Page 114 of For Pleasure Or Worse

“You can’t put a price on love.” I could hear the shrug in her voice.

A cooler breeze whipped over me and I stuck my hands into the pockets of the robe. We were silent for several seconds, watching the foam caps roll onto the beach and sweep back into the dark ocean without knowing where the water stopped and the night sky began.

I had a feeling we were both stalling going back inside. Falling asleep would be hopeless for me even when I did, so standing on the balcony with Tally until the sunrise was all right with me. It wasn’t fair to her though. She needed to rest before the morning because as long as today was, tomorrow would be twice that.

“I don’t like this rule,” I said. “We break all the rest of them, anyway.”

“It’s more of a superstition,” she sighed.

I looked up again and her hands were still hanging over the railing. “What are we stitious about?”

She rushed out a laugh. “They used to think if a bride saw her groom before their wedding, it would give her more time to run away.”

“That’s not a superstition, that’s called forcing pre-pubescent girls to marry grown, gout-stricken men who didn’t shower.”

“Well, when you put it like that.”

“I think that I’m the logic to your limerick, and that’s why we work so well together.”

“I didn't realize I was married to a poet,” Natalia mused.

“I can be whatever you want me to be, baby. A pillow, a blanket, a sock that gets lost under the covers at the foot of your bed, you name it.”

I pictured her shy, dimpled smile in the darkness even though I couldn’t see it. She probably had her bottom lip wedged between her teeth, wanting to give in, but fighting that last bit of resolve I was plucking at like a guitar string. An ultimatum, perhaps.

“You should sleep, angel,” I murmured. “We’ll both be so busy in the morning it will fly right by. Then I’ll see you at the altar.”

“You’re right.” She sounded disappointed, and the corner of my mouth tugged upward impishly.

My voice dropped lower, and I added, “But maybe before you slip under the covers, you tiptoe over to the door and leave it unlocked.”

Tally’s breath hitched. That I did hear loud and clear. Silence followed, like she was gathering too many thoughts together to articulate only one. I peeked up again and her arms were pulling away from the railing, footsteps retreating toward the door. “Good night,” she called out.

“Good night,” I answered. I waited until I heard her close the slider before darting back into Angelo’s hotel room. He was turned over on his stomach and snoring into the mattress, oblivious. He didn’t hear me tug my slacks back on without bothering to hinge the belt buckle, or hastily throw my dress shirt over my shoulders, leaving the buttons all undone.

I snuck out ready to be disappointed, and if that was the case I’d be okay with it because Natalia was getting what she wanted. You miss one hundred percent of the shots you don’t take, as they say. This was no different than every other part of ourrelationship. The chase, the give-and-take, the teasing. It was almost always worth it to test each other's boundaries.

Nearly two in the morning, the hotel hallways were just as quiet as outside. I bypassed the elevators and pushed open the stairwell, taking the steps two at a time to the next floor to avoid waiting a second longer than I had to.

I rounded the tight corner, nearly losing my footing on the carpet, and skidded to a stop, panting with my hands on my knees in front of the bridal suite. The swing lock was wedged in the doorframe, and I threw up a victorious fist as I walked right in.

chapter forty-five

Natalia

“HAPPY WEDDING DAY!”

My eyes flung open in a panic and met Mateo’s already blown wide and frantically looking back at me under the sheets. That was all the warning we received before the white duvet was violently ripped off the bed, exposing us in all our pre-marital, naked glory.

I yelped, tugging the top sheet over my chest and Matty wretched the fluffy pillow out from behind his head with a brutish howl, using it to cover himself as he scampered up toward the headboard.

Our screaming cued screaming from my sisters, who stood at the foot of the bed with horror-stricken expressions. They put their hands up like they were bracing for a car crash, which would have been a hell of a lot better than this.

“Oh my god,” Phee cried out. “I didn’t know!”

“How did you even get in here?!” Mateo cried back.

“Nat gave me the extra key!”

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