Page 111 of Wilder Love
He shuts me up with a dirty kiss and buries himself inside me to the hilt. Now we’re talking.
The baby must be happy that I’m happy because our little bean is having a field day in there. “I’m pretty sure he’s swimming the fly.”
“I’m the father. What do you expect? I have strong swimmers.”
I snort, and he hits a spot that makes me cry out. All he has to do is touch me and I detonate. It’s ridiculous. The orgasm rocks my whole body, and I feel like I’m riding a killer wave. It’s such a rush and I barely hear Shane telling me he loves me before he shudders and collapses on top of me, bracing his arm at my side to hold up most of his weight. He’s always worried he’ll hurt me or the baby which he won’t.
He rains kisses on me and I close my eyes and breathe him in. I love this man so much. With every cell in my body. My heart is so full that some days I feel like it might burst. And those damn emotions. Or hormones. My eyes are welling up again. But Shane and I… we have been to hell and back and I’d like to think we deserve this slice of heaven.
My eyes wander to the photos on the wall in our bedroom. The one that always draws my eye is Shane surfing a gigantic wave at Teahupo’o—the wave looks like a wall of blue-green glass and Shane looks so small in comparison. I hadn’t been able to get close enough to do the photo justice, but it’s a memory I’ll never ever forget.
Tahiti was the first stop on our travels. The day he’d ridden that wave, my heart had been in my throat. It had taken every ounce of my self-restraint to bite back the words on the tip of my tongue.Please don’t do it. Don’t risk your life for a cheap thrill. I can’t live without you.
But he had done it, and it had been the ride of his life.
Traveling with Shane for those six months taught me how to live. He found his smile again. The magic and his capacity for joy came back, and every day had been a new adventure. We followed the sun and chased the waves, traveling to the most beautiful beaches in the world. We didn’t simply exist, welived. Fully and without restraint. We loved, madly and deeply. We surfed. It really was like a religious experience. Shane prefers to think of surfing as a spiritual thing. It’s not just a sport, it’s a life choice. I felt it deep in my soul.
Six months ago, we got married in Bali on a beach at sunset. It was beautiful. A perfect day surrounded by our small circle of nearest and dearest. Luckily, Bastian managed to fly under the radar and nobody cottoned on to the fact that he was there until the ceremony was over. Then we flew back to Costa del Rey with Dylan, and we bought our cool little coral-pink beach house. We painted the walls. Hung photos. Planted a garden. We started a business—Firefly Surfboards. It’s doing well. Shane is perfecting his craft and works closely with surfers like Cody and Travis to shape boards based on his knowledge of how they surf. It’s a real collaboration between a surfer and board shaper, and Shane loves his work. It makes him happy which is all I ever wanted for him. Money isn’t everything, but Shane is still weird about taking my money—as in, he flatly refuses to take it—so I invested my money from modeling in a trust fund for our future children. I’m still taking photos and they grace the walls of our home and the business. I’m also getting better at graphic design, and I do all the branding and social media for Firefly.
When we found out we were having a baby four months ago, it made our life complete. Nobody will ever love this baby the way we already do. I always tell Shane that this baby will be so damn lucky to have him as a dad. He says the same goes for me. I hope so. I hope I can be a good mother. Nothing like my own. Dylan and I haven’t heard from her since he kicked her out last year. I suspect it’s because we stopped giving her money. It makes me sad that that’s the only reason she really kept in contact. But with Shane’s help, I’ve been letting it go. He said she never deserved us, and now that we’re about to become parents, I can’t understand how any mother could ever abandon their kids the way she did us.
With another kiss, Shane pulls me off the bed and ushers me into the shower. We’re big on water conservation around here and nobody does a more thorough job of soaping every inch of my body than Shane does.
He’s my endless summer. With his golden tan stretched over bone and sculpted muscles and his disheveled golden-brown hair falling into his eyes. I reach up to push it off his face and he gives me that chilled-out beautiful smile I love so much.
“I love you, Firefly.”
“I love you more.”
Life. You never know what’s coming next. It doesn’t always go to plan but sometimes it turns out better than your wildest dreams. I’ve spent a decade loving Shane and I hope I get to spend many more decades loving him. Someday we’ll get to tell our children the story of Shane and Remy and it will be an epic story with a happy ending.
Oh yeah, we have a cat too. Her name is Pearl. Like Pearl Jam. Or the pearl in the oyster. Whatever. She has a name and sometimes she even graces us with her presence. Shane doesn’t completely trust her, but Pearl always seeks him out first and likes to sleep on his head. I’m pretty sure I was a cat in my former life.
* * *
Shane
Four Months Later
When I enter the waiting room at Jackson Memorial, Dylan’s eyes fly open and his gaze snaps to the doorway. Even from a distance, I can smell the alcohol seeping from his pores. He looks like he hasn’t slept in weeks and his hair is sticking up all over the place. He stands up, scrubbing his hands over his face and attempts to smooth out the creases of his rumpled black shirt. It’s hopeless. He looks like he’s just rolled out of a dumpster.
“Is Remy okay?” His concern is real and his eyes flit over my face, seeking answers. “You look like shit, man.”
I snort. “When’s the last time you looked in the mirror?”
He shakes his head and exhales loudly. Let’s just say he isn’t taking the news of Sienna’s engagement too well. “Is she okay?” he asks.
I smile because I can’t help it. She’s amazing. Tired, but amazing. I’m pretty sure my hand is broken. She squeezed it so hard I could feel the bones disintegrating under her grip. She’s stronger than she looks. But it was a small price to pay and nothing compared to what she’s just gone through. “She’s doing great. It’s a boy.”
Dylan’s face breaks into a huge-ass grin like I’ve never seen before. Dude is smiling. For real. “No shit. I have a nephew.” He shakes his head like he can’t quite believe it, his smile softer now. It’s a good look on him. “Can I see him?”
I quirk an eyebrow at him. “After you take a shower. You smell like a distillery.”
“Fair enough.”
A flash of blonde hair streaks past and Scarlett skids to a halt in front of me. She hands Dylan a cup of coffee which he takes from her but doesn’t acknowledge. Ignoring his rudeness, she looks at me expectantly. “Well?”
I deliver the news she’s come to hear, and she does a little happy dance. Then she claps her hands and squeals in excitement, stomping her Doc Martens on the floor. Scarlett is not normally a squealer, but she and Remy have gotten really close and she’s been so excited about this baby you’d think she was Remy’s little sister, instead of Sienna’s.
