Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 75770 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 379(@200wpm)___ 303(@250wpm)___ 253(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75770 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 379(@200wpm)___ 303(@250wpm)___ 253(@300wpm)
I have no idea what they’re talking about, and at this point, I’m not sure I care.
Brett grabs my hand. “Ready to go?”
A spark shoots through me at the contact. Brett and I have shared the most intimacy in this short time. First the orgasm on the catamaran, and then our date. He was blunt with me, said he liked to fuck, but that we wasn’t going to fuck any of us until he made a decision. I respected him for it. Still do. He gave me some more amazing orgasms. Then this morning. Our talk on the beach. Our lingering kiss that said so many things…
“Have you said all your goodbyes?” Brett asks.
I look around the pool area. River and Sebastian are still talking, and Alex has joined them. Evangeline has disappeared. Heather, June, and Ariel were already here. That only leaves Misty and Emily. I didn’t expect Misty to say goodbye, but Emily… She and I were friends. At least I thought we were. Hell, we had a threesome with Zion together.
“Yeah,” I tell Brett.
“Where are your bags?” he asks.
“A staff member carried them down. They’re waiting at the front door of the mansion.”
“Good enough. Let’s go.”
We walk out of the pool area, and I give one more lingering look to Alex, who’s still talking to River and Sebastian.
My heart aches just a touch, but I’ll heal. I’ve healed from much worse.
We enter the mansion through the back and walk to the front. Brett keeps a hand on my lower back as a driver loads my bags into an SUV. We drive the short distance to the dock where we board the ferry.
Once we’re on our way, the salt air and sun in my face, Brett cups my cheek. “I’m proud of you, Sienna,” he says. “I’m proud of you for choosing love.”
His words give me pause. Am I choosing love? Yes. But maybe not the way he means. “I did. I’m going to say goodbye to a woman who was like a mother to me. That’s all.”
“So you’ll be back then?” Brett asks. He snuggles up behind me and presses his hips to my ass. I lean back into him and enjoy the view of the island and the ocean before us—and the feel of his body against mine.
“I suppose it depends on how things go with my ex,” I admit. “I’m not sure I have a plan.”
He chuckles. “I’ve had plans my whole life. Maybe it’s better not to have one.”
I turn in his arms. “You think?”
“Hell, I don’t know.” He looks out to the ocean. “My entire life, I’ve lived by plans—meticulous, detailed, unyielding plans. Every step was calculated, every decision weighed. It was like walking a tightrope, where one misstep could mean chaos.”
I breathe in the misty salt air. “What makes you think it’s better not to live that way then?”
“Look at the water. The ocean doesn’t plan its course. It simply flows. It can be chaotic or serene. There’s an unpredictability to it. It makes me wonder—what if life is meant to be more like the ocean? What if the beauty of existence lies in the unexpected, in the spontaneous rises and falls?” He meets my gaze, his blue eyes sparkling with something I can’t quite read. “If I’d gone with my heart all those years ago, maybe I wouldn’t have lost what I held most dear. Maybe if I do that now, I’ll find something as special or even more so. Maybe you should, too. Let go of the pressure, Sienna. Appreciate what's here now. See your friend, and say goodbye if that’s what you end up having to do. Then talk to your ex. See where things lie with him. You owe yourself that much. And if it doesn’t work out, you have a place to come back to, Dancing Queen.”
His words mesmerize me. Such heartfelt wisdom, and I feel like he’s thinking of his own life in a new way. He leans closer, and I pull him to me, our lips meeting.
EPISODE 84
KNOWING WHEN TO BREAK THE RULES
Sienna
As Brett and I kiss, the ferry gently rocks. The rhythm soothes me as I relax into the embrace. The engines thrum a gentle vibration beneath my feet, and I’m not sure how much of it is coming from the boat or from Brett’s subtle groans.
My God, this man can kiss. I thoroughly enjoyed our encounters yesterday and this morning, yet I break the kiss and look out to the ocean.
“You okay?” Brett asks, smoothing a lock of hair off my face.
The warm breeze twists the hair out of place a second later. “I’m good. Just thinking about what you said about the ocean. About how we shouldn’t be so rigid.” I sigh. “I think I’m a lot like you in that way, Brett. As an attorney, I kind of have to be. If I don’t have a plan, I can’t zealously represent my clients.”