Total pages in book: 20
Estimated words: 19458 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 97(@200wpm)___ 78(@250wpm)___ 65(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 19458 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 97(@200wpm)___ 78(@250wpm)___ 65(@300wpm)
“Yeah?” I ask, surprised I need the validation. This is all messing with my head so much. I just want…Gary…and our lives together. I want it to be perfect, because no one deserves it more than him. He’s everything.
“Yeah.” Footsteps sound and we both turn to see Derek, Jackson, Hayden, and Cody walking toward us. “See? The Scooby gang is on the case.”
I grin and realize I really like this kid. “Yeah, they are.”
The whole crew approaches and we break up into teams of two, all searching different areas for Gary and Frankie. Evan stays with me. We decide to head down below to search some of the storage areas. Derek and Jackson are taking the beach, and Hayden and Cody are starting on the other boat and touching base with Steven and checking on food.
My footsteps feel heavier and heavier as we go on, my muscles tight, and my body rigid. It feels like I haven’t seen Gary in a week instead of a couple of hours. The closer it gets to six o’clock, the more I freak out, though. Even if Gary wasn’t making sure to find me, he’d be here because of the damn fundraiser.
“What if he fell over somehow?” Oh, God. What if, what if, what if? Too many options keep running through my head.
“He didn’t fall over. Plus, he’s with Frankie. They couldn’t have fallen over together.”
And I know nothing else is going on either. There might have been a blip in time I thought Gary ran away from me, but my heart knows there’s not a chance in hell of that shit happening. Not with us.
We get down to where the storage rooms on the yacht are and…“Did you hear that?” I ask but before Evan can reply, I’m running down the corridor. There’s a faint banging sound coming from the other end. It’s likely the music but the closer I get, the more I second-guess myself and think it might be…
“Travis!” I hear and damned if a smile doesn’t tug at my lips because he’s calling for me. He doesn’t know I’m here, and he’s calling for me.
“Gary?” I yell back just as we get to one of the storage rooms Steven showed us.
“Travis? Oh my God! Trav?” Gary’s voice comes muffled through the door.
And just like that…everything is right in my world. The fucking ring doesn’t matter. How perfect the proposal is doesn’t matter and the stupid fucking food doesn’t matter either. The only thing that does is Gary…is us.
I try the doorknob, but it won’t budge. “Step back, baby. I’ll kick it open!” I shout through the heavy-ass door.
“Travis! Don’t do that. You’ll hurt yourself!”
“Aww, come on! Where’s the faith? I work out too hard for you to doubt me,” I tease and hear him chuckle.
“Or you could use a key?” Frankie and Evan say at the same time. Evan’s body slackens at Frankie’s voice. I hadn’t realized how worried he was too.
And a key…duh. I hadn’t even thought of that. I was too wrapped up in Gary. “Thanks. I was trying to play the hero!” I tease Evan and Frankie who laugh.
“I’ll text Derek,” Evan replies, and within a few minutes, the whole crew is heading for us, Derek having gotten the key from Steven. He tosses it to me, and I open the door. The second I do, Gary flies into my arms, wrapping his arms around my neck and legs around my waist. I stumble backward but catch him.
“You’re still my hero, even if you didn’t get to kick the door down,” he tells me, but he’s wrong.
“No.” I shake my head. “You’re mine.” Then, I kiss the hell out of him.
8
Gary
As I kiss Travis, relief washes through me, reminding me of how easy it is for Trav to soothe my discomfort.
The way he kisses me, his tongue sliding between my lips as he cups the back of my head and guides me so effortlessly through each movement, I feel as though we’ve been separated for far longer than the time I was stuck in the storage closet.
It’s like we’ve spent weeks apart from one another.
He pushes me back against the wall, and I find myself gasping into his mouth the way I did when we first kissed…when he was helping me show up Peter by making it look like I wasn’t pathetically alone.
He laughs and leans back, studying my expression. I must be red as a fucking tomato right now.
He just has that effect on me.
I let out a nervous chuckle, embarrassed at how he’s made me totally vulnerable in this moment, but I also like that Trav can do this to me.
“I think your freak-outs are rubbing off on me,” he says. “I was losing my mind not being able to find you.” He looks at me strangely. I can’t read his expression—the way he scans my face, his gaze lingering on my lips before shifting to my nose and then to my eyes.