Page 55 of Sex, Lies, and Margarita Mixes

Knox blinks. “Swingers… Anal… Frosted—?” He shakes his head.

Chase pops a scallop into his mouth.

Mari Lynn fist-pumps. “You two are disgusting, insatiable, pervs.” She winks.

“We’re thriving,” I say.

Chase nods. “We’re emotionally devastating, we know.”

The food keeps coming. The sun drops lower. Everything feels soft. Safe. Like we earned this.

Mari Lynn heads back inside to “finish dessert,” and Knox stands to follow, muttering something about “not trusting her with an open flame.”

Chase and I are alone on the balcony. It’s quiet. The breeze from the water is nice and the sound of the waves crashing onto the beach is peaceful. It should be calming.

I’m not calm.

Chases thumb lightly rubs circles on my thigh under the table. My breathing hitches and I can’t stop looking at him.

“You good?” he asks.

I nod. “Better than.”

He leans in, takes my hand, and brings it to his mouth before gently kissing the inside of my wrist. His lips linger over my pulse. His voice is rich, warm, and full of love as he says, “You know I’m all in, Roxy. Right?”

I smile. It starts small but it spreads over my face. I sigh. “I do know, Chase.” We just sit, staring at each other, reveling in this new us.

The balcony doors slide open and a flushed Mari Lynn flops into her seat and points a fork at Knox.

“He had to flambé the meringue on top of the coconut pie with a kitchen blow torch. Said I wasn’t to be trusted with fire unless the heat comes from us and not a kitchen gadget.” She glares at him. “I will burn you alive, Levi.

Chase mutters, “That’s how I handle marriage, too.”

Knox chuckles. “Burn me, baby. I love it when you talk dirty.”

I snicker and he looks over at us, “And yet… here you two are. Since I’ve known you, you two have been a train wreck. I mean that with love, but y’all give people whiplash. You’re here. Actually together.”

We are together. In a way we’ve never been before.

I’ve always loved Chase. I have never doubted that he loved me. Even when I was high-tailing it for the hills in platform wedges because I was scared he’d stop loving me and realize that I was too much and he didn’t want to deal with me anymore.

But this… this trusting in our relationship, our connection, our marriage… it’s new.

And I want to keep it.

I realize something, we didn’t just survive the damage—by damage, I wholeheartedly mean me, my fear and my pride —we rebuilt from the ground up.

Better. Hotter—I didn’t know that was possible— and still one-hundred-percent legally binding.

CHASE

* * *

We leave the condo the next morning.

The sun is barely up. The seagulls are being too damn cheerful. Mari Lynn waves from the front door in a pink silk robe, while double-fisting mimosas. She calls out, “Go get your happily ever after, slutbags! I’ll call you tomorrow to go over business stuff.”

Roxy blows her a kiss.

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