Total pages in book: 76
Estimated words: 70574 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 353(@200wpm)___ 282(@250wpm)___ 235(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 70574 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 353(@200wpm)___ 282(@250wpm)___ 235(@300wpm)
Smooth as warm honey sliding down Ari’s perfectly rounded ass—until we’d gotten aboard. Knowing he was underage, I shouldn’t have allowed him to partake in the never-ending cocktail parade he seemed determined to participate in, but, on the other hand, he’d looked so proud of himself. Watching him, I was once again reminded of how his life, because of his superior intelligence, had always propelled him into situations where he was the youngest, most innocent, and socially awkward person in the group. Back when we dated, before I knew the truth, I’d watched him fumble around people, tripping over words and looking as uncomfortable as a politician in church. It had been so painful to watch him suffer, especially when I didn’t understand why. All I’d ever wanted to do was protect him, but my heart had told me that was the exact opposite of what Ari wanted, or needed, from me.
I supposed that was why when he started drinking yesterday, I’d sat back and simply watched him partake in a way that we’d all done at one point in our lives. He’d looked so happy…so confident…so proud of himself. I’d known my appearance would end all that for him, so I’d given him some Ari time. His father, my new boss, certainly wouldn’t approve of my decision, but I felt confident it wouldn’t be the last time Landon Honeycutt disapproved of what would happen between his son and me—hopefully.
Then the steroid-taking gym rat had shown up, hitting on Ari, someone half his age, and my jealous gene had literally gone berserk. Off the charts berserk. Steam had probably been shooting straight from my ears. When the man had touched him with his leg, I’d broken the beer bottle that I’d been holding, cutting myself in three different places. Yeah, nice start to our seven-day cruise.
After that, things had slid down the shit slide at a rapid pace. Ari had embarrassed himself by throwing up on deck and then, come to find out, he’s apparently one of the unlucky souls that gets deathly seasick. Had he brought any seasick meds with him, just in case? Of course not. Mr. IQ sometimes forgot to make the simple decisions in life. I’d somehow managed to get him through the safety training required before the ship could leave port, but he’d pretty much been a lost cause after that. Hell, he hadn’t even managed much of an argument when he’d realized I was sharing a room with him.
As the giant ship had glided gracefully out of port, Ari had been lying in bed, a wet rag on his face, and a bucket next to him. After calling down to the customer service center to have some motion sickness meds brought up to him, I’d unpacked our belongings and tucked them into their proper places. When I hadn’t thought they were getting the meds up to the room fast enough, I’d left him only long enough to go to one of the stores on the boat and purchase them myself. I’d gotten him the pills, drops, something to stick behind his ears, and some type of wrist bracelet that resembled sweat bands from the eighties. Back in the room, I’d forced a couple of pills down him, followed by a few sips of Ginger Ale, and then watched as he slept.
Fuck, I’d missed that…just being able to look at him.
I couldn’t be sure what the past three years had been like for Ari, but they’d been hell on me. Yes, I’d been pissed when I’d learned the truth about his age. More than that, though, I’d been hurt that he’d lied to me, led me on to the point that I almost did something stupid. Even if I hadn’t known the truth, I would have never forgiven myself if things had gone too far with Ari. It had taken me months to forgive him—fucked with my life to the point that if my step sister hadn’t gotten involved and shoved me back onto a healthy path, I wasn’t sure where I would have ended up. Yes, it had taken months for me not to hate him, but even after that, it had taken many more months to even try to understand why he would have done what he did. At some point, I couldn’t even remember when, I’d stopped caring or trying to understand. I’d finally just accepted that I loved Arizona, no matter how big the lie had been or how much damage it could have caused. None of that burned brighter than the love I felt for him.
I’d forced myself to wait—had tried my damn hardest to wait until he turned twenty-one before I reappeared back into his life, dedicated to winning him back. I’d failed, though. My desperation to hold him again, to hear his laugh, or get lost in his eyes, became too much for me to even attempt to fight off. I’d told Samantha of my plans to find Ari again and to try and make him mine and it was only then that my utterly evil, magnificently wonderful step sister told me she’d been keeping eyes on my man for me.