AllFreeNovel
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She and Jakob planned to honeymoon in Maui. It’s where she agonized over every detail. She’d joked to Tessie that it was the one thing she had actually planned in her life after Jakob tossed a hand up and saidI don’t care where we go, babe, as long as I don’t miss football.
I hate him, she thinks.And I’m tired, so very fucking tired of thinking about him.
It’s not just the memory of her honeymoon, all those old feelings, wreaking havoc on her emotions. The end of the trip looms. The end of paradise. Of Nathaniel.
The thought is a sharp pain in her chest.
But that’s how it works, right? Those are the terms they’ve agreed on.
In life, everything ends. Especially love. It’s foolish trying to keep it.
Foolish trying to hold on to something she’ll only lose.
Because that’s what happens to her.
She loses.
Blinking tears from her eyes, she peers over the railing. The ocean is so close she could touch it. The fall is so far it’s dizzying. With a shaky hand on the railing, she forces herself to remember how to breathe. To remember what it feels like to kiss Nathaniel. Under the stars. In his bed.
She smiles beneath the dark curtain of her hair. Through the sheen of tears.
“Don’t jump. I’d miss you.”
She lifts her head at the sound of the deep, familiar voice.
Inside, her chest is a firefly.
The sight of Nathaniel on the neighboring balcony roots her. Oxygen returns to her lungs.
“What—what are you doing here?” She’s so surprised she doesn’t even have a barbed comeback.
“Traded rooms with your neighbors,” Nathaniel says evenly, hands in his pockets. “Knocked on their door and told them they were staying next to a burgeoning homicidal maniac, and they all but begged me to stay here instead.”
She fights to keep a cool exterior. Even though every emotion inside her is a powder keg.
A hand propped on her hip, she tilts her head. “They did, did they?”
Nathaniel rocks back on his heels. “Uh-huh.”
“Then get over here, asshole.”
With ease, he scales the small drop between their balconies. This tall, thoughtful billionaire, this very serious man who fears nothing. Not even her.
He comes toward her, the look on his face soft, hesitant. “I didn’t want you to be alone.”
“You did that?” she breathes. “For me?”
He smiles, the corners of his eyes creasing. “Of course I did.”
She doesn’t say anything. She can’t. Instead, she throws herself into his arms and shamelessly burrows into his hard frame. “Thank you,” she murmurs. His shirt smells like salt and sea. A hit of calm for every atom in her body.
He smooths a hand down her hair. Then, taking hold of her chin, tilts her face to his. Brow furrowed, he searches her eyes. “You okay, beauty?”
Her stomach somersaults at the endearment. The thornsaround her heart pulse. “From Bigfoot to beauty. How’d I get there?”
Nathaniel’s mouth tips in a pleased grin. “Very easily, in fact.”
He slips his hands to her waist. As he anchors her to him, he says, “My grandfather isn’t here. We’re neighbors. I think you know what this means.”
