Page 111 of Rum Sips and Salty Lips

“We should get out of the storm,” he says. The rain plasters our hair to our faces.

I nod, letting him grab my hand and pull me toward the street and our houses. When he bypasses mine, I stop. “Why yours?”

“I know what my liquor cache looks like. I don’t know yours.” He pauses. “And I have a feeling this will be the only storm we hunker down in my place.”

“Why is that?”

“Mine is ready to market as a rental. You’ve said it a million times. Yours needs work.”

“Did you just invite yourself to move in with me?”

“I told you I’m in. I’m not saying I’m movingnow. I know how much that house means to you. You don’t have to give it up for me.”

My heart swells. I should have always known that I could count on him to be exactly what I need, even when I don’t know it myself.

With that, we head into his house and straight into the shower.

forty-four

ORION

We meetat Paradise that night for the hurricane party. Sienna also claims it’s her dodged bullet party. She and Haley both came back once the worst passed. I told Carina it’s not a hurricane but a tropical storm, just to see how she’d react. I endured a long but naked lecture on colloquialisms, dark humor, and the importance of community in the face of danger.

I’ve never been happier.

Carina and I spent the day in bed. I didn’t realize it would be different, being able to press into her and tell her I love her. But it is, and it’s amazing. I’m adjusting to the knowledge that I get to do this for the rest of my life. Then she rolls her hips and asks me what else I have for her.

Everything. Absolutely everything I have is for her.

I was prepared to make cocktails for her throughout the day. I paid enough attention to her drink orders at Paradise to know what she likes. Mysteriously, the ingredients are always in my fridge. She refused, claiming it was too much effort and she onlywanted to drink the rum that brought us together. I didn’t mind licking my favorite rum off her nipples and hearing her giggle.

Also, hearing her giggle for the first time.

I have everything I’ve ever wanted—Carina in my arms, wild and free.

She was more than a little tipsy when we walked along the roads to get here, rather than the beach. The rain had stopped but the wind blew fiercely. Carina laughed the whole way. Giggling over the way my hair wouldn’t stay out of my face, and how she’d teach me to braid it if I let it grow a little longer.

We immediately join Christian and Autumn who stand a few feet apart from each other. I don’t understand them. I’ve been forced to keep my distance from Carina in public and hated every second of it.How can you be in the same space as your wife and not want to maul her?

Even now, Carina is leaning on me like she needs me to stand. But that might be the rum.

“Finally,” Christian says under his breath.

Carina pulls away. “Excuse me?”

“Oh, um. He knew,” I admit.

“What?” both Autumn and Carina exclaim.

“You two aren’t as sneaky as you think you are,” he says.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Autumn asks with mock hurt in her voice.

Christian shrugs. “It wasn’t my secret.”

My arm wraps around Carina’s waist, holding her close to me. She reaches up to whisper loudly into my ear. “Come on, let’s get you something to eat.” At least she has the sense to know what we need.

She leads me by the hand to the bar. Alex and Bristol are busy, simultaneously making drinks and taking orders. The place is as crowded as I’ve ever seen it and the atmosphereis festive. I laugh when I see the special cocktail of the night, Foley’s Folly. I’m not sure I want to know what Alex put in it.

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