Total pages in book: 123
Estimated words: 117177 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 586(@200wpm)___ 469(@250wpm)___ 391(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 117177 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 586(@200wpm)___ 469(@250wpm)___ 391(@300wpm)
Okay, a lot hot and bothered.
From Oaxaca we flew to Tabasco, where we experienced more world heritage sites and waterfalls and awesomeness.
By the time we got to Cancún, I was exhausted.
But even though I was extremely glad these last few days would be nothing but lying around by the pool, I couldn’t imagine us ever pulling off a trip like this again.
Chris seemed to sense my dubiousness. “We will,” he insisted. “We might not be able to backpack for three months at a time, but we’ll still travel and see the world the way we want to. We’ve just proven we can.”
I snuggled into his side, nodding. “I’m just feeling a little melancholy because it’s almost over.”
He kissed the top of my head. “Let’s enjoy this now. We’ll worry about that when it comes.”
By “it” he meant NASA. When we got back to New York, Chris would have to pack again. He’d taken the job with NASA, and he was finally expected in Houston next week. I would not be going with him. At first.
After spending weeks researching, I’d approached Lia with a proposal for me to open a division of the company in Houston. To my shock, she was already working on plans to open an office in Los Angeles and had been looking for a third city. Houston hadn’t crossed her mind, but my research opened her up to the possibilities there. And while she’d miss having me in New York, she believed in me and had faith I could run a team.
We’d found an office a week before I’d left for my three-week vacation with Chris. I had a bunch of personal days saved up, and Lia had agreed to let me take the vacation once I assured her Dominic could handle my workload. He was only too happy to, considering once I left to run the Houston office, he’d have my job. But it was worth it. I’d miss New York, of course, my parents, Althea and Michelle . . . but I’d be taking a giant step up the ladder of my career, and Chris and I would be moving in together. A scary step—career- and relationship-wise—but also extremely exciting.
It would be a few months yet until Lia Zhang Events was ready for Houston, and until then Chris and I would do the long-distance thing. I tried not to hate the idea but failed.
We’d been inseparable for months. For instance, I’d been right by his side when he got the call from his agent that a big New York publisher made an offer on his book.
It wouldn’t be for a while yet, but Chris took the deal and would be a published author.
A published author and a mission specialist with NASA.
I was so proud of him.
I already missed him even though I knew our separation was temporary. Dark thoughts crept into my mind now and then that somehow the distance would force us apart. I knew that would only happen if we let it and that both of us were committed to making our relationship work. Yet fear didn’t often listen to sense.
Shoving the morose thoughts aside, I snuggled deeper into Chris’s side, and we wandered into our room. Somehow, I think we both were more sleepy from a lazy day of eating and drinking than we were from all our adventures. We changed our clothes and readied for bed. A few gentle kisses good night later, we lay down and were out by the time our heads hit the pillow.
* * *
It was the cramps that woke me.
Despite the AC, my skin was slicked with sweat as I jolted up from sleep in a panic and launched myself off the bed toward the bathroom. I just made it in time to throw up the entire contents of my stomach.
“Oh, fuck,” I heard behind me, and glanced up just in time to see Chris launch himself at the sink to do the same.
That set me off again.
Things only got worse from there.
To put it politely, our bodies wanted everything we’d consumed in that seafood restaurant to evacuate from wherever it could.
Hours later, exhausted, miserable, Chris and I lay on the cold tile of the bathroom floor, afraid to leave just in case. And honestly too weak to get up.
We stared hazily at each other in pale-faced shock.
“I think it was the seafood,” I whispered hoarsely, my mouth and throat dry.
“Don’t talk about it,” Chris begged, squeezing his eyes shut.
“Of all the things we’ve eaten on this trip . . . the five-star resort got us.”
Chris snorted and then cracked, “Now we really do know everything about each other.”
Despite the misery of the situation, I started to laugh, shaking against the tiles as tears of hilarity brightened my eyes. Chris’s laughter joined mine until we were gasping for air.