Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 85484 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 427(@200wpm)___ 342(@250wpm)___ 285(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 85484 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 427(@200wpm)___ 342(@250wpm)___ 285(@300wpm)
“Then I’d open all the windows in the house, and it wouldn’t be too hot outside,” I say. “Then I’d take a bath and do all the things that I never have time to do.”
“Like what?”
“Exfoliate. Double wash my hair. Properly condition it. Mani-pedi. Apply one of the twenty lotions in my cabinet all over my body and then kill time with …”
I don’t finish the sentence because it scares me.
My perfect day would be spent with him.
“Kill time how?” he asks as if he knows the answer. As if he hopes he knows the answer.
I search his handsome face. Is there any way things could work between us? Any way at all?
The idea of having this in some way every single day feels like the only answer in my life that makes sense. Going forward, I can’t see my life without Jess. I don’t want to.
But how is that possible so quickly? Am I just in a crazed state of lust that will diminish over time?
When he gives me his shy smile, the one that’s my new favorite, I know how it’s possible. Because he’s him.
That doesn’t fix my concerns. It doesn’t make me any less terrified to let him down. Imagining him sitting beside me right now and telling me that I either have to change what I want out of life or lose him—like I’m not enough the way I am—causes my chest to ache.
If Jess gave up on me, I’m not sure I’d bounce back.
But I told him I would give him this week to win me over, even though he doesn’t need a week because I’m already a goner. I’ve already bought into his brand of charm.
“If I have you ten years from now and I live in a box on the beach with sand crabs snapping my toes while I sleep, I’ll be one happy and lucky motherfucker.”
Those words he spoke earlier are burrowing into my heart, making me consider that he would be content if we were only an us.
As I search his face and find no shield, no mask—nothing but this man giving me everything he has—I wonder if maybe I should trust the process and give him what I get.
It would be the truth, after all.
I push my paddle into the water and smile at him. “I’d kill time by finding my man and seeing if he could help me rub it in.”
His Adam’s apple bobs before he slowly—so slowly—splits his cheeks into a grin. “Your man, huh?”
“Yeah. My man.”
My core twists. My sex pulses as if it has Jess-controlled muscle memory. It correlates that look in Jess’s eye with getting his dick shortly thereafter.
“I like the sound of that,” he says, his voice rough.
I grin. “I like the sound of it too.”
My entire body feels light. Airy. This is how I feel after I go through a cabinet that has needed cleaned out and organized for years and I finally do it. Everything clean and in its place.
All the pieces are where they should be.
He studies me, waiting on me to recant, I think. But I don’t.
Out of nowhere, the skies open and rain falls in a heavy downpour.
“Ah!” I say, laughing. I lift my chin to the sky and let the water hit my face.
“Is this some kind of sign?” Jess asks, laughing too.
“I don’t know.” My voice is nearly a shout so he can hear me over the shower. “What sign could rain mean?”
“The last time it rained when we were together, you taught me how to dance.”
My heart flutters as I remember that—and something Kerissa said after a trip a few months ago. “You know what else it means?”
“What?”
I shove my wet hair out of my face. “When it rains on a wedding day, it means the marriage will last.”
Jess’s smile couldn’t be bigger if he tried. “Look at you, Pip.”
“What do you mean?”
“Your couples retreat saved our marriage.”
I burst out laughing, the sound mixing with the raindrops bouncing magically on the water.
“I’m definitely giving you five stars when we get home,” he says.
“I hope you’ll give me five stars way before then.”
“How do you feel about skipping our dinner reservation and getting room service instead?” he asks.
“Only if I get to be dessert.”
“Let’s finish this and get back to the room,” he says.
Despite the pouring rain and my shaky legs, I get to my feet. “Say less.”
He laughs as I paddle away.
21
JESS
“These things are driving me nuts.” I look down at my phone. “What the hell is this?”
“What’s going on?” Pippa asks.
“I keep getting these texts about octopuses.”
She laughs. “What? Why?”
I shrug. “I have no idea. Moss and Maddox get them too, but about different animals.”
Pippa presses the button for the elevator.
Unknown: Octopuses can navigate through mazes, solve problems, and remember solutions. They can take things apart for fun.