Page 41 of Wild Ever After
I’m thankful when he’s gone, but the tension doesn’t go with him.
“What looks good?” Declan asks, looking at his own menu.
It takes me too long to answer. I’m staring at the hint of tan chest peeking out of his V-neck and the way his shirt sleeves hug his biceps. Declan’s brown eyes finally peer at me over his menu and I flush.
“Excuse me,” I say, standing and motioning my head toward the restroom. Once inside, I check to make sure I’m alone and then pull out my phone.
“Freaking finally.” Scarlett answers on the second ring. “I was ready to book a flight and come check on you.”
“I wish you had,” I say. “I’m losing my mind over here. He’s all tan and sexy and he keeps looking at me with those eyes!”
I sent her the bullet points the day we got here: Arrived safely, saw the ocean, and oh, by the way, I had sex with my husband and his big, pierced dick.
She didn’t see that one coming either.
My best friend laughs freely and loudly. “You’re still thinking about him naked then?”
I sigh. “Yes. He’s so hot. He even looks hot when he sleeps.” An image of him this morning, bare chested, lying on his back, hair ruffled, flickers through my mind.
“Maybe you should just keep banging him then.”
“Oh yeah, that’s a great idea.” I roll my eyes, not that she can see it. “And since when did you become Team Declan? You didn’t even want me to go through with this.”
“But you did.” She laughs. “You married him, so I guess you might as well enjoy yourself.”
“We’re going to be living together for a year. Sex makes things awkward. Hence my current state.”
“Hence? Oh man, you are stressed if you’re pulling out the big words.”
Looking in the mirror, I adjust the straps of my dress and push up my cleavage. Oh yeah, I wore my sexiest dress tonight. It seemed only fair since he constantly looks like sex on a stick. Except, he seems way less affected than I am. He checks me out when he thinks I’m not looking, but true to our friendship pact he hasn’t so much as let his hand graze mine since that first day in the ocean.
Also, he ordered garlic knots. Nobody orders garlic knots if they expect to be going to pound town later.
“Maybe I should just pretend to be sick or tell him something came up for work and spend the rest of the trip in the hotel room.”
“No.” Scarlett’s voice takes on a hard edge. “You will absolutely not do that, young lady. You have been dreaming of this trip since the second you proposed to yourself.”
A small laugh escapes at her phrasing because, yes, that’s exactly what happened. Aaaand look how great that turned out.
“Enjoy the eye candy that is your new husband and sleep with him again or don’t, but you absolutely need to do all the things you wanted when you booked that trip. I know it’s probably hard being there when you planned it for you and Sam, but screw him.”
“It’s a little weird,” I agree. I don’t miss being with him as much as I thought I would, but it’s still an adjustment not talking to him every day.
“He’s missing out. He doesn’t even know how lucky he was to be with you. You’re amazing, you’re on a freaking island, have fun!”
I squeeze my eyes closed and nod as she speaks. She’s right. I’ve been dreaming of this for almost a year, and now I’m here, and not fully appreciating it, because I’m too distracted by the chaos of this new relationship and how to navigate it.
When the truth is, I have no idea how we’re going to get through it, and I could spend every second of this trip trying to figure it out and still not know. We’re in unchartered territory. I should be writing a book on how to survive a year pretending to be married to a guy I barely know but had the hottest sex of my life with.
Can we really go back to a time when we’re not picturing the other one naked and establish a friendship to make the next year bearable?
“Thank you. I love you.”
“Love you too,” Scarlett pipes back in a cheery tone. “I gotta go. Text me later and let me know how dinner goes.”
After we hang up, I take a cleansing breath and vow to have fun and get to know my new husband, while trying not to ogle him. There are still so many things I don’t know about him. I’m going to focus on that. Maybe he has some deep secrets that will make him less attractive.
When I get back to our table, Declan has ordered two rum and Cokes.
