Page 38 of Wild Ever After
“Is that a good or bad thing?”
Instead of answering, she says, “I don’t think it’s a good idea to go there again. A year is a long time and we’re going to be spending a lot of time together.”
I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t disappointed. Last night was phenomenal. But she has a point. It could get awkward if we keep hooking up. “All right. Friends then?”
I’m not sure I’ve ever been balls deep in a friend before, but this situation is anything but ordinary.
“Sure. Friends.” She looks relieved. “Thank you for this.”
“For agreeing to be your friend?”
“No, for this.” She motions toward the horizon. “For helping me, for being here now. All of it. It means a lot. I can never repay you.”
“I’m glad I’m here,” I say honestly.
Her chin dips.
Clearing my throat, I ask, “What’s the plan for this week?”
“We didn’t book much.” The ‘we’ she mentions is her and Sam. I wonder if she’s sad about him not being here. It has to be a little weird, even if she is as convinced as she claims that things wouldn’t have worked between them.
“That’s cool. A few days of lying on the beach sounds pretty nice.”
“I cannot picture you lying on the beach,” she says, a little of that playfulness returning.
“Oh, I look fantastic lying on the beach.” I wink. “Just you wait.”
* * *
I wake up the next morning on the small pull-out couch in our room. Unlike our suite the night of the wedding, our honeymoon digs are much more intimate. The end of my feet hit the side of the king-sized bed Jade is still sleeping in. The springs creak as I get up, but as quietly as I can, I grab my bag and go into the bathroom.
After a shower, I put back on my wrinkled wedding pants and white undershirt (my jeans and T-shirt from yesterday are still damp) and head down to the gift shop to get swim trunks, some shorts and shirts, and even some boxers and socks. The shoe selection is basically crocs or flip flops, so I grab a pair of the latter.
When I get back to the room, Jade is sitting up in bed, her laptop open in front of her.
“Hey,” she says, briefly looking up at me. When she sees the bags in my hand, she smiles. “New shoes?”
“Yeah. Thank god. These are wet and filled with sand.” I toss them in the trash and dump the contents of my shopping spree on my bed. Without thinking too much about it, I pull the shirt I’m wearing over my head and replace it with one of the new ones. Then, hold up the two pair of trunks. “Which ones?”
“Hot pink for sure.”
With a grin, I take the hot pink trunks into the bathroom and change.
“Do you want to grab breakfast or head right to the beach?” I ask when I get back out to the room.
She gives me a brief smile and then refocuses on her computer. “I need an hour or two. Melody emailed over some ideas for my new column, and I got edits back. Go ahead without me.”
“All right.” I glance out the window to the beach, but hesitate to leave her. She was so excited last night and now she’s working?
“I’ll meet you for lunch,” she promises.
I walk around the resort, grabbing breakfast and then scoping out all the activities. They really have it all. Options for everyone from kids to retirees. If I were with the guys or by myself, I’d golf and maybe scuba, but I have no idea what Jade likes to do.
In the end, I grab a lounge chair on the beach and order a couple of drinks—one for me and one for Jade. But by the time I’ve finished mine, she still hasn’t shown up. I order another round and then finish off hers.
Four drinks later, I decide to close my eyes for a few minutes. I didn’t get a lot of sleep last night, despite being exhausted from not sleeping at all the night before, thanks to Jade lying a foot away. I’m attracted to her. I’ve always been attracted to her, but now that we broke the barrier, it’s harder not to act on that attraction.
I wake with a start. A shadow falls over me then Jade peers down at me with a humored expression.
