Total pages in book: 154
Estimated words: 142664 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 713(@200wpm)___ 571(@250wpm)___ 476(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 142664 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 713(@200wpm)___ 571(@250wpm)___ 476(@300wpm)
“No!” I tapped her hip and moved to put her down.
“What?” Oh hell!
“Only because you’re still too sore.” I rushed to add because she looked like she was ready to throw down.
“I am not!”
“The answer is still no. Maybe later, when you’ve had more time to heal.” I wasn’t sure what the squinty-eyed look she gave me meant, but it couldn’t be anything good.
I was saved by my phone going off, and she released me after mumbling something under her breath, but I wasn’t sure I was in the clear. One of the people I had at the resort was on the line with an update I was not expecting.
I hung up the phone, not sure I should share the latest news, but since I was about to start my marriage off on the wrong foot and she’d probably kill me if she found out I knew and didn’t tell her, there was only one thing to do.
“Baby, come here.” She gave me one of her looks and then ignored me.
“No. If you’re not going to give me what I want, get bent.” This fucking girl. I rushed her and took her down to the mattress.
She was laughing too hard to breathe, so I had to help her. “Breathe in. Hold it. Now out.” She still had the giggles, but it wasn’t too bad.
“Hey, you said no; why are you hard?” No filter.
“That’s natural. It doesn’t mean I’m going to pounce on you, knowing that you’ll hurt.”
I brushed the hair back from her face, and my heart jumped in my chest. I think it’s going to take a long time before I stop getting this knee-jerk reaction to having her in my life. It doesn’t seem possible that someone you barely knew could mean this much.
“What did you want to tell me?”
“Your parents shared a room last night.” She didn’t say anything for the longest while, and then she pushed me off of her and jumped to her feet.
“Dammit, I didn’t get any pictures.”
What the hell? “What? Why would you want pictures of your parents sleeping together?”
“Eww, gross, what is wrong with you? I meant I wanted pictures of them to send to Helen. Drats!” She smacked her leg and went back to getting dressed. Is she ever going to react the way I expect her to? Ever?
“I thought you would be upset.”
“Why do you think I canceled Helen’s ticket? I’ve been trying to get those two back together since I was eight. Do the boys know?”
“I have no idea. Why?”
“No reason. I guess I can get pictures on the boat.”
“You really hate that woman, huh!”
“More than words can ever say.” She didn’t miss a beat and carried on getting dressed while I did the same.
By the time we were ready in matching colors, it was not planned at all, but there isn’t much you can go with for the nautical look, but whites and blues, and that’s where we’re at. She wore white linen palazzos with a white and blue striped top, and I wore white dockers with a blue polo tee and dock sliders; we looked cute.
“I’m ready.”
“Not quite.” I lathered her in sunscreen, which she bitched about, then found her hat and pulled it down on her head.
“Where’d you get this?”
“If you’d look in your closet, you’d have seen it.”
“Hmm! Are those Cartier?” She was after my shades.
“Go get your own.”
“I have Cartier shades?” She ran back to the closet and yelled back that she couldn’t find them, so I had to go get them for her. So domesticated.
Her family was arriving by the time we got downstairs, and I could see her brothers, especially, looking her over as if they expected that I’d harmed her or something during the night. Then it was my turn. “Well, you’re alive at least.” That was from Brian and I think he was serious.
We exchanged pleasantries and then headed down to the private dock where the crew was waiting. “Don’t forget to alert me. Is your phone going to work out there?”
“Yes, there’s Wi-Fi; this isn’t the dark ages.” She rolled her eyes and went after her Mom, poor woman, while her sisters-in-law went below deck to change into their swimsuits.
Her brothers and Dad cornered me as soon as the boat was on the way into the water. They wanted to know about the honeymoon, which I guess is fair. “North Island first, since she’s a LOTR freak; once there, we’ll take a tour of the whole country.”
“Isn’t that going to take a while?”
“Not by private plane, no. There’s a lot to see; I want her to choose where she wants her vacation home.”
“Vacation home?”
“Yes, didn’t she tell you? She gets to choose the next one. I imagine you guys will get to come out in a year or so.”
Her family is strange. I waited for the talk about money to start, but it never came. I knew from my own research that they weren’t the type, but you can never be too sure. That makes things easier. I prefer to give to those who don’t ask for some reason.