Leonardo smiled and moved his mouth close to Alisha's lips, and her heartbeat raced from the closeness they shared.
He brushed his lips against her cheeks and she jumped a little in the chair.
"Ladies, we have some shopping to do" Candy announced distracting Alisha from the wild imagination she was about to start having.
"l love this part of this vacation" Ameila, another woman cheered.
"Ladies, let's be at the front door in 30 minutes" Candy declared and they all got up from the table.
"Leonardo, let me have a word with you" Mr. Camelo called out and Alisha waited for him by a corner while other ladies went to get set for shopping.
"I must commend you, knowing that you and your wife were busy and came late to the table, it shows that you two share a bond and are not just acting as couples to put a show because of the deal you want to close." Mr. Camelo commended.
"Thank you sir" Leonardo bowed his head slightly and excused himself.
"It's a good thing your idea worked and got us on the good side of the deal today." Leonardo said to Alisha when they got into the room.
"We won't be deceived either, we have to be early to the table for dinner and other meals from now hence forth" Alisha said and changed her shoes to a more comfortable one, and grabbed her purse for the shopping at hand.
"Take this card for the shopping, have a great time" he said and handed her a card, she was glad he had given her the money she needed, she was already panicking within her regarding the cost the shopping would incure on her.
"Thank you, I will spend wisely" she collected the card and placed it in her purse.
"I don't think you should do that, you can be extravagant about it, at least this once, the shopping might be a test on your own part for the deal."
"I think this deal is about being our real selves, that's why it's for a week, so they can observe us closely, if I act like I'm a woman of class and spend so much, don't you think they would think I would scander your money and make you steal from the deal just to meet up with our life style?"
"Alisha, I give up trying to make a point with you, do as you please, but anything you do, remember that the deal is at stake.
"Noted, does this shopping by any chance affect my travel allowance?" Alisha asked, a little bit worried that her chance to raise money for her business would likely be affected by this forced shopping.
"Why did you ask?" he asked putting her in suspense.
"Well, I drew up my business plan, and I know the budget now, so I'm trying to diligently save up"
"The men and I are going out for an outdoor sport as soon as you women are out shopping but I am certain we would be back before you all, so give me the plan and I'll have a look at the business plan as soon as I am back, and when you get back from shopping we can talk about it" he said and changed into white tee shirt and white shorts, then he wore a sunshade.
"Okay, but I must warn, the business plan is not as professional as what you are used to" she said and handed him her laptop.
He muttered something under his breathe and she told him what she saved the file as on her desktop.
He walked her to the front door, and they waited for a few minutes before the other women joined them.
They rode in a car, after Candy told the driver where to take them to.
Alisha felt a bit nervous about the outing, she would have relaxed if she was with Chloe or someone she was familiar with.
She would have even prefar to be out with Leonardo even if it meant them arguing all through the ride.
She was scared it was going to a question and answer session.
What if they asked her how she and Leonardo met and fell in love? What story would she give them.
Even if she cooked up a story, what if the men over there also asked Leonardo the same question and he cooked up an entirely different story from hers.
Then if the men got to discuss at night with their wives, they would discover that the story did not add up, and they would know that they are both lying.
"Earth to Alisha" Marta shook her a little.
"You were lost, we asked you a question but you did not respond, what were you thinking about?" Amelia asked her
"Sorry, I zoomed out for a while, what was the question?" she fakes a smile, but underneath she was worried.
"We were asking if we should try out the lingerie store or the shoes store first" Amelia asked.
"Let's go lingerie first" she replied knowing they would not want an "anyone is fine" response.
"Same thing we all thought" Marta said and Alisha was glad she was not the odd one among them.
They arrived at the lingerie store, and shopping with them was not as weird as Alisha has thought.
"Alisha, red suits you, I think you should have this red lingerie" Marta said and handed it over to her. She tried it on and all the women agreed it suited her.
White was amazing on Candy, pink suited Marta, and Amelia insisted she wanted black even after other woman convinced her to go for blue.
After shopping for lingerie, they got robes of similar colours.
The driver loaded the trunk with their bags, and then they proceeded to the shoe store. After shopping comfortable flats and heels, they got a few dresses, ranging from beach wears, to dinner dress and a few casual wears.
"I think we should grab lunch, then head back to the island's Candy suggested.
"Well I think we should get our men beach wears too, what do we think?" Alisha asked surprising herself.
"That's a terrific plan, we've never thought of getting our men anything each time we came out for a shopping as this" Candy said and the other women confirmed.
They got the men the same beach shirt, and a few other different wears.
"This is the best part of the shopping, getting something for my husband" Marta said, obviously pleased and proud of herself.
The other women laughed and they went to eat lunch before heading back to the private island.
On their way back, the other women talked about a few things while Alisha zoomed out and was thinking about what Leonardo would think about the money she had spent, and if he would like what she picked for him, and also what he thought of her business plan.
Her though wondered to the diamond earrings he had paid for, it was so thoughtful of him, she felt what she got him was not compared to it.
"Alisha, I noticed you paid for the items you bought for Leonardo with a different card from the one you used for other purchase, were you short of money?" Candy asked her bringing her off her thought.
"Not at all, I've been using Leonardo's card for the other purchases" she said
"That's a normal thing, we also all used our husband's card, but why did you change card?" Marta asked
"Oh, I decided to get him the gift with my own card, that way the gift truly came from me" she blushed, slight embarrassed that she was the center of discussion.
"Wow, that is so thoughtful of you" Amelia commended.
"I think you are the perfect wife to the next person we would love to close this deal with" Candy said and Alisha knew she had helped Leonardo score two points in one day.
They arrived the private island, and some servers helped take their bags to their distant room, after they all hugged themselves and kissed each other's chheks, they agreed to meet at dinner and all went to their separate rooms.
Alisha went into the room and found Leonardo wearing eye glasses and looking at her laptop.
It was the first time she would see him on glasses, he liked different, good different.
"How did it go?"he asked her as soon as she got in and her bags were dropped by one of the maids.
"Great, wow you look different"
"Don't pass a remark about the glasses" he said and took it off.
"You should keep it on, you look good in them" she smiled at him and took off her shoes.
"I said no comment on them" but he gave a faint smile and shut down her system.
"What do you think about the business plan?" she asked him, anxious to hear what he thought of it.
"Go take a shower and then we will talk" he sent her away.
She pouted and went to wash herself clean. When she was done, she sat by the edge of the bed.
"Ready, so tell me" she said and he liked up at her from his phone in his hands.
"Good" he said and looked back at his phone.
"Just good?" she asked not pleased with his answer.
He kept his phone aside and faced her.
"The bakery idea is a good plan, but then I think you'll need larger capital and a bigger expansion, plus a more busy part of town, more staff and equipments, so here's the deal.
I"d be your investor. I made a few tweaks to the plan, you'll find it on your laptop, but I maintained the initial plan Incase you still chose yours over mine.
I have three cheques for you, one is a start up capital I"d be giving up, it's a loan. Two is your travel allowance for this trip and the last one is your payment for the modeling you did at the company, the publication was massive and you were loved, you'll be invited to model if there is a major branding to be done"
Alisha was mute for a while. This is a miracle.
"Thank you" she jumped from the bed and went to his side on the bed to give him a hug. He was really amazing and she was glad to be in this contract with him.
"My pleasure"
"I got something for you" she said and went to the bags on the floor to get him the bag that was for him.
"What is this?" he asked taking the bag from her.
"Check it out" she smiled and waited to watch his expression.
"Thank you, I love them" he said looking at the beach shirts and shorts, with a brown leather beach footwear.
"Are you sure you like them?"
"I think you'll believe me if I show some gratitude" he said and got up from the bed and moved towards her.
"How did you get my shoe size?" he asked surprised that the footwear was his size.
"Hmm, let's just say once I was bored, so I wore one of your shoes, and saw the difference between your legs and mine.
I was doing myself a little when I wanted to buy them though, I wasn't sure they would fit perfectly.
He smiled at her and grabbed her face in his palms.
He kissed her forehead and her tummy was filled with butterflies instantly from the gesture.
She loved it, but she wanted him to pull away, closeness to his body was dangerous to her body. But he didn't let go of her face.
Instead he came closer to her body and looked directly into her eyes.
She looked at his eyes too, she was not sure what she was reading in them, but they were dark.
She wished she knew what he was thinking.