Love's Bounty: A Captain Swan Story

Part 2/4

Emma packed and checked out of the hotel in record time. Once they reached the car, she began to push Killian into the backseat, but he wouldn't budge.

"Swan, I was hoping I could sit in the front seat."

Emma laughed. "Not a chance. The backseat has child locks."

"I assure you I will not attempt to escape. I would never risk marring my dashing good looks."

"Your humility astounds me."

"Thank you." He paused and added. "You see, I get carsick very easily. When I sit in the front, I can focus on the road, so I am less likely to get sick."

Emma rolled her eyes. "Oh please."

He shrugged his shoulders. "Fine. You can clean up my vomit and explain to Hertz what that smell is when you return the car."

Emma clenched her teeth and slammed the back door. "Fine, get in the front."

"One more request."

"No more requests!"

"I was simply going to ask if you could handcuff my hands in the front. You can hardly expect me to sit with my hands behind my back for such a long trip."

Emma groaned in frustration, but had to admit he made a good arguement. "Okay, but if you try anything, you're in the backseat with your hands cuffed in the back the rest of the trip."

"You have my word."

"For some reason, that doesn't mean much to me," she said, as she redid the handcuffs and then pushed him into the front seat.

Emma got into the driver's seat and took a deep breath.

...

They had driven in an uncomfortable silence for an hour when Emma couldn't take it anymore. She turned the radio on. Ed Sheeran's "Thinking Out Loud" came on. It was her favorite song.

"This is a rather good song, but there's one thing I don't care for," Killian commented.

"Did you forget about the silent rule?"

He ignored her and went on. "If this lad loves this lass so much, then why does he say he's only going to love her until she's 70? Am I to understand that he's going to break-up with her after her 70th birthday?"

Emma couldn't help the smile that appeared on her lips. He had a point.

"That's true. I guess I never thought about that."

His voice softened. "If you truly love someone, then you love them for eternity."

Emma turned to look at him. There was something in his voice that gave more weight to that statement.

She bit at her bottom lip, at war with herself on whether to ask him about it. She finally gave in.

"It sounds like you speak from experience."

He looked at her. "Permission to speak?"

"Permission granted."

"I was in love once. I thought it was forever, but I suppose she had other ideas. She was my high school sweetheart. We planned on coming to the states together after graduation. I had been accepted into Juilliard and she had been accepted into Columbia."

"You were accepted into Juilliard?"

"Is that so surprising?"

"Well, yeah, you are a thief."

He dropped his gaze, his voice lowering. "Sometimes things don't turn out the way you had hoped. Right before we were about to leave, my girlfriend, Milah, changed her mind. She said she didn't want to come to the states. I found out later that she had been cheating on me for months with one of my mates." He paused and then went on. "So I went without her. I had been accepted into the guitar program and given a full scholarship. I would have never been able to afford it otherwise."