucille jumping on his bed, she was already wearing a pink swimsuit with a print of a peacock.

"Rise and shine, Daddy! Let's go swim today!"

"Good morning, Princess. Can you please let Daddy stay in bed for a few minutes more?"

"But we are here for a vacation! And it's already nine in the morning! Let's have breakfast then swim!"

Noah closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. He could feel a migraine slowly building upon his temple. Lucille was way more energetic today than when she was on the farm or his grandfather's house playing with the dogs.

'Where do kids get their energy?'

He was forced to get up because Lucille kept on jumping on his bed like it was a trampoline and it was making his headache worse. He strode to the bathroom with his eyes half-closed.

"Hurry up, Daddy!" his daughter shouted before she dashed outside of his room.

He closed the bathroom door behind him and stripped his clothes before stepping inside the shower stall. After being under the shower for about fifteen minutes, his headache felt a bit better. He remembered his hyperactive daughter and he reluctantly finished his shower.

He had a towel wrapped on his waist when he checked the stubble on his chin and decided against shaving it. No time to spare. He could hear Lucille's voice outside his bedroom.

He threw his suitcase on top of his bed, grabbed a pair of surfers' shorts and a white t-shirt. Put them on, scrubbed the towel on his wet hair, and decided to get out before Lucille broke his door.

He flung the door open and caught Lucille's with her fist mid-air about to knock on his door. He raised his eyebrow at her but she simply ignored his pretend annoyance, pulled his hand to the balcony with the panoramic view of the island.

"Look, Daddy! Isn't it amazing?"

He ruffled his daughter's hair as a smile tugged the corner of his lips. It's hard not to get caught up in her enthusiasm. "Yes, it looks amazing."

"Good morning, Boss."

He just noticed the presence of Jin on the breakfast table that was set up on the balcony with an array of continental breakfast. He just nodded at everyone on the table as he signaled the server standing on the far end of the balcony for coffee.

"Daddy, can we do those things?"

She was pointing to a group of people sitting on an inflatable towable tube being pulled by a speedboat.

He creased his forehead that Lucille would be interested in such water activity that looks scary, he could not help but ask, "Are you sure? They looked a bit extreme for kids your age."

"Don't be silly, Daddy! Look at them! There's a kid there that looks like my age. And it's something that we could all do together! I won't get scared."

He squinted his eyes on the distance where the said ride Lucille was talking about, and indeed there's a kid riding an inflatable towable tube. He returned his attention to his daughter grinning so wide he has no heart to say no.

"We just have arrived. Let's check other things the resort offered before we decide on that one."

"Are you scared?" she asked with her eyes round as a saucer in disbelief.

Seeing a way to discourage Lucille on that particular water sport, he nodded his head and in the most solemn voice he could muster, "Yes, that looks pretty scary. Don't you think so Jin?" he glanced at Jin and gave him a discreet wink to agree with him, however, he heard his daughter said, "Uncle Jin said that ride is super fun!"

Jin averted his eyes and pretended he didn't feel the kick that Noah gave him under the table.

"Princess, let's have breakfast first," he said in the last attempt to take her attention to that particular water sport.

"I woke up early Daddy. I already ate my fill." she smiled and sat next to him enthusiastically talking about how he shouldn't get scared of that ride because Uncle Jin said it was pretty safe even when the speedboat was super fast.

Noah gave Jin a death glare under the rim of his black coffee.

The whole duration of the breakfast, Lucille persuaded him to try the scary ride while he pretended to be truly scared of the said ride.

However, he knew it was a lost cause. He knew his daughter wouldn't let something go once she was convinced to do it. What he was trying to do but miserably failed was to delay the inevitable.

"Yes, let's give it a try. But we will be staying here for a few days and we just came from a long flight, how about we just take it easy for today."

With him agreeing to ride the inflatable towable tube she let go of the topic reluctantly.

"We can go check the souvenirs shop and see what they got," he said when he saw her disappointed face.

And just what he expected when they hit the souvenir shops, Lucille got her enthusiasm back. If there is something that could light up her mood, it's shopping.

They walked hand in hand, for the place is a bit crowded with tourists. They were checking some local products when someone caught her attention and pulled the hem of his shirt.

"Daddy, look! Isn't she our neighbor in Palo Alto?"

He followed where Lucille was staring and saw Jess laughing with Luke over some quirky sunglasses.

"Yes, it's her," he replied between clenched teeth.